VATICAN CITY (CNS): In order to fulfil their mission in the Catholic Church, catechists must live their faith and must present the faith to others in complete harmony with official Church teaching, Pope John Paul II said.
“It is not enough to have an intellectual knowledge of Christ and his Gospel,” the Pope said on December 10 during a Mass concluding the two-day Jubilee for Catechists and Religion Teachers.
“To believe in him means to follow him,” the Pope told the 7500 Jubilee participants and thousands of others gathered for the Mass in St Peter’s Square.
Earlier on December 10, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger told the catechists that they must use every appropriate method and media to lead people to Christ, but they must remember nothing will work if it is not supported by prayer and the witness of a Christian life.
“The words of proclamation must be bathed in an intense life of prayer,” said the cardinal.
