Dhruwadeepti //Autobiographie// Journey of a Missionary Priest //Fr.George Pallivathukal

 Dhruwadeepti// Autobiographie // Journey of a Missionary Priest // 

*A Syllabus for Sunday Catechism * 

        Fr. George Pallivathukal        

Although Ranjhi parish had a well organised Sunday catechism ministry, we did not have a proper Syllabus. The Hindi belt was far behind Bombay, Tamil Nadu, or Kerala in the matter of Sunday catechesis. People in the Parish were interested in the word of God and therefore Bible was the catechism text that was followed in the classes. But the teachers needed a hand book to show them how to teach the truths of Bible along with some background information. I had Deacon Biju Antony Theckel, M.P. Wilson and B.K. John to help me to make a tentative syllabus.

I had earlier prepared a catechism book containing all the prayers and the basic teachings of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to help catechumens who were preparing themselves to receive baptism. By this time the Holy Father John Paul 11 had published the "Cathechism of the Catholic Curch" (C C C), the official teaching of the Church regarding the content of catechism in four parts. It was important that our children and youth were introduced to the C C C. So we planned our syllabus in three parts for each class from class V1 to X11. The first part would contain information about the old Testament, second part of the content of the new Testament and the third part of teaching of CCC. We prepared the syllabus in the cyclostyled form and distributed it to the catechism teachers, both in English and in Hindi. We tried this syllabus for four years in our parish. We had periodic feed back from the teachers and students and accordingly we revised our original text from time to time. The methodology we used was the simple, kerygmaticor proclamatory style, the style of the Gospel writers and of the early Church.

Attempt to promote Sunday Catechism in the jabalpur deanery

Once I succeded in my expriment in Ranjhi I wanted to bring the benifit of Sunday catechism to the other parishes of the deanery. I invited the parish clergy of the city to my place for a lunch and we discussed the faith formation of our children and youth. We all felt that there was much more to be done in this field in our parishes. I explained to them how Sunday catechesis is helping us to cover all the children and youth of Ranjhi parish. All agreed that Sunday catechesis was important, but there was no book to put into the hands of the teachers. I told them that I would make the syllabus and help them. Thus what I had experimented in the parish of Ranjhi came out in Hindi in book form under the title "Mukti Itihas". There were seven books in the series. Commenting on the series Dr. Fr. Amrit Raj O.P. the Rector of St. Charles Seminary, Nagpur, wrote : There are many catechism books to einlighten, to educate and to instruct the people, particularly the children in their faith formation. Catechism books are basic text books, which not only help children in their faith formation, but also help them to grow and live the catholic faith. What we find in this series is a great effort in faith formation with a difference. That is trying to integrate the three basic aspects of the history of Salvarion as found in the Bible, with the catechism of the Catholic Church and other teaching of the Church as found in different Church documents. In this venture the book contains a short history of Salvation and a brief explanation about the sacraments. The commendable aspects are the simple, readable, language and a harmonious blending of hte three essential elements into a compact set of catechism books." All the books of the series did not come out all at once. They were prepared gradually after much research , reflection and prayer.

I presented these books to the Indien Catechetical Association as an attempt to promote parish based Sunday catechism. The series was accepted in many dioceses like Pune, Bombay, Ranjhi, etc. The faithfull found of the books useful not only for Sunday catechesis but also for study in their weekly gathering of Samall Communities. Only a few priests of my own diocese were critical about the method used in the books and discouraged peoplee from using them.

 Bible classes on Sundays 

At the request of many parishioners, we started Bible classes for adults every Sunday at 4 pm in the church. Many men and women attended the Bible classes regularly. I would prepare myself well every Sunday and address the gathering. The number of audience was not decreasing, that was an indication that the people liked to know about the Bible. Every family had a Bible and the people knew how to handle it. All the children and the youth of parish had a copy of the Bible either in Hindi or English because they had to bring the Bible to the catchism class on Sundays.

 Mr. M.P. Wilson a commited lay Apostel 

The person responsable for spreading a love for the word of God in Ranjhi parish was Mr. M.P. Wilson. His silent effort of many years before fruit in the parish. " You are the salt of the earth " Jesus said (Mt.5:13). Mr.Wilson functioned like a littel salt permeating into a huge mass of food and making it easy. He worked silently for many years and created a love for the Bible in the hearts of hundreds of people. He himself was a lover of the Bible.

Uncle Wilson. as he was affectionately called, was an empleyee of the Khamaria Ordnance Factory. After the working hours, he would take his Bible and go to the neighbourhood where he was welcome and tell the people about the importance of the Word of God. He would go to certain families and the whole family would sit and listen to him with rapt attention. His untiring effort for several years animated hundreds of people and they devoloped a taste for the Word of God. He was a regular teacher of catechism in the parish. Uncle Wilson will always be remembered by the people of Ranjhi. He was a model of a lay missionary. He died on 28 / 10 / 2011. I had the privilege of officiating at the funeral service of this great man. // 

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