Recently, I received an invitation to attend a formation entitled Landings: Exploring a New Pastoral Outreach to Welcome Returning Catholics. The invitation came a little over a week after I completed Module One of my formation as an Evangelizing Catechist. The timing made me pause and reflect.

Even before receiving the invitation, I had been thinking about people who have left the Church, especially those who may still desire to return but carry fears within them. I found myself writing in my journal some of the following questions returning Catholics may ask: Will I really be welcomed? Will I be judged for having been away? Will people ask where I have been? Do I still belong?

There was something deep within me that I felt I needed to reflect on. When the invitation came, it felt like a prompting to continue reflecting on what evangelization really asks of us. As catechists, we often focus on what we need to teach. We prepare lessons with passages from Scripture, prayers and activities. But evangelization invites us to look beyond the lesson and towards the person sitting in front of us.

Do we listen before we teach? The disciples on the road to Emmaus give us a beautiful example (Luke 24:13-27). Jesus walks alongside two disciples who are confused and disappointed. He asks them what they are discussing and allows them to speak. He listens to their story before He opens the Scriptures to them. Jesus first draws near. He listens. He accompanies. Then only He teaches. Perhaps this is also our calling as catechists.

A child who struggles to participate may be communicating something we have not yet understood. A young person who asks difficult questions may not be rejecting the faith. A parent who seems distant may be carrying challenges we know nothing about. Sometimes, there is a story behind what we see.

Listening does not mean that we stop teaching. It means that we take time to understand the person before us so that we can accompany them more effectively towards Christ. Evangelizing Catechesis is not simply about passing on information. It is about helping people encounter Jesus.

So, before our next catechism session, perhaps we can pause and ask ourselves:

• Do I know the person I am teaching?
• Have I created a space where they feel safe to ask questions?
• Do they experience Christ through the way I welcome them?

These questions are not only for the children in our catechism classes. They are also for the families we accompany, the young people we serve and the people in our parish communities who may be searching, struggling or quietly wondering whether they still belong. Sometimes evangelization begins with Scripture. Sometimes it begins with Catechesis. And sometimes it begins with something as simple as saying: “Tell me. I want to understand you.”

As catechists, may we learn not only to teach the faith, but also to listen, accompany and walk with those entrusted to us. For before we can help someone encounter Christ, perhaps we first need to help them know that they are seen, heard and welcomed. Before we teach, can we learn to listen?