PDCC Editorial – 1 January 2026

Dear Evangelizing Catechists,

Shalom. May the peace of the Lord be always with you.

In the teaching of the faith, we are asked to adopt the pedagogical approach of Jesus, our first Evangelizer. In answering questions posed to Him, He adopted the use of storytelling through His parables. In this way, He used the experiential approach by relating real-life experiences and the lessons derived from them. To form a closer relationship with the community, He showed an understanding of the problems they faced and provided signs in the way of miracles. He taught them the faith through example and gave them the opportunity to live by His example.

As ECs, we often ask, “What would Jesus do?” How do we go about passing on the faith using the examples He set. In some places, the anthropological approach used proposes the following three steps:

1. through the evocation of the human experience and reflecting on it.
2. through the interpretationof its fuller meaning in the light of our faith with the help of Scripture, Sacred Tradition and the teachings of the Magisterium.
3. its application to life through the five tasks of Catechesis namely, the knowledge of our faith, our prayer life, our moral life, our liturgical life, our community life and service as missionary disciples.

However, these five tasks need to be carried out integrating the four pillars of Faith. These four pillars according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#13) refers to the Creed, Sacraments, Morality and Prayer. This often poses a challenge as not all topics can fit easily in this way.

It is important to develop this holistic relationship with Christ because if we fail to do so, the result would be like the proverbial story of the six blind men examining only one part of an elephant and coming up with a narrow view of the faith. As such, we would have failed as catechists.

In order to see more clearly the challenge we have before us as ECs, we first need to clearly understand how the five tasks of Catechesis can be carried out in the story-telling of life experiences of those under our care.  

May God continue to bless us all abundantly for serving in this ministry,

Dr. Ivan Filmer