ST.

THERESE OF THE CHILD JESUS PARISH

CATECHISM MINISTRY

Minutes of General Catechist Meeting 1St February 2019

Present : Hilda, Libby, Edward, Alex, Francis, Jasmine, Francis Sam, Mark, Marsha

Priest Present : Fr. Blany Pinto & Fr Franco Pereira

Action Target
Sl # Minutes
by date
Libby The meeting started with a warm welcome by Libby who
welcomed Fr Franco, Francis Sam and all the catechist.

Opening Christopher Rozario from class 13 led us all into prayer. As we

Prayer had limited time in the basement and had to end the meeting
soon.
Libby As Father Blany had not yet come, Libby proceeded with the
meeting.
Libby Duties for Fhc and Confirmation.
Susan is incharge of the décor for both the FHC AND
CONFIRMATION and she requires two people to assist her.
1. Isabella Lucita Rodrigues
2. Ramona Fernandes.

She then asked for volunteers for the FHC day on 17 May to
assist with various duties
General Volunteers for all other duties.

1.Umberlina D'mello
2.Odelia Jacinto
3.Pramila Lewis
4,Freeda Louis
5. Agnes D'souza
6.Ralina D'souza
7.Jovita Luther
8. Hilda Alphonso
Communion practice time is 1400-1630 in the church.

She then asked for volunteers for the Confirmation 24 May day
to assist with various duties
Manju Hudson
Christopher Rozario
Antoinette Lobo
Matilda Cardoza
Emma D'costa
Nelson Fernandes
Anita Sequeira
Maria Mascarenhas
Maria Fernandes
Marsha Rodrigues
1
 ST. THERESE OF THE CHILD JESUS PARISH
CATECHISM MINISTRY

The practice for confirmation is on Saturdays from 1130 to

1330 am.

She also insisted that on the eve of the both FHC and
Confirmation days all catechists are required to come to
decorate the church, especially they need more of men. Libby
also mentioned that incase we need more help the core would
allocate more catechists.
Edward Edward thanked each and everyone for the hard work put in
during the last 4 months for the symposium. The coming for
practices and for all the work put in to make the symposium a
success. He also mentioned that from the feedback that was
carried out there were only positive comments. He said
everyone worked together well as a team, got to know each
other well, so once again on behalf of the core he thanked one
and all.
He also mentioned what Fr Blany had said of having the
symposium in the church for the children and the parents. He
thanked the classes that had already given their names. He said
till 1 March there were classes who assigned themselves. So if
any class was interested after the 1March to contact him. It was
flexiable and not compulsory. He also said it had to be for 12-
14 mins only and after that Holy Mass would start.

Fr Blany Fr started by saying a big thanks to each and everyone, He said

that in the last 3 months all the activities conducted by the
catechism ministry was very well done.
Starting with the packing of the sweets for the goodie bags for
the children for Christmas. He also thanked the priests Fr
Franco, Fr Lionel and Fr Joy for visiting the classes on the
Christmas party day. He also thanked the teachers for
decorating and arranging the classes as they had to do it
themselves as there was no help. Classes 5,6,7,8 were also
thanked as they took part in the advent wreath programme it
was very inspiring and put up very well.
Fr also mentioned that for the Retreat he was there for the first
and last part and took part in it. He said all those who were
present were very spiritually benefitted and thanked Fr Franco
for it which was the Potter and Clay. He also thanked Alex,
Sam and Colin for setting up for the retreat.

Fr mentioned that he had thanked the Cl’s for the symposium

but now since all were present he once again thanked each and
every Catechist for taking part in the symposium. He said each
and everyone who participated studied, researched and
presented their part extremely well. He said that even though
we had our jobs families he appreciated the hard work put in
especially the creativity not only the content. He also said that
2
 ST. THERESE OF THE CHILD JESUS PARISH
CATECHISM MINISTRY

this symposium has bonded all teachers together by getting

them to work together and know each other well. So once again
he thanked Fr Franco for the idea and Sam for following up
with everything. He also thanked Edward from the core for
coordinating with all the Cl’s for the symposium. He said that a
note of thanks and the symposium pictures were sent out by
Marsha. Fr said that the core and himself had met with the Cl’s
and were updated on the various activities and the difficulties
that they were facing and he said that they were working to see
how best all the issues can be resolved. He also stated that all
messages and wats app would go from the core to the Cl’s and
vice versa and this is how it had to be followed.
For the souvenir he mentioned that he informed the core and
the Cl’s how to go about it. He also said that he was
announcing at the 10.00 am mass for the parents and children to
be a part of the souvenir for the Bishop.
We have two assistant coordinators, so for the sacraments, as
Libby in the core and the sacrament class she will be in charge
for FHC and for confirmation Lucia is in charge but Edward
will be the point of contact from the core.Fr said that all
catechists would be assigned duties for the sacraments and he
requested all to be present so that everything will go out
smoothly,
For the Mega Bible quiz Fr said that it was decided by the core
that children should not miss classes, so it would be in
September on the first day of Catechism, as on this day there is
no teaching children are just getting acquainted with the new
class so they won’t miss anything. Fr said he would let us know
on the number of participants and the time of the quiz. It will be
4 students from each class. A voting was conducted on how to
choose the children for the quiz. One option was having an
additional bible test and the other option was to go with the
class test. For the additional bible test 12 people voted. For the
class test 48 people voted. So we went with the majority which
was the class test. Fr said that the 4 toppers from each class
their names were to be sent to Edward and if there were more
then to have an additional bible test.
Finally Fr said a vote for thanks to Meyzel for sending out the
Birthday and Anniversary wishes to all the catechists as she
would be leaving Kuwait.
Fr then invited Fr Franco to hand over the certificates of the
Symposium to the class leaders who would then hand over to
each catechist.
Libby Libby then invited Fr Franco to give out the Spiritual message
to all catechists.
Fr Franco Fr Franco started by saying that since all are talking about the
Symposium let me say something, he said that what generally
he would conduct for us all, this time we enacted to give it to
him. He said that after all 4 parishes finished he would give him
3
 ST. THERESE OF THE CHILD JESUS PARISH
CATECHISM MINISTRY

critical comments on it all. Fr said that many were not listening

to what was being presented as they were busy preparing for
their part. He said now we have to see how it could be used for
the children. He also stated that mostly all only used one book
mainly the Catechism of the Catholic Church no one used other
church documents to support it. He said it was nice that you
went in depth to the CC but would be nice if you used other
documents for reference to support the creed. He said now
since we understood the theology of one part we have to start
looking deeper as there are many articles. Fr asked for all the
material to be given to Sam so when all the parishes finish they
will collate all the material and give it to us.
From the symposium Fr went on to saying that when we started
the meeting we started by making the Sign of the Cross and he
was observing as to how we were making it. Fr asked us why
we make the sign of the cross and many gave him various
answers. Finally it was said that it was a blessing from God
who blesses us cause whenever we start something we always
invoke for god blessings. It also reminds us of our Baptism, it
reminds us of the blessed Trinity. He said that when he recently
went to Saudi he conducted catecheses on the sign of the cross.
Fr said that if we do the sign of cross remembering how Jesus
died for us on the cross then we would never do it any how and
if we did it anyhow. We have taken it for granted that the sign
we do the gesture symbolizes much more than what it means.
We are taking on ourselves the cross of Christ. So if we do the
sign of the cross with one finger three fingers or five fingers we
don’t know why, so he was going to give us a catechesis of the
sign of the cross with connection to the creed. He said what we
do with the sign of the cross corresponds to the creed. The full
creed is summed up in the sign of the cross. The first reverence
of the sign of the cross is that it gives us blessings and blessings
from God. He said that we receive blessings from parent’s
friend’s family member’s priests but when we make the sign of
the cross we ask god for his blessings. It reminds us of the cross
of salvation, and it also reminds us of the blessed trinity. He
said if you look at the sacraments of the church each sacrament
has to do with the sign of the cross, starting from Baptism till
anointing of the sick. Baptism on our forehead Confirmation on
the ear, matrimony joining of hands holy communion we
receive god himself, hold orders on our hands in anointing of
the sick the priest will anoint you with the sign of the cross. In
all our sacraments the sign of the cross is done because that is
our faith. Even when we die a cross is put on our graves. Fr
also gave a quote from St Cyril from Jerusalem about the cross,
and he said in short our lives are the Cross. He said only from
the 9th Century was the cross in the holy mass. Where we use it
as a triple during the gospel on our foreheads, lips and chest
and then on the bread and wine. He said when we say the creed
4
 ST. THERESE OF THE CHILD JESUS PARISH
CATECHISM MINISTRY

it is professing it by walking towards our own cross. So Jesus

said if you want to be my disciple take up your cross and follow
me. He asked us how to make the sign of the cross and asked
someone to show him. He said it is with an open palm and five
fingers the Latin church is Father son Holy Spirit Amen, and
from left to right and the orthodox church have it from right to
left. The sign of the cross the gestures are also very important.
If we say the sign of the cross is the cross of Christ then we
have to acknowledge the five wounds of Christ. If we consider
the five wounds of Christ that has healed us then we do the sign
of the cross with all five fingers. Even the Holy Father for
every pontifical mass he wears a Pallium which has 5 nails
which symbolizes the 5 wounds of Christ. It is the cross of
Christ which he is carrying for each one of us daily. We do the
triple sign for the gospel only as it symbolizes Jesus Christ.
When we enter church we dip our fingers in holy water and
make the sign of the cross it reminds us that we are entering in
a different place a sacred place. It reminds us of our baptism.
And we are going away from the world and entering into
something sacred. And as we enter the church it reminds us of a
purpose for making the sign of the cross. And if we truly
believe in it we will not talk or do anything that is not sacred
when we enter the church. He also said that are many
theologies written by saints on the sign of the cross which gives
us deep inspiration. He said that the sign of a cross itself is a
prayer, we are praying to the blessed trinity to the father son
and the Holy Spirit. It opens us to god graces. It sanctifies our
day. He said don’t overdo making the sign of the cross but do it
with full meaning and reverence. The other aspect of the cross
is to commit our whole self to Christ. The sign of the cross also
recalls the incarnation. It also reminds us of the passion of our
lord. It affirms our faith in the blessed trinity. If the make the
sign of the cross well it tells us that we want to become like
Jesus Christ himself. The sign of the cross also makes us
soldiers of Christ. It makes us witness of Jesus Christ.
Whenever we make the sign of the cross we are taking god on
our lips. We are acknowledging that he died for us and if that is
true we will always make the sign of the cross well.

Libby Libby thanked Fr and for teaching us the importance of the sign
of the cross.
Final The final blessing was given to us all by Fr Franco.
Blessings

Prepared by: Marsha Rozario

Reviewed by Core Team
2March 2019