By Julie A. Miller
Catholic Herald

Knowledge boosts catechists' confidence

This is the sixth of a six-part series based on A New Springtime, a pastoral letter by Bishop Raphael M. Fliss.

Part VI: "... planning efforts undertaken by the Diocese of Superior ... should: Invest the resources necessary into the affirmation formation and involvement of the laity in the mission of the local church"

CABLE -- Lay people play an important role in passing on the knowledge of the Catholic faith to succeeding generations of children, fulfilling teaching roles once reserved for clergy and religious. Many lay people, however, are not confident in their level of knowledge.

Kay and Fred Reetz, a new husband and wife catechist team, had some concerns this year when they began teaching the seventh, eighth and ninth graders at St. Ann Parish in Cable.

Kay was a catechist for many years when their children were young, but has not taught since the family moved to the Cable area 11 years ago. Fred never taught before. They both felt a need for more knowledge to help in their teaching.

When the diocese announced a new college-level course of study, the Program for Advanced Lay Ministry Studies, Kay applied and was accepted in the program. After the classes began in September 2001, there was an unexpected vacancy and Fred, too, was accepted in the program.

PALMS was developed by the diocese in partnership with the School of Theology at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn. Twenty-two lay people are enrolled in this new three-year course of study. The subject for the first year is biblical theology, taught by Sr. Paul Therese Saiko, SSND, who is a faculty member at the St. Paul Seminary at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. The program will cover the church's story of faith and mission in the second year and catechetics in the third year of the program.

PALMS will help the diocese implement one of the principles outlined by Bishop Raphael M. Fliss in his pastoral letter "A New Springtime."

Principle six is to "invest the resources necessary into the affirmation, formation and involvement of the laity in the mission of the local church." The letter goes on to say, "A primary way of affirming laity is to provide training for those ecclesial services they are asked to undertake."

Kay has always been interested in learning more about her faith. She said, "I've been taking classes forever. ... I took that lay minister (certification) 2-year program and then I've gone to some of the deacon classes in Hayward."

The PALMS program appealed to Kay because she wanted something in more depth than she could get from a

class that covered a whole book of the Bible in one day.

Fred's reasons were a little different. He said, "I just wanted to learn more about the Bible. I thought maybe there were going to be some new avenues I hadn't explored yet because I'm not originally a Catholic. I turned Catholic when we got married so I have another religious background -- German Lutheran."

Kay added that because of that background Fred knew more about the Bible than she did.

His Lutheran religious education concentrated on the Old Testament and, Fred said, "this kind of led me on into (PALMS). I'm finding that it is really interesting. I'm not sure that I can handle the in-depth that they are doing but I'll give it a shot anyways."

The Reetzs teach together and study together, so attuned to one another that they often finish each other's sentences. They both described studying together and discussing the material as fun. They don't argue about it. Kay said, "I don't think either of us feel like we know enough to be really strong."

Even before Fred joined the class, Kay discussed the material with him, "So I don't feel that I missed much other than (Saiko's) presentation," Fred said.

The studying represents a big time commitment. They spend at least three hours a week, and sometimes more, reading and studying PALMS material.

Referring to the study questions in the books and provided by Saiko, Fred said, "Especially when you start doing the questions. Then you go back over everything you've read for three hours and pick it apart to find the right answers -- hopefully."

They also have a whole bibliography of additional books that they are trying to read in connection with their Bible readings. Kay said they don't find this difficult because Fred is retired and she works about 36 hours a week. "I feel like I'm semi-retired because I don't have to go to work every day for 8 hours."

Fred worked for 28 years in the UW system -- 18 years in maintenance at UW-RF and 10 years at the Pigeon Lake field station, a summer campus for the university system. Kay is a hospice worker for the Hayward office of the regional hospice and also does home health care.

Both Reetzs have been active in various ministries for many years. Both are eucharistic ministers and Fred started as a lector 30 years ago when lay readers in the church were new.

Fred had never considered teaching catechism, however, until Sr. Virginia Schwartz decided he would be good at it. Schwartz, a Servant of Mary, is parish director at St. Ann. He said, "Sr. asked me three or four times and finally I said 'yes.'"

Both Fred and Kay agree that the instructor for this year's PALMS

sessions is excellent and the sessions are never boring. They said Saiko makes the material understandable, even for a beginner.

Kay said they are getting a basis to build on in their teaching and in discussing the Bible, and added, "We're going to feel more confident to bring the Bible in and I'm hoping that we can pass (Saiko's) love and eagerness about the Bible on to the kids."

Fred had already found the classes a big help. He said, "More knowledge is always good. We went to my first one (PALMS class) before we had our first catechism class. I thought it helped immensely in bolstering up my shaky (confidence)."

Kay and Fred are both glad Fliss wrote "A New Springtime." Kay said, "I think we need to know. I almost feel like we should have been in this class probably ten years ago to be adequate to help out. We know if Sr. (Schwartz) goes we are going to be up the creek without a paddle."

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