Around 150 catechists from Umbria and Marche participated in the conference which was held at the Domus Pacis of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Assisi from the evening of Friday 8 May to Sunday 12 May. The meeting on the theme “Do you celebrate the Lord because he is good? A community that celebrates and bears witness to the Kerygma”, involved in particular the directors of the diocesan catechetical offices and their teams, as well as catechists and priests. The reflections that emerged during the three days of work will then be delivered to the Italian Episcopal Conference which, after having received all the proposals from the other regions of Italy, will launch a new plan for catechesis at a national level.
«These days of work – says Don Calogero Di Leo of the diocese of Perugia-Città della Pieve, coordinator of the commission for catechesis of the Umbrian Episcopal Conference (Ceu) – can very well be summarized in three words. The first is beauty: we lived an experience of joy, of joy, of friendship, of peace, of sharing. The second is work: we worked very well, we shared ideas, experiences, good practices, but above all life. And finally the third word is proposed: from the three large sectors on which we discussed – the community, the liturgy and the announcement – suggestions emerged on how to be a new Church, with its feet firmly in tradition, in this change of time ».
Mons. Domenico Sorrentino, bishop of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino and Foligno, CEU delegate for catechesis, speaks of «a very rich conference from a human, spiritual and catechetical point of view. We have reflected in depth on the issues, risks and challenges of catechesis in our time; and having two ecclesiastical regions done together was an element of great richness. Now it’s a question of not squandering this heritage that we have put together. Of the many proposals made, I like to underline that of not giving up on this collaboration and trying to create an interregional Umbria-Marche forum on catechesis, which could also be supported by a laboratory of pastoral renewal, in which to carry out constant updating, in-depth analysis and also a verified operation to prevent our conferences from being just words. My hope is that we don’t stop here and that what we have experienced can truly flourish.”
The words of Msgr. Boccardo, CEU president. The conference, which was attended by various Bishops of Umbria and the Marche, concluded with the Mass in the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli presided over by Msgr. Renato Boccardo, archbishop of Spoleto-Norcia and president of the Umbrian Episcopal Conference. The Prelate underlined to the catechists that the model to follow is Jesus. «Jesus – he said – does not ask to convince or impose; he doesn’t say: “organize, occupy the key positions, propagate your most beautiful ideas, propose the solution to every problem, implement a policy or a theology”; he only says: proclaim the Gospel. Disciples do not have to do many things or perform sensational feats; they just have to believe, and their life will simply manifest the presence of the Lord.”
