30. Means and Structures of Formation. Where possible, catechists should be trained in their own special centres or schools. Church documents from Ad Gentes to Redemptoris Missio stress the importance of making efforts "to establish and support schools for catechists, which are to be approved by the Episcopal Conferences and confer diplomas officially recognized by them".

The centres are very different entitities: some of them being large residential centres with a team of formators and well organized training programs, while others are smaller centres for restricted groups or short courses. Most centres are diocesan or interdiocesan, some of them national or international.

There are common elements to these centres, such as a formative program, which makes the centre a place of growth in faith, a possibility of residence, school teaching combined with pastoral experiences and, above all, the presence of the team of formators. There are also some proper elements which distinguishes one centre from the other; among them, for example, the minimum qualification and other conditions for entry, the length of the course, the methods employed, with a view to local conditions, and the categories of students: men or women or both; young people or adults; married or unmarried people or couples. Some centres will include training for the wife or husband of the candidate and issuing of diplomas.

It is important to promote contacts between catechetical centres, especially at a national level, under the guidance of the Episcopal Conference. Formators from the different centres should meet from time to time to exchange ideas and teaching methods and learn from the experiences of others.

Centres should aim not merely at training their students but at being places of research and reflection on themes connected with the apostolate, such as: catechesis itself, inculturation, interreligious dialogue, pastoral methods, etc.

Besides the centres or schools, there should also be courses and encounters of diverse duration and composition, organized by the dioceses and parishes, particularly those in which the Bishop and the parish priests participate. These are very significant means of training and, in certain zones and situations, they become the only way of formation. These courses do not counteract the programs of the centres, but help them keep on the impact or, as very often happens, compensate for deficiency.

Each diocese should make sure that it provides the books, audiovisual material and other teaching aids necessary for catechetical training, and it would be good if there could be a pooling of ideas, information and teaching aids between centres, dioceses and neighboring countries.

The CEP insists on the fact that it is not sufficient to propose high objectives in formation, but one should identify and use efficacious means. Therefore, besides confirming the absolute priority of formators, who must be well prepared and sustained, the CEP asks that a strengthening of centres should be at work everywhere. Here too, a healthy realism is essential in order to avoid a theoretical discourse. The objective is to do things in such a way that all the dioceses have the possibility to train a certain number of their catechists, at least, the cadres in a centre. Besides this, fostering the initiatives on the post, particularly the guided and programmed meetings, because they are indispensable for the first training of those were not able to frequent a centre, and for the permanent formation of all.