VII. RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD

33. Responsibility of the community. The CEP would like to make a public declaration of gratitude to the Bishops, priests and communities of faithful for the care and support they have given to catechists. Their attitude is a guarantee for the future of evangelization and the growth of the young Churches. For catechists are, indeed, front-line apostles without whom "Churches that are flourishing today would not have been built up". They are essential to the Christian community and are rooted in it through their Baptism, Confirmation and special vocation. They should be given respect and responsibility in their work and should be able to achieve personal growth through it.

It is important to note that in his encyclical letter Redemptoris Missio, Pope John Paul II, says: "Among the laity who become evangelizers, catechists have a place of honour... Even with the extension of the services rendered by lay people both within and outside the Church, there is always need for the ministry of catechists, a ministry with its own characteristics"^. And in his apostolic exhortation Catechesi Tradendae the same Pontiff remarked that "the term 'catechists' belongs above all to the catechists in mission lands". Catechists are among those who have received Christ's command to "go and teach all nations" (Mt 28:19) and, according to Vatican II, they are "legitimately active in the ministry of the word".

They should have a place of honour, therefore, in their communities and should be well represented in pastoral councils and other organizations of the parish and diocese. They are growing in number throughout the Church, and the future of Christian communities will depend on them to a considerable extent. In the secularized atmosphere of the modern world, as lay people they will have a particular role to play in bringing the light of the gospel to bear on various situations. In any discussion on the theology of the laity, catechists will necessarily occupy a special place.

All these considerations converge on the urgency to strengthen the catechists with an adequate vocational promotion in number as well as, and above all, in quality, which calls for a careful and global formation program.