CATECHISM

“Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.� (Mark 16: 15)
    The above command from our Lord Jesus Christ forms the foundation of Catechesis or faith formation. From the days of the early church itself, this faith formation has been continuing in the church in different ways. The main aim of catechism is to save souls by teaching the story of revelation. Through the intercession of the Holy Spirit, the story of salvation continues today in and through the church. For catechism instructors, salvation becomes a living experiential reality through the life and mission of the Malankara Catholic Church. Hence the story of salvation and the patrimony of the venerable tradition of the Malankara Catholic Church forms the fundamental sources for the Malankara Catholic Catechism. These sources also function as the foundation stone on which our faith formation or catechism is founded.     St. Mary’s Malankara Catholic Church in Doha, the only one of its kind in the Middle East has a strong faith formation to its credit. The Doha Malankarites are really proud of the history of catechism of this parish. The strong urge to inculcate Malankara tradition and culture in the upcoming generation had motivated a dedicated group of pioneer laymen in all their efforts to build up a strong church in Doha. From the very beginning of its inception in 1999, these visionaries gave topmost priority for catechism classes and also took permission from His Beatitude Cyril Mar Baselios Catholicos to conduct exams here and issue certificates. Now after 18 glorious years, we are proud to have in our catechism classes almost 125 regular students from KG to Class 12. At present a group of 16 dedicated teachers from various dioceses under the able leadership of Mr. Anu Parackal, take care of the formation of our students in faith and liturgy, believing that everyone needs to be brought into a personal relationship with Lord Jesus Christ thus enabling them to know the power of His presence in our lives. During the past three years, under the patronage of our dear Vicar, Rev. Fr. Varghese Kuthanethu, the catechism of our Church has achieved a higher dimension in terms of faith formation. We have organised three-day Bible Camps involving the Jesus Youth Team, celebrated Mission Day with a view to support the Virgin Mary Hand, a charity initiative, taken up by our church, introduced Liturgical and Formation classes for our kids to enhance their faith by keeping aside a day (first Saturday of the month) for their confession and participation in Holy Mass. In the Formation classes conducted till date we have dealt with various topics like The TEN Commandments, The Sacraments, The Liturgical Year and the Seven Seasons and other non-liturgical topics like The Influence of Social Media in our Faith Formation and the Negative Effects of Gaming. The Catechism cultural competitions have been conducted by incorporating literary as well as written competitions with a view to cater to the all-round spiritual formation of our kids. The Catechism team has been able to achieve success in all these spiritual activities due to the great support and guidance from our able Vicar, parents and parish members.