“Never underestimate the power of your own witness to our faith in Jesus,” said Monsignor John E. Kozar, National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States. His message was from his keynote presentation at Catechetical Leadership Day, April 7, a part of the National Catholic Educational Association [NCEA] and the National Association of Parish Catechetical Directors [NPCD] annual convention.
That meeting, held this year in Minneapolis, Minnesota, brought together more than 8,000 Catholic educators, parish religious education directors, catechists, and others engaged in formation.
“We’ve heard it said that it takes a village to raise a child,” Monsignor Kozar observed, “but we know that it takes a world to make a Church.” He pointed to the critical role of the personal “faithful witness” of those gathered, and spoke too of his encounters with such witnesses in the Missions. “In my travels, I meet those who lead others to this experience of our Lord and teach them about our Catholic faith,” he said.
“But even more than a source of information about the faith, these Mission catechists are ‘faithful witnesses’ who inspire and teach by the example of their lives.” Monsignor Kozar described as well the life’s witness of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, former National Director of the Pontifical Mission Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
Above all, Monsignor Kozar offered words of encouragement to all catechists: “You are heroic in your efforts, despite the challenges and difficulties,” he said. “You are true Missionaries.”