National standards set for parish catechetical leaders

by JoAnn Borchert

Adult Faith Formation

In the church today lay persons are assuming ministerial roles in our parishes as Directors of Religious Education and Youth Ministers. Church leaders have recognized the need to support them with appropriate education and skills development - especially in the areas of youth ministry and faith formation. As stated in the Code of Canon Law #231 “Lay persons who devote themselves permanently or temporarily to some special service of the church are obliged to acquire the appropriate formation which is required to fulfill their function properly and to carry it out conscientiously, zealously and diligently.”

In 1999 three national organizations representing those ministries - the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership, the Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry, and The National Association for Lay Ministers - began work on a common set of standards for lay ministry. From this project emerged five standards: personal and spiritual maturity; lay ministry identity; Roman Catholic theology; pastoral behavior and professional practice. These were approved at the beginning of 2004 by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishop’s Commission on certification and accreditation. These standards, with the supporting competencies, promote credibility, stability and consistency in lay ecclesial ministry.

The dioceses in the State of Minnesota through the Minnesota Catholic Education Association have been working on a plan to implement these standards. The Procedures Handbook for this process was approved in March of this year by the USCCB Commission on certification and accreditation. Certification will establish a consistent standard of quality among lay ecclesial ministers and work to ensure that our parishes benefit from the leadership of trained, competent and capable leaders. The certification standards provide direction for lay ecclesial ministers and a framework for their on-going formation.

The outcome for those who seek certification will be: to model life-long learning for others, to demonstrate they are trained and recognized professionally as competent, to benefit from the collaboration with Catholic colleges and universities in the task of life-long learning and to be recognized by the USCCB Commission on certification and accreditation. Certification will take place August 2005 at the at the state convention.