At the end of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2016, Pope Francis had asked to envision a Sunday entirely dedicated to the Word of God. The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, which falls this year on Jan. 26, will be devoted from now on to the Word of God.

This event gathered catechists who are responsible for accompanying children in their catechetical journey in parishes, explored training techniques related to subjects such as the spiritual life, the sacraments of initiation to Christian’s life or the Paschal Mystery.

Several workshops helped participants to perfect their catechism approach by the introduction of various animation techniques, either through activities meant to explore youth creativity or through avenues to deliver biblical texts in a more efficient way. About 10 workshops were offered to participants.

Coming from about 60 different parishes, the catechists lived a day under the sign of joy and brotherly exchanges. A highlight for our Church, this meeting was an opportunity for some people to reunite, and for others to share ideas and testimonies. During the day, Bishop Alain Faubert, Vicar General, and Msgr. Roger Dufresne, Episcopal Vicar, had the opportunity to share with the participants the issues of our Church and also to convey the diocesan will to work towards a missionary transformation to increase the outreach of the Church in our communities.

Indeed, our diocese is set out along the path to respond to Pope Francis’s Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, which tells us: “Pastoral ministry in a missionary key seeks to abandon the complacent attitude that says: ‘We have always done it this way’. I invite everyone to be bold and creative in this task of rethinking the goals, structures, style and methods of evangelization in their respective communities.”

Participants ended their day by attending an interactive workshop on ways to implement a missionary conversion, as promoted by the Assemblée des évêques catholiques du Québec in the document “Be daring, get involved!” All were invited to gather again in two years for another edition of the Conference.


To watch the video of this event, click here