(Bishop of Ouahigouya, Burkina Faso)
A report: the Catechists have been the inseparable and indispensable companions of missionaries in the evangelisation of Africa.
They have contributed in rousing and animating the Christian communities with solid and fervent bases. They are true apostles of the base at the base.
The quality of life of their families have made them nurseries of priestly and religious vocations. Their role is neither surpassed nor completed. One must, on the other hand, do all to re-evaluate vocation and the mission of Catechists, to make them more apt to serve the Church and the world of today.
To accomplish this, particular attention must be drawn on a solid doctrinal and spiritual formation, centred on the living person of Christ.
During the initial and the permanent formation, one must think about the Catechist-couple, husband and wife, who give richer witness of Christ and of his message to the human communities in which the couple live and work.
With more realism, one must look at the material life of the Catechists, so that freed from a worry too great in this domain, they may accomplish their apostolate with free and joyous heart.
Original
text: French
