SPECIAL REPORT: Catechist service provides fundamental element of Catholic education in WA

14 May 2015

By Dr Marco Ceccarelli

Providing an indispensable service: Dr Pina Ford has been co-ordinator of Catechist Services at the Catholic Education Office for the past thirteen years PHOTO: Marco Ceccarelli

Compared with many of the ministries within the Archdiocese of Perth, the work of catechists is often not as exposed and may not attract the attention it merits.

Despite this, Dr Pina Ford believes it is an essential tool needed for the transmission of faith to Catholic children.

In a discussion with Dr Ford about her role as team leader of the Catechist Formation Program, run by the Catholic Education Office (CEO) of Western Australia, it does not take long to conclude that the work she and her team carry out is indispensable to the sustainable growth of the Catholic Church in WA.

The mother of seven and graduate from The University of Western Australia with a PhD on the natural law context of Thomas More’s Utopia, co-ordinates a program that equips volunteers engaged in the religious education of Catholic children outside the Catholic school system.

“Approximately 50 per cent of Catholic children do not attend Catholic schools,” said Dr Ford. “This is a significant number and our job is to provide for them.”

“In their mandate to the Catholic Education Commission of Western Australia, the Bishops
of WA state that we must act on behalf of the Catholic community for the benefit of all Catholic school-aged children, be they in Catholic schools or not.

“Our team acts on the part of that mandate,” Dr Ford added.

The Catechist formation program, divided into three formation phases: Initial, Ongoing and Advanced, offers catechists a theological and scriptural knowledge base, encourages them to develop skills in religious education while nurturing their personal faith, and gives them a practical understanding of those classroom skills needed to instruct children.

The catechist team led by Dr Ford, comprised of consultants Carmel Stuart, Michele Purcell, Stephen Harris and administrative assistant Mildred Rego, has a strong presence of women, prompting Dr Ford to share her insights on women in leadership roles within the Archdiocese.

“Women can make excellent leaders,” Dr Ford said, “simply because they have a quality of promoting leadership in others. I see that as the core of what Jesus taught us about leadership. ‘You will do better things than I,’ He said, which is a remarkable statement to make.

“I believe that leading for the benefit of others, so that others become good leaders in their own right, is at the very core of leadership. Jesus said ‘I’m promoting you as leader’, and I think women do that. I think that lack of self-promotion, and desire to promote others, is one of their gifts.

“I would advise women to risk and to value their own capacity for leadership; to take those risks. We all lead in our own ways: women don’t have to lead as men do, or as other women do; they need to find their own leadership style.”

As a mother of seven children, one of whom has a disability and is still in her husband’s and her care, Dr Ford commented on the balancing of the two honourable vocations of home life and work life.

“I have a passion for being married and being a mother. Likewise, I’ve also had a passion for study, knowledge, to grow in understanding. These things sat side by side. When I saw there was an opening from the side of my family, I said yes, I can now do this as well.

“How did the two come together? There was much sleep deprivation during my years of study. My husband has also been very supportive in the practical side of things.

“Also, part of my choice of where my career would go would be to think of how I could still be supportive of my son Josh, who has Down’s Syndrome. He is a joy in so many ways, my life would have been so much the poorer without him.”

Dr Ford’s final words were reserved for her team’s ministry.

“It is a humble and somewhat hidden work, which for me is remarkable because it tells me that it is close to the Gospel, the passing on of faith, and it is a simple thing done by ordinary people.

“However, people need to know more about the important work that catechists do; after all, they are educating the next generation of Catholics,” she said.

For more information about the Catechist Formation Program, go to http://internet.ceo.wa.edu.au/ReligiousEducationCurriculum/REInParishes/Documents/Catechist%20Formation%20Program%202015.pdf.