Southwark Report 2020_NEW final -Single pages

Evangelisation, Catechesis and Formation:
A Year in Three Parts
St Augustine
Shrine, Ramsgate
by Marcin Mazur
12
Twenty-twenty represented a change
in direction regarding the work of
evangelisation, catechesis and adult
formation in Southwark.
Personnel changes, a fresh working model as
well as practical responses to the Coronavirus
pandemic made the year both atypical and notable.
In a very real sense, for what was the Centre for
Catholic Formation, 2020 was the end of an era.
The work that the Centre had undertaken for 52
years (as the Christian Education Centre and the
CCF), however, is being taken up by a new Agency
for Evangelisation in Catechesis.
Part 1 JANUARY to MARCH 2020
The Centre for Catholic Formation, based in
Tooting Bec, sought to supply training for
catechists and children’s liturgists in parishes;
and offered many further hours of training and
formation to Readers, Extraordinary Ministers of
Holy Communion and others in liturgical ministry
such as Master of Ceremonies, sacristans and
musicians. The CCF also provided parishes with
consultation on catechetical programmes and
evangelisation initiatives, helping catechists and
priests to determine useful parish resources.
The first three months of the year saw a
continuation of this work in parishes and
deaneries as well as the valuable centralised
courses: the Diocesan Catechetical Certificate
(DCC), the Catholic Certificate in Religious
Studies (CCRS) and the training course for the
Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS).
In collaboration with the Cathedral and the
music committee of the Liturgy Commission,
the Centre staff organised the Rite of Election
on the first Saturday of Lent. 196 catechumens
(those seeking baptism) and 167 candidates
(those, already baptised, who are preparing
to receive the
final sacraments
of initiation,
confirmation
and Eucharist) as
well as around
400 godparents,
sponsors and
guests were in
attendance.
At the end of
February, the
Bishop Patrick Lynch calls out the names
of Candidates at the Rite of Election