Catechist Formation - General Policy, Guidelines and Suggested Resources:

The Diocese of Buffalo believes in the priority of on-going faith formation for Catholics of all ages. With this in mind, we require that all catechists – those who volunteer for parish programs, and all those who teach religion in our Catholic schools – be properly prepared for this ministry.

Catechists who have been entrusted with handing on the faith and supporting the catechetical and evangelizing mission of the parish must participate in our diocesan catechist formation process as detailed below:

• Consistent with the previous Catechist Certification directives, the Diocese of Buffalo has always required catechists to be working toward catechist certification, and, once complete, to participate in 5 hours of on-going formation annually. Therefore, effective with the 2010-2011 year, we will suspend the Level 1, 2, and 3 designation so that our catechists and their catechetical leaders can become focused upon on-going formation versus completing 'levels'.

• All catechists & catechetical leaders will complete 5 hours of Catholic formation/theological education annually aligned with the required standards of the diocesan Catechist Formation Process. The diocese will issue a certificate of completion for these 5 hours; if at least 3 hours of formation was conducted in one of the theology areas, this will be noted on the certificate.  Parishes and schools must submit an Excel REPORT FORM as soon as possible for processing. (Previous forms can no longer be used).  

• Each catechist should maintain their own catechist formation record and submit it to the parish catechetical leader (DRE) annually as requested. Records should also be kept in their parish personnel file.  The parish catechetical leader will forward the Report Form provided by the Department of Lifelong Faith Formation to the department no later than May 13, from which certificates will be issued.

• Parishes will receive regular updates announcing opportunities available to catechists to support their formation. In addition, parishes are encouraged to partner with nearby parishes to offer adult formation programs that will assist their catechists in fulfilling this requirement, and should encourage their catechists to participate in regular formation activities wherever available.

Click on the following for more detailed information:

Adult Volunteer Catechists     Religion Teachers in Catholic schools     REPORT FORM  

Catechist Formation on-line  (Small sample below.)

The Six Tasks of Catechesis by Joe Paprocki, Loyola Press (6 Minutes)

The Spirituality of the Catechist by Joe Paprocki, Loyola Press (6 minutes)

An Introduction to the Catechist's Webinar by Joe Paprocki, Loyola Press Part One - Section 1 

"Peaceprints Retreat for Catechists & Teachers" click here

For more information about our standards for catechist formation, please contact Mary Beth Coates at 716-847-5505 or mcoates@buffalodiocese.org.