Pope Francis’s Apostolic Letter on the Ministry of the Catechist: Transcription of a Conversation with Bishop Andrew Cozzens, on Echoing Faith Today, a Podcast, June 1, 2021, Hosted by Dr. Jem Sullivan

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Pope Francis’s Apostolic Letter on the Ministry of the CatechistTranscription of a Conversation with Bishop Andrew Cozzens, on Echoing Faith Today, a Podcast, June 1, 2021, Hosted by Dr. Jem Sullivan Bishop Andrew Cozzens (bio) and Jem Sullivan, Ph.D (bio) Dr. Jem Sullivan: Welcome to “Echoing Faith Today,” a podcast conversation on themes of impact and relevance in the new Directory for Catechesis from the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, Rome. I’m Dr. Jem Sullivan, host and faculty in the School of Theology and Religious Studies at the Catholic University of America. On this podcast we hear from scholars, experts, and those in pastoral ministry. So welcome back and thank you for taking your place at this table of conversation. Dr. Jem Sullivan: Joining us on this podcast is Bishop Andrew Cozzens, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. (Note: since the interview, Bishop Cozzens was appointed Bishop of Crookston, Minnesota). Bishop Cozzens is Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis and he graciously agreed to join us to discuss Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter on the Ministry of Catechist, Antiquum Ministerium. Bishop Cozzens, thank you for your time today. We are very grateful for your virtual presence with us in the School of Theology and Religious Studies at The Catholic University of America. Welcome to the podcast! Bishop Andrew Cozzens: Thank you Dr. Sullivan, it’s a delight to be with you. Dr. Jem Sullivan: A year ago in June 2020, at the height of the global pandemic, the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, Rome, published a Directory for Catechesis, the third of its kind. [End Page 79] About a year later we received Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter, Antiquum Ministerium, instituting a lay Ministry of Catechist. Please share with our audience your thoughts on the significance of this initiative of Pope Francis. Why is the institution of a lay Ministry of Catechist important for the universal Church? Bishop Andrew Cozzens: As you point out the new Directory for Catechesis is important for the whole Church. It is a beautiful document that has been in the works for many years. It did come out in the middle of the pandemic and the document is at the heart of what it means to do the work of catechesis in the Church today. It really emphasizes, I think in a beautiful way, the role of catechesis in evangelization and that we are about an evangelizing catechesis. This new document presents evangelization as the general background to catechesis. And it’s a very comprehensive document as it talks about all aspects of catechesis. It also highlights the vocation of the catechist. And I like the fact that it highlights the missionary character of the whole Church. When Pope Francis institutes this new ministry, he’s really putting catechesis at the heart of what we do in the new evangelization. In this way the document emphasizes even more Pope Francis’ own words emphasizing even more the missionary commitment proper to every baptized person. It goes back to the first document of his pontificate, The Joy of the Gospel, where he talked about what it means to be a missionary disciple. There are lots of ways to be a missionary disciple but one of them is to be a catechist. I think it’s important to recognize too that the ministry of catechist is not new. There have always been catechists in the Church and the Code of Canon Law speaks clearly about catechists. Especially in mission countries we’ve seen, for a long time, the important role that catechists play in places where there is a dearth of priestly vocations. It’s often the catechist who runs the local parish and may even baptize children or witness marriages and be in charge of the parish. There might be fifteen or twenty of these outpost parishes that the priest doesn’t get to very often. That will continue now and those catechists will have an officially instituted ministry. But this document is much broader than that. It expands the role of the catechist to the whole Church. And in...