“I feel inspired again”: twenty years a catechist, and still learning

Christine Hulley sat in the front row, took notes all day and asked questions. Around her, pens filled notebook pages, and the only other sound was mugs clinking in the kitchen.

She has been a catechist in the parish of Blessed Nicholas Garlick, Glossop, for nearly 20 years. Catechists are the volunteers who help children and adults get ready to receive the sacraments for the first time. In November, her grandson will be confirmed, and she will be one of the people who prepared him.

She became confirmation leader almost by accident, at a parish meeting with a new priest. “I think I was talking at the time,” she said. “And I got the job.” Her real reason was simpler: “I just wanted to tell the children more about God.”

Faith reached Christine the way it reached many Catholics of her generation. Her parents sang in the parish choir, and her father was head altar server. “It’s not just because I was born into it and everything was natural,” she said. “We need to change that.”

So, on Saturday 17 October she travelled two hours to Holy Trinity, Newark. She was one of more than 40 catechists at a day led by GIFT (Growing in Faith Together). GIFT helps parishes move from preparing children on their own to forming whole families together. Christine admits that before the day she was thinking, “Oh, it’s a Saturday and I’ve got to go.”

She had come to hear how other parishes had done it. “We went from a sacramental preparation to family catechesis,” said Maria Quinn, one of the GIFT speakers. Their first family session was in January 2020, and nobody knew if anyone would come.

Thirty families arrived. “They enjoyed themselves. It was a different experience of church for them,” Maria said. Afterwards the team stood in the hall, “and our mouths were just hanging open”. They were exhausted, she said, “but full of life.”

Christine recognises the gap GIFT is trying to close. She volunteers in a Catholic primary school. “The children are so eager, but the parents sometimes dismiss their thoughts,” she said.

Canon Chris O'Connor, of the Parish of Our Lady of Victories Market Harborough, who attended GIFT’s day for priests on the Friday, has seen what happens when that gap closes. Asked how it feels when someone’s faith comes alive, he said: “It means everything.” He put it in the simplest terms: “That they know and experience that they are loved. And also that excitement in the faith.”

His takeaway from the day was straightforward, “We’re growing our faith together, and actually, whether you’re a priest, whether you’re whoever you are, a catechist or helper or families, we’re all growing in faith.”

By the afternoon, Christine had found what she came for. “I feel inspired again,” she said. “So, I feel every now and then you need to come on a day like this to give yourself a boost in your own faith.”

Her parish starts GIFT in December. “I don’t know whether we’re ready,” she said. “But we’re starting it.”

She does not claim to know yet what will keep families close. “Hopefully I’ll find it by us doing the GIFT programme.” Her advice to beginners: “Be positive and really believe and have faith.”

If Christine’s story has you wondering whether you could do this too, you don’t need 20 years’ experience to start. The Diocese’s Formation for Mission team runs annual training for catechists, beginning with Encounter, four online evening sessions for anyone new. The first is on Thursday 5 November, and the £25 cost is often covered by parishes. If you’d like to join, you can sign up through the online enquiry form.