Remembering The Catechists Of Yesteryears
Ahmedabad-based Jesuit priest, Father William Pius Macwan, has taken the initiative to pay homage to the catechists of yesteryears by bringing out a book on them entitled “Catechist Smrutigranth”.
The editor of the book, Father Macwan, presented the first copy to Bishop Thomas Macwan of Ahmedabad at the Bishop’s House here January 12.
The magazine-size book has covered articles on 113 catechists authored by almost as many writers.
In gathering the articles written by different people and editing them, Father Macwan has tried to highlight the catechists’ personal experiences in the service of the Church instead of giving mere statistical data about them. He notes that most of the catechists were employed as teachers in mission primary schools, as religious instructors, leaders in their villages and as the right hand or assistant to the missionaries of the time.
“The growth of the Church in Anand-Kheda (region) is the fruit of the dedicated apostolate of the catechists who gave themselves totally to preach the Gospel. In no little measure is the part played by their wives in the quiet of their homes. All honour and praise to those ‘apostolic’ families,” says Archbishop Stanislaus Fernandes of Gandhinagar in his message.
