Transforming Catechetical Leadership

Catechetical Leadership is hard. Parish faith formation and diocesan directors are asked to be theologians, teachers, evangelists, and program administrators. They often do this without a degree or significant experience - certainly in no more than one or two of these areas. In rural areas, a director could cover territory of up to 6 parishes in a single cluster making their closest companion in their job an hour or more away! It takes creativity paired with strong leadership to guide people along paths that honor both what the church teaches and the realities of modern family life. Catechetical leaders often find themselves as the focal point of tension, responding to the momentary demands of one group or another rather than actually guiding people towards deeper communion with Jesus.

It makes sense that catechetical leaders are struggling. It makes sense that there is significant turn over in parish leadership around faith formation. If you are a struggling catechetical leader, your struggles make sense and they are completely justified. What they are not, however, is a permanent state of being, or a reason to think this is a lost cause. You are not limited by what you come into the job knowing and what you can learn on the ground in the meantime. You are not alone even if there is not a single fellow faith formation director within a half hour (or more!) of you.

Transforming catechetical leadership requires three things.

1. A deep understanding of the interconnected aspects of your job. How does a catechetical leader (program administrator) nurture lifelong discipleship (evangelist) through quality education (teacher) and authentic faith (theologian)?

   
   

2. Skills to support each of these areas. Skills like facilitating trainings, leading teams, prayerful discernment, nurturing discipleship, comprehensive program evaluation, developmentally appropriate teaching practices, working with affiliated but not-yet engaged families, building parish-wide missionary discipleship, and more.

   
   

3. Community with those who are doing this with you and understand that to focus on only one of these aspects of your job is to deny its potential fruitfulness and ultimately increase your own struggles.

Getting out of the boat when Jesus calls us is hard. Which of us has not related better at times to those eleven disciples who stayed in the boat while Peter walked on water (however briefly)? The thing is, when you boldly answer the call to get out of the boat, you realize you are not the only one. You are not the only one who is genuinely trying to follow God's call to transform lives through discipleship driven, evangelical catechesis. Admittedly, you most likely will not walk on water, but if you are faithful to the call to excellence in your ministry, Jesus will give you hands to hold along the way.

The Designed for Discipleship System of Evangelical Catechesis was not developed to offer yet another surface level tip, trick, or tweak. It is not a quick fix. This is a deep transforming approach to catechetical leadership that allows leaders to be more effective in offering the most important transformation- life lived in friendship with Jesus- to those in their communities.

If you are ready to turn struggles into strategies, our fall group coaching program is now open. This is a 6 month immersive experience in all of the skills listed above (and then some). It is a social, active learning environment despite the fact it takes place online. Over six months, we will meet as a group live ten times plus two individual coaching sessions with either Tim or I focused on your local application. Everything we cover live is backed up with practical tools, additional readings, group discussions, and more. Live sessions are not hours of sage on a stage lecturing, they are an interactive, responsive professional learning community. New for Fall 2026, we are offering an entire cohort dedicated to transforming catechetical leadership in a single diocese! If you are a catechetical leader in the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, you can use this link to enroll in a cohort of your peers from across Southeast Minnesota.