Catechist Formation Overview
Christ the King offers catechist certification for the Diocese of Lansing. Professor Barbara Morgan’s two-part program for certification is open to parishioners of Christ the King and members of other parishes in the area. You must register with Lauren Sauter in order to participate in the classes. If you plan to listen to the classes online, you also must register and pick up the appropriate binder(s) of written material that goes with each talk. There are four levels of certification:
- Teaching Permit: In order to be qualified to teach the Faith in a classroom setting, you must complete the 10-hour course on methodology. You may take this class online and there is no fee for parishioners of CTK.
- Basic Certification: For basic certification with the diocese, you must complete the 14-hour course on methodology as well as learn at least five of the required doctrines/subjects.
- Intermediate Certification: For intermediate certification, you must complete the 14-hour course on methodology as well as learn at least 9 of the required doctrines/subjects.
- Advanced Certification: For advanced certification with the diocese, you must complete the 10-hour course on methodology and all 17 required doctrine/subjects. You also must participate in an internship that includes observing a catechist and being observed. Barbara will continue to teach 12 Doctrines every year until she has covered all 64.
Required Doctrines/Subjects
The list below is what the diocese requires. Some of them have not been taught yet, which is why there is no link to the recording.
- Creation
- Incarnation
- Mary – Part 1 and Part 2
- Trinity – Part 1 and Part 2
- Faith
- Mystical Body
- Grace
- The Liturgy: Part 1 & Part 2
- Jesus Christ
- Church
- Sacraments (Baptism, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Confirmation, Anointing of the Sick Part 1 and Part 2, Matrimony Part 1 and Part 2, Holy Orders)
- Prayer
- Sacred Scripture
- Old Testament
- Key People of the Old Testament
- New Testament Gospels
- New Testament Acts and Letters
- How to use the Bible with Different Age Levels
- Moral Development/Conscience Formation Part 1 and Part 2
- Catechesis & Social Justice
For more information on the methodology and doctrine classes, visit the pages below:
Catechist Formation: Methodology
Catechist Formation Contact Information
For more information, contact Lauren Sauter, Youth Discipleship Administrative Assistant, at lsauter@ctkcc.net.
Barbara Morgan, Director of Religious Education Emeritus
The Catechist Certification series was developed and taught by Professor Barbara Morgan, who recently retired after serving for many years as the Director of Religious Education (DRE) at Christ the King.
Barbara was DRE at Christ the King when it was first established in the 1980s. She left to pursue a Masters degree in Religious Studies from the Notre Dame Institute for Catechetics as well as her Advanced Apostolic Catechetical Diploma studying with Msgr. Eugene Kevane. After finishing her studies, Barbara founded the Catechetics program at the Franciscan University of Steubenville where she taught for many years.
She retired from FUS in 2005 and moved back to Ann Arbor to be closer to her children and grandchildren. Christ the King was then blessed to have her back as the Director of Religious Education for several years before she retired again in June 2018.
In addition to her work at FUS, Barbara has authored and co-authored several books on Catechetics. Most recently, she co-authored with Sr. Athanasius Munroe, OP, Echoing the Mystery: Unlocking the Deposit of Faith in Catechesis. This major work is in many ways the fruit of Barbara’s decades of work training catechists. For more of the story behind this book, click here to read the preface.