Commission for Catechetics

Faith formation is catechesis (teaching the faith) which aims deepen people’s contact with Jesus Christ via educational and enrichment opportunities. Designed to touch the intellect as well as the heart, these programs help people live and experience a more Christ-centered life.

Catechesis is also the act of handing on the Word of God intended to inform the faith community and candidates for initiation into the Church about the teachings of Christ, transmitted by the Apostles to the Church.It involves the lifelong effort of forming people into witnesses to Christ and opening their hearts to the spiritual transformation given by the Holy Spirit.

The ministry of Faith Formation, the most important ministry in the Diocese of Quilon, provides effective ways (programs) of catechesis for people of all ages and backgrounds.

The ministry dedicates more on the faith life formation of children through Sunday Catechesis.

Family Apostolate

To prepare the youngsters to meet the challenges of married life and to bring about happiness and fulfilment in the Catholic families by enabling them to lead a Christian value centric family life after the model of Holy Family of Nazareth we conduct three days Marriage Preparation Course twice a month.

Our Mission

Prepare and guide individuals towards a better married life through the Marriage Preparation Courses (MPC).

• To create awareness among families and equip them to face every day’ schallenges in married life.
• To help the married couples to lead more meaningful life.
• To promote Christian values in the families.
• To promote healthy life styles among members of the family.
• Guide families towards better financial planning and management.
• To promote family prayer. (daily reading of holy Bible, praying rosary all the members of the family together)
• To support the families with spiritual and psychological assistance.
• To bring up children in faith and moral values.

Training Program For Parents Of Newly Wedded Couples

Offer parental guidance for more fruitful interaction and acceptance of the son in -law or daughter in- law.

RC matrimonial Kollam diocese, an undertaking of KRLCC, helps to find out suitable mates for the youth of Quilon diocese from other dioceses in Kerala.

Our future plans

To conduct value educations for adolescents.

To conduct get together for different age group couples to share life experience and provide guidance and counselling for those who need it.

At the completion of the course, a certificate is issued to the participants, which is approved by the synod for the pastoral care of the migrant catholic community.

Carismatic Movement

The Catholic Charismatic Renewal began at a retreat for college students at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania in February 1967. The students had spent much of the weekend in prayer, asking God to allow them to experience the grace of both baptism and confirmation. The students, that weekend, had a powerful and transforming experience of God, which came to be known as ‘baptism in the Spirit'. The account of the weekend and the experience of the Spirit quickly spread across the college campus, then to other campuses throughout the country.

The Charismatic experience soon moved beyond colleges and began to have an impact on regular parishes and other Catholic institutions. Loose organizations and networks were formed. Catholic charismatic conferences began to be held, drawing large number of the faithful. The common thread for the Movement is the ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit'. For many people, this new, powerful, and life-transforming outpouring of the Holy Spirit takes place in the context of a specifically designed seminar called ‘Life in the Spirit', although many have been ‘baptised in the Spirit' outside of the seminar.

The Renewal caught the attention of the Church, and the leaders of the movement met Pope Paul VI in 1975. In order to serve needs for communication, co-operation and coordination, a council and an international office were set up in 1978 under the auspices of Leon Joseph Cardinal Suenens, named by Pope Paul VI as his Episcopal Adviser to the renewal on the international level.

The council was established first in Brussels and later in Rome. On May 23, 1984, Pope John Paul II named Bishop Paul J. Cords to succeed Cardinal Suenens as his representative to the Council. In 1993 This organization was recognized by the Pontifical Council for the Laity with a new name ICCRS.

In India CCR began first in Bombay in February 1972 and soon began to spread to the other parts of the country. A National Office was started in Bombay in 1974 which was moved to Bangalore in 1984 and then to Delhi in 2001. It organized the first National Convention in Bombay and started publishing the national magazine Charisindia. In 1977, a National Service Team was elected by the First National Leaders Conference held in Bangalore attended by leaders of the then-existing charismatic gourps. Fr. Fio Mascarenhas SJ, was the first Chairman and Archbishop Arulappa of Hyderabad and its first Episcopal Advisor. In October, 1980 Fr. Gino Henriques, CSsR of Bangalore was elected Chairman. In 1984 Bishop Valerian D'Souza of Pune was appointed Episcopal Advisor. In 1988, Fr. A. J. Thamburaj, SJ of Chennai was chosen Chairman of the NST. In 1993 again Fr. Fio became the Chairman and Bishop Gali Bali of Guntur succeed Bishop Valerian as Episcopal Advisor. Thereafter, Bishop Valerian D'Souza was once again appointed the Episcopal Advisor. Mr. Cyril John of Delhi was elected Chairman of NST in 2001 who became the first layperson to hold the office of Chairman. He was re-elected for two more terms till 2010, when Prof. Constantine B. Fernandez, a veteran CCR leader from Quilon, Kerala was elected the next Chairman.

Jesus Youth

Jesus Youth is an international Catholic youth movement with a charismatic spirituality. It had its beginnings in Kerala (India), but is now active in nearly 25 different countries around the world.

Jesus Youth is an initiative of young people themselves, who, filled with the Holy Spirit try to reach out to other young people. The strength of the movement is its special focus on a life centered on the Lord Jesus Christ: beginning with an experience of God nourished by prayer, the Word of God, the sacraments and fellowship, and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with others.

Though not an actual community, Jesus Youth is a network of small but vibrant groups of young people. In their own life situations, they strive to give time to the Lord, responding to the challenges of today’s world in the power of the Holy Spirit.

History & Evolution

Jesus Youth, an initiative of young people, is all about Spirit-filled youth reaching out to other youth and building a network for the Lord. It all began in Kerala, India. This is a special place, the picturesque coastal state in the southern most tip of India, with its rich cultural backdrop and Christian tradition of three different Catholic rites and numerous other churches.

The Charismatic Renewal swept through the churches of Kerala in the late 1970s, touching the hearts of young people, leading to the formation of youth groups. In the early 80s, these groups grew rapidly and in 1985, the International Year for Youth, these groups came together with a single name: Jesus Youth, seeking a clearer vision for themselves and for the wider participation of young people in the Church.

The growth of these young people came through commitment to ministries. An eagerness to share and serve children, college students (Campus Ministry), those in parishes (Parish Ministry) and the poor and suffering (Outreach) and the like.

By the 90’s, the movement started to spread to different parts of India. Jesus Youth leaders who were active in Kerala reached different places outside the state for their job/studies. Their eagerness and zeal to take initiatives for the Lord and bring young people closer to Christ resulted in the formation of prayer groups in different parts of the country. Slowly these prayer groups became an active Jesus Youth presence in that region.

The necessity of a team to co-ordinate all these new areas resulted in the formation of the first Jesus Youth National Team in 1998. Gradually the movement began to take root in the interior places and villages of India and simultaneously spread to different parts of the world.

Spirituality

Jesus Youth members seek to grow as faithful disciples of Christ, through the six pillars of the movement.

Daily Prayer: A daily ‘quiet time’ with the Lord leading to an experience of the companionship of Jesus, enables one to have a joyful attitude in daily life.

Word of God: A regular time for a meditative reading of the Sacred Scripture helps one to seek God’s guidance and shape his life according to God’s will.

Sacraments: Frequent and active participation in the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Reconciliation contributes to a life of wholeness and strength and are integral to a person’s growth in holiness.

Fellowship: Christian life, a call to live the life of the Trinity in communion with one’s brothers and sisters in Christ through mutual support, encouragement and gentle correction, is an important element in the movement. Cells, small groups, prayer groups, service teams and friendship circles help to make Jesus Youth a family.

Service: Following the footsteps of the Master who brought the Good News to the poor, Jesus Youth stretches out a helping hand to those burdened with poverty and deprivation.

Evangelisation: Personal renewal in Jesus leads to a commitment to share the person and message of Jesus with others. This commitment to evangelisation is central to the life of every Jesus Youth.

Individual spiritual direction and various Jesus Youth Formation Programmes also contribute to a member’s faithful discipleship and growth in holiness.

Charisms

Distinguishing characteristics of the Movement

• Youth reaching out to youth: As witnesses of the joy of a life in Christ and in service of the Church.
• Ongoing faith and human formation: Through Jesus Youth groups and training programmes, encouraged by the six pillars.
• Using the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit: For growth in personal holiness, service in the community and proclamation of the Good News.
• Forming youth for missionary commitment: In response to the divine mandate and the call of the Church.
• Witnessing to the Lord in the rapidly changing modern context: Among children, students, those in parishes, the poor and the suffering, working professionals, young married couples and families, aided by the use of technology and modern mass media.
• Participation in Fellowship groups: In many places, small cells and prayer groups are gradually evolving into committed communities.
• Rooted in the Church and committed to ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue: While incorporating effectively into ecclesiastical structures and pastoral plans.
• Close interaction, collaboration and networking among individuals, ministries and fellowship groups: Modern means of travel, media and communication establish Jesus Youth as a close-knit ecclesial family.
• Becoming a Jesus Youth: Not by a formal enrolment, but by a step by step interiorisation of the Jesus Youth lifestyle and participation in fellowship and mission.

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Basic Christian communities

KRLCC functions primarily and predominantly through the various commissions created by Kerala Region Latin Catholic Bishops’ Council (KRLCBC) from time to time. In line with Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC) etc. KRLCBC forms different commissions to cater to the needs of the Latin Catholics of Kerala. In Kerala the Latin Catholics are at the same time a ‘church’ and a ‘community’. Therefore, naturally the Commissions created are to support the growth and development of both the church and the community. At present there are twenty-four (24) commissions. Each Commission has a Bishop as its chairman and a priest/religious sister/lay person as its Regional secretary at the state level. Every commission is comprised of nine to eleven (9-11) members representing different areas of Kerala and different groups of the faithful like priests, sisters, lay men, women and youth. Half of the commissions deal with spiritual and ecclesial life of the church, while the other half deal with social, cultural, and political life of the people.

In the particular context of Kerala, where the Catholic Church is the communion of three individual ritual churches coordinated by the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC) from Pastoral Orientation Center at Palarivattom, Cochin, the regional secretary of each commission in a particular church functions as the associate secretary of the corresponding commission under the KCBC. The KCBC Commissions function as a federation of the same commission in the three ritual churches.

The same system is replicated in the twelve Latin dioceses of Kerala, with the exception that in the diocese the diocesan bishop is the chairperson of every commission. He appoints a director who forms a directorate with adequate representation from different parts of the diocese and various groups of the faithful, not exceeding 11-13 people.

As circumstances permit the same system is followed in the deanery/vicariate/forane level also. Where enough priests are available a deanery team is formed with a priest as its director and the representatives from all parishes under the deanery/vicariate/forane as members. It is an accepted principle that every commission has to reach its activities to the Basic Christian Communities (BCCs). But naturally it is impossible to form all twenty-four commissions in the BCC or even in the parish. Therefore in order to make the system more practical the KRLCBC decided to form six ministries into which all the twenty-three commissions are clustered according to their general nature whereas BCC remains as the base and foundation for all the commissions and ministries. This is called the “Ministry-Commission System”. Each ministry will comprise of a few commissions according to their nature of action. There is a General Ministry coordinator at the regional and diocesan level, as well as ministry coordinators for each ministry at regional and diocesan levels. The ministry coordinator brings together regional secretaries/diocesan directors of the respective commissions that come in the cluster of the ministry and supports their function in their respective levels. Below are the six ministries and the twenty four commissions at the regional (state) level and the office bearers of the same.