Declining catechism attendance threatens children’s faith formation

NAGERCOIL, Tamil Nadu (Indian Catholic News) — A Catholic bishop in southern India has urged parents to give children’s catechism the same priority as academic education, warning that declining participation is leaving many young Catholics without a basic understanding of their faith.

Bishop Nazarene Soosai of Kottar,  in a pastoral message in July, said he was increasingly concerned that parents and children were treating catechism as optional, despite its central role in Christian formation.

“It is quite saddening to observe that not only many children but, at times, even their parents tend to take lightly or take for granted the importance catechism in the faith formation of their children,” the bishop wrote to his Diocese of Kottar. “It is with this concern that I wish to address this important issue.”

The bishop said the issue had become increasingly apparent during his pastoral visits, where catechism teachers and parish leaders regularly reported a sharp decline in attendance at Sunday classes.

Educational changes reshape faith formation

Bishop Soosai attributed the trend partly to changes in Tamil Nadu state’s educational landscape. While parents increasingly choose schools outside the Catholic system and often farther from home, he acknowledged that families have the freedom to make educational decisions for their children.

However, he warned that many non-Catholic schools provide no religious instruction. “Consequently, the parish remains the only place where they can receive a systematic formation in the Catholic faith,” he wrote.

Yet many children now attend Sunday catechism irregularly or not at all, resulting in what the bishop described as an alarming gap in religious knowledge.

“As a result, a growing number of our young people lack even the basic knowledge of the faith, the teachings of the Church, the Scriptures, the Sacraments and the moral values that should shape their Christian lives,” he said.

Parents bear primary responsibility

The bishop emphasized that parents remain the first educators of their children in the faith, citing the Church’s teaching that families have the primary responsibility for catechetical formation.

While parishes and the wider Church support families in this mission, he said they cannot replace parents’ role.

“If we neglect this responsibility, we risk raising a generation of Catholics who are sacramentally initiated but insufficiently catechized and inadequately formed,” he warned.

He urged parents to treat faith formation with the same seriousness as academic achievement and reminded them that catechism should not be viewed as an optional parish activity.

Call for shared pastoral response

Bishop Soosai appealed to priests, religious, teachers and lay faithful to work together in finding practical ways to ensure that every Catholic child receives regular catechetical instruction.

He also called for discussions on the issue in parish councils, Basic Christian Communities and other consultative bodies to identify effective pastoral responses.

“The faith of our children is a shared responsibility entrusted to the whole Christian community,” he wrote.

The bishop encouraged Catholics to renew their commitment to catechesis “with faith, zeal and creativity,” entrusting the mission to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and invoking God’s blessings on all involved in religious education.

Read the pastoral message.