The impact of the catechists’ prophetic ministry on the spiritual life of Bujumbura parish

Abstract

This Thesis is intended to explore the impressions of the catechists on the Spiritual life of the people that they minister to. Since then, the catechists have got involved in the work of the parish. It is to this fact that the Researcher has chosen to handle the topic about the catechists. Given the above, the Researcher finds it proper to assess the impact of the catechists on the spiritual life of the people in the parish, and more especially basing on their prophetic ministry.

This research as noted above is on the “Impact of the Catechist’s Prophetic Ministry on the Spiritual Life of Bujumbura Parish, which comprises 54 sub-parishes and 12 zones. The Researcher focused on the catechist’s Prophetic ministry. Here the Researcher has applied the term, only in relation to the Lay Catechist. Even then, the Researcher has excluded the unprofessional catechists like the parents, schoolteachers, and the rest in that category. The term has strictly been used to apply to the professional catechists, that is, those catechists who are singled out, trained or yet to be trained, for that work.

Many people have called these catechists the foundation stone of the Faith especially here in Africa. Bishop Kihangire talking about the catechists in Africa at the Vatican II Council said it was a question of life or death. Waliggo J.M and Byabazaire M.D in their book “African Theology in Progress,” noted that even when the Missionaries had left for a while, the catechists continued the work of spreading the Religion of the White man. In fact the number of followers was much more than before. This has given me a scratch in head to find out more about the catechists especially looking at their prophetic ministry in relation to the Spiritual life of the people. This is the task that has beset the Researcher.