We’ve covered bishops, clergy, and parents. People in religious
life have had a profound influence on faith formation. It’s less
about catechetical content and more about the witness of life. I
like the way Pope Paul drew an important distinction: every
believer is called to evangelize. People in religious life have
abandoned self to conform to the Beatitudes. That is a
pilgrimage one does not often find in Holy Orders. 228. In a
special way the Church calls those in consecrated life to
catechetical activity and wishes that “religious communities
dedicate as much as possible of what ability and means that they
have to the specific work of catechesis”. (Catechesi Tradendae
65; cf. canon law 778) The particular contribution to catechesis
of religious and of members of societies of apostolic life
derives from their specific condition. The profession of the
evangelical counsels, which characterizes the religious life,
constitutes a gift to the whole Christian community. In diocesan
catechetical activity their ori