KOCHI: In a proactive step to keep the young of its flock together in Covid times, parishes of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and Latin Catholic Church have started online catechism classes. With regular Sunday school being interrupted by the virus, the two Churches seem to be adapting to the changing times. St George Basilica Church, Angamaly, which has about Sunday school 2,000 students, has appointed family unit coordinators to collect assignments from its catechism students. Completion of the assignments and homework would be considered as attendance. The assignments would also be published on the church website and online channels.
To inculcate Christian values in young hearts without any hiccup, all parishes under the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church have shifted to online catechism classes. “It has been three weeks since we started the online classes and the response is very good from children as well as parents. Before starting the classes, a video tutorial was uploaded and a catechism teachers’ meeting convened. Classes are mainly through YouTube videos and WhatsApp groups have been created by each parish to communicate with students and give homework,” said Fr Cherian Nereveettil, vicar of St Gianna Church, Maradu.
“The classes will take place in two phases. The first phase classes will be on common topics, which can be attended by all students and even parents, and the other phase will stick to the syllabus of each class,” said Fr Jimmy Puchakkatt, vicar of St George Basilica Church, Angamaly.
After the Mass, the Latin Catholic Church has also moved to online catechism classes, where the students can clear the doubts with the teachers and interact with them during live sessions. “There are over 40,000 kids in the archdiocese and arranging individual sessions for a particular class will be time consuming, so we have arranged live interaction with students through phone calls during the session. Classes take place on Saturdays and Sundays for one hour,” said Fr Antony Karipatt, director of Catechism Commission, Archdiocese of Verapoly.
Fr Cherian also said that since the Covid-19 situation will continue for some time, the quarterly examinations will have to be conducted soon. “Children in the lower classes are very excited with the new digital set-up. Though there has been no confirmation, if the situation continues for another two weeks, there is a plan for the homework assessment to be considered for exams,” he said.