More than 2,000 catechists and Catholic school teachers and principals gathered Nov. 13 and 14 to get inspired about their ministry and to learn about changes to the catechist certification process.

The gathering, with the theme “Inspiring Faith, Building Bridges” featured a program with keynote talks by Archbishop Cupich and Kellogg Graduate School of Management professor Lisa Fortini-Campbell, and, in Spanish, Father Manuel Dorantes, pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish, 2745 W. 44th St., and liaison for the Holy See’s Press Office to the Spanish-language media.

Catholic schools Superintendent Jim Rigg welcomed Friday’s group of mostly Catholic school teachers and principals with a “vision of hope and expansion.”

While there are challenges, he told them, “we are not here to manage the decline of Catholic schools.”

Archbishop Cupich talked about the disciples that Jesus met on the road to Emmaus. Many catechists, he said, identify themselves with those disciples, going out from Jerusalem to spread the Good News of Christ’s resurrection.

The archbishop encouraged them to go a step further, he said, and see themselves in the role of Jesus in that story.

“You come into the lives of people, and you do in a way that helps them understand how God is acting in their lives,” he said. “In the end, their hearts are left burning within them. You give them the encouragement to spread the Gospel themselves.”

The catechists active in schools and parishes right now are working in an important and challenging moment, in what Pope Francis has called a new era for the church, one with an emphasis on synodality, Archbishop Cupich said, explaining that the word “synod” comes from the Greek words for “to be on the road together.”

“It assumes that people in the church are really going to listen to each other,” he said. “That’s the first challenge, to listen well, to listen deeply, to not just be the source of our own information.”

That is also how the church must evangelize, he said, starting with listening.

“We have to begin with their experiences, and then we lead them to discover all that God is offering,” the archbishop said.

He encouraged the catechists to also pay attention to their own journeys of faith, “because we cannot give what we don’t have.”

Given that Chicago has a new archbishop — speaking less than a week before the first anniversary of his installation — as well as a new superintendent and director of catechesis and youth ministry, it made sense to change up the annual catechetical gathering, which in the past has included many workshops and breakout sessions, necessitating a different kind of venue. This year’s gathering, at Drury Lane in Oakbrook Terrace, was more focused on fewer, large-group sessions.

It also included an overview of the new catechist certification process, which includes a two-year program of online and on-site classes and in-person retreats, with continuing education and formation to be completed after that.

The new focus, which included video thanks for catechists from archdiocesan leaders, got a thumbs-up from participants.

Jeannie McNamara, who teaches sixthand seventh-grade language arts at St. Cletus in LaGrange, said she liked the positive atmosphere.

“It seems filled with hope,” she said.

Tracey Rapp, youth minister at St. Patrick Parish, Wadsworth, said it was good to bring all the catechists together.

“Sometimes when you’re all going in different directions, you lose momentum,” she said. “This gets us all moving in the same direction again.”