What exactly is the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine?

CCD Co-Ordinator Deacon Matt Ransom, with Missionaries of Charity Sisters who are Catechists in Queanbeyan.

The Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) exists in every Diocese in the Catholic Church around the world to give parish-based support to the teaching of religious education for catholic children who attend government schools.

Amongst other work, in ACT/NSW CCD has a strong focus on instruction in Church Teaching.

The organisation began in the sixteenth century in Milan, Italy by a group of Catholics (priests and lay people) who noticed that many poor children and adults knew little about their Faith and began instructing them.

The concept was taken up by the Archbishop of Milan, St. Charles Borromeo, who directed that this work take part in all parishes in his Archdiocese. In 1905, Pope Pius X, instructed that the Confraternity be included in all parishes.

The phrase CONFRATERNITY OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE simply means ‘group giving religious instruction’.

In Samoa and elsewhere – in many countries, the catechists work very closely with the Priests in the formation of all Catholics. For example in Samoa, the Priest would care for the main Parish centre, whilst the Catechists would look after the outlying villages.

In ACT/NSW we have 4,500 catechists teaching 90,000 students weekly. When combined with our protestant sisters and brothers this swells to 12,000 catechists teaching 300,000 children. In our Archdiocese, we have 220 volunteers looking after 2,500 children.

CCD Co-ordinator. Deacon Matt Ransom, said he is in awe of the work done by the Catechists.

“Our Catechists are extremely generous and thoughtful people,” he said.

“They give of their time and help to bring the word of God into the lives of the people they meet. It’s very worthwhile and we welcome anyone else who might be interested in becoming a Catechist.”

Matt can be contacted on matt.ransom@cg.org.au and (02) 6239 9832.