We are living in rapidly changing times or as Pope Francis has said a change of era. It is within this context, that the instituted ministry of catechist was announced by Pope Francis.3 In this very short document, Francis describes this ministry as both ancient and new. It is ancient in the sense that when we look at the history of the Church we can see that there have always been a variety of ministries arising from the need of the Church, and the document traces this out.