The Episcopal Commission on Catechesis and Catholic Education

HISTORY

This Commission began to exist in 1945 as one of the “departments of the Catholic Welfare Organization, the forerunner of the CBCP, under the name Episcopal Commission on Education and Religious Instruction (ECERI).

Alongside this Commission, the bishops had also set up a Commission on Catechetical Texts which was placed under the leadership of Archbishop Jose Ma. Cuenco from 1945 to 1950. In 1966 this Commission was integrated into the ECERI.

In 1984, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines approved the establishment of the National Catechetical Office of the Philippines (NCOP) as a branch of ECERI in charge of its researches and publications.

In 1988, the name of the Commission was changed to Episcopal Commission on Catechesis and Catholic Education (ECCCE). This change was prompted by the desire to lay greater emphasis on catechesis, one of the two areas of responsibility of the Commission. The second area is education, especially Catholic education.

As the central catechetical agency on the national level the ECCCE is assisted by the Advisory Council for the Ministry of Catechesis (ACMC) comprised of representatives from various regions and from selected catechetical centers.