I expect catechists to be orthodox Catholics, otherwise they are leading innocent people into error.
However…
I can understand how one might be totally orthodox in one’s beliefs but still balk at signing an oath.
It’s like saying to a decent man, we need you to sign an oath pledging not to abuse your wife and children.
And the decent man (DM) might say I don’t and won’t abuse them so why should I sign. I promised my wife before God and the community to love, honour and cherish her all the days of my life. I don’t need to sign your pledge.
*Well if you won’t abuse them anyway why not sign? *
DM: It is insulting to me to be asked to sign. I refuse.
The way you are behaving about this it seems you have a problem with authority.
DM: I don’t have a problem with authority!
See denial - it’s the first sign. So denial, problems with authority - I bet your wife and kids are in danger too.
We don’t need oaths and pledges, we need decent and orthodox leaders, leading by example.
Also, I would be very wary of a school board asking for an oath of fidelity to Catholic teaching. A bunch of politicians (possibly with very dodgy Catholic credentials) whose only interest in getting oaths of fidelity is to prove Catholicity to a government so they can maintain their independence from the public board and so their financing? Gimme a break! (This is a Canadian example here)
Anyway - how come the parish priest doesn’t know the catechists? I would expect the parish priest to be totally in control of all catechetical programs in their parishes. They should know who is orthodox and who isn’t.
Getting someone to sign a pledge is a cop-out.
I’ve been asked to lead RCIA in the fall. The parish has asked me to go through yet another security screening.
In the past 2 years I’ve done 7 different security background checks, including fingerprints: for the diaconate program, for the school board, for the parish already, for my daughter’s school, for my hunting and firearms licences, and to volunteer at my son’s school. Security checks don’t prove you’re a good guy, they just prove you are not in the system yet! I’m sick of these useless checks and feel like saying “No, ask the diocese if I’m good to go.”
In the same way a pledge of fidelity doesn’t prove anything.
I could totally and honestly believe that the “magisterium of the faithful” supercedes all else, including the Pope and Bishops, and believe that this is a valid teaching of the church, and I could (in utter ignorance of the Truth) pledge fidelity, oblivious in my lack of knowledge. And so go on blithely teaching the kids absolute nonsense.
No! The parish priests need to be in charge.
Loyalty oaths mean nothing. Anyone can sign one, and it is insulting. I’d never sign one myself. 
