Franciscan at Home

¿Cómo se catequiza sobre la Señal de la Cruz? Estos puntos pueden ayudarnos a ver la riqueza de una catequesis litúrgica que trate de las palabras y del gesto corporal.

How do we catechise on the Sign of the Cross? These points may help us to see the richness of a liturgical catechesis on the words and on the bodily gesture.
For example:
Express our baptismal birthright
Proclaim the promise of Christ
Present saving doctrine
Act as a fourfold prayer
Are an expression of the primacy of grace and of our personal response

On the Spot aims to highlight some of the complex positions, questions and comments experienced by catechists, teachers and parents. It tries to outline the knowledge necessary to be faithful to Church teaching and which will best help those we teach who call us to account for the hope that is in us. This time we look at a question sometimes faced by those who want to respond to the call of the laity to participate more fully in their sharing of the prophetic, priestly and kingly office of Christ.

The young mother at the school gate recognised me and came over to chat. She, a cradle Catholic, had recently attended a parish talk on ministry in the Church, thinking it would increase her understanding of her faith; and now she found that she had been included in the numbers on a course especially to train Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. She was a little puzzled.

‘They didn't ask me if I wanted to be a Eucharistic Minister,’ she said. ‘They just assumed that everyone wants to do this.’

I was reminded of the recent RCIA meeting where two or three of those preparing to enter into full communion with the Church confided to me that they were really looking forward to perhaps being an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist.

Both the reluctant and the enthusiastic would-be Minister of the Eucharist indicate two areas of misunderstanding over the role of the laity in the Church. Firstly, the reality of what it means to act as an Extraordinary Minister; and secondly, the resultant obscuring that can take place of the laity’s true dignity and office.

How, therefore, can we catechize to ensure that the unique role of the laity is brought out?

In this article Fr. Vivian Boland discusses the vocation to catechesis within the context of Religious Life.

Pope John Paul II’s post-synodal exhortation Vita Consecrata (1996) is now the best point of reference for a reflection on the vocation to catechesis within the context of religious life. The exhortation is in three main parts, concerned with the confession of the Trinity, the sign of communion, and the service of charity. Religious life, the Pope says, is the icon of these things, realizing for the whole Church a total dedication to contemplation, communion and mission. The work of catechesis also finds its deepest theological and spiritual meaning in relation to contemplation, communion and mission.

A properly Christian understanding of any profession or occupation requires that we refer it to the Blessed Trinity, the communion of life and love that God is. All gifts, ministries and services find their ultimate significance in the mutual presence, communion and giving of the Persons of the Trinity. This mystery, revealed to us by the Son in the Holy Spirit is the source from which we draw our understanding of Christian life. This presence, communion and giving flows from the Father into the Church through the Son and the Spirit giving rise to myriad forms of religious life, Christian ministry and charitable care.

We know that all Catholics are called to witness to the Gospel and to tell others of their Catholic faith.[i] However, religious could be said to be prime witnesses to the faith: ‘those who are called to the consecrated life have a special experience of the light which shines forth from the Incarnate Word... “How good it is to be with you” (Matt.17:4), to devote ourselves to you, to make you the one focus of our lives!’[ii]

They have (or should have!) the time to ‘imbibe’ Christ, so-to-speak, to sit at his feet so that they can go out, reflecting this light of the Incarnate Word.

This light of Christ grows brighter through the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience - and in my own Dominican tradition, it grows brighter also through the assiduous study of sacred truth and through the monastic observances. Through these observances we endeavour to give something back to God, to ‘praise Him, to bless Him and to preach His Gospel’. Laudare, Benedicere, Praedicare is the motto for the Dominicans. And how appropriate is the motto for the work of catechesis, for in catechesis we are surely assisting others to respond to his grace so as to praise, bless and preach Him.

As a teaching method in catechesis, dialogue is often given a prominent place: it is seen as a ‘democratic’ mode of teaching, enabling a range of views to be heard and considered within a relationship of mutual give and take; it seems to be respectful of the learner, speaking ‘with’ rather than ‘to’ the person, allowing the other into the teaching which is taking place; and it can develop the learner’s potential, encouraging the development of critical and intellectual skills through a mutual and shared engagement with questions.

Many go further, arguing that catechesis should privilege dialogue as the preferred means of communication of the Faith.

The Church documents speak of God’s ‘dialogue of salvation’[i] being at the heart of catechesis, so that ‘The wonderful dialogue that God undertakes with every person becomes its inspiration and norm’.[ii] God speaks his word and seeks the response of his creatures. God reveals to man the plan he is to accomplish and calls for a response in faith to that Revelation. At the beginning of the first part of the Catechism this fundamental orientation of catechesis towards dialogue is implied: ‘The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being’.[iii] Cavalletti rightly emphasises that in catechesis there is a call to ‘be attentive to the dialogue that is concretized in the covenant’.[iv]

John tells the story this way: There was a wedding in Cana. Mary was there as a guest. So was Jesus, her Son. So were His first disciples. Mary noticed that the wine was running short, a terrible embarrassment to the hosts of the wedding. In going to her Son, Mary simply said: ‘They have no wine.’ Imagine Jesus looking at her deeply, accompanied with a bit of a sigh. ‘How does this concern me? My hour has not yet come.’ The best was yet to come. Mary’s response. She said nothing. She found the wine servers. She pointed back to her Son. She said: ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ And that was her exit out of the story. She left it up to her Son Who instructed the servers to fill the large stone jars with water. That water became the good wine. That good wine was the beginning of the signs and wonders that ‘revealed His glory’ to the world, even and especially to this day. John’s story of the Wedding Feast of Cana is like peeling an onion. There are so many layers, ever so delicate and unique that we can gather from this chapter of Scripture.

This month of October marks the 30th Anniversary of Pope John Paul’s great letter to the Church on catechesis, Catechesi Tradendae. It was this letter that describes Mary as ‘the mother and model of catechists’ Here Gary Sullivan reflects on Mary’s life as a catechetical journey.

She never planned a lesson or used a grade book. Chalkboards had yet to be invented, not to mention whiteboards. She never clicked a power point or used an overhead; but Our Lady revolutionized catechetical instruction. By employing the most essential catechetical tools Mary was way ahead of her time. She is the primordial catechist. In her example we find the marrow of catechesis. What she models to the modern catechist is the example of the correct posture which yields the most fruit. No one can argue with the results we find in her prize student.

Telling the life and story of Jesus is central for the learning of our students.

One of the privileges of a religion teacher or catechist is that of being a teller of the story of Jesus. So conscious was Sunday school teacher, Joseph Bayly, of this honour that he simply called the book he wrote about his teaching experiences, I Love to Tell the Story. The inspiration for this title came from an evangelical hymn of the same name that contained the uplifting lines: ‘I love to tell the story of unseen things above, of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love. I love to tell the story because I know its true; it satisfies my longings as nothing else can do.’ This title captures well the mission of religion teachers as they endeavour to form the faith of young believers. Consciousness of oneself as a teller of the story of Jesus can be energizing. However, telling the story is but part of a sequence in the journey of the religious educator. The first step is that of hearing the story. But even this, on its own, is not enough. It needs to be authenticated by a genuine attempt to live the story. These three elements of hearing, living and knowing need closer exploration.

In this issue we complete our introduction to John Paul II’s prophetic document on the Gospel of Life.

One of the most important initiatives of Pope John Paul II was his call for a ‘new evangelization’—a rekindling of the primary mission of the Church to proclaim, by word and deed, the Good News of Jesus Christ to all people. This would include the proclamation of the Gospel to those peoples and cultures which had received the Gospel in the past, but have ‘fallen away,’ (hence the need for ‘re-evangelization’).

In the final chapter of Evangelium Vitae, Pope John Paul reminds us of the Church’s identity as ‘the people of life and for life… because God, in his unconditional love, has given us the Gospel of life’ (78.3; 79.1). I am reminded of powerful words in the Gospel of John in which Jesus contrasts the thief ‘who comes only to steal and kill and destroy’ with himself, the Good Shepherd who said, ‘I came that they may have life and have it abundantly’ (Jn 10:10). Most of this encyclical has focused on the monumental struggle between the ‘culture of death,’ which like the thief ‘comes only to steal and kill and destroy’, and the mission of Jesus and the Church to bring and protect life. This final section focuses on the positive mission of the Church to promote a ‘new culture of human life’.