Franciscan at Home

The First Communion parents were gathered to listen to a talk on the Sacrament of Penance. It became apparent that some were uncomfortable with the idea that their children – or indeed they themselves – might be in need of God’s mercy and love in this sacrament.

‘Children don’t really sin, do they – they’re too young to understand.’

‘I don’t want my children frightened by telling them about hell and damnation at their age.’

‘We don’t really need to confess to a priest, do we? It’s okay` just to say sorry to God on our own, isn’t it?’

I would like to give some suggestions for the catechist who must respond to these kind of comments, explaining the Church’s teaching to those who either misunderstand it or are alienated from it.

The catechist must be a person of faith, hope and love with a strong grounding in the Church’s faith. He must be confident in the vision and hope for the future which the Church teaches and inspires, have a mature and courageous attitude to what love requires in order to deliver the truth. These three theological virtues must be foundational to catechesis, particularly where there may only be one chance to convey the truth of a doctrine or practice. They also provide the catechist with a sound framework for an answer or a discussion which utilises the true teaching of the Church rather than half understood concepts which have often been gained outside the Church, or in childhood.

Jesus called God his ‘Father’, and has enabled his disciples to do the same. The whole Church can now pray to ‘our Father’ (Matt.7:9). This also puts many catechists or teachers, however, on the spot: how do we provide Catholic teaching on human fatherhood and on God the Father without appearing judgmental of the various individual instances of inadequate fatherhood which many children experience?

Susanne Lehne reports on recent research undertaken in US parishes on the catechumenal initiation of children.

During the past four years, The Sower has been publishing an ongoing series of articles about the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. In these articles, William Keimig expertly presented a comprehensive overview of many different aspects of catechumenal initiation of adults. The present contribution presumes that this background will be familiar and attempts a brief sketch of some of the issues and challenges arising from catechumenal initiation of children of catechetical age.

This Summer, the National Association of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd announced the that one of the founders of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Dr. Sofia Cavalletti, 94, died peacefully in her home in Rome, Italy. She died on Tuesday, August 23, 2011.

Sofia Cavalletti is certainly one of the most significant figures for catechesis, and in particular children’s catechesis, in this century. Dr. Cavalletti, together with her colleague Gianna Gobbi, began to work with children in 1954 in the area of children’s religious formation. She was first inspired to understand children’s spirituality following a discussion over a passage of scripture with several children. The children’s engagement and response to the discussion caused her to seek a deeper understanding of the relationship between God and the child.

Sofia Cavalletti and Gianna Gobbi collaborated for more than 50 years listening to and observing children in the context of a prepared religious environment called an atrium, basing their approach on the principles of education developed by Maria Montessori. What children revealed to them was, above all, their profound capacities for relationship with God. Children from very diverse geographical, social and cultural environments responded to this relationship with a profound sense of joy which, Sofia Cavalletti said, “puts them in a particular state of peace, such as to make us think that this relationship satisfies a vital need within children.”

There is a word, which starts with the letter ‘M’, which almost never fails to prompt a strong reaction in catechetical circles. Whether you love the concept behind this word or hate it, its mere mention has been known to cause an immediate hush to fall over a group of otherwise happily chatting catechists. For many today, the ‘M-word’ is a nasty word, bringing one back in memory to the not too distant ‘dark ages’ of catechesis. For others, the absence of this word from our catechetical conversation is one of the significant reasons for a drop-off in understanding and literacy in the truths of the Faith.
The newly published Compendium Catechism of the Catholic Church is quite careful in its reference to the ‘M-word’ in its description of how the Compendium can be best used. When describing its question and answer format and the fact that what is presented in the text is the truly essential, the Compendium states, ‘the dialogical format also lends itself to brevity in the text, by reducing it to what is essential. This may help the reader to grasp the contents and possibly to memorize them as well.’ Imagine that - ‘possibly’ memorizing chosen selections from the Compendium!
Yes, the controversial ‘M-word’ is back! - although part of the purpose of this article is to demonstrate that it never left the Church’s late-twentieth century magisterial catechetical vision.

Leonard Franchi proposes uses for the Compendium in the education programmes for Catholic teachers.

Catholics schools best fulfill their mission when they are staffed by teachers who are committed heart and soul to their own faith tradition. This applies to teachers at all stages in the educational journey. If the role of the Catholic teacher is pivotal to the Gospel witness of the school, it follows that the educational institutions which prepare Catholic students for the vocation of teaching should have the faith formation of their students at the core of their course design. How can this be done?

During the celebration of the Eucharist, our minds and hearts are turned towards Christ through our senses – we sing hymns, gaze at the crucifix, and hear the Word of God. Our physical movements – standing, kneeling and processing – tangibly reinforce our spiritual encounter with our transcendent God. In the same fashion, through the use of their senses and the practice of physical gestures, even very young children can enter more fully into the celebration of the liturgy and life in the church.