Franciscan at Home

Los católicos en los Estados Unidos hemos comenzado un proceso de cuatro años de reflexión, evangelización y consulta llamado el Quinto Encuentro Nacional de Pastoral Hispana/Latina (desde el 2017 hasta el 2020). Al centro de este proceso se halla un modelo catequético que parte de la convicción de que la evangelización y la catequesis son dinámicas íntimamente relacionadas.

El proceso del V Encuentro involucrará, directa e indirectamente, a varios millones de católicos en cerca de 5.000 parroquias en la mayoría de las diócesis católicas de los Estados Unidos. El proceso es una oportunidad perfecta para evaluar de qué manera el marco conceptual de la Nueva Evangelización, aplicado a la catequesis, puede conducir a una apreciación renovada de esta importante actividad eclesial en comunidades de fe católicas. Al mismo tiempo, el proceso es una ocasión para sacar a la catequesis de la “esquina programática” en donde parece residir en muchas comunidades de fe (ej. programas pre-sacramentales, “escuela dominical”) y reposicionarla para que tenga un papel más integrado en los esfuerzos evangelizadores de la Iglesia, una meta que muchos de los documentos eclesiales sobre la catequesis han formulado pero que no siempre logra.

En este ensayo parto de siguiente premisa: la manera como una comunidad entiende la evangelización influencia de manera significativa el cómo se concibe la catequesis al igual que los compromisos pedagógicos y curriculares asociados con ella.

Catholics in the United States are currently engaged in a four-year process of reflection, evangelization, and consultation called the Fifth National Encuentro of Hispanic/Latino Ministry (from 2017 to 2020). At the core of this process is a catechetical model that builds upon the conviction that evangelization and catechesis must explicitly go hand in hand. The V Encuentro process will engage several million Catholics, directly and indirectly, in about 5,000 thousand parishes in most Catholic dioceses throughout the United States. The process is a perfect opportunity to assess to what extent the conceptual framework of the New Evangelization applied to catechesis can lead to a renewed appreciation of this important ecclesial activity in Catholic faith communities. At the same time, the process provides an occasion to take catechesis out of the “programmatic corner” where it dwells in many faith communities (e.g., pre-sacramental programs, “Sunday school”) and reposition it into a more integrated role in the Church’s wider evangelization efforts—a goal envisioned by most contemporary Church documents on catechesis but not always accomplished. In this essay, I propose that a community’s understanding of evangelization significantly influences how catechesis is conceived as well as the pedagogical and curricular commitments associated with it.

There is a powerful verse in Isaiah that is particularly appropriate for all of us who are catechists: “The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught” (Is 50:4a). We need a tongue to speak, and we want the tongue to reflect what we ourselves have been taught. It sounds obvious. How could we teach in any other way than through being taught ourselves? Perhaps it is nonetheless a striking saying because it reminds us of the things that can go wrong in this simple process of receiving and giving.

For Others And For Ourselves

On the one hand, we can think that the formation we receive is for ourselves alone, rather than for transmission to others. We can forget that what we receive in terms of our formation is always both for ourselves and for others. We hear the echo in order to re-echo. A catechist is always for the other, and so in our Christian lives we receive not only for the building up of our own knowledge and understanding, in order to deepen our own relationship with Christ, but also to better discern the ways in which our formation may be of service to others.

On the other hand, we can think that what we receive is for others alone, forgetting ourselves. To use the well-known image of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, we think of ourselves primarily as channels, through which all that we have received flows, rather than as reservoirs that must fill up so as to spill over. St. Bernard counsels:

…do not try to be more generous than God. The reservoir resembles the fountain that runs to form a stream or spreads to form a pool only when its own waters are brimming over. The reservoir is not ashamed to be no more lavish than the spring that fills it.[i]

“To catechize or not to catechize” is definitely not the question. Catechize we must. It is a mandate: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of allnations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19-20). This missionary mandate requires great skill, will power, and constant docility to the Holy Spirit’s promptings, as well as flexibility with the changing realities we face through human history and the Christian presence therein. This Great Commission must also be characterized and driven by the Great Commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God… and your neighbor as yourself” (cf. Lk 10:28; Mt 22:38; Mk 12:30).

How are we to fulfill the Great Commission here at home, when fewer of us go to all nations as missionaries, but all nations seem to be coming to us—even as “missionaries”? How are we to fulfill the Great Commandment towards all when our neighbors include a large and growing number of foreigners? First, we must will it. We must truly desire their good, as Jesus does. When the leper addressed him in his need, Jesus showed his willingness: “I do will it. Be made clean” (cf. Mt 8:1-3). We must will the good of newcomers as much as we will our own.

Who are the New Hispanic-Americans?

I do not intend to approach here—from every possible and necessary angle—the all-important challenge and opportunity posed by the large number of immigrants living in the U.S. However, it behooves us to consider the mission of catechesis and the overall call to an effective new evangelization among Hispanics in the context of this societal challenge, keeping in mind that not all Hispanics are actually immigrants: the roots of millions go back to the 1500s and 1700s.[i]

Latin American immigrants come to the U.S. from twenty-one nations (though some list twenty-seven Spanish-speaking territories on three continents.) Most enter from Central America and Mexico by foot or car; many fly in. They migrate for economic and political, professional and family reasons, usually in search of a better life in a more stable nation. Some enter the country with proper documents, others without; some overstay their visas. Some come and go; others come to stay. Some fear for their lives; many simply cannot in good conscience return “home” and leave behind their American-born children and/or spouse. Most see their work and contributions as meaningful and do not wish to give up a good thing; others know their quality of life would be greatly diminished if they left. Most prove in their new homeland that their hard work and entrepreneurial spirit has a fair chance of flourishing and producing lasting fruit.

The vast majority of immigrants want a chance to enjoy a share of human dignity and the “American Dream”: to live and love; to be safe and secure; to put to use their God-given talents in a dignified and constructive manner; to earn a decent living; to bond and build a just society and a better world. They bring various needs, but they do not come empty-handed, looking for hand-outs: they bring a variety of talents and skills. Most are hardworking and decent. Many are skilled and entrepreneurial. Some are highly educated and accomplished. The majority of Latino immigrants are Catholic and many of them have been active in their parishes, lay ecclesial movements, and dioceses coming with a hunger for God and the ability to spiritually feed others. Immigrants bring gifts and are a blessing to the host country.

The pastoral care of Hispanic Catholics is a crucial duty that we cannot ignore, especially given the high numbers related to migration and birth. In over forty U.S. dioceses, they already surpass the number of non-Hispanic Catholics.[ii] As American Catholics—or rather, Catholics who are American—we must give a thoroughly Catholic Christian response to the presence of migrants to the U.S., especially Latinos. A reminder from Matthew 25 and from the Catechism of the Catholic Church might help us bear in mind how serious our responsibility is toward our neighbor: “The catechetical tradition also recalls that there are ‘sins that cry to heaven’: the blood of Abel, the sin of the Sodomites, the cry of the people oppressed in Egypt, the cry of the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan, injustice to the wage earner” (par. 1867).

Every January we enter back into ordinary time with the baptism of Jesus at the Jordan by John the Baptist. As John’s father Zachariah prophesied at his birth, John is the “Precursor” who “will go before the Lord to prepare his way” (cf. Lk 1:76).

This transition to ordinary time provides a rich context for a fresh reflection on our Christian mission to “prepare the way of the Lord.” In this article, we’ll look at several philosophical proofs of God’s existence and then see how everyday acts can prepare the mind and heart for faith. In order to enter into this topic, it will help to begin with a few thoughts about human reason.

Experience in the garden teaches us that the strongest of plants cannot flourish if the soil is poor. The wise gardener tends to his soil carefully, in order to prepare the necessary environment in which plants can thrive and bear fruit.

By analogy, the same is true in evangelization. When a Catholic organization—be it a diocese, parish, movement, or other apostolic entity—has issues located in its “soil” such as isolated or overwhelmed leaders, divisions, system-wide confusion, or little joy, then its “plants” (programs, plans, and people) cannot flourish. Efforts that might otherwise have produced missionary disciples get frustrated; and good, devout, and talented people can be left puzzled and deflated.

While reflecting upon Pope Francis’ visit to the United States last fall, I continue to be struck by how Francis, though he never attended the Second Vatican Council, embodies it in many ways. The council was a singular ecclesial event of the 20th century—referred to by every pope since its inception as the guiding light for the Church’s present mission. That mission, interestingly enough, was not mainly one of doctrinal clarity but of pastoral duty. The council wanted to address how to bring the faith of the Church more powerfully and effectively to the modern world. Thus, when John XXIII convoked the council, he claimed that its success would be measured both by the extent it revivified the faith of Catholics and by its ability to speak to all people of goodwill. The faith was, he claimed, not only a treasure for Catholics but “the common heritage of mankind.” It is because of this mission that the council stands as the source of the New Evangelization. Yet, from the very start, in its effort to engage the modern world with the Catholic faith, Vatican II has prompted contrary reactions, which claim that either the Church should preserve herself from the impurity of the world, or that she should, rather, embrace the world unreservedly. Both reactions attempt to resolve the inherent tension between the faith and the world, though by different means: one by utter separation and the other by absolute equation. Pope Francis’ desire to bring the faith to the peripheries has prompted the very same reactions. One gets the impression that the Church’s stance toward the world is either all truth and no love or all love and no truth. However, the Church’s mission always proclaims both truth and love. In Francis’ words, the Church must form joy-filled evangelizers who are “able to step into the night without being overcome by the darkness … able to listen to people’s dreams without being seduced and … able to sympathize with the brokenness of others without losing their own strength and identity.” We must, in other words, form messengers of the Gospel who bring the Faith to the very heart of the world without becoming assimilated by it. With this goal in mind, this article will look more closely at one of Francis’ reflections on the Church’s mission to the world. This reflection first took the form of a 1989 lecture in Argentina (antedating his pontificate), which he gave on the occasion of the Spanish publication of Luigi Giussani’s The Religious Sense. In it, he draws from the rich teaching of John Paul II’s Fides et Ratio and signals a way in which the Church can speak to the desire for God that exists in every human heart. His thoughts offer a method the Church can use in order to address those who live in the world without conflating itself with the world.

The Catechism is an outstanding teaching tool that can provide excellent guidance for our lesson and session planning. The crucial element in any planning is first to become clear about the aim and then about the intended outcomes of a lesson. This is the subject of the current article. Focus on the Center The overall goal of all catechetical activity—and therefore of every resource, every program, and each individual catechetical encounter—has been famously described in Catechesi Tradendae, St. John Paul II’s seminal teaching on catechesis: the definitive aim of catechesis is to put people not only in touch but in communion, in intimacy, with Jesus Christ.[i] This articulation that Christ is the central aim of catechesis is a rich and inclusive one, which points in several directions. As we ponder the meaning of this teaching, we can call to mind all the nuances of the term “Christ-centered,” as it is unfolded in the General Directory for Catechesis.[ii] Thus, in our catechetical work, we are helping others to find Christ; and finding Christ includes finding him in all of his relationships. When we find Christ, we find, at the same time, those whom he loves. He would not have it otherwise. He does not allow us to find him alone, isolated, as some barren sola Christi. His names and titles reveal as much: he is Jesus, “God saves”—a name pointing us simultaneously upwards towards the Persons of the Trinity and downwards to those whom he redeems and lifts from the misery of their sin; he is “Son,” a name that identifies a relationship, and reminds us of his heavenly Father, who is his source; he is also “Christ,” that is, the one anointed by the eternal Spirit. To speak of the aim of our catechetical work as putting people “in communion, in intimacy, with Jesus Christ” therefore entails, as St. John Paul II put it, leading others “to the love of the Father in the Spirit” in order to “make us share in the life of the Holy Trinity.”[iii] A christocentric aim, furthermore, necessarily implies a Trinitarian christocentricity.[iv] Christocentricity is also to be understood in terms of what the Tradition has called the “whole Christ,” Christus totus. The Church uses this phase to remind us that Christ is Head and members together, forming one Body. Jesus is not found apart from those whom he disciples; or, according to a parallel image, Christ is inseparable from his Bride, for whom he gave himself up and to whom he united himself in everlasting love. The Scriptures speak of the bride’s longing for her groom, which is a longing for that union that marks the end of earthly time, when Christ finally unites to himself, in the embrace of love, all whom the Father, throughout history, has drawn to himself through the Son in the Holy Spirit.[v] Christ is the living heart of the Father’s plan for creation and redemption. The Catechism provides catechists with this rich christocentric account at the heart of its annunciation of the faith. Every part, and each chapter and section, has been written in order to lead us to this center, revealing “in the Person of Christ the whole of God's eternal design reaching fulfillment in that Person.”[vi] When planning lessons, then, we can turn to the Catechism in confident trust that we will find there a Christ-centered presentation of material.

El número sorprendente de Bautismos, Primeras Comuniones y Confirmaciones entre los hispanos / latinos en las parroquias católicas a lo largo y ancho de los Estados Unidos es quizás la declaración más elocuente acerca de su emergencia como población mayoritaria dentro de la Iglesia Católica de los Estados Unidos. De hecho, según el Centro para la Investigación Aplicada al Apostolado (Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate - CARA), el 54% de los católicos que nacieron después de 1982 son hispanos / latinos. Otro número sorprendente es que solo el 3% de los niños hispanos / latinos asisten a escuelas católicas. Puesto que las escuelas católicas puedan ser el medio más efectivo para generar una identidad y liderazgo católicos, este bajo porcentaje nos conduce a la pregunta: ¿Hoy en día, la Iglesia en los Estados Unidos, ¿cómo transmite la fe al segmento más grande de su población?

La respuesta corta a esta pregunta reside en los ministerios catequéticos que se efectúan en las más de cinco mil parroquias donde se celebra la Liturgia dominical en español. En su gran mayoría, éstas son las parroquias donde los hispanos / latinos más se sienten en casa y donde los niños reciben su Bautismo, Primera Comunión y Confirmación. La organización de los ministerios catequéticos varía en estas parroquias. Algunas de las diferencias incluyen los requisitos del programa, los libros que se utilizan, los costos y la duración del programa - variaciones que pueden influenciar la decisión de las familias en elegir el programa catequético parroquial en el cual inscribir a sus hijos.

Culture exercises immense influence in how we live. Culture shapes our relationships, work, leisure, and ultimately our convictions about what is most important to us. Catechizing for cultural impact involves the extensive effort, as Pope Francis explains, of “translating the gift of God into [one’s] own life.”[i] Catechesis aims at concretizing a person’s faith convictions into a way of life, without which these convictions will remain incomplete. As Pope St. John Paul II made clear: “The synthesis between culture and faith is not only a demand of culture, but also of faith… A faith that does not become culture is not fully accepted, not entirely thought out, not faithfully lived.”[ii] Drawing upon the need for this synthesis of faith and culture, I would like to suggest four ways in which catechesis can help form a Christian way of life. This can happen by: 1) inviting a response or choice to live differently, 2) forming patterns of prayer, 3) helping those being catechized to develop virtuous habits to live out the faith, and 4) looking to the saints and members of our own communities for inspiration and direction. In the catechumenal model, we can see the impetus for Christians to form a new way of life in the redditio, which follows the imparting of the Creed (the traditio) in the catechumenal process. The General Directory for Catechesis (GDC) recognizes that the redditio consists not only in the memorization and recitation of the Creed, but overflows into “the response of the subject during the catechetical journey and subsequently in life.”[iii] In response to the gift of faith, one must render one’s entire life back to God, ordering all things to him.