Franciscan at Home

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’.

The Love of the Father reaches out to every person. Nothing is outside of the mission of the Son and the Spirit, who have been sent among us to draw the whole of creation back to the Father’s house. This inclusiveness is fundamental to the Gospel. The Church announces the Good News in which the Father has acted ‘far beyond all expectation’, sending his own beloved Son (CCC 422). The Catechism quotes from the ninth century Council of Quiercy, ‘There is not, never has been, and never will be a single human being for whom Christ did not suffer’ (cited in CCC 605).

There can be an opposition set up in the minds of some, however, between what is rightly seen as this essential inclusiveness of the Gospel and the teaching of doctrine and morals.

Sometimes, of course, it is not the fact of teaching itself so much as the manner in which the teaching is given which is problematic, and this important point should always be given attention in catechesis: the manner of our teaching follows the pedagogy of God himself, who is respectful of our dignity and our freedom in the ways in which he addresses us. The General Directory for Catechesis signals some of the features of an authentic catechetical ‘manner’ for us: catechesis ‘proposes’ the Gospel; it ‘transforms the processes of intelligence, conscience, liberty and action’; it remembers that belief is ‘a fruit of grace and liberty’, and so on (see GDC Part III for numerous indications).

The Complete, Compact Catechist Prayerbook

Reflecting on Sr. Mary Michael’s article in this issue of The Sower, “The Spirituality of the Catechist”, I realized that many of us involved in catechesis identify with the “hallmarks of the catechist spirituality”. However, we may also contend that we don’t have time to go to daily Mass or pray the Liturgy of the Hours, and some of our volunteer catechists may not even know what the Liturgy of the Hours is. Does that mean we are “disqualified” or “unqualified” as catechists? No, it just means we need to be more creative.

When I was Confirmation Coordinator of our parish, in the pre-children stage of my life, Mass and meditation were part of my daily routine. Now, married with six children ages 10 to 2, my time is no longer my own. My path to holiness comes through being a wife, mother, housekeeper, laundress, tutor, chauffer, referee, cook and catechist, not to mention a catechetical publications director. In this day and age we are all multi-tasking, but this busy activity of doing God’s will needs to flow from the “wellspring of worship”, as Sr. Michael noted.

The monthly publication Magnificat has been the creative resource that allows me to continue to pray weekday Mass, without being physically present in the pew. More than a missalette, Magnificat is also the busy layman’s Liturgy of the Hours, giving an abbreviated version of that which priests and religious use.

Eric Westby offers sound, practical advice for ways in which we can evangelize in our catechetical work.

I know I am not the only catechist who has prepared what I thought was the greatest catechetical session since the Sermon on the Mount, only to have it help the participants cure their most recent battles with insomnia. Over the years, as I have seen little impact from what I thought were well-planned sessions, it has forced me to look more closely at the process of conversion, specifically that which we do to prepare a person to hear the Good News. In Catechesi Tradendae 20, Pope John Paul II describes catechesis as a maturation of the process of evangelization. As a catechist, the better I assisted in the process of evangelization (the better I helped a person know, love and follow the Lord Jesus) the easier it became to catechize that person. In this article, I would like to offer practical ways we can evangelize in our catechetical endeavors, and in doing so, prepare the foundation for catechesis and lifelong conversion.

While finishing a postgraduate specialization in catechetics, I had the delight of getting to know a number of young, up-and-coming catechists who would boast of possessing one or another spirituality. ‘Sister, I just love Saint Dominic!’ one would brag. ‘Therese is my girl!’ beamed another. ‘I’m a die-hard Ignatian,’ declared a third. And always there were plenty of those carefree souls who follow the Poverello from Assisi!

As I spent more and more time with these eager young people, I found myself trying to show them that, while each of the various spiritualities in the Church has its own particular ‘flavor,’ as future catechists they would need first to develop a taste for the particular ‘spirituality of the catechist.’ Unlike the ‘Dominican’ or the ‘Franciscan,’ the ‘catechist’ has no founder as such from whom to draw a specific charism. Instead, the spirituality of the catechist ‘springs from (his) vocation and mission.’ [i]