Catechetical Methodology: Pope Benedict XVI on ‘Mystagogical Catechesis’
In the last issue of The Sower, Archbishop Burke drew our attention to Pope Benedict’s statement on mystagogical catechesis. Here, James Pauley unpacks some of the implications of this teaching for our catechetical methodology.
Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis on the Eucharist as the source and summit of the Church’s life contains the most recently articulated magisterial teaching on the important relationship which exists between liturgy and catechesis. The importance of a deep integration of liturgy and catechesis has been a much frequented theme in these years since the Second Vatican Council highlighted the ‘didactic’ nature of the liturgy[i] and the importance of the faithful participating in liturgical life with ‘minds attuned to their voices.’[ii] Benedict’s immediate predecessor warned of an increasing liturgical participation which lacked liturgical understanding, manifesting itself in a widespread ‘hollow ritualism’ in the liturgical practice of the faithful.[iii] And, the General Directory for Catechesis called for a catechesis which consistently promotes ‘a deeper understanding and experience of the liturgy.’[iv] In a careful reading of the magisterial catechetical vision of the second half of the Twentieth century, it would be difficult to overlook the very important connection between liturgical understanding and liturgical participation.
Catechetical Methodology: The Interrelation Between Liturgy & Catechesis
If we catechize well about the Liturgy, we will find that the Liturgy itself will catechize well.
‘Every form of catechesis necessarily leads to the sacraments of faith.’[i] These are the words of Pope John Paul II, written in the first year of his pontificate, and they are crucial for our understanding of catechesis. The relationship between liturgy and catechesis is a theme John Paul II chose to carefully develop in his apostolic exhortation to catechists.
The liturgical-catechetical relationship is a subject alluded to by the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium. The purpose of that document was to renew and reform the Church’s sacramental life, and the Constitution makes clear the importance of the relationship between liturgy and catechesis in the Church’s mission.
The phrase from Sacrosanctum Concilium which has become perhaps the best-known and most prolifically quoted in these subsequent decades is the call for ‘full, conscious and active participation in liturgical celebrations’ on the part of the People of God.[ii] The Council set in motion a period of substantial renewal of the Church’s liturgical life in order to facilitate this level of participation on the part of the faithful. While many believed that ‘active participation’ was possible only through an adaptation of the liturgy to the capacities of the faithful (for example through a restoration of the use of the vernacular language), it is clear that in the minds of the Council Fathers, the heightening of liturgical understanding was also understood to be necessary.
Teacher Education and the Use of the Compendium
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?
