Franciscan at Home

came to the role of catechist in a parish setting very late in my career. For the whole of my adult life, I had worked in some way as a teacher in a Catholic school with responsibility for catechesis as part of my vocation. From the age of twenty-five, I had also exercised the primary catechetical responsibility with my own children. With such a weight of experience, I believed that working with the catechetical program in the parish would not be particularly challenging. Anyone who has worked in this mission will recognize how misguided I was. The parish context is utterly unique since the students we encounter face very different challenges without the support of a school community. The parish catechist is subjected to extraordinary and demanding expectations as well. Whereas a parent and a Catholic schoolteacher have a degree of “control” over the circumstances in which catechesis is delivered, this is not the case in parish programs with which I am familiar. The students can often be there “under sufferance”; having already spent a full day in a school classroom, they are often far from receptive. In some cases, parents are not particularly supportive and at times they are even unfairly critical. Indeed, it was in a parish catechetical setting that I heard for the first time those dreaded words: “I’ll just let my child try this out; and if she likes it, she can stay.” Presumably, if the catechist does not “perform,” the child will then be deprived of the richest treasure that can be offered to any human being: the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How does one cope in circumstances like these? The temptation is to try to be “exciting” and “interesting” – and very quickly to burn out. This approach will ultimately fail, because the vocation of the parish catechist brings us face to face with the raw reality that there is only one gift worth giving: Jesus Christ. The parish catechist, first and foremost, is a witness to Christ. Here it is worth recalling the words of Blessed Paul VI’s encyclical Evangelii Nuntiandi, “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.”[1] No program or resource, however superbly prepared, can replace a catechist who is in love with God. A telling example of this is St. John Vianney, whose catechetical lessons attracted hundreds from every walk of life every day, not just the children of the parish.

We all have a natural tendency to seek comfort and avoid suffering. This is especially true of children, who have limited “delay of gratification skills,” meaning that it’s difficult for them to not have what they want, right when they want it.

But suffering is a part of every life. Along with the good times, we also experience illness, hardships, disappointment, and eventually death. If our faith is to be relevant to our everyday life, it is important that a community of faith be able to give meaning to suffering and be responsive to the needs of those who are suffering.

God is always with us
Once, during a rare question and answer session, a young girl from Japan asked Pope Benedict why people must suffer as they did in her country during the tsunami. Pope Benedict answered honestly, saying that he, too, had trouble understanding why suffering of this magnitude is present in the world. He then echoed the words of Pope John Paul II, saying that one thing we can be certain about is that God is always on the side of the suffering. Jesus himself entered into human suffering. In the suffering Christ, we see God’s solidarity with even the most painful moments of human existence. Children’s experience of God’s presence often takes shape in their interactions with friends and family, and most especially with their parents, but in a lesser way with teachers, catechists, and other authority figures. For this reason, it is important that they experience empathy from the adults in their lives, even when their suffering seems small by our standards. Reflecting their feelings by saying, “I know you're frustrated that you can’t play outside today,” or “I’m sorry your stomach is hurting,” lets them know that you care about them, and it helps give them the strength to bear their small sufferings and build self discipline.

The Catechetical Institute at Franciscan University has officially launched it's LMS (Learning Management System) FranciscanAtHome.com for online catechist formation in all areas of catechesis; we're adding new courses weekly. You can try it out for as little as $5 for the month, just for enrichment, or $13 for a month with a mentor to accompany you.

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For all the social media “friending” and “connecting,” there is a crisis of friendship in the world today. The trivialization and/or sexualization of the concept of friendship is an increasing problem in our culture. Families and catechists must do everything in our power to foster healthy friendships in the lives of the children entrusted to our care. Like everything in children’s lives, their understanding of what it means to give and receive friendship begins at home. How can parents offer children the experiences and skills they need to construct a good foundation for healthy friendship? Four Friendship Virtues The four cardinal virtues, when practiced in our families, enhance our ability to be present to children and develop other virtues that help them live in friendship with others. Here we identify some intentional ways that parents can cultivate virtuous living and healthy Christian friendships in our children.

A lo largo de los siguientes números de la Catechetical Review, presentaré tres artículos que tratan del papel del catequista: desde las perspectivas de padre de familia, de docente en una escuela católica, y de voluntario parroquial. He desempeñado personalmente los tres papeles, y quiero aclarar desde el principio que ninguno tuvo la misma importancia personal para mí que aquél que se me confirió a través de mi vocación al matrimonio - la de ser esposo y papá, con responsabilidad por mi familia. Es en este punto que comenzaré.

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As a Clinical Child and Family Psychologist who works primarily in the field of catechesis, one particular interest of mine is the integration of what both faith and science tell us about the human person. In secular society, and even among some individuals in the Church, there is the misconception that science and faith are somehow incompatible. However, some of the greatest minds both in science and religion have disputed this assumption. For example, Albert Einstein famously said, “A legitimate conflict between science and religion cannot exist. Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”1 Similarly, in a letter to Director of the Vatican Observatory Reverend George V. Coyne, S.J., St. John Paul II wrote, “Science can purify religion from error and superstition; religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes. Each can draw the other into a wider world, a world in which both can flourish… We need each other to be what we must be, what we are called to be.”2

Christians have viewed the field of psychology with skepticism from its very beginning. After all, Sigmund Freud, considered by many to be the founder of psychology, called religion “an illusion.”3 But as the field of psychology has grown and its methods have improved, many have found it to be more and more compatible with Christian thinking. In fact, what we find by science to be true about the human mind and human emotion would necessarily have to be compatible with our faith, since God himself created us to think and to feel.

Using what we know about how people think, feel, and behave can make us more effective in faith formation. The following is a discussion of five pressing questions in the field of catechesis that may be answered, at least in part, by research in the social sciences.

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The human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral pillars of formation are used to guide the formation of Catholic priests and deacons throughout the world. The United States Bishops’ document Coworkers in the Vineyard[i] applies these four principles to lay ecclesial ministers, including catechists. In this article, we extend the application to children and families. The terms “religious education,” “catechesis,” and “faith formation” are practically interchangeable in the way parishes use them today. No matter what terms we prefer, it makes sense to concern ourselves with the whole person, who is, by nature, in relationship with other persons. ...As we form children in the faith, it is essential that we incorporate their families. Children’s human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral formation is inseparable from the families in which they live. Our role as catechists can never replace that of their parents. We have a duty to support family life, even as we model appropriate behavior for our students and insist they practice compassion, kindness, and all the human and theological virtues.