Franciscan at Home

Sean Innerst helps us respond to the Church’s call to place Christ at the center of our narration of salvation history.

The General Directory for Catechesis (GDC) at number 39 says, ‘Catechesis, for its part, transmits the words and deeds of Revelation; it is obliged to proclaim and narrate them and, at the same time, to make clear the profound mysteries that they contain’ (emphases added). That is only the first of several references in the GDC to a form of catechesis, the narratio or narration of salvation history, that was a standard part of the initiatory practices of the fourth and fifth century Church.i

Those practices, many of which have been revived in the modern RCIA, gave way over time to the requirements of a changing Church in which the catechetical focus became not so much adults who needed to be given a Judeo-Christian worldview to replace a Greco- Roman one, but children who had grown up in communities that were more and more shaped by a Christian vision.ii With the fading of the ancient practice of narratio, many catechists today feel incapable of responding to the obligation to narrate what God has revealed, spoken of in the GDC, because they just don’t know what a catechetical narration should look like.

In the Prologue to his early 5th century work De catechizandis rudibus (DCR), which in its newest English translation is titled Instructing Beginners in the Faith,iii St. Augustine of Hippo tells us that the narration, or narration of salvation history, which he used to catechize those newly entering the faith is intended to display ‘the central points of the faith’ and that it ‘gives us our identity as Christians.’iv He goes on to say that it represents an ‘initial grounding in the faith’ and then even that through it ‘the content of the faith is communicated’ to these newcomers.v That a half-hour to an hour-and-a-half discourse could do all that might seem a rather exalted claim, but Augustine is clear that in either a shorter or longer form, when constructed properly, the narratio will be ‘at all times perfectly complete.’vi

‘On the Spot’ aims to highlight some of the complex positions, questions and comments experienced by Catechists, teachers and parents. It tries to outline the knowledge necessary to be faithful to Church teaching and which will best help those we teach who call us to account for the hope that is in us. [cf I Peter 3:15]

This time we look at the name and titles of Jesus explained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, considering how these complement each other and how we can help children to draw closer to Jesus in coming to understand them more fully.

This article has been written in response to many questions about on-line formation for catechists. It is clear that this is becoming an increasingly important area for discernment, especially in the pursuit of new methods for new evangelisation. (On-line programmes for catechist formation need to be distinguished, of course, from questions of the use of on-line resources for general adult education in the faith).

The questions that are raised take various forms: Is on-line formation for catechists effective? Is it better, or worse, than other forms of formation? Can an on-line programme fulfil the Church’s pedagogical requirements? What can it do and what can it not do? When and how should on-line programmes be used? How might on-line formation be developed and supplemented so that it complies as fully as possible with the Church’s guidelines, so that its potential to assist catechetical formation is maximised?

We can be clear from the beginning that the General Directory for Catechesis strongly promotes new forms of media for presenting the Gospel message:

“The media has become essential for evangelisation and catechesis. In fact ‘the Church would feel herself guilty before God if she did not avail herself of those powerful instruments which human skill is constantly developing and perfecting’ …In them she finds a new and more effective forum, a platform or pulpit from which she can address the multitudes.”[i]

What exactly does this mean in practice? The Church has provided us with exacting and subtle guidance and direction. An overarching principle that this article keeps in mind, from GDC 237, is that the pedagogy used for the formation of catechists, ‘needs coherence with the pedagogy proper to the catechetical process. It would be very difficult for the catechist in his activity to improvise a style and a sensibility to which he had not been introduced during his own formation’.

“In order that the sacrificial offering of his or her faith should be perfect, the person who becomes a disciple of Christ has the right to receive ‘the word of faith’ not in mutilated, falsified or diminished form but whole and entire, in all its rigor and vigor”.[i] But what if I do not know how truths of the Faith connect and cannot present the faith in its whole? Following the “bread crumbs” of the Catechism of the Catholic Church will give me the answer. But what are these “bread crumbs?” The italicized cross references in the margins of the Catechism lead us from pillar to pillar and concretely connect truths of the Faith like individual threads of a web, each thread making the web stronger and stronger. A vital task of catechists is to not just present a bunch of doctrines, but to explain how they interconnect.

Why is it so important to make these connections? The General Directory for Catechesis says, “The duties of catechesis correspond to education of the different dimensions of faith…In virtue of its own internal dynamic, the faith demands to be known, celebrated, lived and translated into prayer. Catechesis must cultivate each of these dimensions”. [ii] The Catechism presents these dimensions in its four “pillars”. The 1st pillar explains the Creed, the 2nd illuminates the Sacraments, the 3rd covers the Moral Life and the 4th is concerned with Prayer.

‘On the Spot’ aims to highlight some of the complex positions, questions and comments experienced by Catechists, teachers and parents. It tries to outline the knowledge necessary to be faithful to Church teaching and which will best help those we teach who call us to account for the hope that is in us. This time we look at how we convey a sense of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

What we do will usually leave a firmer, longer-lasting and deeper impression on our children than what we say. This is a universal and timeless fact. Children learn how to behave, how to speak, dress, relate to others, to drink, smoke and take drugs, or to be selfless workers for peace and justice, by observing other people, not always consciously.

Why would it be different in faith and worship? If children observe adults and older children keeping silence in church, as much as possible, genuflecting before the Tabernacle, kneeling at the Consecration, bowing or kneeling when the Blessed Sacrament is taken from the Church to the sick at the end of Mass, escorted by servers and candles, they will absorb an awe and respect for the Real Presence long before they have any understanding of it. Understanding doesn’t need to precede action; we love and trust our parents long before we understand who they are and why they love us.

If, on the other hand, children are allowed to run free in the church as if it were a village hall, if they hear adults and older children laughing and talking freely, paying no attention to the Presence of Christ, even attending concerts and other events in the church where the participants stand with their backs to the Blessed Sacrament, they are not simply learning disrespect. They are in simple ignorance of what they are failing to do - to give honour and recognition to the Presence among us of our Creator and Redeemer.

So our own actions around the Blessed Sacrament are of great importance.

What is an effective and truly engaging model for Catechesis? R Jared Staudt argues that a new approach is needed, one that cultivates every aspect of faith to create a dynamic experience of the Christian life for those being catechized.

In a short piece entitled “Models of Catechesis,” Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., describes various approaches to catechesis practiced by the Church in the twentieth century. Foremost among these Dulles lists doctrinal catechesis, which “relies heavily on the authority of Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church,” and whose “objective is to produce Christians who are confident and orthodox in their faith.”[i] It is not surprising that a dire crisis in both confidence and orthodoxy afflicted the Church in the late twentieth century when doctrinal methods of catechesis were virtually abandoned.[ii] In what follows, I will argue that new approaches to catechesis, rather than being completely abandoned, should be integrated in a holistic fashion in which the doctrinal method holds priority. Such “holistic catechesis” will lead to a vibrant spiritual life for those catechized in which the faith that is learned is also encountered and, ultimately, lived out.

'On the Spot' aims to highlight some of the complex positions, questions and comments experienced by Catechists, teachers and parents. It tries to outline the knowledge necessary to be faithful to Church teaching and which will best help those we teach who call us to account for the hope that is in us. [cf I Peter 3:15] Here we consider how we explain to those we teach what it means to be a human person and that this can only be built upon the understanding that we are made in the image and likeness of God.

‘Of all visible creatures only man is able to know and love his creator. He is the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake, and he alone is called to share, by knowledge and love, in God’s own life. It was for this end that he was created, and this is the fundamental reason for his dignity.’ (CCC 356)

Catechising strongly, simply and clearly about the identity of the human person is crucial for the whole work of transmitting the faith. If this area of our teaching is shaky or insecure many areas of the faith are affected. And it is precisely in this area, of how we understand what it is to be a person, that we face some of the greatest challenges as catechists! Let me give an example. A friend, having successfully conceived a child through IVF, told me cheerfully that she had given permission for the remaining fertilised egg to be ‘used for research’. “After all,” she said, “it’s not a person.”

Our children are growing up in a world which feeds them a very inadequate notion of what it means to be human. At one level, they are certainly presented with a biological understanding of the human being; that which distinguishes us from other species and allows us to be categorised as human rather than canine, feline or bovine. It might appear that this should be our starting point for catechesis on the human person, for the physical, the biological, the visible is what we have most obviously in front of us to work with. Educational advice is to begin where the child (or adult learner) actually is, and so for learning to be experience-based.

On August 21, 2012, the feast of St. Pius X, then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio—now Pope Francis—published a letter to the catechists of his Archdiocese of Buenos Aires. This is an exclusive English translation of that letter.

“In those days, Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.”  (Lk 1:39)

Dear Catechists,

'On the Spot' aims to highlight some of the complex positions, questions and comments experienced by Catechists, teachers and parents. It tries to outline the knowledge necessary to be faithful to Church teaching and which will best help those we teach who call us to account for the hope that is in us. [cf I Peter 3:15] Here we look at the challenge faced by those who try to present the faith in a hostile and aggressive environment.

‘Christianity: The belief that a cosmic Jewish zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from ...a magical tree...yeah, makes perfect sense.’

Of course, it makes no sense at all - and it certainly isn't Christianity, even in an extreme fringe form. Yet, quite suddenly it seems, the beliefs of Christians are no longer either quietly respected or ignored. Whatever the cause, many who do not accept Christianity, or even the existence of God, now feel able to publicly deny, ridicule and attack Christian belief in a way that would have not been accepted before, nor would it be tolerated now if directed towards other religions. This attitude now pervades our public life, our schools, homes and even parishes to an extent that would have been unthinkable even ten years ago. The parody quoted above has been passed around by those who find it very funny; it's possible those people would not have found it so amusing had their own deepest beliefs been lampooned in a similar way.[i]

A catechist is not merely a teacher or instructor in the modern sense; he or she is one who makes another hear, literally ‘makes the ears ring’. Part of each catechetical session is, through proclamation, letting the catechumens or candidates hear the Word of the Lord echoing down through the Tradition of the Church. Tradition is ‘that which is handed down’, that which has been gathered into the Church’s treasury of doctrine and prayer over 2000 years. This is why the words of St Cyril of Jerusalem, St Ambrose, St John Chrysostom still ring out with such clarity centuries after they were proclaimed to catechumens in the Early Church.

A catechist’s task, then, is to hand on only the accumulated wisdom of the Church and this includes her rich heritage of liturgy, whereby we listen to God our Father and enter into dialogue with Him.

In anticipation of a new English translation of the Missal next year, this is an area that needs attention and proclamation. The prayers of the Mass form a great spiritual resource for catechesis and it is easy to miss some of the riches contained in the Mass that take up only a few seconds - before moving on to what may seem the more ‘important’ parts. The Collects, or Opening Prayers, are especially vital in that they set the tone, introduce the theme, of the whole Mass of the day. The Collect is intended to gather up, to ‘collect’ the prayerful thoughts of the people as they prepare to meet the Lord in word and sacrament; we cannot do that adequately unless we understand and appreciate what the Collect is saying on our behalf. It is for this reason that catechesis on these prayers will not only be helpful but will form an important function in handing on the Tradition of the Church.