Franciscan at Home

At the very centre of the universal Church’s most recent document on catechesis, the General Directory for Catechesis (GDC), issued in 1997, lies the notion of ‘the pedagogy of God’. What does this phrase mean, and why is it so important?[i]

We will see that it provides the key for understanding the specific nature and character of catechesis according to the mind and heart of the Church, and especially for the linking of the content of what is taught to how we teach, and for linking the work of the catechist to the work of the Blessed Trinity in catechesis. The ‘pedagogy of God’ is not so much a theory of education or even a set of principles to guide us. Rather, this central section of the Directory reminds us to focus on the action and work of God who is the Pedagogue, forming and transforming those whom we teach, drawing them to himself through a unique kind of educational discipline.

This article will expound the teaching of the GDC (137-147) on this area so as to draw out the main features of the pedagogy of God.

God is the Pedagogue, and we catechise attentive to his ways.

This feature 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)

We look at how we can imitate the ‘divine pedagogy’ of welcoming revelation by stages in our handing on the faith to our children.

‘The divine plan of Revelation….involves a specific divine pedagogy: God communicates himself to man gradually. He prepares him to welcome by stages the supernatural Revelation that is to culminate in the person and mission of the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ.’ (CCC 53 my emphasis)

The children in the top infant class were preparing some pictures to make a wall frieze; they were illustrating the nursery rhyme, ‘Humpty Dumpty’.

‘You paint Humpty Dumpty, Louisa,’ said the teacher, handing each child a large sheet of paper, ‘And you paint one of the King’s men, Jack; and Debbie, you paint a horse. Mickey, you paint the wall.’

Anyone who has spent time with small children will know how that turned out. The caretaker was not pleased and the paint never really came off the wall completely. But Mickey had not been disobedient – it was simply his understanding that was not up to the task. He did what was asked of him in blind obedience.

In looking at God’s way of revealing himself gradually to us, and at what was expected by way of our response, I want to draw out the parallels with passing on the Faith today, and try to show how we need to regulate and graduate our teaching on revelation, as well as our expectations of responses to that revelation. In identifying how our responses to God’s revelation help us to build on what has gone before, I hope to come closer to identifying what an appropriate response to God’s revelation might mean for us and for our children.

How do we ensure that we practise a ‘personal pedagogy’?

We are aware that doctrine and its transmission is essentially personal. We ground catechesis in the living foundational realities of the faith, handing ourselves over to serve the transmission of Christ and his message. What do we mean by a ‘personal pedagogy’? A pedagogy that is personal is one that focuses principally and appropriately on the persons involved, each in their own way.

Catechesis has to do principally with persons. Persons are central to the work of catechesis. It sounds obvious, but is nonetheless worth taking time to think through so that we can begin to understand what kinds of implications this has.

All spiritual beings are persons. God himself is Personal, in fact a Trinity of Persons. Angels are persons, also. We human beings are both corporeal and spiritual, and therefore we are also persons. People in the bible and saints in history are persons. (Animals are not!) Catholic doctrine, therefore, is deeply and essentially personal.

Let’s put this same point in another way. Catholic doctrine is personal because truth is a Person; truth is the Person of Christ. We human beings are made in the image and likeness of the One who is the image of God, the One who is a Person of the Trinity. Therefore, we are created as persons.

There are several challenges here for us as catechists. In the first place the challenge is to teach doctrine in such a way that participants know that they are being introduced to persons. Then secondly, the pedagogy we use must serve the truth that all of the participants in catechetical sessions are persons. Thirdly, we can recognise that the personal nature of catechesis touches deeply and intimately on our own spiritual lives.

Lani Bogart encourages catechists to model and explain the powers and capacities available to the Baptized.

Sometimes I puzzle over the lives of cradle Catholics who are repeatedly drawn back to the sacraments of the Church over the course of many years, yet seem to lack an understanding that Christ came to lead them, personally, to an intimate life of love in the Father and with the Holy Spirit. What is it, I wonder, that keeps them coming back?

I imagine within each one a hearth where the fire of God’s love is kindled. Sparks flare during the big moments of life: a wedding, the birth of a child, a tragic relationship, the death of a loved one. At such times not just a flame burns, but a respectable fire. As time passes, they appear content to allow the flame to lie dormant under a heap of ashes; yet, they are unwilling to entirely extinguish it. In cold, dark moments they return to the hearth and stir the coals into flame.

How can we help cradle Catholics be more aware of the graces at their disposal? How can we help them understand that all of life is meant to be lived in the light and warmth of that fire? How can we help them tend the fire of God’s love in their hearts?

The presentation of doctrine must be biblical and liturgical.

In the fourth article in this series we wrote about how to ensure that the presentation of doctrine be liturgical. This fifth article forms a diptych with the fourth (a second half hinged to the first), that is, the presentation of doctrine must also be scriptural. Scripture and Tradition - of which liturgy forms a major part - are the two panels of the diptych that are distinct but should not be separated.

How can we ensure a liturgical approach in our catechesis?

The heart of what the Church means by liturgical catechesis is that we proceed from ‘the visible to the invisible, from the sign to the thing signified, from the sacraments to the mysteries’ (CCC 1075). This is the secret of all good liturgical catechesis! Liturgy, after all, enables a spiritual encounter with Christ Our Lord – which is why the liturgy is described is the summit towards which the activity of the Church is directed’ (CCC 1074).

We could say that there are three aspects to liturgical catechesis:

Firstly, there is the catechetical preparation for liturgy: we can call this ‘teaching to the Rite’. We catechise about the Liturgy so that people know what to expect, so that they are taught the meaning of what they will see and experience.

Secondly, there is the catechesis that takes place through the liturgy itself: Christ and His Bride instruct us by means of the liturgy, enlightening the mind and the heart.

Thirdly, there is the catechesis that follows from the grace of the liturgy: this is called ‘mystagogia’.

Our focus in this article is on the first of these three – we are looking at how to catechise so as to prepare people for the liturgy. We also give concrete suggestions for how to provide opportunities for those being catechised to experience liturgy more, and so be catechised by the liturgy itself.

How can we ensure a prayerful approach in our catechesis?

The principles of the pedagogy of God have recently been explained in the form of twelve ‘keys’ discerned from the Catechism of the Catholic Church and elucidated in the book the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Craft of Catechesis.[i] This series suggests concrete ways of incarnating these in catechetical methods and practice.

The first key we explored in this series was that of ‘gracefulness’—that is, ensuring the primacy of grace in one’s catechesis. The second key was ‘wholeness’, or a catechesis that addresses all ‘four dimensions of the Christian life’.[ii] The third key, that we explore here, is that of prayerfulness.

This article concerns ways in which we can create prayerful catechetical sessions. For this, one of the first things we need is the prayer of others. We need to ask others to pray for us and for our work. Catechists can seek the prayers of different parish groups - and, for example, of the sick and housebound, for the work of the handing on of the faith of the Church. The parish community as a whole is helped when different people and groups are asked to support each other. Different types of prayer groups recognised by the Church are all valuable - from the charismatic prayer group to the Rosary or Divine Mercy prayer group. The sick and housebound and those living on their own can also be asked to pray for catechetical work, for we know that the prayer of those suffering can be especially powerful.

We examine the concrete implications for a catechesis inspired by the pedagogy of God.

In the last issue of The Sower we noted the centrality of the notion of the pedagogy of God in the General Directory for Catechesis. We saw that it is God himself who is the pedagogue and that catechists work within the pedagogy of God. ‘Catechesis, as communication of divine Revelation, is radically inspired by the pedagogy of God, as displayed in Christ and in the Church’ (GDC 143). As Pedagogue, God’s work is that of disciplining, or ‘discipling’ his people. In this article we examine the concrete implications of this for our catechetical work.

The central point being made in the General Directory for Catechesis is that the initiative in catechesis belongs, above all, to God himself. The ‘transmission of the Gospel through the Church remains before all else and forever the work of the Holy Spirit’ (GDC 138). The work of the catechist is always to assist, to help, to prepare, and to work in docility to the greater work of the Lord. We really can have the confidence to know that, in catechetical work, the outcomes lie in the Lord’s hands. Faith is always a divine gift (cf Matt 16:17; 1 Cor 12:3).

Successful catechesis, therefore, is not primarily about learning more and better sets of skills. The catechist, therefore, emphasises the ‘divine initiative’ (GDC 143), avoiding any confusion between ‘the salvific action of God, which is pure grace, with the pedagogical action of man’ (GDC 144). Then, the GDC carefully adds: ‘Neither, however, does it oppose them and separate them’. The catechist must not confuse himself with God – but neither is he to be cast aside. He, too, comparatively insignificant though he might be, still has his part to play! Teaching skills are not irrelevant since although we cannot by ourselves bring faith about, we can assist in preparing for the reception and deepening of the gift of faith in others.

James Pauley asks how we can assist in the recovery of wonder at the Christian faith in a technological age.

In the United States National Directory for Catechesis, the U.S. Bishops make an interesting point about the effects of the entertainment industry upon our young people in their capacity for growing in Faith. While the media certainly presents many opportunities for evangelization and catechesis, there are some important challenges which arise as well, especially when today’s generations are as ‘plugged in’ as they are.

Every catechist who teaches people who are more and more under the influence of television, the Internet, and other communications media knows this challenge very well. Certainly there is nothing inherently evil in these various technologies, but a strong case can be made that the more time people today spend in a ‘virtual’ world of instant messages and entertainment, the less of an attention span they have. After all, what kind of an effect does a high number of hours a day on the Internet or in front of the TV have on our capacity to think, to imagine, and to wonder? What effect does it have on our interest in the mysteries of Faith? How does it impact our capacity for meditation and contemplation?

¿Cómo asegurar un enfoque lleno de oración en nuestra catequesis?

Los principios de la pedagogía de Dos fueron explicados recientemente en la forma de doce ‘llaves’ discernidas desde el Catecismo de la Iglesia Católica y aclaradas en el libro Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Craft of Catechesis. [El catecismo de la Iglesia Católica y el arte de la catequesis][i]. Esta serie sugiere modos concretos para incorporar estos métodos y prácticas en la catequesis.

La primera llave que exploramos en esta serie fue la de una catequesis ‘llena de gracia’ – es decir, que asegure la primacía de la gracia en nuestra catequesis. La segunda llave fue ‘totalidad’, o una catequesis que se dirige a las ‘cuatro dimensiones de la vida cristiana’.[ii] La tercera llave, la que exploramos en este artículo, es una catequesis ‘llena de oración’.

Este artículo trata de las maneras en las que podemos crear sesiones catequéticas llenas de oración. Necesitamos pedirles a los demás que oren por nosotros y por nuestro trabajo. Los catequistas pueden buscar las oraciones de entre los varios grupos parroquiales – y, por ejemplo, de los enfermos y los que no pueden salir de su casa, por la obra de la transmisión de la fe de la Iglesia. La comunidad parroquial en su totalidad es auxiliada cuando a distintas personas y grupos se les pide dar su apoyo los unos a los otros. Los muy variados tipos de grupos de oración reconocidos por la Iglesia son todos valiosos – desde el grupo carismático de oración hasta el grupo de oración del Rosario o de la Divina Misericordia. A los enfermos y las personas confinadas en casa o que viven solas también se les puede pedir sus oraciones por la obra catequética, ya que sabemos que la oración de los que sufren puede tener un poder especial.