Franciscan at Home

#1–Trusting God to Take the Lead

A couple years ago, I volunteered as a first-grade catechist for my parish’s religious education program. This was before I was taking any classes or working in ministry, and I often struggled with how to present material to such a young age. The program we followed wasn’t much help; the kids I taught did not seem to connect to the content at all. I modified what I could and tried to make it fun, but often I felt my efforts were inadequate.

One Sunday morning, I was teaching on the parable of the workers in the vineyard from Matthew 20:1-16. I read the parable to the students, but I got no reaction. Many students were clearly distracted. Those who were at least looking at me had blank looks on their faces. I was at a complete loss. I knew I needed to do something to get the message across, but I had no idea what to do next. I turned to God. I said a quick prayer asking for help and went with the first idea that came to mind... (testimony by Emily Ketzner)

#2–My Conversion, His Conversion

When I returned to Trinidad during the summer of 2018 for a short-term mission, I attended Mass at one of my favorite churches in Paramin called Our Lady of Guadalupe. I heard somebody calling my name from behind me, so I turned around and saw my friend and former student Chris. I was so happy to see him and looked forward to talking with him afterwards. During Mass I thanked the Holy Spirit for the work he had done in Chris’ life. We had a long talk after Mass; I was in awe seeing him still open to growing in faith and being active in the Church after so many years, despite the rough journey he shared with me.

Chris was one of the youths that I journeyed with years earlier. He was part of the Confirmation class and Youth Ministry group. I met him during our youth retreat, and he was one of those boys who would always get your attention by talking and not paying attention. I remember my patience was tested... (testimony by Jonathan Lumamba)

Aun cuando los documentos del Magisterio sobre la catequesis se refieren a los padres como los educadores primarios en religión, muchos padres y educadores religiosos en nuestras parroquias, no comprenden la importancia de esta afirmación. No se espera de los padres que hagan una catequesis formal, de tipo escolar. En cambio, el rol de los padres es uno que solamente ellos están llamados a cumplir: su responsabilidad vocacional para inculcar la Fe en un plano cotidiano, a través de la oración, la celebración litúrgica y la formación moral. A diferencia de los catequistas, que suelen tener solamente una hora por semana con los niños, los padres están con sus hijos diariamente a través de sus años formativos, con el potencial de establecer en ellos hábitos de oración, alentar la participación en la liturgia, y dirigir un progreso real en su formación moral. Mientras que los catequistas en la parroquia y en la escuela bien puedan proporcionar dirección y consejos, además de enseñar la doctrina, sin embargo, los padres y los miembros del núcleo familiar son esenciales para una correcta vivencia de la Fe. Una buena formación en el seno familiar, por lo tanto, provee un buen fundamento para la catequesis formal, de modo que los dos pueden ser enriquecidos mutuamente.[1]

Los padres son indispensables en el desarrollo de la consciencia y de la virtud. Esto se debe a que, como el Directorio Nacional para la Catequesis, explica: “La catequesis en cuestiones morales involucra mucho más que la proclamación y la presentación de los principios y la práctica de la moral cristiana. Presenta la integración de los principios de la moral cristiana en la experiencia de vida para el individuo y la comunidad.” [2] La familia es para el niño la primera y más importante comunidad para este aspecto esencial en su formación moral. El Directorio Nacional para la Catequesis confirma que los padres son responsables de la formación moral de los niños, de acuerdo a la ley natural. “Los padres son catequistas, precisamente porque son padres. Su rol en la formación en los valores cristianos en sus hijos es irremplazable.”[3]

¿Qué es la virtud?  ¿Qué es el bien?[4]

La virtud es un hábito o habitus. La forma latinizada se debe preferir aquí, porque nuestro entendimiento familiar de la palabra “hábito”, no está en consonancia cuando consideramos la virtud. Como habitus, la virtud ocupa una posición entre las potencias del alma y los actos de una persona. No es simplemente una acción repetida; es una habilidad dinámica de crecimiento hacia el bien en una acción humana. Se requiere de un habitus para hacer funcionar las potencias humanas que tienen más de una manera de ser activadas. Mientras que cada sentido físico, por ejemplo, tiene una particular función: los ojos ven, los oídos oyen y la lengua gusta, la voluntad, por el contrario, puede desear muchas cosas, requiriendo para ello un habitus para darle forma; una voluntad recta, una voluntad débil, malicia, todos describen el habitus de una voluntad particular. El habitus, en sí mismo, es un término neutral, que se refiere simplemente a un patrón de crecimiento en una potencia humana en particular, dirigido hacia determinados tipos de acción. Por ejemplo, una persona de buena voluntad tiene un patrón de crecimiento en la virtud, pero la persona maliciosa tiene un patrón de crecimiento hacia el vicio. Las virtudes se desarrollan a través de una acción humana correcta, y el trabajo en conjunto del intelecto y de la libertad, que afecta no sólo a las acciones ejecutadas, sino también resulta en el desarrollo moral de una persona humana. La virtud de la valentía ayuda a perfeccionar los movimientos del apetito irascible del alma en acciones que toman cuerpo en buscar el bien en circunstancias adversas. Las capacidades verdaderamente humanas del conocer y del amor requieren de la virtud para funcionar bien. Además, el carácter moral de una persona cambia a través de la virtud, de modo que la persona con virtud es una buena persona.

El bien es un concepto análogo. Cada cosa posee o muestra el bien de un modo que es específico al tipo de cosa que ella es. Un bolígrafo bueno escribe bien, una silla buena está construida de tal manera que soporta a la persona que está sentada sobre ella. Para que una persona sea buena, las potencias del alma, las emociones, y las pasiones deben estar guiadas por el intelecto hacia el propósito o el objetivo en la vida. Los padres cristianos están guiando a sus hijos a los más grandes objetivos: la unión con Dios, a través de la imitación de Cristo. Este es el bien que surge a través de la virtud. [5] El crecimiento en la virtud, por tanto, significa crecimiento en el bien, una acción buena consistente que trae alegría al agente.

Can a businessperson aspire to contemplation? A parent? A teenager? A young child? Don’t we usually see it as a privilege reserved for monks and cloistered nuns? Father Marie Eugene of the Child Jesus would say that each of us is capable of genuine contact with God, including the young child.

Blessed Marie-Eugene was a French Carmelite priest born in 1894. He discovered in Carmel the treasure of intimacy with God—not only through a daily two hours of silent prayer but throughout the day—thanks to St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Therese of the Child, and Jesus's experiences and teaching. God is always ready to pour out his goodness, his lLove. Marie-Eugene's dream was to help everyone realize that this treasure is within reach. Anyone can live close to God, as God's close friend. Everyone is called to live an intimate friendship with God!

Led by his “best friend” the Holy Spirit, and by the Virgin Mary in whom he trusted completely, this wholehearted priest founded the Notre Dame de Vie (Our Lady of Life) Institute, where priests and lay men and women are called to live this intimacy with God in an unconditional consecration, being active through contemplation and contemplative through action, whatever their jobs may be. Today, there are five hundred members all over the world.

In the Notre Dame de Vie schools, children can discover this treasure of contemplation as well. Silent prayer is made available to them in theour schools in order that they might live with God the whole day long.

This is a paid advertisement in the January-March 2020 issue. Advertisements should not be viewed as endorsements from the publisher.

Evangelization is a primary function of Catholic schools. Although they provide quality education in a variety of subject areas, as agents of the Church, they share the larger mission of the Church: forming disciples of Jesus Christ. Catholic schools should and must be more than public schools that also happen to have religion classes. Speaking about the role of the Catholic school, the Vatican II Declaration on Christian Education, Gravissimum Educationis states, “But its proper function is to create for the school community a special atmosphere animated by the Gospel spirit of freedom and charity, to help youth grow according to the new creatures they were made through baptism as they develop their own personalities, and finally to order the whole of human culture to the news of salvation so that the knowledge the students gradually acquire of the world, life and man is illumined by faith” (8). A key role of the Catholic school, then, is as an agent of evangelization.

Schools can live out their mission to evangelize in a number of practical ways, including evangelizing students, evangelizing the family, and preparing students and families to evangelize the community.

Catholic Schools Evangelize the Student

Providing religious education is a key priority in the Catholic school, but religious education must be different than education in mathematics, science, history, or other subjects. If our objective is to form disciples, the Catholic Faith cannot be simply approached intellectually. Religious education in the Catholic school must be an immersive and formative experience that begins with an encounter with Jesus Christ through the proclamation of the kerygma.

Knowing Jesus is different from simply “knowing about” him. As we draw closer to Jesus, our lives are changed—we find the joy of becoming who we were made to be, we are challenged, and we are called to places we might have never gone before. A Christocentric catechesis—one that focuses on the person of Jesus Christ—facilitates an environment in which learners can get to know Jesus and draw closer to him.

Help learners become acquainted with the Gospels, particularly the Paschal Mystery: Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension. Periodically choose a passage from the Gospels that is developmentally appropriate for your learners, both in length and content. Invite your learners to relax, close their eyes, and imagine themselves somewhere within the Gospel story. After meditating on the Gospel passage, invite learners to reflect on their experience. What did they hear Jesus saying to them, and how does it connect with their lives today?

What makes a school Catholic? Is a school Catholic because it exists with the permission of the bishop of the diocese, or it is a member of the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA), or it is an extension or an outreach of a parish community, or it has a crucifix in every classroom and religious artwork throughout the building, or because its curriculum includes religious studies, or because the pattern of its practices align with the National Standards and Benchmarks of Effective Catholic Schools, or because Mass and the Sacrament of Reconciliation are celebrated for the student body during the school year?

For sure, each of these elements is a marker of a Catholic School. But I dare to say that the most decisive element of a Catholic school is the religious character of its personnel.

When the administrator(s) and a critical mass of faculty members embrace Jesus as their center (rather than mention him as an afterthought or an add-on), his spirit infuses the campus. It becomes evident to all that it is the primary purpose, consistent attitude, and intentional goal of the school to guide students to know, love, and serve God. When a Jesus-centered mindset drives every endeavor, action, decision, and response, self-disciplined students, who seek to develop their personal best, emerge. These hallmarks of a Catholic school (a Christ-centered environment, self-disciplined students, and academic achievement) are rooted in the religious character of its teachers.

“Back in the day” Catholic schools were predominately staffed by men or women religious whose distinctive garb was, itself, an outward reminder of God. It seemed as though these walking icons were everywhere, had eyes in the back of their veil-covered heads, and appeared where you least expected them! While students labored over final examinations, they observed their teachers fingering rosary beads suspended from their waists. At precisely the opportune moment, Scripture quotes seemed to slip from their lips effortlessly. Oftentimes, students could observe their teacher clutching the large crucifix that hung from the neck. Teacher body-posture, classroom decorations, routines, consistency in procedures, and high expectations set a tone. The school day was hemmed in with prayer or sacred ritual. At morning prayer students consecrated the day to God, and at dismissal they examined their consciences and made an act of contrition.

An intentional awareness of God punctuated the entire school day. For instance, long before marketers raised awareness of “WWJD?” via bracelets, posters, and such, these teachers motivated student decision-making by remarking, “What would Jesus do …or say…or desire?” “How will this choice contribute to the greater glory of God and the salvation of your soul?” “Live Jesus!” On every heading of student papers and copybook pages students drew a cross followed by “JMJ,” “JMJAT,” “AMDG” or an acronym-inscription related to the charism of the religious congregation. In my elementary school, every hour on the hour, a designated student rang a bell and intoned: “Pardon me, Sister. Pardon me, Class. It is time to bless the hour.” All activity ceased. The student then said, “Let us remember that we are in the holy presence of God.” The class responded: “Let us adore God’s divine majesty.” Together we prayed the “Glory be” and promptly the lesson continued wherever it had been interrupted. Wherever students happened to be at 12 noon, inside or outside the building, they stood still and prayed the Angelus formula while the Angelus bells rang in the distance. When emergency sirens were heard, the class prayed an aspiration or formula that asked God’s assistance for the unknown person in need. When Church bells tolled for a funeral, class stopped for a moment of silence and/or to pray for the deceased, “Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.”

Additionally, religious instruction occurred daily, usually as the first session of the day. And, in many schools, the afternoon session began with a 15 minute period of story-telling that applied faith to action. Nothing else trumped Religion class! Some textbooks even referenced Catholic culture. Then, too, there were rituals of the liturgical seasons (Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Pentecost), devotions to Mary (rosary, May Procession), Eucharistic devotion (frequent Mass, Forty Hours’ visits to the Blessed Sacrament, Benediction), Stations of the Cross, litanies and novenas, and regular participation in the Sacrament of Penance. The combination of all of these kinds of customs created a culture, an ambiance, a Godly reverence that pervaded every aspect of schooling. This culture underscored the sense that the institution was a divine enterprise and its teachers were the custodians of its spiritual nature and essential to its effectiveness.

The Catholic school was essentially an extension of convent or priory life. School practices, priorities, and order mirrored the lifestyle of the vowed religious. By 1970, the numbers of men and women religious in the schools declined tremendously. If their shoes were filled by lay counterparts, who had themselves been educated in the kind of Catholic school just described, the Catholic Identity or Catholic Culture continued in a similar fashion or adapted modern expressions that created the same end: a faith-infused environment; a divine, God-centered enterprise where activities reflected the spirituality of the teachers.

Over time, elements like a competitive market, certification requirements, and national standards impacted school design. Program demands increased; the length of the school day/year did not! Faith-related cultural customs were deleted. Simultaneously post-Vatican II faculty members—though faithful and faith-filled, well-educated, practicing Catholics—had no experience of schooling within “the Catholic bubble” and that style of spirituality was foreign to them. Consequently, maintaining or fostering Catholic identity or Catholic culture relied all the more on the religious character of school personnel.

Podemos tomar por supuesto el hecho de que la Iglesia Católica opere un gran número de escuelas alrededor del mundo. Es claro que la Iglesia debe de ofrecer educación religiosa, pero, ¿por qué la Iglesia enseña matemáticas, educación física, ciencias, literatura e historia? ¿No sería más fácil que la Iglesia enfocara más estrechamente lo sobrenatural? ¿Para qué enseña también sobre el mundo material y cómo leer y escribir? En el Gran Mandato, Jesús mandó a sus Apóstoles a que hicieran discípulos (mathetes en griego y discipli en latín –ambas palabras se refieren a los estudiantes) y que les enseñaran (Mt 28,19.20). Jesús, el Verbo de Dios, por Quien el universo fue hecho, estableció una Iglesia que desde el principio acogió a la instrucción sobre la naturaleza de la realidad en su totalidad.

Las humanidades y la cosmovisión católica

La Iglesia acogió a las humanidades para ayudarles a sus miembros, en particular a los religiosos, a comprender y a contemplar la Palabra de Dios, y también para poder hablar y escribir de modo efectivo para poder compartir este conocimiento. Desde la enseñanza de las siete disciplinas de las humanidades en las escuelas de las catedrales y monasterios, las universidades fueron formadas para enseñar filosofía y tres carreras terminales en teología, derecho y medicina. La misión de salvación de la Iglesia creció para incluir la formación completa de la persona, uniendo la fe y la razón en la misión común de buscar cómo vivir en el mundo y ordenar todas las cosas a la gloria de Dios.

La educación católica, recurriendo tanto a lo natural como lo sobrenatural, ofrece una visión completa de la vida: una cosmovisión católica. La cosmovisión, en un sentido sencillo, describe cómo vemos a la realidad y formamos a nuestros estudiantes para que ellos la comprendan y habiten en ella. La enseñanza con una robusta visión católica acoge a la persona en su totalidad: cuerpo, emociones, mente y voluntad. La persona humana, como un ser sacramental (es decir, una unidad de cuerpo y alma), requiere el desarrollo de su potencial en todas sus dimensiones: la fortaleza y la salud del cuerpo; el control sobre las emociones de acuerdo con el bien; la conformidad de la mente con la realidad y el desarrollo de hábitos mentales que permitan que uno comprenda y se exprese claramente; el desarrollo de las virtudes de la voluntad que conducirán a la felicidad; y el encuentro con el Dios vivo que da vida a nuestra alma y permite vivir una vida de santidad.

La escuela católica no puede simplemente ofrecer la misma instrucción que la de la educación pública, agregando posteriormente la educación religiosa y la Santa Misa al programa de estudios. Cada materia tiene que ser enseñada de modo distintivo, reflejando la unidad del conocimiento, con una fuente común en Dios – Su creación y Revelación – y ordenada a la sabiduría que comunica el fin último de todas las cosas. Una escuela católica aborda cada materia con las dos alas – la de la fe y la de la razón, a sabiendas que cada verdad conforma a nuestra mente a la Mente de Dios. Simone Weil afirma que cada verdad “es la imagen de algo precioso. Siendo un fragmento pequeño de una verdad particular, es una imagen pura de la Verdad única, eterna y viva que érase una vez declaró con voz humana, ‘Yo soy la verdad.’ Cada ejercicio de la escuela, pensado de esta forma, es como un sacramento.”

In my role as a director of religious education, I have listened to catechists make sweeping statements about their students, “These kids today don’t care about anything.” “Most of them don’t even want to be here.” Admittedly, such words are spoken in moments of frustration. I have also heard teachers make sentimental statements about their students, “They’re so sweet and innocent. What could they possibly have to confess?” Both expressions betray a lack of appreciation for the dignity of each child, a dignity which compels us to offer them a complete catechesis about who God is and who they are in relation to him.

It is one thing to assent to the truth that “children have a dignity of their own and that they are important not only for what they will do in the future, but for who they are now,”[1] and another to treat every child with the dignity they deserve. How can catechists honor the dignity of children?

Jesus gives us some clues where he becomes “indignant” when the disciples try to keep the children away and he rebukes them. “He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, ‘Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me. Amen, I say to you whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.’ Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them.”[2]

Humble Yourself
Jesus offers us a most practical way to grow in the virtue of humility when he admonishes us to turn and become like children. We cannot appreciate the dignity of another person when we are filled with our own ego, need for control, or pride. Children may not always be aware of their littleness, but when they come up against the reality that they need help, they soon become beggars, unashamed to ask for help. They unabashedly and often gratefully receive all as gift. If we are to turn and become like children, we have to give up the illusion that we can live the Christian life by ourselves. No matter our level of experience or education, each of us is radically dependent on God. “Put no trust in . . . mere mortals powerless to save. When they breathe their last, they return to the earth; that day all their planning comes to nothing.”[3] Our very life is dependent on God. If he were to cease loving us, we would cease to exist. Everything we have, including our education and experience, is gift. We have not earned and cannot deserve all we’ve been given. In addition, we are indebted to one another in ways we often take for granted. When we know how dependent we are on God and each other, we are free from the exhausting constraints of self-protection and self-promotion, free to give from the abundance of the gifts we’ve received, and free to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in the moment.

Humility encourages a stance of awe and wonder in the presence of God’s children who are temporarily placed in our care. An active pursuit of humility safeguards all those in relationship with us too, because it ensures that we act from a place of love and gratitude toward God and others.

During Advent of 2015, I was praying through the Prophet Isaiah when the Lord hit me over the head with these words, “Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not. See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Is 43:18-19).

Eight years into ministry at that point, I was keenly aware of the challenges many of us face in catechesis today. Many of our students do not attend Mass or know Jesus in any meaningful way. Many parents have no confidence as their household’s primary catechist or no desire to fulfill the role they promised to fulfill when they presented their child for baptism. Many good-hearted volunteers either do not adequately understand the faith they are proposing, or they do not know how best to impart faith. In light of these challenges, the data around the hemorrhage of youth from the Church are not too surprising, though they remain heartbreaking.

What is a parish catechetical leader to do? The traditional remedies of buying new resources or adding new requirements to our programs seem to yield few results. As I pondered the Lord’s words through Isaiah, I heard him saying that the remedy, as usual, is metanoia, a change of heart. As the heart of the culture has shifted, the heart of the culture of catechesis needs to shift as well.

Culture Change
In an era when Catholic households rarely missed Mass on Sundays and rarely questioned Church teachings, the catechetical task was rather simple. We just needed to present clearly articulated and memorable statements of what the Church teaches to reinforce what was already being taught and lived at home. The culture of both the family and the country usually offered enough supports for the seeds of doctrine to yield the fruitful assent of faith. However, in an era of twenty percent Mass attendance and widespread relativism, doctrinal precision alone is not effective, as important as it may be. We have to build up to it.

We often forget that catechesis in general and initiatory catechesis in particular are movements within the larger process of evangelization, as spelled out in the National Directory for Catechesis. The necessary precursors of catechesis are pre-evangelization and the proposal of the kerygma. I often laugh when a catechist asks me how to get the kids to want to learn about Jesus. They will want to learn about Jesus when they want to, when it interests them, when they have responded to pre-evangelization with openness and to the kerygma with some level of initial conversion. Then, and only then, is catechesis appropriate or even possible.

We used to rely implicitly on the family, the culture, and the parish to provide the pre-evangelization necessary for catechesis. How can a faith formation program accomplish this? One solution can be found in a familiar program: Vacation Bible School.