Franciscan at Home

Truth Seekers and Truth Tellers

“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd.”

This quote is attributed to Flannery O’Connor. She was American, Southern and Catholic, an oddity itself in the deep South. She wrote in a style that is characterized as grotesque or gothic, and her characters often have maladies or often encounter messes and bizarre turns of events. Yet in her dark and quirky stories the glory of God often peeks through in profound and astonishing ways. O’Connor was a fiction writer who was fond of paraphrasing Jesus’ claims about truth telling as reflected above in John 8:32: “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (or “odd” in a Flannery turn of phrase). The truth that Jesus reveals is freeing, but let’s be real; if we actually live this truth we are going to be out of step with our culture, unusual to most of our neighbors and downright strange or “grotesque.” I begin with this quote because if we are not feeling this tension and alienation as catechists, priests and pastoral leaders, then we have probably relegated Jesus to the edge of our lives; and the Truth has little to do with our everyday realities.

Even Pope Francis has been perceived as being odd. His actions are surprising everyone: inside and outside of the Church. The surprise of the “outsiders” is understandable; the surprise of the “insiders” may be more telling. Of course, the “insiders” are all of us, from the highest Vatican official to the most lukewarm parishioner. It seems to me that reflection on our own reaction to Pope Francis’ words and actions may help us be better catechists and help us understand our role as truth seekers and truth tellers.

What follows is a reflection on the impact of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on adult Catholic lay people—lay in both senses of the word: both as the People of God, and as those who are not ‘professional’ in religious matters.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church was published in 1992 (revised in 1997), more than twenty-five years after the close of Vatican II and at a time when many ‘ordinary’ Catholics of good will were experiencing anxiety, uncertainty and a lack of clarity in catechesis. Catechetical practices varied from diocese to diocese and parish to parish. Courses, programs and syllabuses multiplied for use in schools and parishes (some having a shorter working life than the time it took to prepare them). Diocesan centres, religious advisers and theologians (both clerical and lay) increased in numbers, and there was a corresponding increase of workgroups and conferences. Many new initiatives were designed to renew the participation of the laity in mission and to reintroduce the catechumenate of adults, not least RCIA.

A disciple is one who shows discipline—who follows the teaching and example of another. Adam and Eve didn’t like being told what to do and we haven’t changed much since!
Resistance Does Not Equal Error
One of the most important messages I deliver in speaking, teaching etc. is as follows: “Never mistake resistance on your part for error on the Church’s part.” Because we’re all wounded by original sin, it would be surprising if we didn’t struggle occasionally—on our journey of learning the Faith—with a doctrinal or (more likely) a moral teaching of our Church. All too often I hear folks tell me of making the quantum leap from “I’m not sure about that teaching” to “That teaching needs to be reversed. The Church needs to get with the times!”
It’s important that we help those we catechize know that it shouldn’t surprise or disconcert them if they find some aspects of Church teaching, initially at least, to be a hard saying. We should advise them to take their struggle to the Lord in prayer, saying essentially, “Lord I’m struggling with this teaching, but I know that you can neither deceive nor be deceived; and if a change is going to occur, it won’t be in the teaching but rather in me. Please help bring about a change my heart, Lord.” We might point out to our listeners that this prayer might need to be repeated on several occasions—maybe on many.

In this article Dr. William Newton addresses the fundamental philosophical deficiencies in Richard Dawkins’ arguments to “prove” God does not exist.
Dear Patience,

Many thanks for your letter. Yes, I remember you telling me that your father was an armchair atheist. That is why I was so surprised when you said that your mother had bought him a “bible” for his birthday. It took me some time to realize you meant Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion. Armed with all that new ammunition to throw at you, I guess that made your visit back home more interesting than usual!

Yes, I read that book a while back…with trepidation. I braced myself for an onslaught against our shared faith like a man about to be hit by an intellectual tsunami. I was happily disappointed. Let me explain.

As far as I can see, The God Delusion has two main points. Professor Dawkins’ first point is that it is very improbable that God exists, so improbable that we ought to live as if He didn’t. The second point is that religion is a travesty in the world and we would all be a lot better off intellectually and morally if it were to disappear completely. The second point seems so obviously wrong in the face of universities, hospital systems, humanitarian outreaches and so many more good things that are directly linked to Christianity, but I’ll have to leave a more thorough comment for another occasion and deal with the first thing first.

The etymology of “discipleship” has something to say about its meaning for today’s catechist.

The word “disciple” came into Old English some time after the first half of the seventh century, borrowed from the Latin word “discipulus” or “pupil”, as the Anglo-Saxon community was Christianised and as learning and Church reform spread[i]. The Indo-European root of this word, “*dek-”, seems to have entered Attic Greek as “didaskein”, “to teach”, and then travelled through the Roman world, as the closely related Latin “docere”, “to teach”, and “discere”, “to learn”. Once the word root reached Wales it had mutated to “dysgu”, a word that confounds in simultaneously holding both these meanings. This Welsh usage may point the way to an appropriate humility.

However, it is apt that “disciple” was adopted, rather than “pupil”, derived from the Latin “pūpillus”, as this could also be translated as “ward” or “orphan”[ii]. Christ teaches the faithful to pray to their Father[iii] and that they will not be left as orphans[iv], while to enter the Kingdom of God they should be as little children[v].

The initial proclamation of the Gospel stands at the heart of the Church’s mission to evangelize and sanctify. This first proclamation or in most cases, the re-proclamation, usually takes on a very simple format. In the beginning, God had a loving plan that was soon destroyed by sin. Sin plagued all of humanity, but God out of love and faithfulness, sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to save us from sin and restore the relationship with the Father. We participate in this saving plan in and through the Catholic Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, particularly in the profession of faith, reception of the sacraments, living the moral life, and daily prayer. This example is the basic Gospel message in very simplistic form, but as we can see, it is all there. The General Directory for Catechesis states, “Catechesis starts out with a simple proposition of the integral structure of the Christian message, and proceeds to explain it in a manner adapted to the capacity of those being catechized.”[1]

The General Directory for Catechesis makes two further points regarding catechesis and the integrity of this message. First, it states that catechesis “‘must take diligent care faithfully to present the entire treasure of the Christian message.’ This is accomplished, gradually, by following the example of the divine pedagogy with which God revealed himself progressively and gradually.”[2] The internal integrity of the message must be maintained at all times in catechesis. This is called “intensive integrity”.[3] The word “intensive” refers to the “growing in degree of” the Gospel message. As it grows, the content of the faith must be present in its entirety. Pope John Paul II wrote, “Thus, no true catechist can lawfully, on his own initiative, make a selection of what he considers important in the deposit of faith as opposed to what he considers unimportant, so as to teach the one and reject the other.”[4]

On the Spot aims to highlight some fo the complex positions, questions and comments experienced by catechist, teachers and parents. It tries to outline the knowledge necessary to be fatithful to Chruch teaching and which will best help those we teach who call us to account for the hope that is in us (cf. 1 Peter 3:15). This time we consider the challenges of using the Catechism of the Catholic Church and make suggestions on how to use the first part of the Catechism with greater confidence.

“The whole concern of doctrine and its teaching must be directed to the love that never ends… the love of our Lord must always be made accessible so that anyone can see that all the works of perfect Christian virtue spring from love and have not other objective than to arrive at love.” CCC 25

Using the Catechism (all 2865 paragraphs!!) to teach can seem so daunting a task as to be impossible. To a busy teacher, catechist or parent, becoming familiar with the content, layout and organization of the Catechism may appear such a huge and time-consuming task that it is never even attempted. Teaching thus becomes, or remains, reliant on published schemes of work or personal knowledge and understanding, either of which may vary in quality.

This article suggests some points of entry to using the first part of the Catechism which may be of help in moving towards a greater confidence on the part of the one teaching and a greater accessibility to ‘the love that never ends’ on the part of the learner.

“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 rigour and vigour.” (CT 30) Therefore to ensure that the person being catechised does receive the whole and entire word of faith, the formation of the catechist must equally be as complete. A well formed catechist will pass on the faith with confidence, knowing that what he or she is handing on is the pearl of great price, the Lord Jesus Himself.

This article sets out the eight key areas in which catechists need formation.

An Enchiridion of texts for the New Evangelisation has been prepared by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization. Here we present the introduction to this invaluable collection by Archbishop Rino Fisichella (Vatican City, 29th June 2012).

When, on the 9th June 1979, at the sanctuary of Mogila in Nowa Huta, Blessed John Paul II used the expression “new evangelization” for the first time, he may not have foreseen the great movement that would be set in motion. Before the Cross that signified the first blossoming of Christianity in those lands, his heart whispered these words to him. He said that from that Cross that “on the threshold of a new millennium”, in “new times” and in “new conditions of life”, a “new evangelization” must begin. In the twenty-seven years of his pontificate that intuition progressed slowly but inexorably. With this perspective, under the same prophetic impetus, Benedict XVI instituted the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization on September 21st, 2010. At the beginning of his Apostolic Letter, Ubicumque et semper, he wrote: “… the Church … ever since she received the gift of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (cf. Acts 2:14), has never tired of making known to the whole world the beauty of the Gospel as she preaches Jesus Christ, true God and true man, the same “yesterday and today and forever” (Heb 13:8), who, by his death and Resurrection, brought us salvation and fulfilled the promise made of old. Hence the mission of evangelization, a continuation of the work desired by the Lord Jesus, is necessary for the Church: it cannot be overlooked; it is an expression of her very nature … Making my own the concerns of my venerable Predecessors, I consider it opportune to offer appropriate responses so that the entire Church, allowing herself to be regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit, may present herself to the contemporary world with a missionary impulse in order to promote the new evangelization.” Changed cultural, social and ecclesial conditions always demand a new way of preaching the Gospel so that those touched by the Word of God are enabled to change their lives and begin the journey of faith following in the footsteps of those who have become disciples of the Lord.

George Weigel’s second volume of John Paul II’s biography is entitled: The End and the Beginning. In the book’s penultimate chapter he reviews Karol Wojtyla’s life through ‘the prism of the three theological virtues’.1 By divine symmetry, John Paul II’s General Audience reflections commences where his predecessor, John Paul I, concluded his teaching, on the first three ‘lamps’ of Sanctification’ as John XXXIII called them: Faith, Hope and Charity.

Weigel speaks of the threads of John Paul II’s life as being woven into a tapestry of ‘ongoing’ intellectual, moral, psychological and emotional conversion. Through each of these deepening engagements with the presence of Christ in his life, he grew in the triple grace of baptism previously noted because of a profound commitment to giving the gift of himself to God and neighbour.