Franciscan at Home

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The two great commandments are to love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself (see Mt 22:36–40). Catholic leaders are called to create and ensconce Catholic culture by striving to fulfill these two great commandments—and to guide the ministries that they lead to do the same. In my role as a high school vice president of faith and mission, I work alongside our principal and president to ensure that our school is a catalyst in the Eucharistic Revival and that the comprehensive operations of our school community serve these two commandments.

The first commandment calls Catholic leaders to prioritize facilitating first-generation encounters with Christ. To fulfill the second, we must foster a culture of evangelization in which we love our neighbor as ourselves and testify to Jesus’ kingship. Living out these commandments as Catholic leaders is especially exciting in this three-year sequence of Eucharistic Revival being guided by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The USCCB is calling on leaders to create personal encounters with Jesus, reinvigorate devotion, deepen formation, and engage in missionary sending. What follows are reflections on how we are answering this call in our school community. I hope that it can serve as inspiration for other Catholic leaders during this time of Eucharistic Revival.

As children, many of us learned the “Alphabet Song.” It is a universally known jingle that helps small children learn the ABCs of the English language. Other cultures use a different tune but the purpose is the same. At the start, a child merely repeats the sounds sung to him. In due time, he gradually learns that the sounds have corresponding symbols. (During this developmental stage, children in a Montessori environment trace sandpaper letters, providing a heightened sensorial experience that strengthens the sound-symbol relationship in the child’s mind.) Once the child understands the sound-symbol relationship, he is capable of arranging the alphabet letters to form words, then sentences, and eventually entire paragraphs. One need not be a trained linguist to recognize a kind of pedagogy in this method of language acquisition. If we were to draw an analogy to children’s catechesis, we would find that there, too, is a kind of pedagogy for the acquisition of religious language—or there should be.

The 2020 Directory for Catechesis exhorts catechists to ensure that our “linguistic form” be appropriate for the persons receiving catechesis.[1] Where children are concerned, there is more to this task than merely paraphrasing doctrine. Children’s catechesis requires a unique pedagogy of language. First, there is a particular religious alphabet—fundamental doctrines—which serves as building blocks for the child’s faith. Second, there is a particular scope and sequence to doctrine—one that follows the child’s natural spiritual and intellectual development. Finally, the particular expression of doctrine should evoke a sense of wonder that sparks continuous investigation and meditation.

Notes

In 1947, Pope Pius XII launched (what we would call today) a “new evangelization” of the Catholic Church in his great encyclical letter Mediator Dei.[i] Seen as the Magna Carta of the modern liturgical movement, the Pope sought to use that movement as the principal means for the adaptation of the Church to a radically and rapidly changing world. After two catastrophic world wars, 1914–1918 and 1939–1945, the Church could not simply ignore the fact that the world had dramatically changed and that the Church needed to adjust accordingly.

Renewing the Liturgy

It was, therefore, necessary for the Church to ensure that its spiritual relevance continued to permeate all of modern social life. For the Holy Father, it was the Liturgy that would have the greatest transformative power upon the world in this time of great need because it is the Liturgy that bears the greatest public witness to the faith of the Church.

[i] Pius XII, Mediator Dei.

In September, 2018, I received a bemusing phone call from Anthony Gordon, the director of Catholic schools in a rural Australian Diocese. He asked me whether I would consider applying for the position of Diocesan Director of Religious Education and Mission. At the time, I was working in my “dream job” as a professor of religious education at the University of Notre Dame in Sydney, Australia. I had just completed the book that, I thought, summed up everything I had learned as a parent, teacher, catechist, and college professor through forty years of professional life, and I was ready to retire. The suggestion that I should change course at that stage of life was preposterous! The diocese in question, Wilcannia-Forbes, was the size of Texas and its eighteen schools, for the most part, could only be reached by long and lonely driving. I thanked the director for his confidence in me and then told him that it was not really what I wanted to do at this point in my life.

Yet, almost from that moment, I could not think of anything else. Was this a call from God? Was I being asked to put what I had learned into practice in this very challenging environment? I pondered it for a couple of weeks, and then decided to visit and pray at the grave of Australia’s (so far) only saint. St. Mary Mackillop had founded an order of religious sisters whose purpose was to bring the Gospel to the people of isolated communities. After this, with complete serenity, I knew what I had to do. With one day to go, I applied for and was appointed to the position.

Introducción

Agnolo Gaddi's Mercy Seat Trinity paintingDurante las últimas décadas, los teólogos que enfocan la evangelización en general, y en particular, al momento de la catequesis – que es una parte de la evangelización- han puesto esfuerzos considerables de pensamiento y atención al tema del kerigma, y con justa razón. El kerigma puede entenderse aptamente como el resumen del Evangelio; y, como tal, siempre merece estudio de mayor cercanía, particularmente en una época cuando el catolicismo está menguando en muchos lugares. En esta serie de tres partes, explico lo que es el kerigma y porqué es importante. En esta primera entrega, les ofrezco una visión general del kerigma, examino su significado hoy en día, y ofrezco una visión más estrecha de uno de sus componentes más relevantes a la labor de la catequesis en nuestro tiempo.

La importancia del kerigma

Veamos primero la importancia del kerigma en la obra de la evangelización de manera general, y en la catequesis, en particular. La comprensión del kerigma es esencial por dos razones. Primero, la pregunta, “¿Cuál es la Buena Noticia de Jesucristo?” tiene, obviamente, importancia. En el Evangelio según San Marcos, las primeras palabras de Jesús son, “El tiempo se ha cumplido: el Reino de Dios está cerca. Conviértanse y crean en la Buena Noticia” (1,15). Sus primeras indicaciones son de arrepentirnos de nuestros pecados y creer en la Buena Noticia, el Evangelio. Claramente, éste es un asunto de suprema importancia; y, por lo tanto, es esencial que tengamos una comprensión clara de la naturaleza del Evangelio.

La segunda razón por la que el kerigma es tema esencial se relaciona estrechamente con la primera. Considerando lo importante que es el Evangelio para nuestra fe cristiana y nuestra vida como Sus discípulos, los estudios han demostrado que demasiados cristianos (incluyendo a muchos católicos) no saben qué es el Evangelio. De hecho, se podría argumentar que no solamente muchos creyentes ignoran el contenido auténtico de los Evangelios, sino que es probable que lo consideran ni Buena, ni Noticia. Y si esto es verdad en cuanto a los católicos y demás cristianos, ¿cuánto más se aplica de verdad entre los demás pueblos del mundo, de quienes Jesús nos dijo que hiciéramos discípulos?

Comprendiendo al kerigma, el contenido nuclear del Evangelio, es, entonces esencial: primero, por su centralidad al cristianismo; y segundo, por lo poco que se conoce en realidad en el mundo actual, entre los católicos, los demás cristianos, y la población en general.

El kerigma: una proclamación

Abordemos ahora lo que es el kerigma, al considerar lo que la palabra “kerigma” significa y al proporcionar una visión de conjunto de su contenido.

En cuanto al primer punto, el término kerigma en sí es una palabra griega que significa “proclamación”, y se relaciona estrechamente con los términos griegos que significan “proclamar” y “anunciar”. El kerigma, entonces, es la proclamación o el anuncio de algo. Como se notó arriba, el kerigma es el mensaje básico del Evangelio, el núcleo de la Buena Noticia. “Noticia”: considere esa palabra en su sentido cotidiano. Cuando escucha, lee, o mira “las noticias”, ¿qué significa la palabra? Se refiere a alguien que le cuenta acerca de algo que ha sucedido, o está sucediendo. Es lo mismo en cuanto a la Buena Noticia, el Evangelio y el kerigma: es el anuncio, la proclamación de algo que ha pasado (y, como veremos más adelante, sigue sucediendo).

Este punto en cuanto al kerigma como proclamación de algo que ha pasado es increíblemente significativo: pero, por ahora, quisiera destacar solo una manera en la que esto es cierto. Cuando hablamos de nuestra fe cristiana, a menudo tenemos la tendencia de hablar acerca de los aspectos de “cómo hacer”: aquí tiene cómo vivir, cómo orar; cómo estudiar o aprender la fe; cómo convertirse en un mejor cristiano, un mejor hombre, una mejor mujer, un mejor padre o madre de familia, etc.; y por encima de todo, aquí está cómo asegurarse que esté en el camino correcto, el camino que va al cielo. En otras palabras, hablamos acerca de lo que hacemos. Hablar acerca del “cómo hacer”, o hablar acerca de lo que nosotros hacemos no es la proclamación de algo que ha sucedido; y aunque sea Bueno, no es la Buena Noticia, sino Buenos Consejos.

Otramente dicho, cuando compartimos nuestra fe con los demás, muchos de nosotros nos saltamos involuntariamente a la Buena Noticia y nos vamos directamente a los Buenos Consejos, a los “cómo hacer”, al qué hacemos. El problema con esto no son las indicaciones “cómo hacer”: es absolutamente necesario hablar de esas cosas. El problema es saltar la Buena Noticia; ¡ya que la Buena Noticia (y su núcleo, el kerigma) es lo que hace que los Consejos sean Buenos, hace acogedora, atractiva e incluso posible aquella invitación a cómo hacerle!

La Buena Noticia, por lo tanto, es una proclamación de algo que Dios ha hecho, algo que Él ha cumplido, a la que respondemos.

A Proclamation of Salvation

Introduction

Over the last several decades, theologians who focus on evangelization in general, and the moment of catechesis within it in particular, have given considerable thought and attention to the topic of the kerygma, and rightly so. The kerygma can be aptly understood to be the summary of the Gospel; and, as such, it is always deserving of closer study, especially so in an age when Catholicism is waning in many places. In this three-part series, I’ll explain what the kerygma is and why it’s important. In this first installment, I’ll provide a basic overview of the kerygma, examine its significance today, and offer a closer look at one of its components more relevant to the work of catechesis in our time.

The Importance of the Kerygma

Let’s first look at the importance of the kerygma in the work of evangelization generally, and catechesis particularly. Understanding the kerygma is essential for at least two reasons. First, the question, “What is the Good News of Jesus Christ?” is obviously an important one. In the Gospel according to St. Mark, Jesus’ very first words are, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (1:15). His first directions are to repent of our sins and to believe in the Good News, the Gospel. Clearly this is a matter of supreme importance; and, therefore, it is essential that we have a clear understanding of the nature of the Gospel.

The second reason that the kerygma is an essential topic is closely related to the first. Considering how important the Gospel is to our Christian faith and to our life as his disciples, studies have shown that far too many Christians (including many Catholics) do not really know what the Gospel is. In fact, it could be fairly argued that not only are many believers ignorant of the actual content of the Gospels, they probably don’t even see it as either Good or as News. And if that’s true of Catholics and other Christians, how much more true must it be of the peoples of the world, all of whom Jesus told us to make disciples?

Understanding the kerygma, the core content of the Gospel, is essential then: first, because of its centrality to Christianity; and second, because of how little it is actually known in the world today, among Catholics, other Christians, and the general populace.

Recientemente, en una conferencia para dirigentes católicos, me preguntó un joven sacerdote a qué me dedicaba. Le dije que ayudo a las parroquias a inventar estrategias para crear una cultura de discipulado en su parroquia. Me preguntó cómo hago eso. Le contesté que nos gusta enfocar principios, no balas de plata, y capacitar a un grupo de dirigentes en la parroquia para producir un cambio cultural al proyectar una visión, edificando un camino claro hacia el discipulado, movilizando a los líderes, y alineando ministerios claves con una visión orientada hacia el discipulado.