Franciscan at Home

Matthew concludes his Gospel with Jesus commanding his apostles in these words, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (28:19-20). This command, which later became known as the Great Commission, comprises the main mission of the Church (see Evangelii Nuntiandi 14). It is for this mission that the Holy Spirit is poured upon the disciples gathered in the upper room on Pentecost morning. Strengthened by the Holy Spirit, the early Church fulfills Jesus’ Great Commission by proclaiming the Gospel, calling people to conversion, baptizing, and teaching. I would like to take some time to reflect more deeply on Christ’s call to “Go” – that is the initial evangelization activity of the Church.

Jesus’ mandate “constitutes the essential mission of the Church” both yesterday and today (EN 14). Reflecting on Jesus’ command, the General Directory for Catechesis states:

“Primary proclamation is addressed to non-believers and those living in religious indifference. Its functions are to proclaim the Gospel and to call to conversion.… Primary proclamation, which every Christian is called to perform, is part of that "Go" (183) which Jesus imposes on his disciples: it implies, therefore, a going-out, a haste, a message.” GDC 61

There are three fundamental aspects of Jesus’ commission that call for our attention if we are going to understand clearly what Jesus is asking of his disciples. These three include a going forth, a haste, and a message.

More than 500 years after the Gospel was first proclaimed in the New World, America again needs to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.

That Gospel is more than a philosophy of life. It’s a divine person—with a face and a name, and a heart that beats with the very love of God. So the purpose of our catechesis must always be to bring about an encounter with Jesus Christ—to help all our brothers and sisters come to know and love Jesus.

But how do we catechize a culture that has grown indifferent to religion, a society in which more and more people live as if God does not exist? Lately, I’ve come to believe that in our catechesis there is much we can learn from our country’s first evangelization.

During their meeting in November 2005, the French bishops voted for a National Guidelines Document for Catechesis in France and for Proposals for the Organization of Catechetical Action in France. Only the first document was presented for the approval of the Apostolic See and it obtained this approval in October 2006; it is with this that we are mainly concerned here. It is a document of general guidelines (cf. GDC 282), distinct from and complementary to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (to which it refers) and which presents ‘the fundamentals of catechetical practice’, i.e. the ‘methodological base from which the practical implementation of catechesis can be elaborated’. The Decree of the Congregation for the Clergy specifies that this document ‘without being normative, is published with the authority of the [French] bishops’.

The National Document is divided into three chapters. The first locates catechesis in the missionary Church by its nature. The second chapter stresses the importance of the model of Christian initiation for such a catechesis. The third chapter specifies the pedagogical consequences of this initiatory catechesis.