Franciscan at Home

James Pauley asks how we can overcome the liturgical indifference of so many we catechize.

I have the privilege and honor of teaching many of the young adults who come to Franciscan University of Steubenville to study Theology and Catechetics—and these young people love the Church’s liturgical life and are enthusiastic to cultivate liturgical understanding and liturgical living in the Catholic laity whom they will someday teach. When I ask my students to identify adjectives which describe their personal experience of the Church’s liturgical life, words like ‘beautiful,’ ‘mysterious,’ and ‘irreplaceable’ are often mentioned. Of course, if we were to ask this question of the typical cradle-Catholic fourteen-year-old boy, he might use a different word to describe what he thinks of the Mass and the sacraments. The word he might use starts with a ‘b’ and ends with ‘o-r-i-n-g’ – certainly not a favorite word of catechists!

Pope John Paul II described the sanctifying value of the sacraments for human beings in this way: ‘it is in the sacraments, and especially the Eucharist, that Christ Jesus works in fullness for our transformation.’[i] Of course, the transformation John Paul wrote of does not come about through mere liturgical attendance, but only through the ‘full, conscious and active participation in liturgical celebrations called for by the very nature of the liturgy.’[ii] If our fourteen-year-old boy is bored and uninterested in the liturgical realities set in motion before him, it is highly unlikely that his transformation will result merely from his presence.

In my opinion, this is the great liturgical-catechetical crisis of our era. Severely limited in their understanding of what is happening in the liturgical drama and therefore in their capacity to fruitfully participate, many today are essentially cut off from the sacramental power to actually live the life of Christ in the world. How do we begin to break through the liturgical indifference which plagues so many today? This is an important question, to be sure.

The evangelist Luke has reproduced in the Acts of the Apostles the journeys that the Apostle Paul undertook along with others in order to set up Christian communities the length, and breadth of the Roman empire. Highly significant is the use of the Greek verb ‘discipling’[i] that is used towards the end of the first journey (see Acts 14:21). Discipling could be considered as a synonym for catechesis. The very purpose of catechesis is to make disciples, disciples in the true sense of the word. In this article we shall examine the first journey of Paul (Acts 13:1­-14:28) so as to take note of the methods that the Apostle Paul used in order to win converts as well as to confirm them in their faith.
Luke has presented the person of Paul as an ideal catechist who is able to consolidate with his own personal life the faith of those entrusted to his care. What Paul is, is no doubt as important as what he does on behalf of the community by way of imparting faith formation.

At the outset of the first missionary journey, Luke refers to Saul [Paul] and Barnabas (along with three others) as prophets and teachers. This is what Paul is—a prophet and a teacher. These are two complementary gifts given by God in order to establish others in the faith.

In this series of articles on catechesis on God the Father, Scott Sollom offers us initial points of focus for our teaching.

Catechesis that turns frequently to speak of God the Father is rare. But even a little reading of the Catechism of the Catholic Church may provide the support and incentive you and your fellow catechists need so as to be able to make this catechesis central in all that you do. You may even find yourself surprised into wanting to speak of God the Father all the time! And especially you will find that this is the case when it comes to preparation for the sacrament of reconciliation where God the ‘Father of mercies’ is the key.

In the last issue of The Sower, Archbishop Burke drew our attention to Pope Benedict’s statement on mystagogical catechesis. Here, James Pauley unpacks some of the implications of this teaching for our catechetical methodology.

Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis on the Eucharist as the source and summit of the Church’s life contains the most recently articulated magisterial teaching on the important relationship which exists between liturgy and catechesis. The importance of a deep integration of liturgy and catechesis has been a much frequented theme in these years since the Second Vatican Council highlighted the ‘didactic’ nature of the liturgy[i] and the importance of the faithful participating in liturgical life with ‘minds attuned to their voices.’[ii] Benedict’s immediate predecessor warned of an increasing liturgical participation which lacked liturgical understanding, manifesting itself in a widespread ‘hollow ritualism’ in the liturgical practice of the faithful.[iii] And, the General Directory for Catechesis called for a catechesis which consistently promotes ‘a deeper understanding and experience of the liturgy.’[iv] In a careful reading of the magisterial catechetical vision of the second half of the Twentieth century, it would be difficult to overlook the very important connection between liturgical understanding and liturgical participation.

If we catechize well about the Liturgy, we will find that the Liturgy itself will catechize well.

‘Every form of catechesis necessarily leads to the sacraments of faith.’[i] These are the words of Pope John Paul II, written in the first year of his pontificate, and they are crucial for our understanding of catechesis. The relationship between liturgy and catechesis is a theme John Paul II chose to carefully develop in his apostolic exhortation to catechists.
The liturgical-catechetical relationship is a subject alluded to by the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium. The purpose of that document was to renew and reform the Church’s sacramental life, and the Constitution makes clear the importance of the relationship between liturgy and catechesis in the Church’s mission.

The phrase from Sacrosanctum Concilium which has become perhaps the best-known and most prolifically quoted in these subsequent decades is the call for ‘full, conscious and active participation in liturgical celebrations’ on the part of the People of God.[ii] The Council set in motion a period of substantial renewal of the Church’s liturgical life in order to facilitate this level of participation on the part of the faithful. While many believed that ‘active participation’ was possible only through an adaptation of the liturgy to the capacities of the faithful (for example through a restoration of the use of the vernacular language), it is clear that in the minds of the Council Fathers, the heightening of liturgical understanding was also understood to be necessary.

Leonard Franchi proposes uses for the Compendium in the education programmes for Catholic teachers.

Catholics schools best fulfill their mission when they are staffed by teachers who are committed heart and soul to their own faith tradition. This applies to teachers at all stages in the educational journey. If the role of the Catholic teacher is pivotal to the Gospel witness of the school, it follows that the educational institutions which prepare Catholic students for the vocation of teaching should have the faith formation of their students at the core of their course design. How can this be done?