Nov 2005 - CL Magazine by National Conference for Catechetical Leadership

November 2005 | Volume 16, Number 6

C AT E C H E T I C A L LEADER

I N T HIS I SSUE : Catechesis in the Old Testament New Testament: Speaking Boldly and with Joy Report on Adolescent Catechesis

CATECHETICAL UPDATE: Religious Education in Other Religions and Cultures

A PUBLICATION OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR CATECHETICAL LEADERSHIP (NCCL)

C AT E C H E T I C A L L E A D E R

Table of Contents

November 2005

In Every Issue 2 From the President 3 19 21

35 36

Anne Comeaux Hurricanes, Earthquakes and… Catechesis From the Executive Director Neil A. Parent Encountering Prophets Then and Now Tech Center Jeff Stutzman Staying Current: A Technological Struggle Books in the News Reviewed by Lawrence Rilla Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths People in the News Crossword Puzzle Megan Anechiarico Catechesis by “The Book”

Features

Scripture’s Best Example of Catechesis? page 10

The Road from Medellin Update page U1

Catechesis in the Old and New Testaments 4 Catechesis in the Old Testament Lawrence Boadt, CSP 6 Speaking Boldly and with Joy Carol Dorr Clement 10 Scripture’s Best Example of Catechesis? Richard Brown 14 Report: The State of

Paul Henderson

Adolescent Catechesis 16 Life-span Developmental Catechesis 28 On Location from Katrina Central 29 Crazy People… Strange Times

Joseph D. White David O’Brien Rebecca Titford

Catechetical Update Life-span Developmental Catechesis page 16

NCCL BOARD OF DIRECTORS Ms. Anne Comeaux President Diocese of Galveston-Houston Rev. Anthony J. Salim Vice President Maronite Eparchy of Los Angeles Ms. Mary Ann Ronan Treasurer St. Paul Parish, Phoenix, AZ

Most Rev. Richard Malone Episcopal Advisor Diocese of Portland, ME Mr. Neil A. Parent Executive Director Washington, DC Mr. Harry Dudley At-Large Archdiocese of Indianapolis

C AT E C H E T I C A L L E A D E R

Religious Education in Other Religions and Cultures u1 The Road from Medellin Enrique García-Ahumada, FSC u4 “What Did You Learn Today?” Rabbi Jan Katzew

Sr. Mary Caroline Marchal At-Large Our Lady of Lourdes, Louisville, KY Ms. Cathy Shannon At-Large Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon Mr. Joseph Swiss At-Large Archdiocese of Baltimore

Mr. James E. Tucker At-Large Diocese of Helena, MT Dr. Michael Steier Ex-Officio USCC Department of Education

NCCL STAFF Mr. Neil A. Parent Executive Director Ms. Joyce A. Crider Sr. Katherine J. Kandefer, BVM Associate Directors Ms. Patricia Vrabel Office Manager

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FROM THE PRESIDENT ❚

HURRICANES, EARTHQUAKES AND… CATECHESIS Anne Comeaux Hurricanes! Earthquakes! Floods! Fires! As I write this, those of us on the Gulf Coast, especially, are aware that the twenty-first named storm is brewing in the Caribbean and threatening to enter the Gulf. The sights and sounds that come via our TVs from the people of Pakistan and India are enough to bring us to tears. New England and California are dealing with their versions of natural disasters that have caused loss of life and property. Then there are the realities of families and friends in our midst who are experiencing death and serious illnesses. Where, oh where, is the “Good News” in all of this? How do we remain positive when so much destruction and bad news surrounds us on a daily basis? It really begins to seem like Job had nothing on us! It would seem that it would be easy to sink into a sense of despair and abandon. However, as I, personally, have been faced with many of these circumstances in the past couple of months, I have been brought to the understanding of God’s love rather than God’s anger or vengeance. And, as I have been a catechist for many years, the elements of catechesis seem to have been the basis for much of my hope. Thinking of the message, community, worship and service has been a way of sorting out ways our people have responded to many of the difficulties in their lives.

Giving people the tools to deal with devastation, grief, loss and uncertainty is a responsibility that we must embrace and share with others. • The Scriptures provided much comfort and strength as people were facing the difficult situations in their lives. People gathered in their homes, in work places and in small groups to read the Scriptures and try to assimilate God’s word, the tradition of the Church and basic Christian truths into their current situation. • Communities came together to provide strength to one another and to those in their areas to give support and encouragement. People of like mind and belief brought strength to many of the efforts that could not have been activated by individuals. In our building we came together for the anointing of one of our own before she went for a serious and scary medical procedure.

• Even in the middle of difficult times, I participated in liturgy being celebrated in parishes that were spared loss of power or experienced damage. My own parish was “down,” but we managed to locate another place to worship and were welcomed by folks we did not know. Mass was celebrated at the Astrodome and other large shelters daily with priests who had become evacuees themselves. Parishes offered transportation so that those in shelters could gather in a “real church” for Sunday liturgies. Our staff joined to support one of our own in prayer and worship at the Mass of Resurrection for his son who died a violent death at the hand of an acquaintance. • Thousands of people came to the large shelters to serve three hot meals a day. Youth groups participated in gathering food, diapers, clothing and other necessities so that the St. Vincent de Paul Society and Catholic Charities could serve those in need. Parishes served as Red Cross shelters giving up much of their own access to their facilities for personal and parish activities. Second collections were taken in every parish to help served the needs of others.

I have drawn on my own personal experiences over the past few weeks. I can imagine that each of you have encountered personal scenarios and parallel activities. Because we share the catechetical charism, it might be that you have also dealt with these situations in a similar way. Our catechetical calling, formation, and activity are important for us to share with all. Many of the opportunities that have been given to us can be helpful to others we encounter. Certainly, the events of the recent past have been staggering but, just as certainly, there will be more in the future. Giving people the tools to deal with devastation, grief, loss and uncertainty is a responsibility that we must embrace and share with others. To share the message, enable and empower communities, participate and encourage worship, and model and teach service are the ways we live the Gospel with a catechetical methodology. For our community is shaken by grief, anguish, and woe, as you would shake a rag in the wind. And I began to understand how our Lord could rejoice with sympathy and compassion over the affliction of his people; and he visits something upon each one he loves, in order to bring us to happiness. Jesus wishes us to realize that it will be converted to our glory and benefit by the strength of his suffering. Nor do we endure distress alone, but are united to him. ❙ —Julian of Norwich

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FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ❚

ENCOUNTERING PROPHETS THEN AND NOW Neil A. Parent I’ve often thought of Monika Hellwig as a modern day Catherine of Sienna… Frequently when I travel by plane, I spot someone— and sometimes several people—reading bibles or other sacred texts. Recently, for example, a young woman across the aisle from me intently read from the Book of Mormon during an entire twoand-a-half-hour flight. On another occasion, a middle-aged woman sitting in the window seat of my aisle never took her eyes off the bible cradled in her lap. So motionless was she that I thought for a while she was sleeping. But the pages continued to turn. I have seen Jews, Muslims, Christians, Mormons and people of other faiths reading and, I suspect, praying while traveling to their destinations. I know that Jesus cautioned about praying in public, but I never felt that these folks were seeking to impress anyone. They were just using the down time of travel as an opportunity to encounter the life-giving mysteries of their sacred texts. These travelers are, I suspect, the tip of an iceberg of people who turn to their scriptures for spiritual nourishment. As Joseph White notes in his article, interest in the Bible ranks as one of the top three topics in adult faith formation. I have seen these statistics frequently repeated in surveys over the past twenty-five year. This issue of Catechetical Leader gives special emphasis to scripture and catechesis. Paulist Father Lawrence Boadt draws on his extensive knowledge of the Old Testament to describe how religious instruction was done in ancient Israel. One can easily see where Jesus developed his approach to teaching the Good News. Carol Clement cites key passages from Luke and Paul to help us better understand the Christian approach to catechesis. And Dr. Richard Brown tells us how lectio divina, the careful pondering of sacred Scripture, can help the catechetical process by putting the reader into a more intimate union with God. While knowledge about the Bible is important to mature adult belief, it is the power of the texts themselves that stir the imagination and convert the heart. This is what I think people are finding when they read the bible for hours on airplanes or other places. This is what we should help learners experience in catechesis. There is no substitute for a direct encounter with the Word of God. I know one woman who as a young girl discovered Christianity from reading the Gideon Bible that was provided in her hotel room during a Girl Scout trip. She told me that it was the power of the stories of Jesus that kept pulling her to the Christian faith. And then, there is the account of Augustine who, as a young man, heard a child’s voice repeatC AT E C H E T I C A L L E A D E R

ing, “Pick it up and read.” This prompted him to open the Bible, whereupon his eyes fell upon a passage that turned his life from one of profligacy to sainthood. Someone who knew how to make the Scriptures come alive for her readers and audiences was Monika Hellwig, a theologian who taught for three decades at Georgetown University in Washington. She died September 30 of a cerebral hemorrhage. Her death leaves a particular gap in the catechetical community because she was so good at bridging theology and pastoral practice. I first met Monika in the early 1970s at the Diocese of Richmond’s annual catechetical conference. I was a brand new DRE at the time, and Monika was one of the featured speakers. On that occasion, I remember her gently chastising the assembly because some of the participants were a bit rowdy at the hotel the previous night, preventing her newly adopted daughter from getting to sleep. I recall wondering why Monika brought her child to the conference in the first place. What was she thinking? Of course people are going to party! But I wasn’t married at the time, and I had no idea of the brave and difficult task she was undertaking in adopting a child as a single parent. She later adopted two more children, raising all three successfully to adulthood. It was this kind of inner strength that enabled Monika to take stands that were not always popular, especially with some church officials. But her love of the church and its leaders was never in doubt; and in that sense I often thought of her as a modern day Catherine of Sienna, the headstrong fourteenth century saint who confronted Pope Gregory XI in Avignon about returning to Rome. Sometimes people who take positions contrary to church polity are deemed disloyal. But I think it is all in the attitude. For those, like Catherine and Monika who cared about the leaders with whom they disagreed, giving criticism was an act of love and respect. How else are leaders to grow in their roles if followers do not love them enough to undertake the critically important but often wrenchingly difficult task of disagreeing with them when circumstances warrant? Monika remained true to her beliefs throughout her life. She cared enough for the church and its leaders to make the effort to contribute to the public discourse on important issues. In that sense, she was a good prophetic model for our time, and she will be missed. ❙

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Catechesis in the

Old Testament by Lawrence Boadt, CSP

The Old Testament is designed to spur a people who have been taught about their personal relationship to God to learn more deeply and come to know God more intimately each day.

General education in the ancient world took very different forms depending on whether you were among the elite few who attended a formal school, or were apprenticed to a master to learn at his side, or were simply trained by your parents. Religious education would be conducted by all of these same means, but also in worship and feast-day celebrations through listening to the biblical texts, hearing the priestly instructions on religious doctrines and practices, and singing the psalms and prayers in the temple. Not much is said about education in most biblical books, but the Wisdom literature is particularly rich in language about pupils and teachers. In particular, we can discover much about the biblical ideal of learning from such Books as Proverbs, Qoheleth [Ecclesiates] and Sirach, but unfortunately they are not very concerned with talking about the actual doctrines found in the Torah, so we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have much certainty about the contents of classes taught by teachers. When we have such diverse and fragmentary bits of

information, the best way to get a fairly good sense of all the dimensions of religious education is to survey the different sources we have available.

FORMAL EDUCATION

IN THE

ANCIENT NEAR EAST

To understand ancient Sumerian, Babylonian, or Egyptian education means to realize just how many signs for letters and syllables one had to master. Knowing two thousand different signs made you only a mediocre reader. The trained scribe would learn several thousand variant signs. Most of us today think that learning to read and write is a relatively easy task. But we grew up with only twenty-six different letters and vowels, and it still took several years of schooling to become even moderately literate. Because of the complexity of the cuneiform and hieroglyphic scripts, literacy was limited to the few who had the leisure or wealth to pursue ten years or more of school training. Whoever persevered and became a scribe was able to get a very good position with the government or

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Children were considered important in themselves and not just as extra hands for the family farm or to take care of elderly parents someday.

temple administration. An Egyptian text in praise of scribes says, “As for those learned scribes from the times since that of the gods…their names have become everlasting even though they have completed their lives, while all of their relatives are forgotten.” The text goes on to identify the books that these scribes have copied out, or even composed, as the true sons and daughters that they have left to honor their memories. We know that in early Sumerian schools of the third millennium BC the professor was called the “father of the school,” and his assistant who prepared daily lesson tablets was the “big brother,” while the student was the “school son.” Since these pupils were destined for careers with significant roles in public life and management, they were drilled in mathematics, the Sumerian language, classified lists of all kinds of objects and types of knowledge. They memorized and recorded the great religious myths and stories. Evidence of the same system of formal schools has been found in Mari during the Babylonian period, in Palestine at Shechem in the Canaanite period about 1400 BC, and frequently in Egyptian records. We do have a considerable number of ancient texts praising schools and teachers, and even some where they record a dialogue between teacher and student about what the young man has learned. This type of education by dialogue, questioning back and forth, and repeating wise sayings and lessons is reflected in most of the great collections of wisdom literature that are found in excavations. Also, in many archaeological sites, school tablets on which young students have practiced their calligraphy or composed sample letters are common. Often the instructor wrote several lines at the top of the tablet, and left room for students to copy the signs below until they got them right. In Egypt, most of these schools were attached to temples, and were called by the honorific title, “The House of Life.” Once a student had finished ten years of this basic education, he would be apprenticed to officials in government offices or the temple and learn still more knowledge about the special areas in which they worked. Because such an education was the gateway to high position in the government, including such offices as governor and ambassador, students were expected to have great self-discipline and to be docile to the teacher’s commands. They worked from sunrise to sundown and discipline was very strict. They were expected to avoid all wine and liquor, stay away from girls, and keep their nose to the grindstone.

This pattern is clearly visible in many biblical passages as well. For example, Proverbs 1-9 uses the language of father and son for the teacher and student, counsels avoiding the temptations of women, and expects constant discipline to avoid foolishness and laziness.

ATTITUDES

TOWARDS THE

YOUNG

In Israel, as in the rest of the ancient world, the birth of children was the most important mark of one’s status as a husband or wife. They were the highest of God’s blessings on a family, as Psalm 127:3 makes clear: “Sons are one’s heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward! Like arrows in the hands of an archer are the sons of one’s youth. Blessed is the one who has his quiver full of them!” Children were considered important in themselves and not just as extra hands for the family farm or to take care of elderly parents someday. Although both of those roles were important responsibilities, and are at the heart of the fourth commandment, “to honor your father and your mother,” the role of children as part of the celebration of the religious traditions was also significant. One good example is the importance of their participation in the religious rites of Passover, where they share in the telling of Exodus story (see Deut 6:20-21; Exod 12:26-27). The prophets, too, described children as signs of divine blessing for the whole people. Thus Zechariah 8:5 envisions the streets of the messianic age filled with children playing, while Isaiah foresees the day when wolves will lie with lambs and lions with calves, and both will be led by a small child (Isa 11:6). Parents were to train their children in the various skills needed for daily life. David, for one, was an accomplished harpist, and children often watched the sheep or worked the fields. Girls learned spinning and weaving and other home management skills (see Prov 31:13-31; Exod 35:25-26). Many verses in Proverbs suggest both mother and father shared the role of instruction (for example, see Proverbs 10:1). The Gezer calendar, a little tablet of the tenth century, BC, was just big enough to be held by a boy and was written on and erased several times, but the current text is a practice list of the farming tasks needed for each month of the year. But much more attention is given to the obligation of teaching the religious heritage of Israel’s covenant tradition (Exod 10:2), and the ethical behavior of the “fear of the Lord” (Prov 4:1-4). Psalm 78:5-7 puts it strongly: continued on page 22

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Speaking Boldly

and with Joy by Carol Dorr Clement

Writing for a recent issue of America magazine, Martin Pable, OFM Cap., asks the question “Why Don’t Catholics Share Their Faith?” He answers it by offering simple ways for Catholics to tell others what Jesus Christ has done in their lives. The author’s suggestions require boldness, an openness to everyone, and joy. New Testament authors Luke and Paul show Christian leaders utilizing these very qualities as they are actively engaged in their work of bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to the Mediterranean world of the first century. Luke’s Acts of the Apostles and Paul’s letters demonstrate New Testament catechetical practice of Spirit-guided effectiveness, a practice that is particularly requisite for a twenty-first century world “in need of transformation and hope” (National Directory for Catechesis, No. 57). Luke’s idealized history observes the early Christian leaders as they proclaim, preach, instruct, exhort, expound, and explain their new life in Christ (Acts includes all these “catechetical” activities). The author also depicts them as they visit, sit down with, talk with, eat meals with, remain with, correct, console, and encourage their hearers (Acts also records these “pastoral” actions). Fusing message with pastoral action, Peter, Paul, Barnabas and the disciples lived their words of faith, hope, and love and inspired their followers to do so. Composing Acts about 85 A.D., Luke purposely edited the narrative to show the action of the Holy Spirit bringing God’s salvation in Christ to all peoples. Looking back fifty years after the ascension of Jesus, Luke depicts his larger-than-life apostles and disciples in difficult situations. Letters to the Thessalonians, Philippians, Galatians, and Romans reveal Paul and his companions at their work of proclaiming Christ and living their message even as they establish communities to foster growth in Christian living. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, Paul and early Christian leaders speak boldly about Jesus. At first glance, “boldness” may suggest a defiance of authority or a refusal to respect social conventions. However, biblical scholar Joseph Fitzmyer writes that Luke uses the Greek word parrhesia to indicate “frankness, outspokenness, and courage” on the part of the apostles. The author of Acts often employs the word to describe the Spiritinspired eloquence of the apostles and early disciples. Luke reports that Peter and John, “uneducated, ordinary men,” spoke with a boldness that amazed the Sanhedrin. After their release from prison, they asked the Lord to enable them to continue speaking fearlessly. Soon “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:29-32). Fitzmyer observes that “the Spirit thus spurs on their public testimony.”

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In his letter to the Thessalonians (probably written in 51 A.D.) Paul also insists that his “gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and (with) much conviction” (1 Thes 1:5). From Paul’s viewpoint, the Holy Spirit is at work in those who speak and in those who hear the gospel and respond to the message of Jesus Christ. Reliance on the Holy Spirit rather than on human speaking ability alone is the source for evangelical boldness in sharing Christian faith. Luke ends his story by emphasizing that Paul received all who visited him, and “with complete assurance (boldness) and without hindrance, he proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 28:30-31). This is the Paul that Luke wants Christian leaders and disciples to remember and to imitate. Paul’s communities know that he loves them and will tell them what is for their own good. Paul could be stern with those who deviated from Christian faith in practice. Almost as if he wants to shake them into awareness, he twice calls the disciples at Galatia “stupid” then later softens his criticism by saying, “My children, for whom I am again in labor until Christ be formed in you! I would like to be with you now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed because of you” (Gal 3:1,3; 4:19-20).

Paul does not hesitate to express his feelings for his followers, as he tells the Philippians that he longs for them with the affection of Christ Jesus and that he holds them in his heart (Phil 1:7,8). Expressing his desire to see the Thessalonians “in person,” Paul declares that he wants to share with them “not only the gospel of God, but our very selves as well” (1 Thes 2:8). Describing his ministry among them, Paul uses an effective parental metaphor: “we were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children. …As you know, we treated each one of you as a father treats his children, exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you conduct yourselves as worthy of the God who calls you into his kingdom and glory” (1 Thes 2:7, 11-12). Disclaiming flattery in his speaking, Paul nevertheless praises his young community as “our glory and joy.” Paul recognizes God’s action and he understands the importance of telling the Thessalonians that he sees God’s grace at work in them. The shrewd leader also knows that sincere encouragement can strengthen them. Observing these affectionate aspects of Paul brings to mind the effectiveness of Pope John Paul II with young people. When Catholic University of America students greeted him in 1979 by chanting “John Paul II, we love you,” he quickly responded, continued on next page

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SPEAKING BOLDLY continued from page 7

“Perhaps I love you more.” If authentic and visible Christian love permeates parish and diocesan catechetical personnel and if Christian leaders can find a way to express their love, then the person of Jesus Christ, obviously present, may prove irresistible to people in their catechetical programs! Paul’s ministry is joyful and enthusiastic, even in the midst of suffering. Editors of the New American Bible note that Paul’s epistle to the Philippians (written in the mid-50s) has been called “the letter of joy” and biblical scholars frequently allude to Luke’s “theology of joy.” Paul himself calls joy one of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). Such joy is not to be confused with perpetual good cheer, or with the experience of a pleasant perfume or a delicious meal. For several New Testament scholars, joy is always the appropriate reaction to God’s saving action, an acceptance of God’s visitation, and a sign of authentic response to God’s salvation. Paul promises the Philip-

pians that he will remain with them “for your progress and joy in the faith” (Phil 1:25). When Barnabas arrived at Antioch and saw the grace of God among the Christians there, “he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart,…” (Acts 11:25). Luke reports that the Ethiopian eunuch listened to Philip explain the Scriptures, was baptized, and then “continued on his way rejoicing” (Acts 8:39). Filled with the Holy Spirit, the disciples of Jesus impart a sense of joy to their communities, a joy at God’s salvation that Luke often associates with wonder, blessing, and praise. His work as a missionary taught Paul an important predisposition for joy. Responding to a gift of money from his beloved Philippians, Paul declared that “I have learned in whatever situation I find myself, to be self-sufficient. I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. …I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, …I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me” (Phil 4:11-13).

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Wilton Gregory, then-Bishop of Belleville, Illinois challenged the 1996 National Conference for Catechetical Leadership convention members to foster joy: “If there were a first concern that I have about Catholic catechesis today it is that we need to emphasize the joy, enthusiasm, the hopefulness that confirms our own confidence in our religious heritage. We need to speak a word that will rouse the people who come to the church seeking not only truth, but lifegiving truth.” Bishop Gregory links joy, hope, and enthusiasm. For the Greeks, en theos (enthusiasm) meant spirited speech, behavior, and passion that they attributed to a godlike source. Writing in the Jerome Biblical Commentary, J.T. Forrestell says of early Christian preaching that it had about it “a certain touch of passion that seeks a response to the preached word.” Theologian and teacher Richard Gaillardetz, speaking at the 2005 Paulist Hecker Lecture reminded his audience that many Catholic undergraduates do not sense a Christian “passion” in their teachers. Young people and older ones alike appreciate catechesis that evokes a passionate response to God’s message. Catechetical leaders prize those catechists who can facilitate response to God in their classes and conversation, whose spiritual life is characterized by “a coherence and authenticity of life that is characterized by their faithful practice of the faith in a spirit of faith, charity, hope, courage, and joy” (NCD, 54B, 8). Paul asks Christian ministers and disciples to follow his example. Paul knows that he has tried to root himself in Christ’s cross and resurrection and urges his followers to imitate him. Writing to the Thessalonians, Paul reminds them that they became “imitators of us and of the Lord, receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit” (1 Thes 1:6). Speaking to Christian leaders gathered at Miletus, the Lucan Paul asks them to imitate him and outlines what Fitzmyer calls the three fundamental characteristics of Paul’s ministry: serving humbly, telling followers what is for their own good, and addressing the Gospel message to everyone, “Jews and Greeks alike” (Acts 20:17-35). The General Directory for Catechesis reinforces the third characteristic when it discusses the necessity of inter-religious dialogue, ecumenical awareness, and the nourishment of evangelical attitudes (GDC 86).

Jews of the Diaspora, pagans, and Greeks involved in various cults and philosophies. Misunderstandings, fights, and even a riot broke out on his missionary journeys, requiring Paul’s most acute catechetical and pastoral sensitivity. After a trying ordeal in Philippi, Paul drew his courage from God to speak the gospel of God with much struggle (1 Thes 2:2). He told the Christians in Rome of his longing to see them so that “I may share with you some spiritual gift so that you may be strengthened, that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by one another’s faith, yours and mine” (Rom 1:11-12). Barnabas and he visited Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch and “they strengthened the spirits of the disciples, exhorting them to remain steadfast in the faith” (Acts 14:22). Fitzmyer notes that “faith” here most likely means the practice of Christian belief, not its content. Luke and Paul foster Christian hope. Theologian Robert Karris, OFM, compares Luke to a keynote speaker “who lifts the drooping spirits of the assembly and fires them with hope.” Calling the Romans to look beyond their sufferings Paul reminds them that “if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance” (Rom 8:25). Commenting on this verse, Fitzmyer writes that it is hope that enables the Christian to bear with the sufferings of the present but that also makes the Christian a witness to the world of a lively faith in the Resurrection. Imitating Paul in his ministry, cultivating Christian joy and hope, attending to the voice of the Holy Spirit who emboldens us to share faith, developing an awareness of God’s saving action in the present, loving catechumens, catechists, and catechetical staffs, encouraging both catechists and catechumens during times of hardship and disappointment—all these are as necessary for catechetical leaders in the twenty-first century as they were for Luke and Paul. ❙ Carol Dorr Clement, PhD, lectures on faith formation at Washington Theological Union and writes on Catholic women, particularly those in religious education. She co-authored Catholic Daughters of the Americas. A Century in Review with Berard Marthaler, OFM Conv., Carol is presently writing the history of the Daughters of Isabella, a group of Catholic women in the United States and Canada.

Paul and his companions encourage and strengthen those they serve. Often exhorting his disciples to trust in God’s promises, Paul underscores the message with his pastoral actions. He and Barnabas spend time with their young communities, visiting, and conversing with them. Luke frequently notes that they “strengthened the souls of the disciples. They encouraged them to remain in the faith”(Acts 14:22). As the new Christians tried to teach and live the Gospel, they encountered opposition from their surrounding communities, including

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The Story of the Samaritan Woman:

Scripture’s Best Example of Catechesis by Richard Brown Diocesan directors and catechetical leaders always search for practical ways to implant in catechists’ minds and hearts the basics of catechesis. One way is through story and another is through simple language. The catechists for whom you are responsible will use and remember the basics when you use simple language and structure. This simplicity shines out in John’s Gospel story of the Samaritan woman whom Jesus catechized at Jacob’s well and then sent forth to be a catechist to others.

woman as our prime example of how to catechize. If we as catechists want to know what really works, what better model than what worked best for Jesus.

First, though, we recall that the Emmaus story of Jesus walking with the disciples after the Resurrection has traditionally been presented as the model for catechesis. For example, the U.S. bishops in their adult faith formation plan document, Our Hearts Were Burning within Us, stated, “The Gospels show how Jesus communicated the Good News. In the familiar story of Emmaus (Luke 25:13-35) we find the model for this pastoral plan”(No.7). The disciples on the way to Emmaus experienced God and then hurried to bring the good news, to catechize others.

I would like to describe each of the six skills that Jesus used to catechize in the story of the Samaritan woman, sometimes in contrast with the story of Emmaus. I will also consider the logic that may have been behind Jesus’ choice of that particular strategy.

I was amazed to discover that the same six simple skills Jesus used to catechize the disciples at Emmaus he also used at Jacob’s well with the Samaritan woman (John 4:4-42). In fact, it seems to me that with the Samaritan woman, Jesus used these same skills even more clearly and strongly. God may have chosen this remarkable

Before examining that model, however, we need a simple definition of catechizing. When Jesus was asked what primary message he was bringing, he gave the commandment to love God, neighbor and self. This describes the heart of catechesis: helping people develop a growing personal love relationship with God that expresses itself in service to others and to self.

The six skills are: ■

Personal conversation with God

■

Use of Scripture

■

Connecting with real life

■

Use of sacramentals

■

Sharing food and drink

■

Service to others and self

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PERSONAL CONVERSATION

WITH

GOD

Our first skill, personal conversation with God, must remain the center of our catechetical efforts. After asking the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well for a drink, Jesus, our God, engages her in a very personal dialogue. He knows her intimately. “You are right in saying. ‘I have no husband;’ for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband” (John 4:17-18). He also invites her to another, even better, relationship for her life. “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him” (John 4: 23). And he says to her directly that he is the Messiah. “I am he, the one who is speaking to you” (John 4:26). Catechists must also consider as their primary objective to bring people into a direct conversation with Jesus, with the Father, with the Holy Spirit. Teaching factual material about God and Jesus and church is but a means to this end of personal conversation. In contrast, Emmaus gives us a second, but lesser, example of personal conversation with God. Jesus meets with the two disciples on

the seven-mile walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus after the Resurrection. He asks what they are discussing, then berates them for their lack of understanding. “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared!” (Luke 24:25). Then, “beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures” (Luke 24:27). So their conversation with Jesus on the way to Emmaus is more a teacher’s instruction on texts. Only Jesus’ breaking of bread with them at the end is a more personal moment, when “their eyes were opened, and they recognized him…” (Luke 24:31). The Logic What might be the logic, the common sense explanation, for presenting personal conversation with God as the primary element of catechetical efforts? This is simply what our work is all about. We work to bring people into a lifelong and eternal relationship with God. God loves us and wants our love. We must talk to God and listen to God, get to know God intimately and let God know us. We know that the best way to provide this conversation is through the continued on page 31

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The State of Adolescent

Catechesis by Paul Henderson A Think Tank SWOT Analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

A SWOT analysis is a useful tool for obtaining an internal and external scan of an organization. It is often conducted prior to a strategic planning process. Participants assess internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats. The elements in the analysis may be general assumptions suggested by the participants.

he publication of the National Directory for Catechesis is a moment for the church to celebrate and assess its various approaches to adolescent catechesis. Three national organizationsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership (NCCL), the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA), and the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry (NFCYM), the organizations that represent diocesan and parish religious educators, Catholic school teachers/campus ministers, and youth ministers formed a Collaborative Committee for Adolescent Catechesis in 2003. We convened a Think Tank in Washington DC in May of 2004 and then invited several members from each membership organization to analyze adolescent catechesis through the lens of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT). This article is a summary of a longer paper that developed out of those conversations to cultivate national, diocesan, and local conversations about the principles, methods and strategies currently being used for adolescent catechesis as well as how best to organize and allocate resources for this ministry. We offer it as a conversation starter, as grist for the mill, at the local level.

STRENGTHS

BUILD UPON

When we examine catechesis with adolescents today we note significant strengths.

YOUNG

PEOPLE THEMSELVES

According to the 2005 National Study of Youth and Religion (NFCYM, 2004), 76% of Catholic youth report that they plan to attend and to remain Catholic in their adulthood. Eighty-three percent say they will or may attend church when they are twenty-five years old. Thirty-nine percent report attending Mass at least weekly and 52% report attending Mass two or three times a month or more.

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The National Study also found that young people are interested in a genuine experience of the transcendent and in a faith that relates to their daily lives. The majority of Catholic youth are somewhat (51%) or very (23%) interested in learning more about their faith. Most Catholic young people report that their religious faith is somewhat (42%), very (31%) or extremely (11%) important in shaping their daily lives and in making important life decisions. Thirty-four percent of Catholic youth pray daily and 62% pray weekly. Forty-six percent report going to confession in the past year. Thirty-one percent of Catholic youth report feeling either very (22%) or extremely (9%) close to God, while 43% report that they are somewhat close to God.

DISCIPLESHIP Major church teachings, such as the General Directory for Catechesis, National Directory for Catechesis, Renewing the Vision, Our Hearts Were Burning within Us, point to a common vision of discipleship rooted in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Those who cat-

Religion is in the background of their lives, unfocused and implicit, important but not a priority, valued but not invested in, and praised but not describable. echize adolescents are recognizing that when we live out our baptismal commitment and give witness to this vision, we empower young people to live as disciples of Jesus Christ in our world today.

INTEGRATION

AND INNOVATION

Three primary ministerial groupings currently catechize young people: parish religious educators, youth ministers, Catholic school teachers and campus ministers. These catechetical leaders seek to integrate catechetical “best practices” that are systematic and intentional, not limited to any one method, and integrated in and through a variety of methods. These include formal religious education programs in parishes, instruction and activities in Catholic schools, justice and service experiences, retreats, sacramental and liturgical experiences, and service opportunities. The best approaches appear to balance innovation and active engagement of learners while providing a solid foundation in the teachings of the church. These are also typically supported by experiences of Christ through relationships in the home, school and church.

TEACHABLE

MOMENTS

Effective adolescent catechesis makes use of theological, catechetical, spiritual and personal reflection as well as informal opportunities or Emmaus-styled catechetical moments as teachable moments. In Renewing the Vision (USCCB, 1997) the bishops remind us that the ministry of catechesis fosters growth in Catholic faith in three dimensions—trusting (heart), knowing and believing (mind), and doing (hands).

STRENGTHS OF THOSE WHO CATECHIZE AND FORM ADOLESCENTS While religious education and Catholic schools have long been equated with catechesis, youth ministry is now being recognized as a legitimate place where adolescent catechesis also occurs. Additionally, many faith-filled adults parents, moderators of co-curricular activities, even coaches — are valuable resources for passing on the faith in addition to catechists, teachers and youth ministers. A strength to note, for the Catholic high school, is that religion teachers (catechists) are trained in the art of teaching and are theologically well educated. According to NCEA research (Window on Mission, NCEA 2002), 52% of religion teachers report having a masters in theology, 27% masters in religious studies, 25% masters in religious education, 16% masters in pastoral ministry. Seven percent have doctorates in theology. In parish religious education and youth ministry programs there has been some success in training professional leaders through national and diocesan certification programs such as the master catechist and the certificate in youth ministry. More data is necessary to give a clearer picture within these two ministerial fields before statistics like those cited with regards to Catholic high school religion teachers are available for parish catechists and youth ministers. What is known is that successful teachers, whether in Catholic schools, youth ministry or parish catechetical programs, do help youth people connect adolescent life experience and the teachings of the church.

WEAKNESSES

THAT CHALLENGE

Like a coin with two sides, strengths noted above also have corresponding weaknesses that challenge effective adolescent catechesis.

YOUNG

PEOPLE AND THE CHALLENGES OF CULTURE

While the data from the National Study on Youth and Religion (NFCYM, 2004) mentioned earlier provides good news about adolescents, it also reports that young people are incredibly inarticulate about their faith, their religious beliefs and practices, and its meaning or place in their lives. Religion is in the background of their lives, unfocused and implicit, important but not a priority, valued but not invested in, and praised but not describable. continued on page 26

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Life-span Developmental Catechesis:

Has the Paradigm Shifted Again? by Joseph D. White

What if the focus in catechesis wasn’t “children” or “adults,” but rather the human person in all life’s ages and stages? Just a few years ago, charismatic leaders in the field of catechesis sounded the call that “the paradigm was changing.” It was time for catechesis to move from a traditional “schoolhouse model” of educating primarily children to a model in which adults were the focus. Several approaches to intergenerational catechesis were developed and implemented, with a confidence that we had finally found what we were looking for—a way to involve the whole parish community in faith formation. Some parishes abandoned their traditional faith formation programs altogether in order to devote as many resources as possible to implementing a “whole community” model. But like the approaches to intergenerational catechesis that emerged (though on a smaller scale) a generation ago, today’s brand of whole parish formation has met with mixed success. One parish with which I am familiar was particularly excited about the idea of involving the whole community in formation. They initially scrapped their weekly sessions for children and saw large crowds at their catechetical assemblies. But in reality, even at the most well attended faith festivals, only 21 percent of the whole parish was in attendance. (At large parishes, one-fifth of the parish in one place at one time can seem huge indeed.) Now, two years later, catechetical assemblies are attended by 6.7 percent of the families in the parish, and there is clamor for the return of the more traditional weekly sessions.

on whole community catechesis and calling it one more trend that didn’t work. Even the principal proponents of whole parish approaches have now aligned themselves with more traditional, textbook-based programs. Add to this the August 5 letter from the USCCB Committee on Catechesis to all the bishops of the United States. In the letter, they describe their own interest in, and reservations about, whole community catechesis, saying that it “is not a substitute for a substantive and systematic catechetical program” and add that a whole community approach “is properly situated when it is introduced as a complementary or supplementary activity to the other systematic programs of religious instruction already extant in the parish.” The reaction to this letter was predictably mixed. Some catechetical leaders were shocked, others were less surprised, and some even agreed.

ASKING

THE

QUESTIONS

So what happened? Was whole-parish faith formation a bad idea? An impossible dream? Of course not. It is essential that we find better ways of involving people of all ages in forming their faith. But perhaps we failed to ask ourselves some important questions along the way. For example, in many of the fastest growing Protestant churches, a huge proportion of adults are involved in weekly faith study. To many adults in those churches, the idea of dropping their children

REASSESSING ‘WHOLE COMMUNITY’ MODEL This parish’s experience is, unfortunately, not uncommon. In dioceses across the country, parishes that were on the cutting edge of the “paradigm shift” in catechesis are going to blended models (combining periodic intergenerational events with the more traditional weekly, age-specific approach) or, in some cases, giving up

…parishes that were on the cutting edge of the “paradigm shift” in catechesis are going to blended models…

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The most important way in which we didn’t take the developmental approach far enough is that we didn’t apply it to adults. off each week for class while they run errands or wait in the parking lot would simply be ridiculous. In many Protestant churches around the country, almost all of the adults are meeting in faith sharing groups while their children are in Sunday school. We may ask, “How do they do that?” Another relevant question is, “What was good about what we had?” Was there anything about the traditional model that we want to keep? Before you say, “No!” consider this: At least in the “schoolhouse model” someone was present. Having most of the children in the parish in attendance is better than 6.7 percent of families, or even 21 percent.

Another advantage of the traditional model is that faith formation occurred on a regular basis. Catechetical assemblies, as they are conducted in most parishes, are too time and labor intensive to occur more than once a month or so. Families are charged with “diving deeper” at home over the course of the month. The problem with this is that many families need a scheduled time and a larger community context in order to be disciplined about exploring faith topics, even in the practical, “daily life” sense that is so well encouraged by some whole-family programs. If they decide to get to it when they have time, they usually don’t. This is one reason why the General Directory for Catechesis calls the parish “the most important locus in which the Christian community is formed and expressed” continued on next page

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LIFE-SPAN CATECHESIS continued from page 17

(GDC, No. 257). Parents are primary educators, but the parish community is the most important place where catechesis occurs.

DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH EVOLVES As the systematic, age-specific model of catechesis has developed over the post-Vatican II decades, it has become increasingly informed by theories of human development. One can often find child development specialists, educators, communication experts, and psychologists listed among the authors in major textbook series, and this collaboration affects how and when catechetical topics are presented. For example, many textbook programs focus on the Church community in third grade because social theorists like Harry Stack Sullivan say that a sense of community is awakened in children this age as peers become increasingly important. We have traditionally focused on moral development and conscience formation in fourth grade. Theories of moral development such as those of Kohlberg and cognitive theories such as those of Piaget would suggest that this is the time when many children begin the process of internalizing their own moral standards, rather than simply “following the rules.” There was something good about taking a developmental approach, focusing on the particular needs and experiences of particular age groups when choosing catechetical methods and topics. But perhaps we didn’t go far enough with this developmental approach. Research in human development has come a long way since the time of Sullivan, Kohlberg, and Piaget. We have moved from a static, deterministic model of looking at changes in individuals over time to a transactional model, in which we consider the environment’s influences on the person, and vice-versa. We are more conscious of cultural differences and how they can affect development in thinking and influence worldviews. We are better able to examine the effects of cohort (belonging to a particular generation) and consequently realize how individuals growing up in this decade may differ in needs, talents, and perspective from the children of the ‘80s. Finally, the most important way in which we didn’t take the developmental approach far enough is that we didn’t apply it to adults: young adults, middle adults, the elderly; single persons and married ones; people in various stages of life and career; people who come from diverse cultural and educational backgrounds. All have unique catechetical needs. In some cases, we have even failed to examine closely enough the development of the adolescent, leaving us with a mixture of orthodox but developmentally inappropriate curricula or programs that are only loosely Catholic in identity.

LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT All this brings us to what is perhaps the most important question of all: “What if the focus in catechesis wasn’t “children” or “adults,” but rather the human person in all life’s ages and stages?” What would such a life-span developmental approach to catechesis look like? At one parish in our diocese, the parish took a survey. Among the questions asked was, “What topics for adult faith formation classes would interest you?” Three topics emerged: the basics of the Catholic faith, Scripture study, and Catholic parenting. When the parish began classes on the first two topics, participation in adult faith formation tripled. When a Catholic parenting class was added a year later, about half of the parents of the children in the Sunday morning religion classes attended that class, which was held at the same time. And they kept coming. This class spoke to the concerns of their daily lives as parents and engaged them in discussion about how to integrate their faith with what they considered to be their most important job – that of mother or father. In parishes with different demographics, the developmentally appropriate topics would be different, and perhaps more varied. Some Protestant churches with thriving adult programs have as many adult groups as children’s classes. Regular and systematic faith education for persons in different stages of life is an idea that is already silently gaining momentum around the country. Dioceses north and south, east and west are crafting new curriculum objectives for all ages. As they do so, I would urge those responsible to take note of modern research in human development and to gather information about particular needs in communities around the diocese. There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to faith formation.

RETAINING WHAT IS GOOD Let us also remember the lessons of the past and retain what is good about the latest wave of whole-family formation. It’s good for us to gather together and learn about our faith. For this very reason, many parishes are opting to keep their intergenerational assemblies even as they resume their weekly catechetical sessions. Perhaps also we can work to make the Mass, our most important community celebration, a truly intergenerational experience that speaks to people of all backgrounds and ages. Then we will truly experience the richness of our whole community. ❙ Joseph D. White, Ph.D., a former parish catechetical leader and author of several books on catechesis, is a clinical psychologist and director of Catholic family counseling and family life in the Diocese of Austin.

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Religious Education in Other Religions and Cultures | Volume 16, November 05

CATECHETICAL UPDATE A publication of the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership

THE ROAD FROM MEDELLIN by Bro. Enrique García-Ahumada, FSC

Latin American initiatives in Christian base community formation, contextual bible study, family catechesis for sacramental preparation, and the option for the poor have provided a challenge for Catholic education around the world. he debates on handing on the faith in sixteenth century Spain, Portugal, and Latin America provided the basis for modern concerns for human rights and have made a monumental contribution to the history of Catholic catechesis. In the twentieth century Latin American initiatives in such areas as Christian base community formation, contextual bible study, family catechesis for sacramental preparation, the option for the poor and the like have provided a challenge for Catholic education around the world, as Pope Benedict XVI noted in his May letter to the bishops of the Council of Latin American Bishops’ Conferences (CELAM). This essay will trace these contemporary developments, outline some of the achievements in Latin American catechesis, and note some of the challenges facing religious education in Latin America today.

The first evangelization of America in the sixteenth century was the work of thousands of well chosen religious missionaries who gave witness to poverty, self denial, and charity, creating fraternal contact with the indigenous peoples and communicating with them in two thousand languages— 125 in México alone. They produced handwritten catechisms in most of these languages and printed nearly one hundred. These missionaries also had to defend the human rights of these new Christians, with the backing of their bishops, against the abuses of conquerors and of local authorities. Until the end of the colonial time and even during the first half of the twentieth century, parochial catechesis kept, with few minor changes, the form of the catechisms ordered by the Third Provincial Council of

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Lima in 1583 and the Third Provincial Council of Mexico in 1585, both Influenced by the Jesuits. After the emergence of cultural pluralism following the independence of our countries in the nineteenth century, high school religious education quickly adapted to the challenges of the enlightenment. Educational responses to positivism, naturalism, liberalism, socialism, and Marxism developed more by way of apologetics than by dialogue and evangelization.

INFLUENCE OF VATICAN II ON CATECHESIS The bishops at the Second Vatican Council laid the foundations for a radical change of style in the church in Latin America. They made few statements on catechesis as such, but the decrees of the Council promoted access to Scripture; renewed an understanding of the church as the people of God, with all called to evangelization; opened dialogue with culture; promoted social justice and service to the poor; initiated liturgical reform and catechesis; called laity into leadership; reassessed the mission of the church, promoting the catecumenate and affirming the vocation of the catechist; emphasized the missionary character of Catholic schools; encouraged use of contemporary media; opened the Catholic Church to the ecumenical movement; initiated interreligious dialogue; and affirmed religious liberty and the importance of conscience.

The bishops’ reflection on education in Medellin was mainly sociological… In Puebla it was more philosophical, and in Santo Domingo it was clearly Christological. GENERAL CONFERENCES OF THE LATIN AMERICAN EPISCOPATE Catechetical orientations have been brought to bear on ecclesial practice through successive General Conferences of the Latin American Episcopate (CELAM). The first took place in 1955 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in order to organize CELAM, which was then concerned primarily with defending the Catholic faith. CELAM is not an authority above the bishops, but an organ for communion and service. It cannot provide any compulsory direction, only orientation.

MEDELLIN 1968 The Second General Conference of CELAM, held in 1968 in Medellin, Colombia, published sixteen documents, of which No. 8 deals with catechesis. This document recognizes God’s saving plan in rightful human yearnings and discovers in them God’s will of full human life and liberation, as he has revealed himself in the history of salvation summarized in the creed. Therefore, the document says, U2

relevant present human experiences must be confronted with those of Israel, of Jesus Christ and of the church animated by the Holy Spirit, in order to discern God’s will today. The document underlines the diversity of social situations, of mentalities and of cultures, which requires varied forms of catechesis. It critically evaluates popular religiosity, which needs to be not only respected, but also purified and evangelized. It suggests a missionary catechesis with a catechumenal shape for baptized but not converted people, connected to a liberating education, based on the family and on small communities, formed for social and political awareness, and open to transforming society according to Gospel values, especially justice and peace. Finally, it proposes organizing catechesis at diocesan and national levels, with specialized staff able to evaluate and reflect. For this catechetical institutes were created where pastoral authorities, experts in catechesis, theologians and specialists in different social sciences share reflections and projects.

PUEBLA 1979 The Third General Conference of Latin American Bishops held in 1979 in Puebla, Mexico promoted liberation through participation, in years when seventeen countries of the region were under military rule. The short paragraph concerning catechesis shows its prophetic character in several ways. It invites catechists to illuminate human situations with God’s word in order to help discover God’s presence or absence in private or public decisions. It describes catechesis as a process of conversion to and growth in faith instead of viewing it as merely the transmission of doctrine. It starts with seeing in the face of our many peoples the features of suffering Christ. It clearly articulates the necessary preferential option for the poor. An important theological innovation was the notion of a social structure of sin, in contrast to the traditional individualistic approach. Our bishops denounced as structural causes of oppression the materialist doctrines of liberal capitalism, Marxism, and the national security ideology. The bishops recognized, for the first time, that militant ideologies are legitimate, provided they uphold right interests and maintain respect for other groups. They also affirmed that the social doctrine of the church can be challenged by them, while the bishops are free to deny military regimes an absolute value and therefore will continue to criticize them. The bishops invited Christians having a conservative or a progressive ideology to acknowledge the Gospel challenge, and not to submit the Gospel to any ideology as a criterion for its interpretation. One form of ideologizing the Gospel is to deny its relevance to social, economic, and political realities.

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The bishops proposed three goals for evangelizing cultures: 1) to redeem ancient and new cultures, taking into account our peoples’ religiosity; 2) to promote human dignity, liberated from any servitude and idolatry, and 3) to introduce the Gospel in the centers of decision making. The bishops considered the school as a place of evangelization and communion, able to provide catechesis and an evangelizing education. Such education was thought of as a liberating process intended to build in history the earthly communion called the civilization of love, which points to and prepares the eternal communion.

SANTO DOMINGO 1992 The Fourth General Conference began in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic October 12, 1992, the fifth centenary of the arrival of the Gospel to America, the day after the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in Rome. The document had the subtitle: New Evangelization, Human Promotion, Christian Culture, and reaffirmed explicitly the statements of the two previous conferences.

Canada, the United States, Mexico and Cuba have had interesting experiences with the catechumenate, from which we are profiting. When describing the social reality, the bishops extended the list of the faces of suffering Christ, diagnosed a culture of death and denounced neo-liberal economical policy as the cause of the increasing impoverishment of millions of brethren. They reiterated the existence of a majority of non-converted baptized persons; they took notice of the increase of non-believers and of religious diversification, including the proselytizing fundamentalism of Christian sectarian groups. They pointed out that catechesis is frequently deficient at showing the moral teaching of the church, superficial, incomplete in content, or merely intellectual, so lacking force to transform persons and their surrounding.

They defined the New Evangelization for the region 1) by its reason: to confront the divorce between faith and life in modernity and post modernity; 2) by its way: dialogue and the call to conversion and hope; 3) by its agent: the whole ecclesial community insofar as it is changed by the Council; 4) by its content: the dead and resurrected Jesus Christ, liberating us from sin and all its consequences and sharing with us his divine life; 5) by its main audience: the non-evangelized baptized persons, the participants in scientific-technical urban culture, and the indigenous and Afro-American peoples; 6) by its means: fidelity to God’s Word, welcoming reception to the Holy Spirit who will fill the Latin American Catholics with energy and eagerness to make the Gospel reach creatively the center of persons and of society, particularly through education and modern communication; 7) by its goals: to form persons and communities mature in faith, who are able to inculturate the Gospel in the actual situation and who will animate human promotion and integral liberation, so producing a people of free human beings, aware of their dignity and forgers of history. The bishops’ reflection on education in Medellin was mainly sociologically based. In Puebla it was more philosophical, and in Santo Domingo it was clearly Christological, with explicit spiritual and pastoral consequences. They insist on the educating action of the church, whose core is the education for faith; they demand the right to religious formation for every person in schools at every level. They promote as true wisdom the permanent formation of catholic educators in the growth of their faith and their capacity to communicate it. Catechesis must contribute to the effort for the unity of Christians, confront the fundamentalist sects, and enter in dialogue with other religions, especially those of the indigenous peoples and of the AfroAmericans, as well as Judaism and Islam. It must also help Catholics face the new religious groups with a faith incarnated in life. The New Evangelization requires a language closer to actual cultural realities, transmitted through the usual means of communication, including the electronic ones. The bishops reiterate, the calls to strengthen family catechesis. They ratify the basic ecclesial community as a community of faith, of worship and of love with a missionary spirit. continued on page U7

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“WHAT DID YOU LEARN TODAY?” EDUCATION IN THE YEAR 5766 by Rabbi Jan Katzew

his “Educational State of the Union” from the Union for Reform Judaism, while addressed to its member congregations, offers NCCL members a window for viewing common catechetical concerns from another perspective.

Every experience can be a learning experience. That axiom was the foundation of a recurring question in my childhood that continues to reverberate with me as an adult: “What did you learn today?” The question may be challenging, but it can also be probing and encouraging. Learning has been essential to Jewish life since its conception. Abraham (and Sarah) were not only the parents of the children of Israel, they were also divinely commissioned to be the archetypal teachers of the learners of Israel: “Yet Abraham is certain to become a great and populous nation, and through him all the nations of the earth shall be blessed! For I have selected him, so that he may teach his children and those who come after him to keep the way of the Eternal, doing what is right and just, so that the Eternal may fulfill for Abraham all that has been promised him” (Genesis 18:18-19). While learning has always been a constitutive element of Jewish life, learning is even more of an urgent imperative in contemporary Jewish life. As general knowledge grows exponentially, we are each challenged to find a time and a place in our daily lives for Jewish learning. There are encouraging signs that we are learning Jews, if not learned Jews.

LEARNING JEWS When Rabbi Eric Yoffie promulgated 10 Minutes of Torah at the 2003 URJ Biennial in Minneapolis, he had hopes of reaching a thousand people a day [through email subscription] within a few months. Our goal was to create a tool that would enable daily Jewish learning in a variety of authentic, relevant, timely and timeless subjects. Our cup continues to overflow and at least 16,000 people receive 10 Minutes of Torah every day, some of whom share it with faculties, friends,

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Collaboration is difficult and complicated, but it is also a worthy imitation of the divine....We intend to promote collaboration as an economic necessity, an educational method and a Jewish value. study groups and congregations. We plan to build on this foundation and offer an even more challenging interactive vehicle for learning soon. In every URJ congregation, someone is a subscriber to 10 Minutes of Torah. It is never too early or too late to learn Torah. At the URJ, we are not satisfied with our current stage of learning programs and neither should we be. How can you grow as a learning congregation? Who is missing? What age cohort is absent? What gender is underrepresented? If you thought of people 25-40 and males, then you have company. It is time for there to be an explicit, public campaign to engage young adults and men of all ages in Jewish learning. We are looking to learn from you how you are effectively reaching and teaching these two groups of people. For 18 years the URJ has sponsored kallot (intellectual and spiritual retreats) for adults. Yet Kallah remains a stealth program, unknown to many members of URJ congregations. While you would have to experience Kallah to truly appreciate it, I am so sure you will find it more than worth your time and money that I am willing to offer a virtual guarantee — if you attend for the first time in 2006 and are not satisfied, I will see to it that you receive a refund for a portion of your tuition. I have attended seven Kallot, and after each one, I am rejuvenated having learned from my teachers, more from my colleagues and most of all from my students. Studies of North American Jews suggest that close to half of the college cohort takes at least one course in Jewish studies. That is an encouraging development since a generation ago Jewish studies courses were hardly a campus norm. But beneath the optimistic veneer is a revealing truth. Jewish studies courses are not intended to strengthen Jewish identity. They are meant to withstand the academic test of objectivity and to teach history, not to imprint memory. In too many instances, Jewish studies at college can be disillusioning and lead to critique of the student’s prior exposure to Jewish education. “I learned more in a semester than I did from consecration through confirmation” is an all too common indictment of a synagogue school. True, the synagogue and the college

have different educational goals. However, that is an unsatisfying and unsatisfactory response. If we know that a significant proportion of our students will study Judaism in college, we have to prepare them better so they will come back to us after college having experienced Jewish studies as complementary to rather than as competing with and defeating Jewish education in a synagogue.

PARTNERSHIPS The [National Association of Temple Educators] NATE-URJ Symposium on Adolescence in Houston from November 14-16 leading into the URJ Biennial convention is an outstanding example of collaborative planning and implementation. Collaboration requires learning. It is unnatural. It was unnatural even for God. The first collaborative act in Torah is the creation of a human being (Genesis 1:26). The Rabbis loved to engage in speculation about God’s partners, and their commentary is instinctive for humans who attempt to collaborate. God’s initial attempt at collaboration ended in a deluge, but the human project continued through another more resilient and more enduring creation. Collaboration is difficult and complicated, but it is also a worthy imitation of the divine. We are deeply committed to building education coalitions, if only because we realize we are partial. We need partners in order to learn and grow. Look for partners in your congregation, people from, with and about whom you can learn. Find time to facilitate joint committee meetings. Bring committee chairs together for shared study. Find a study partner. In a Talmudic endorsement of collaboration, one teacher taught, “Give me companionship or let me die” (Babylonian Talmud, Ta’anit 23a). The Symposium on Adolescence represents the first fruits of a collaborative effort between people who share a passion, but who heretofore have not shared a program, having worked in parallel rather than in partnerships. We intend to promote collaboration as an economic necessity, an educational method and a Jewish value. It is nearly four years since the CHAI curriculum [for Reform religious schools] was born, and like most four-year-olds, CHAI is walking, taking some direction from us and developing its own personality. CHAI is now being used in nearly one third of the URJ

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For the youngest learners among us, there is not only a lifetime of learning to look forward to, there is now to enjoy.

congregations that have schools. While that is a significant accomplishment for any young project, we remain eager to improve CHAI quantitatively and qualitatively. We hope CHAI and Mitkadem [a student-paced Hebrew learning program] will become the norm in the Reform Movement; the living foundation of Jewish learning that will endure for a lifetime. We are determined to make CHAI and Mitkadem irresistibly attractive — affordable, versatile, authoritative and relevant. With the guidance of [Jewish Education Service of North America] JESNA’s Berman Center, we are conducting ongoing evaluation. We want to learn intensively and continuously along with you. While these aspirations may border on the messianic, we are a people eternally dedicated to the preposition that the best is yet to come. CHAI and Mitkadem are not immortal, but they are worthy efforts to advance and enhance a Jewish passion for learning, doing and caring. For the youngest learners among us, there is not only a lifetime of learning to look forward to, there is now to enjoy. There are approximately 30,000 students in the 350 early childhood programs in Reform synagogues, and they deserve to be given the best start to Jewish learning that we are capable of providing. Their parents are open to learning along with their children and we need to engage them. Their teachers are caring and skilled in child development, but less so in Judaism. It is not enough to hold an early childhood program in a synagogue to call it Jewish. The sights, the sounds, the smells, the tastes and the feelings can also be explicitly Jewish learning opportunities. We are just beginning to pay more attention to the early learners among us. We are learning that just because a child begins to learn at age two, there is no guarantee that her or his Jewish education will continue uninterrupted throughout a lifetime or even a childhood. We cannot afford to fumble handoffs between stages of Jewish learning. We will all be enriched by strengthening the links of lifelong Jewish learning. One strand that runs through every age cohort is special learners with special needs, often termed “challenged” or “gifted.” At the CAJE conference this past summer, I was honored to learn and teach alongside colleagues from early childhood, congregation,

camp and adult learning programs. Each one presented a case study about a learner with special needs. It was more than a compelling program, it was an object lesson in collaborative learning, an opportunity to address a central issue of Jewish learning. We do not all learn the same way, at the same pace or in the same space. We need multiple educational strategies, levels and settings, in order to enable every learner to feel safe. Irrespective of your age, your material worth, your IQ, general and Jewish, there is a home for you in Torah. Rarely have I felt as proud to be a teacher of Torah as when I listened to my colleagues and friends speak about how they addressed learners with special needs. The Reform Movement needs to be wide enough and deep enough for every member to be a learner. “Disengagement” has been a leitmotif in the Jewish world this past year, primarily referring to the Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza. But disengagement is not only a political fact in Israel-it is an educational fact in North America. Too many of us are disengaged from Jewish learning in general and from Israel in particular. Whatever your age or stage of learning, it is time to reengage Israel, to reenter into a lifelong relationship with a land, a language and a people-our land, our language and our people. Israel needs us to be fully engaged with her future — not just our money, our political support, our prayers and our visits — but our minds, our hearts and our spirits. Soon the majority of the Jews in the world will live in Israel. There will no longer be a sociological debate about the “center” of the Jewish world. The center will be in Israel. More than ever before, it will be necessary for us to relate to Israel, if not as learned Jews, then at least as learning Jews, dedicated to the proposition that an integral part of being a Jew is to be able to answer a question at the end of every day, “What have you learned today?” Every experience can be a learning experience. Whether it is or not depends on us. Rabbi Jan Katzew, PhD, is director of the Union for Reform Judaism Department of Lifelong Jewish Learning. To read more of Rabbi Katzew’s writings, visit the Department’s home page: urj.org/educate. Find 10 Minutes of Torah at urj.org/torah/ten/. © 2005 Union for Reform Judaism. Reprinted with permission.

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One strand that runs through every age cohort is special learners with special needs, often termed “challenged” or “gifted.”

SYNOD FOR AMERICA 1997 AND ECCLESIA IN AMERICA 1999 To prepare for the Year 2000 Jubilee, the Synod of America was held in Rome in 1997 under the title: “On the encounter with living Jesus Christ, way to conversion, communion and solidarity in America.” It produced proposals that Pope John Paul II integrated in his postsynodal exhortation Ecclesia in America published in January 1999, which included much catechetical content. In order to promote encounter with living Jesus Christ, in a continent where most Catholics receive the sacraments without having had a true conversion to him, the bishops asked for a more kerigmatic catechesis. John Paul II called for a revitalization of catechesis not only with the Catechism of the Catholic Church, but especially with the General Directory for Catechesis, which points out the importance of method for catechesis and not only content. The bishops considered conversion as the beginning of spirituality. This spiritual is open to all the faithful, who are invited to pray in a spirit of faith in search of God’s will; to celebrate the sacraments, particularly reconciliation and Eucharist, avoiding a routine piety; and to animate with spirituality the commitment to those in need and those who work for the common good. The call for communion found in the Trinitarian community underlines the value of family catechesis; of the rural and urban basic ecclesial communities which revitalize parishes; and of lay ministers who give life to celebrations of the Word, catechesis, and to the visits

to the sick and to the prisoners. The difficulty posed by sects practicing a proselytism without respect to personal liberty may be overcome with a more personal religious attention, always maintaining ecumenism and interreligious dialogue with confessions showing good disposition. The call to mission includes inculturating preaching and in evangelizing cultures. Special importance is given to Catholic education, including that given by lay persons in non-confessional schools, and to mass communications. There is a call for special missionary efforts directed to the indigenous ethnic groups, to Americans of African origin, and to Asian immigrants. The Pope enlarged the classical list of sins crying out to heaven (Gn 4, 10; Ex 3, 7; Jas 5, 4) by adding drugs trade, illicit profits, administrative and economic corruption — which he linked with neoliberal economics, terrorist violence, the arms race, racial discrimination, unjust inequalities — among which he confronts the complex problem of the external debt of the poorest countries — and destruction of nature, for all of which he asked for precise initiatives, and the cooperation of catechesis.

OTHER INITIATIVES The Second Latin American Week of Catechesis, in which all bishops in charge of catechesis in our countries shared with their national secretaries, the CELAM team of experts and other academic and pastoral leaders, produced in 1994 a Magna Carta for the inculturation of faith and catechesis. The issue arose at a time when the Catechism of the Catholic

You Can Purchase Copies of Catechetical Update As in the past you can order additional copies of Catechetical Update. Many of our membership find it a valuable resource for use in their ministry. To order call the NCCL office (202) 884-9753 or email Sr. Kathy Kandefer, BVM at kkandefer@nccl.org. Catechetical Update reprint costs: 1–49 copies $1.29 each, 50 or more $0.79 each (plus shipping).

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Relevant dialogue between faith, philosophy, science, arts, and technology…was better done in nineteenth century Latin America than now. Church had begun to be promoted for immediate reading of the faithful by some bishops, against the unanimous feeling of catechetical specialists. The latter argued the need for taking into account people’s life, their forms of religiosity, their different levels of maturity in faith, and their cultural languages. An initial suggestion to inculturate the Catechism of the Catholic Church was changed to a decision to inculturate the revelation contained in the Bible and tradition, having the Catechism as a necessary reference.

SOME CONTINUING CHALLENGES This report shows a clear contrast between needs and achievements. A more accurate diagnosis should be the work of a Latin American seminar on the issues. Major issues are the introduction of the catechumenate for non-baptized adults and catechumenally shaped programs for non-converted baptized adults. That is the main project of the Catechesis Section of CELAM for the present four-year period. It is developing step by step in the subregions within the CELAM territory. Canada, the United States, Mexico and Cuba have had interesting experiences with the subject, from which we are profiting.

Special well-staffed programs for the thousands of indigenous and Afro-American peoples are also needed. The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples has done more than CELAM in Latin America in this field. Protestants have published the Bible in nearly all the languages. Well thought out evangelizing and catechetical programs for the media, and for Internet, high in quality and quantity, must be produced by teams with professional and apostolic qualifications. School religious education, especially for non-Catholic schools, needs apostolic teachers of Catholic religion better prepared not only in theological content but also in pedagogical skills. They also need a sound formation in the philosophy of knowledge and of science in order to promote a relevant dialogue between faith, philosophy, science, arts, and technology. This was better done in nineteenth century Latin America than now. We need the wisdom to let the Holy Spirit guide us in this wide field. ❙ Robert M. Friday, S.T.D., assistant professor of religion and religious education at Catholic University from 1981 through 2003, is the author of Adults Making Responsible Moral Decisions, widely used for adult education.

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TECH CENTER ❚

Staying Current:

A Technological Struggle by Jeff Stutzman

ears ago a child may have walked into a classroom and told the catechist or teacher, “My dog ate my homework.” Now it has evolved to “my computer crashed last night and I lost everything.” It seems that as our technology has grown, so too have the complications. (Ask someone who is trying to get the VCR to stop flashing “12:00” before the machine becomes obsolete.) While bad technology sticks out like a sore thumb, good technology might be hard to recognize.

With hundreds of technological advances coming almost daily, one must remember that “newness” is not equal to quality. The National Directory for Catechesis states, “ In some instances, communication technology changes so rapidly that before an individual medium and its inherent implications can be properly understood, it is already obsolete” (No. 287). This quotation points to what may be the greatest challenge to a catechetical leader regarding technology: staying current. One cannot shy away from this challenge. Staying on top of technological advancements may be difficult but it is worth the time and effort. There is a need for good catechetical technology from Vatican City to the Sunday morning pews in a rural faith community.

parishes, schools and organizations. When new documents are released from the USCCB catechetical leaders relay that information to their staffs and other individuals who need it. If the challenge is to remain at the forefront of good, sound catechesis that meets “my” people in an effective manner, why not take the same approach with technology? “But if technology changes so rapidly, what’s the point?” When they begin to implement the Generations of Faith project within dioceses around the United States, parishes are asked to create a six-year plan. This ensures that all of the catechetical themes are included, but it also allows catechetical leaders to see if the program is likely to take root. If catechetical leaders knew before implementation that a program was going to be successful or not, the church would only need a few approaches. As with catechetical approaches, technology choices are sometimes hit or miss: Why are CDs used more than minidisks? (Mini-disks are a cross between a computer disk and a CD that never caught on in the commercial market). continued on page 33

Catechetical leaders serve as the gatekeepers for new information for their

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BOOKS IN THE NEWS ❚

Three in One

Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths by Bruce Feiler, New York: Harper Perennial, 2002. 272 pp, paper, $12.95. Reviewed by Lawrence Rilla

ow often have you wanted to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, going back in time to your religious roots? Not just 1400 years ago to the religious awakening brought about by the prophet Mohammed in Saudi Arabia; or 2,000 years ago to follow in the footsteps of Jesus; or 2,500 years ago to trace the historic journey which lead to the founding of Judaism; but to travel back some 4,000 years to the birth of Abraham, a man whom tradition says was 75 years old before anything significant ever happened to him! And yet, Abraham is recognized at the patriarch of the three great monotheistic religions and is so honored today by more than half of the people in the world who profess belief in God.

important and fascinating read for catechists and religion teachers in each of these traditions. ❙ Lawrence Rilla is religious education director for the Archdiocese of Washington, DC.

In this book, Bruce Feiler takes his readers back to the beginning of recorded religious experience through the eyes of various spiritual leaders, biblical scholars, archaeologists, shopkeepers and ordinary believers living in the Middle East. What is most instructive is how each of their religious traditions embellished their understanding of Abraham to fit their own social, cultural and religious aspirations. For example, when Jewish rabbis discovered (in Genesis 26) God saying that Abraham obeyed “my commandments, my laws and my teachings” (some 700 years before Moses, the Law giver), the rabbinic tradition of the time simply portrayed Abraham as a good rabbi; he prays, he tithes, he observes the laws of Kosher, reads and interprets the Torah and no doubt gave sermons “that put his congregants to sleep.” In fact, the three great monotheistic religions do not even agree on which son Abraham tried to sacrifice— Isaac or Ishmael! Nevertheless, Feiler points out that “Muhammad may be more important for Muslims, Jesus for Christians, and Moses for Jews — yet all three traditions go out of their way to link themselves to their common patriarch.” Although the details have differed over the centuries, the significance of this universal acceptance cannot be underestimated for religious education in general and for the ecumenical and interreligious movements in particular. That is why this little book with its annotated list of selected readings is such an

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God established a witness in Jacob, And appointed the Law for Israel; And commanded our ancestors To teach it to their children; So that the next generation will know them, The children yet unborn, So that they should put their hope in God And not forget the works of God, But keep his commandments.

BIBLICAL RELIGIOUS EDUCATION The first teacher was the parent. A great number of the biblical proverbs are based on homespun values and examples from daily life that are characteristic of how a parent teaches young children the basics of behavior, etiquette, or practical lessons about the dangers of fire, injury, or poisonous plants and animals, and so forth. Children are strictly commanded to obey and listen to their parents, and disobedience is considered worthy even of death in some cases (see Deut 21:18-21). Much was learned the old-fashioned way, by example and family practice. Ancient Judaism, like the modern, emphasized whole family participation in religious rites at home, such as the Sabbath, or feast days during the year, at which children were to learn their faith.

the neighboring nations. Samuel was dedicated to the Lord’s service in 1 Sam 1-3 and was taught be Eli the priest. School tablets have been found in the ruins of Lachish, Arad, Kadesh-Barnea and other sites. And finally, books like Deuteronomy presuppose a literate audience that knows what the authors are referring to. There are two passages in the prophets that indicate fairly sharply what religious education at the higher levels was like. Jeremiah 18:18 says that when his enemies plotted to kill Jeremiah, they justified it by claiming, “Instruction shall not perish from the priest, nor advice-giving from the wise, nor God’s word from the prophet!” Here three different areas of education expertise are mentioned—instruction in faith, wisdom speculation and reflection, and preaching the word of God. Ezekiel 7:26 puts the same thoughts in reverse: “They will continue to seek in vain a vision from the prophet, instruction shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders.” Some examples of these three types of professional religious training are found in various places in the Scriptures.

If a boy were privileged by wealth or his parent’s position to be designated for a formal school, he would receive the same exalted status as other Near Eastern students enjoyed. We do not have specific mention of religious schools before the time of Sirach in the second century, BC. However, Proverbs 1-9 presupposes such a school system, and the need for scribes and officials at court and in temple management demanded royal schools to train youth—similar to those we find in all

The Ten Commandments were intended to exhort kids to respect these broad principles, not to tell them all they should know.

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BIBLICAL EXAMPLES

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

The natural place to start is with the many laws of the Pentateuch. They come in a variety of forms and reflect different teaching strategies. The Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, for example, are a summary of important points. They can be counted on the fingers in helping children memorize them, and are intended to exhort kids to respect these broad principles, not to tell them all they should know. This use of series of ten is common enough—in Genesis, there are ten lists naming each generation, and there are ten liturgical laws in Exodus 34. Memorizing and counting were critical methods of ancient education, and we can see the characteristics of many Pentateuch texts that originated in the classroom as catechetical devices. The Wisdom books are particularly rich in educational techniques. Note the same kind of counting technique that is found in

The most common teaching technique of ancient sages was the use of proverbs….Teachers can use them to start a discussion of how we must live our lives. the Pentateuch is also in a passage such as Proverbs 30:21-23: “Under three things the world groans, and under four it cannot stand: (1) when a slave become king; (2) when a fool is glutted with food; (3) when an unloved woman wins a husband; and (4) when a slave succeeds her mistress.” The use of three plus one more shares a little bit with the riddle or the puzzle—which one does the author really think is the most important? What do these four have in common with one another? Such questions reflect the same teaching style we have already seen from Sumerian times. Like the learned scribes of neighboring peoples, Wisdom teachers like to use metaphors and model stories. Proverbs 6 has the wonderful comparison to the ant (Prov 6:8-11), and Proverbs 31 presents “lady wisdom” as an ideal wife and mother. Qoheleth 12 describes death as a house falling apart. And in the longest extended allegory in the Bible, the Song of Songs explores the pursuit of

God’s love as two young people in love. Thus what the Pentateuch taught as commandments about life, the Wisdom books illustrate by the experience of life. But the most common teaching technique of ancient sages was the use of proverbs. There are many lists of proverbs found throughout the Books of Proverbs, Qoheleth and Sirach, and they represent a particularly effective tool for religious truth in a society that depends mostly on memorization and oral recitation. These short but clever phrases usually contain two truths, often the positive lesson together with the negative opposite: “Whoever farms the land will have plenty of bread, but one who chases worthless pursuits shall have plenty of nothing” (Prov 28:19). For moral teaching, the contrast of the evildoer and the righteous person is the subject of dozens of proverbial sayings in the Wisdom literature. Proverbs 10:20 says, “The lips of the righteous are like choice silver, while the mind of the wicked is worthless.” Another bad example cited by the great moral teachers of proverbs is the “fool.” This person either cannot learn or refuses to put into practice what is taught. His or her future leads only to ruin. “Good sense is a fountain of life to one who possesses it, while folly only brings punishment to fools” (Prov 16:22). As Proverbs 11:29 puts it, “The fool will become the slave of the wise.” Indeed many of the religious lessons of life are very practical, especially in older proverbs. “Do not associate with drunkards or those who eat too much meat, for the drunkard and glutton come to poverty!” (Prov 23:20); “When you sit down to eat with a ruler, don’t forget who is before you, and put a knife to your throat to curb your ravenous appetite!” (Prov 23:1). But many proverbs also directly repeat the major truths of Israel’s faith. The admonition in Proverbs 23:10, “Do not remove the ancient boundary stone nor seize the fields of orphans!” echoes the regular demands of the Pentateuch. In general, brief, clever proverbs make a wonderful shorthand list for teachers to use to stimulate students to ask questions about the application of truths they are taught. All proverbs are in some way universally true, we have all experienced what they are talking about, but they also have another dimension where they are not applicable. Teachers can use them to start a discussion of how we must live our lives.

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THE TEACHING METHODS

OF THE

PROPHETS

Prophets composed their thoughts in a quite varied manner. They did not just use oracles to thunder warnings at their audiences. They could compose poetry, as Isaiah did in his song of the vineyard (Isa 5:1-7), or Jeremiah in his extended song of the sword against Babylon (Jer 50:35-40), or Ezekiel in his ode to the great cedar (Ezek 17). The poet-prophet leads you into an imaginative scene and then surprises you with a twist in the ending that turns success into punishment or failure into victory. Indeed, prophets liked the technique of reversing expectations in order to shock the audience into changing their ways. It is a favorite device because it reveals the dangers of making our religious doctrines into a definition of how God must act and then blaming him for not doing what we want. Instead God constantly challenges us to adapt and apply what we know of his ways to see what he is demanding of us in new situations. In a similar way, the prophets would borrow much from methods of the wisdom teachers. Amos 1:1-2:4, for example, uses the same number techniques as Proverbs 30 to enumerate his points, “For three sins and for four of Edom…of Moab…of Damascus.” The use of extended parables and allegories is common in the later prophets. Ezekiel is the master of allegory, composing long and varied examples, from imitating the siege of a city in chapter 4 to two separate stories of Israel and Judah as unfaithful

If we follow the Psalms we can see the conscious effort to gather these songs from older hymnals into an imitation of the Pentateuch itself. wives in chapters 16 and 23. The Book of Zechariah is also filled with short metaphorical images that seem impossible: flying scrolls and bushels, four horsemen charging forth from the heavens (Zech 5-6), all of them to create a sense of impending judgment and doom ahead. And who can forget the powerful extended reflections on Israel as the unfaithful spouse in Hosea 13. Prophets found these especially good tools because at first the audience identifies with what the prophet describes and then finds that the bad outcomes are an accusation of themselves. Prophetic vision had a dual teaching function, both reminding audiences of what they had already learned about their covenant obligations and required religious practice and pointing out what

they had neglected or twisted to suit other purposes. Often the key accusation was that Israel had stopped obeying the Lord their God and his Torah teaching, in order to win favor with other nations and their gods for political gains. This idolatry of those who turned and forgot the Lord was most often described by the metaphor of adultery, and is found in prophets as diverse as Hosea, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel. The second major focus of the prophets was the injustice of the rich or powerful against the poor and powerless. Of course, both Pentateuch and Wisdom sages also addressed this frequently, but the form of the oracle was ideal to demand justice and its observation. The prophet could announce the sin in lurid denunciation and then foresee the divine punishment of the powerful on behalf of those who had no way of protecting themselves. If Israel could not live the covenant promise of blessing so that all shared in God’s providence, then God himself would intervene to insist on the observance of covenant obligations.

THE PSALMS The Psalms likewise are deceiving as a book of literature. We tend to think of them as a collection of songs for various feast days and types of service, or as a source for themes in worship, to be used much as a song leader in a parish would do, picking “suitable” hymns for a Sunday Mass. But a close look at the Book of Psalms reveals that they have a meditative order that invites the reader to go through them, in the order they are laid out, to discover the inner meaning of Torah, the way of life of Israel’s teaching. Psalm 1 is clearly a preface, and it announces, as though written by a wisdom sage, that there are two ways—the way of the wicked and the way of the righteous, and we are to learn the difference. But the mark of the righteous will be to mediate on the law of the Lord night and day. If we follow the Psalms as they have been gathered into five books (1-41; 42-72; 73-89; 90-106; 107-150), we can see the conscious effort to gather these songs from older hymnals into an imitation of the Pentateuch itself. Two trajectories can be observed. One is that the oldest psalms are in the early part of the book, and move from the time of David and the kings in Books 1 and 2, through exile in Book 3, to post-exilic recovery in Books 4 and 5. The second is that the Psalms themselves are especially rich in themes to be explored for deepening our faith. They are not merely joyful responses to God’s greatness, but lessons to be learned: Psalm 33 explores whether we can succeed on our own or need to trust in God; Psalm 51 reflects the prophets’ insistence that sacrifices are meaningless without interior conversion; and Psalm 119 finds as many different insights into the joy of keeping the Law as possible by using some word for Law in each of its 176 lines.

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Much more could be said of the Psalms as catechesis, of course. The innumerable names and attributes of God provide a way of learning the unique ways of Israel’s monotheism. The great number of Psalms of lament are also a major teaching tool. Each one carries the psalmist from despair and tragedy to prayer and turning to God, and then to trust that God will get them out of trouble, and finally to celebrating God’s goodness at the end. These are the same four steps that the Book of Exodus lays out as the way God rescued Israel in the time of Moses. All in all, the Psalms are the great lesson book of Israel that still forms an important part of the daily mediation of the church on God’s ways, said both in the divine office and in the liturgy of the Eucharist.

The innumerable names and attributes of God provide a way of learning the unique ways of Israel’s monotheism.

FINAL THOUGHTS Other books of the Old Testament also are primarily catechetical in intent. The great short stories such as Ruth or Tobit or Esther are intended to provide models of the faithful Israelite. The story of Joseph in Genesis 37-48 caps off the covenant status of the patriarchs and matriarchs with the story of one who trusted God in humility and obedience and yet rose to great power. And who could not be moved with the profound journey of Job through 42 chapters, wrestling with every possible aspect of our human relationship to God. These books also are for education in faith. The key to looking at the whole of the Old Testament is that it is designed to spur a people who have been taught about the personal relationship they have to God to learn what they believe in more deeply each day and to come to know God more intimately. We can end with the wonderful meditation of Sirach on the person who devotes himself or herself to the study of Torah: How different is the one who is devoted to the study of the Law of the Most High! He explores the wisdom of the ancestors of old, and studies the prophecies; He treasures the speeches of famous men, and seeks the heart of artful proverbs. He studies obscure parables and is occupied with the hidden meaning of sages. …His care is to seek the Lord, his Maker, to open his lips in prayer, and to ask pardon for his sins.(Sir 39:1-6) ❙ Lawrence Boadt, CSP, is Professor Emeritus of Scripture at the Washington Theological Union and president of Paulist Press.

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Additionally, religion operates in a weak social structural position compared to other activities and organizations that lay claim to U.S. teenagers’ time. When forced to choose between religious and other activities, teenagers typically choose other activities. Popular culture provides great opportunities for young people, but it also challenges their religious values and, at times, provides little inducement for learning about faith and religion. An apparent breakdown in a sense of community also negatively impacts catechesis. Societal and cultural individualism in the USA makes instilling the value of community in young people a challenge.

METHODOLOGICAL

AND PRAXIS CHALLENGES

In terms of methodology, church leaders, including bishops, clergy and lay leaders, express concern that some methods may unintentionally undermine the church’s teaching. They call for a more systematic catechesis for adolescents with a stronger concentration on the teachings and doctrine of the church and the use of catechetical texts rooted in a systematic approach. Where no established objectives exist, defined by grade level or maturity level, there can be inconsistency in catechetical work with young people. Seen as a deficiency this inconsistency is being addressed by the Bishops’ Committee on Catechesis, which is developing doctrinal guidelines for adolescent catechesis.

CHALLENGES

FOR THE CATECHETICAL LEADER

Catechetical leaders are challenged to understand and appreciate more fully the relationship and intrinsic links among the tasks of comprehensive ministry with youth. A holistic vision includes all eight components for ministry. Other areas requiring attention for adolescent catechesis include curriculum guidelines for parish programs and recruiting more catechists with religious education certification.

CHALLENGES

FOR THE HIGH SCHOOL RELIGION

TEACHER/CAMPUS MINISTER

Within the high school setting some teachers note that catechesis does not achieve its full potential when it is not connected to daily life and when it is approached solely as an academic subject. A challenge, which many schools do meet with great success, is the ability to balance the delicate interrelationship between religion class and campus ministry.

The following approaches to catechesis with adolescents have been cited as problematic: ■

Parishes that operate out of a traditional “high school CCD” model and ignore comprehensive, age specific ministry.

■

Catechetical programs that mimic elementary catechesis.

■

Catechetical efforts where preparation for Confirmation is perceived as a catechetical graduation.

■

Packaged programming that lacks adaptation to specific religious, cultural, and ethical developmental needs.

CHALLENGES

FOR THE YOUTH MINISTRY LEADER

Youth Ministry leaders are discovering the need to reclaim the charism of teaching within youth ministry. While dynamic processes and active learning models can be effective in capturing the attention of youth, these methods alone do not replace the role of direct instruction in catechesis.

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THE NEED

FOR WELL TRAINED CATECHISTS AND LEADERS

While a number of adult catechists and leaders are increasingly welltrained professionals with a strong sense of ministry, there is a need to continue to increase these numbers. Many who work with youth feel inadequate to the task of teaching Catholic tradition and Scripture since they have never received the necessary formation themselves. A goal can be to create better cooperation among religious education, youth ministry and the Catholic high schools, promoting standardized catechetical training for youth ministers, and youth ministry training for religious educators and high school teachers.

OPPORTUNITIES CONTENT

FOR THE FUTURE

AND METHODOLOGY

In some dioceses multiple models of catechesis are recognized as a viable approach to faith formation of adolescents. These include individualized learning models, family-based models, intergenerational learning models, and innovations in gathered learning models for adolescents. Many service requirements in both school and parish catechetical programs provide opportunities for intersecting faith, education and citizenship. The Internet and other technologies can also be used to reach adolescents in an effective way. The National Certification Standards shared by the three national organizations above provide the skills, knowledge and attitudes needed by lay ecclesial ministers, especially those who serve adolescents. Dioceses also provide standards for certifying religion/religious studies teachers, whether in parish catechetical programs or in Catholic schools.

CREATING

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES FOR EFFECTIVE

ADOLESCENT CATECHESIS

Because adolescent catechesis is the responsibility of many different national, diocesan and local offices, different approaches may exist. A common vision and understanding of adolescent catechesis is needed among the catechetical, schools and youth ministry communities to create a focused coordination leading to a more effective broad-based catechesis with adolescents.

THE ROLE

OF THE PARENTS AND ADULT VOLUNTEERS

The National Study on Youth and Religion reports that the best social predictor of the religious and spiritual life of a teenager is the religious and spiritual life of the parents. The extended family and other significant adults certainly have impact, but parents are most important in forming their children’s religious lives. Those who teach and minister to adolescents are also called to attend to the faith life of families.

THREATS

TO SUCCESS

The National Study on Youth and Religion states, “our distinct impression is that very many religious congregations and communities in the United States are failing rather badly in religiously engaging and educating youth.” To “achieve the huge religious potential that appears to exist for Catholic teens would seem to require that the church invest a great deal more attention, creativity, and institutional resources into its young members—therefore into its own life. Undeniably the future shape of the U.S. Catholic Church vitally depends on it.” (National Study on Youth and Religion). An underlying threat noted in the National Study is that teenagers tend to espouse a religious outlook that is distinct from the traditional faith commitments of most U.S. religious traditions. This outlook serves as a “default position” for adolescent religiosity when religious communities’ engagement and education of youth is weak. This outlook is about feeling good, happy, secure, at peace, being able to resolve problems, and getting along amiably with other people. It is a belief in a mostly-distant God — one who exists, who created the world and defines our general moral order, but who is not particularly personally involved in the world.

COLLABORATIVE COMMITTEE ADOLESCENT CATECHESIS

Diana Dudoit Raiche, executive director, Department of Religious Education, NCEA Neil Parent, executive director, NCCL Scott Miller, former associate executive director, NFCYM Daniel Mulhall, consultant, USCCB Department of Education Paul Henderson, consultant, USCCB Publishing

THINK TANK COMMITTEE MEMBERS NCCL: Richard Cherie, formerly of the Archdiocese of New Orleans; Joyce Gilooly, Diocese of Pittsburgh NCEA: William Hudson, former assistant executive director, Department of Secondary Schools; Patricia Manuli, past president, National Association of Parish Catechetical Directors, Department of Religious Education. NFCYM: Brian Johnson, former director of membership services;Terri Telepak, Diocese of Cleveland continued on page 33

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On Location from

Katrina Central by David O’Brien

Dave and Retzel O'Brien with daughter Clare

Simply say “Hurricane Katrina” and floods, wreckage and displaced families come to mind. Words like “catastrophe”, “devastation” and “disorganization” quickly follow. But underneath these familiar Katrina associations, there is more to be found on the Gulf Coast if you look through the lens of faith.

Like many who watched the news after the hurricane, my wife, Retzel, and I wanted to respond. So, after tucking our baby safely away with Grandma, we joined some other Pensacola young adults and made our way to Biloxi, Mississippi, where we had heard Catholic Charities was setting up a distribution staging area. We brought a tent in case we couldn’t find a place to stay. We are thankful that a local parish couple — the husband worked for the destroyed casinos put us up.

Our task: bag donations arriving on eighteen-wheelers and prepare them for individual families. Groceries, toiletries and baby products filled our cars and off we went into the streets of Biloxi and Gulfport. Targeting the people we thought might be overlooked by other relief efforts, our relief convoy specifically sought out undocumented Hispanic immigrants and people living in low-income neighborhoods. We assumed that most would not have insurance or the means to go anywhere to escape their misery. What we found were neighborhoods filled with people living in molding houses and apartments with trees bisecting their roofs. Their buildings were condemned but they had nowhere to go. And they were the lucky ones! Other homes, including mansions by the water, were simply gone. Spray-painted plywood signs reading “1324 Racetrack Rd, ALLSTATE” were the only indicators that a family used to live where now a mountain of rubble and junk had taken up residence.

Questions filled our conversation as we drove around. My God, what the hell happened here! What were we seeing, hearing, feeling, absorbing? Who were the victims and why? How were they reacting? What is God doing here? Where did we experience the presence or absence of God’s grace? Where and how did we encounter evil? Where was the community of faith in all this and how were we “church” for and with these people? These were not questions limited to us or to this current disaster. On September 11, 2001, when we lived in New Jersey and our friends were in the World Trade Center, we asked the same questions. I’m sure many did the same during the Columbine incident in 1999. Wherever there is tragedy, unexplained suffering and evil, whenever we are faced with death, destruction or disorder, we find ourselves asking these same questions: Where is God? Where are we? Who are we in this situation? How are we to respond as disciples of Christ? As religious educators, we tap Scripture, tradition, and our own faith story to find guideposts on this road. Focused theological reflection will inevitably lead to the cross and that liminal place where our minds confront what cannot be explained or controlled. We see suffering and cannot fix it. We face injustice and are asked to believe in a God who is not just aware of the problems but hanging on the cross right in the middle of them. Does it make sense? No. Is God present? We believe God is. Most of all though, we stand on the witness of those, living and dead, who have suffered before with grace and discovered God to be with them. “The South will rise again” one plywood sign proclaimed. Ahh, resurrection faith. There He is again. Christ’s light even in the middle of all this darkness. ❙

Sean Farry from Catholic Charities, Pensacola, bags supplies for D’Iberville, Mississippi, hurricane victims in the week following the storm. Photo by David O’Brien

28 November 2005

Volume 16, Number 6

FOCUS ON LEADERSHIP ❚

Crazy People…

Strange Times by Rebecca Titford Rebecca Titford serves as director of the Office of Religious Education for the Archdiocese of Mobile. She is also a member of the NCCL Rep Council and serves on the Development Committee. She and Dave O’Brien, Mobile’s new associate director for lay ministry formation, reflect on stewardship and faith after the storm. Implications for NCCL are evident. On the evening of October 1 my husband and I headed east, out of the mess that was once the city of New Orleans. At our backs was a peacefully fading sunset, and on either side of I-10 were the uninhabitable neighborhoods you have all seen on TV. It was difficult to look anywhere but forward as we headed home. Ours had been the unsavory task of inspecting our son’s apartment near Loyola University. We were grateful that what we found was basically in good order…no more than the messiness of college students’ daily living. As we made our way back home carrying his musical instruments, we knew our son was among the fortunate ones. In the middle of the old causeway to Slidell, Michael popped in his favorite CD, The Essential Dylan, and turned up the volume on his favorite track. As Bob wailed out the familiar lyrics “people are crazy, times are strange,” we looked at each other with a renewed understanding. Times are strange indeed. But amid this craziness, there has come to us along the Gulf Coast a renewed reverence for the vulnerability and interconnectedness of human life, as well as a re-awakened respect and awe for the creative power of God in nature.

ible weeks is rooted in the Christian experience of community born of the Holy Spirit. One hopes that in the city of New Orleans, predominantly Catholic, our “faith-way” of seeing and being continues to shape a more equitable and just reality. As this Year of the Eucharist comes to its conclusion, could it be that we are now in a period of commencement, a time for becoming more fully what we eat? Are we being challenged to become the body, broken for each other in new and life-giving ways? By the world’s standard this is probably not understandable. However, we people of faith, after two millennia, know it works! Lifting our lives—our body and blood—thanking God, breaking this offering, continued on next page

After what we have all witnessed, I agree with Dylan: people are crazy, crazy in the best sense. Oddly enough, all this destruction has provided incredible stories of salvation, self gift, and surrender. After seeing all the news reports, then witnessing the miracle of those with empty hands rising up from their loss, seeing them reaching out to others in need, I sense a new call to conversion. Crazy? Yes!. But familiar, too. Through the eyes of faith these rarified moments, as well as the shameful parts, reflect the experience of koinonia. Certainly the Christian experience of living in community teaches the value of living for others and the incredible virtue of working for the common good. Occasionally community living brings a dark side that also has to be addressed. As a religious educator, I like to think that the goodness evidenced in people’s actions over these past incred-

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and giving ourselves away is probably not the best paradigm for ‘maximizing assets.’ It is, however, the way of Eucharist. Times are indeed strange, Dylan got that right! And it may be that times like these will clarify the understanding and living of our Catholic faith, particularly its social teachings of solidarity and stewardship. This is the culture in which we evangelize, with all its hopes, anxieties and dreams. These strange times and crazy circumstances, made holy by our efforts and self sacrifice, shape our primary mission of evangelization to be more compelling in the real world. It would be easy to wallow in the mess, but this the moment God has given us. This is our new life in Christ. In the final analysis, our coming through this will be the result of a truly Eucharistic understanding of stewardship. From this, our social teaching takes shape and flows into Catholic living that is focused and purposeful. We know that when we serve with love, anything is possible! That may be the silver lining of this present cloudy day. In the meantime, we on the Gulf Coast ask you, our colleagues to join us in reexamining stewardship. Now more than ever, the goals of our ministry need to be kept focused and on point. The needs of our church and our nation require the best we have to offer. As a member of NCCL’s Development Committee, I know of the time devoted to pondering our organization’s future direction and financial viability. It seems that now, reflecting on stewardship in light of our Christian response to these natural disasters, we might all take time to include our national organization in our giving. NCCL serves our ministry’s needs with vital expertise, creativity and tireless effort. From the Southern perspective, which seems to now be that ‘privileged position from the bottom’, I urge each member of NCCL to consider their financial support for our professional organization. As NCCL moves ahead to acquire needed grants, it is incumbent on each individual member to demonstrate some form of financial support. The amount does not matter so much as total membership giving. We, on the Gulf Coast can certainly attest to the support from the NCCL network during this time of dying and rebirthing! ❙ Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we in diocesan leadership of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama can only express our gratitude for the many e-mails and notes of support from our NCCL network around the country. We have been particularly touched by the caring concern and outreach coming from Anne Comeaux and the executive committee of NCCL, Neil Parent and the National Office and also Dan Mulhall (USCCB). We, being in the middle of this moment, sometimes cannot name our needs. But on the national level, there is already planning and support being made available for us. This has been a most incredible gift, and one from which our provinces will, in the years to come, continue to draw inspiration and direction. — Rebecca Titford

Many NCCL members were direct hurricane victims who will need assistance if they are to attend this year’s National Conference in Chicago. If you would like to make a donation to help NCCL assist them, please return this form to us or make a donation online. A committee appointed by the President will disburse the funds.

Thank you in advance for your generosity. Make check payable to NCCL Mail check to: NCCL Hurricane Victim Assistance 125 Michigan Avenue, NE Washington, DC 20017 Please charge my credit card AMOUNT $_______________________________ If paying by credit card, please mail this form to NCCL or fax to 202.884.9756 ■ Visa ■ MasterCard ■ American Express

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Volume 16, Number 6

SAMARITAN WOMAN continued from page 11

use of Scripture, especially the Gospels. As the General Directory for Catechesis states, “Consequently, it [catechesis] must base itself constantly on the Gospels, which ‘are the heart of all Scriptures because they are our principal source for the life and teaching of the Incarnate Word, our Savior” (No. 41). The townspeople the Samaritan woman subsequently evangelized said to her, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world” (John 4:42). So also in our catechizing, we bring the people into a personal conversation with God that they may continue on their own.

USE

SCRIPTURE

We know Jesus himself used Scripture to catechize. What better way to draw people into a personal relationship with God than with God’s own words? For example, God had spoken to his people in the Old Testament about the living waters, the symbol of God’s life and spirit welling up within us. In his intense back-and-forth dialogue with the Samaritan woman, Jesus expanded on this imagery to introduce her to the wonder of God with us. “…those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life” (John 4:14). Then with the disciples at Emmaus, Jesus simply interpreted the passages about himself in all the Scriptures that “the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory…” (Luke 24:26). How can we combine both the first skill, personal conversation with God, and this second skill, the use of Scripture? The best method I have experienced, using it for catechizing children from ages six to seniors in their 90s, is a three-question lectio divina format: 1) People listen to or read any passage from Scripture that can relate to their lives, looking for the phrase or word that most strikes their attention. They then ask themselves the first question, “What do I think God is saying to me in this phrase or word?” This allows God to speak to them through their own intelligent reflection on the passage. 2) They then ask the second question, “What will I do to act upon what I think God may be saying to me?” 3) The third question, “What prayer can I now make to God about all this?” invites them to talk back to God.

With these three simple questions our people being catechized have used Scripture to carry on a personal dialogue with God. What has amazed me over the years is how all can follow this exercise and receive their own messages—ones that clearly effects changes in their behaviors or attitudes. The Logic If our primary purpose is to bring people into conversation with God, with Scripture we are able to help people control their imaginations as they do this conversing. The great doctor of the church, St. Theresa of Avila, in her book on spirituality, The Interior Castle, again and again warns her sisters about the dangers of the imagination in talking to God. The words of Scripture keep us tied to the authentic words of God. God can then more easily bring our intellect’s attention to and reflection on the words we need for our particular life, and give our will the strength to then change for the better.

CONNECTING

WITH

REAL LIFE

We best see the connection to real life in Jesus’ catechizing with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. Having brought a jug for water at noontime from her town of Sychar, this is her day’s concern. Jesus connects with her present real life. He asks for a drink of water. Jesus will then connect even more directly by commenting on her five failed marriages and current non-marriage. This skill of connecting to a person’s real life is present at Emmaus to a lesser extent. Jesus chides theses disciples for not understanding the Messianic passages of the Scriptures, connecting to them through what is a very important part of their Jewish life, the memorization and understanding of the Scriptures. The Logic We connect with people by dealing with the here and now of their lives. We thus bring people into relationship with God, who has a constant concern for their everyday life. We catechize as Jesus did, always dealing with each person’s real life in person-to-person encounters. The General Directory for Catechesis notes that “personto-person contact, after the example of Jesus and the Apostles, remains indispensable. In this way, personal conscience is more easily committed. The gift of the Holy Spirit comes to the subject from one living person to another. Thus, the power of persuasion becomes more effective” (No. 158). continued on next page

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USE

SACRAMENTALS

Water is used as a sacramental with the Samaritan woman and bread with the Emmaus disciples. Sacramentals are concrete symbols of the grace they convey. With the water from the well, Jesus symbolizes that God, who is spirit, leaps up in us like a fountain of water. In the breaking of the bread Jesus may have symbolized what he had told the disciples earlier, that the Messiah had to suffer, be broken, before he could come to glory. So also in our catechizing, we need to always look for physical ways to express the key concepts we wish to impart. For example, catechists often use a lit candle in the room when catechizing, to remind all of Jesus’ presence. The Logic Sacramentals deal at the same moment with both our animal and spirit nature. They allow us to experience God through what we can hear, touch, smell and taste. God appeals to our complete human nature through sacramentals.

SHARING FOOD

AND

DRINK

We have seen Jesus using water and bread as sacramentals. But the water and bread illustrate a different and separate catedhetical skill when shared as food and drink. The best of Jesus’ moments involved a meal. Jesus began his ministry at the marriage feast at Cana and ended it at the Last Supper. He began his catechesis with the Samaritan woman by asking her for a drink. He ended his catechesis with the disciples at Emmaus by sharing bread. Sharing food and drink was a significant way Jesus catechized. At as many catechetical events as possible, we need to provide for the sharing of food and/or drink. Especially helpful is having the participants do the providing, as did the Samaritan woman with her water and the disciples at Emmaus with their bread. The Logic In our human history, the meal is a bonding tool. Food and drink create an environment in which we talk and share feelings and life experiences, where we build relationships. Jesus understood the bonding nature of a meal and used it as he worked to bind us to God through personal relationships in the family of God.

SERVICE

OTHERS

AND

SELF

The Samaritan woman shines as the most powerful example of responding with service. Her entire town ends up converted through the initial efforts of this first woman evangelizer. Even at Emmaus, the disciples immediately go and tell the eleven and their companions what they had experienced of the risen Lord. What could make more sense as a service, after connecting with God, than to go out and share the most important news of all human life: that God is with us, the Messiah who loves us? In speaking of service in catechesis, the U.S. bishops in Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us observe, “But for most people the truths of faith really come alive and bear fruit when tested and put into practice—in soup kitchens, neighborhoods, small groups, workplaces, community organizations, and family homes” (No. 83). The Logic We love our neighbor through serving their needs. Jesus reminded us, “And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand” (Mt. 7:26). Just listening to his words, having a personal relationship with Jesus, will not do it. We have to take action, using our unique talents to serve others, producing works of love, of service, for all God’s children, including ourselves. So we see six simple skills that Jesus used in catechizing both the Samaritan woman and the Emmaus disciples—with the Samaritan woman possibly being Jesus’ best work. These skills are concrete, practical and easily applied to most catechetical efforts. God’s wisdom is so often both profound and simple. Jesus used what naturally, logically works if you want to bring people into a personal relationship with God in a community of believers. May you, as leaders training catechists, enjoy God’s simplicity! ❙ Dr. Richard C. Brown was a director of adult faith formation and is currently director of the Center for Effective Ministry, providing retreats, seminars and church staff consulting services. His forthcoming book on ministry conflict solutions, from St. Anthony Messenger Press, in August, 2006.

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STAYING CURRENT continued from page 19

ADOLESCENT CATECHESIS continued from page 27

“How am I supposed to know what is going to ‘stick’?” One could say, “Invest in a good crystal ball.” However, good technology and good uses of technology exhibit some traits that that promise longevity or, more important, “usefulness.”

CONCLUSION

With hundreds of technological advances coming almost daily, one must remember that “newness” is not equal to quality. Imagine a catechetical leader running into a staff meeting and announcing that he or she is about to implement the newest in catechetical methodology. When asked what it is and how do we start, the leader says, “I don’t know, but this is the latest in catechesis so it must be good.” Good use of technology requires that someone step back, evaluate, pilot, and reevaluate. Good technology must meet its audience’s needs. Take, for example, web sites. A good diocesan or parish web site can be a great tool for catechetical leaders and not just a place where “we put stuff” to satisfy a request to “have a web site.” To evaluate the usefulness of a web site, one should ask some initial questions when first logging on. Does it look appealing? Are there too many words? Are there too many graphics? Does information flow from the site and can I send feedback, registrations, and questions? And most important, can I find what I need? There is nothing more important to users on a web site than the information they are looking for at that moment. If a site impedes their discovery and use of that “thing” that are searching for, it is quite possible that they will not come back. Because the Internet is so full of information (good and bad), it is quite possible for the user to stumble across bad catechetical material because a poorly designed site made better information hard to find. The reader’s choice may have nothing to do with the quality of the material, but only with the ease of access. “Doesn’t technology threaten to replace “the human touch”? Technology can never be a substitute for good people. Technology is not living and breathing. It can’t change and update itself, but it can be updated and changed by good people (webmasters, consultants, media coordinators, etc.). In the motion picture Patch Adams, the main character, a physician, says of the focus of medicine, “You treat a disease — you win, you lose. You treat a person — I’ll guarantee you’ll win.” With technology as with medicine, if you focus on the people and their needs you’ll always be successful. Technology meets people where they are and continues to walk the catechetical journey with them. ❙ Jeff Stutzman is the catechetical media consultant and webmaster in the Office of Catechetical Services for the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland. He serves as the vice-president for the National Association of Catechetical Media Professionals (NACM.). His web site work can be seen at http://www.oce-ocs.org/ocs and http://www.nacmp.org.

The National Study on Youth and Religion concludes that congregations that prioritize their work with youth and support for their parents, invest in trained and skilled leaders, and make serious efforts to engage and teach adolescents seem much more likely to draw young people into their religious lives and to foster religious and spiritual maturity in their young members. Rarely has a generation of young people been so interested in spirituality and religion and so open to experiences of the holy and the transcendent. It will take a well coordinated effort on the part of all those who provide catechesis for adolescents to live up to the potential described above and counter the ever-present threats. The combined effort of parishes, schools and youth ministry requires a comprehensive vision for adolescent catechesis, a practical blueprint for developing an effective catechetical program with varied formats, settings, and approaches, and the resources, trained personnel, and financial support to implement our vision. This appears to be a kairos moment — the right moment — for the Catholic Church and her pastoral ministry to, with and for young people. ❙ Paul K. Henderson is executive director of USCCB Publishing and has held positions at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in youth and young adult ministry, Jubilee Year 2000 and World Youth Day 93. He holds masters’ degrees in theology, liturgy and management (phenderson@usccb.org). References Hudson, W. J. (2002). Window on mission: A CHS 2000 report on school academic and co-curricular programs and services and religious education and formation. Washington, DC: National Catholic Educational Association. National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry. (2004). National study of youth and religion: Analysis of the population of Catholic teenagers and their parents. Washington, D.C.: Author. U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. (1997). Renewing the vision: A framework for Catholic youth ministry. Washington, DC: Author.

For Reflection After reading this condensed article, in what ways do you concur with this summary? In what ways does your experience differ from this analysis? The full article can be found on the following websites: www.nfcym.org and www.nccl.org. The collaborative committee will offer subsequent commissioned papers to this publication to advance a national conversation.

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PEOPLE IN THE NEWS â?&#x161; MONIKA K. HELLWIG The Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities announced the death of Georgetown University theologian Dr. Monika K. Hellwig on September 30 in Washington, DC. She was for president and executive director of that association from 1996 until this year. NCCL also mourns the death of Monika, our friend and colleague. Neil Parentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s remembrance will be found on page 3.

Monica K. Hellwig

JANET M. WALSH Janet M. Walsh was appointed Director of the Office for Faith Formation for the Diocese of Norwich on July 1. She had been a consultant in elementary catechesis and catechist certification to that office since 2000. A director of religious education for thirteen years, she was for three years coordinator of elementary catechesis at the Office of Religious Education for the Diocese of Providence. Her background is in social work; she has been a consultant to the Rhode Island Department of Children Youth and Families. She has been married to her husband Michael for seventeen years and has two children.

Janet M. Walsh

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CROSSWORD ❚

CATECHESIS BY “THE BOOK” by Megan Anechiarico ACROSS 1 6 11 12 13 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 25 26 28 30 31 33 34 35 36 37 39 42 45 47 49

Wise OT catechist Paul’s NT catechetical genre Vagabond “People, Look ____” “The” to Pierre Saint from Lima, backwards Yahweh’s breath – Heb. Common English consonant digraph “4” Horned wild animal — Heb. Joyful Companion to XX Mini or cargo U.S. psych. org. Anger Indefinite article Locale of Jesus’ Beatitudes sermon in Luke Freud’s unconscious pleasure center Initials for the 7th U.S. President Not them OT numbered catechetical directives “Charlotte’s Web” author White 3.14… Lively dances Cherish Fit Initials for an Augustinian friar Nickname for Aniston or Lopez Drivers’ org.

50 51 53 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64

Peter or Paul Source of protein for vegetarians Jacob had twelve Non-classified movie classification – abbr. Another acronym for OT ____ Lang Syne Encourage Ave. or Rd. Cozy Catholic educators’ org. NT recipient of Jesus’ catechesis Locale of one NT community catechized by Paul

1 Used by Jesus to heal the man

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 14 17 24

born blind Slight jumble for a person known for courage and nobility OT catechetical leader who received 34A from God Woodwind instrument Typical Statement of assent, upwards NT catechetical letter-writer OT patriarch Technology information center for undergrads – abbr. Reverberated NT catechetical Gospel writers NT community catechized by Paul Favorite catechetical method of Jesus in the synoptic Gospels

22 26

34 35 37

39 46

DOWN 2

38 40 41 43

27 29 32 33 37

56 60

Looks toward Exercise a muscle Suffering OT catechist Baseball ref. OT catechetical leader who succeeds 3D The Peach State – abbr. Title for OT catechetical leader Deborah or Samuel Obscure Dorm supervisor – abbr.

44 Busy & anxious NT catechist 46 Locale of Jesus’ catechetical ser-

mon in Matthew 48 Heavenly NT catechist Gabriel,

for one 51 News agency of the former

USSR 52 Acronym for Faculty of Letters,

University of Lisbon 54 Killer whale 55 While the disciples were at ___,

__ strong wind began to blow.

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C AT E C H E T I C A L LEADER