Posted on 07/22/2010 5:57:02 AM PDT by NYer
A couple of years ago, a Pastor asked me to provide a catechetical training day for teachers in his Catholic school and CCD program. One of my first questions to him was what issues had developed requiring my assistance. The Pastor voiced to me his concern over poor doctrinal formation he suspected the children were receiving. I asked him how he finally came to this point. He said; “I knew things were off when all I saw was glue, crayons, construction paper and scissors during an eighth grade religion class.” Right there and then I realized what I had to work with.
The inevitable day arrives. As the catechists walked into the parish center, we began with prayer and introductions. I typically begin with a short story reflecting on the catechetical formation for the day. This process helps to gauge the audience and determine when to run when they have had enough. Kidding aside, the first segment involved preparing them for the day, the aim of the 
instruction, purpose, goals, desires and application for the classroom. A good strategy when teaching teachers is not to patronize them. They are teachers and know everything. I know I am one of them. In reality, the heart of instruction here lies with an authentic witness of the living Gospel of Jesus Christ in a gradual loving way.
Knowing that many teachers resort to arts and crafts because of a genuine fear and ignorance in teaching the Catholic faith to students I began the training by asking the catechists for the one thing they would like to know about the faith they still had questions on. After a subtle pause (pretty typical) hands were drawn. The questions asked centered on sin, true presence of Christ in the Eucharist, confession, purgatory, mass participation, is the Church biblical, Mary, how to read the bible, other religions etc. My next question to them was why they wanted to know about these particular doctrines. Their response was nothing short of amazing. They did not know how these particular teachings came to be! Keep in mind, these catechists are supposedly teaching children the Catholic faith. Right there and then I realized we needed to start at the very beginning e.g. Do you believe in God the Father the almighty?
If the teacher does not have a sound understanding of how their life reflects the Gospel let alone living within the Story of salvation, then how are they going to impart the story onto their students? Hence, the focal point of the problem we face in the catechetical field. Our catechists lack basic doctrinal formation. I charted a different course of action realizing that this group needed a systematic engaging approach to learn and apply Catholic doctrine in the classroom.
The result was a mini-RCIA course where I went through Salvation History and presented to them their role in light of Jesus Christ the Divine Teacher (Heb 11:6). In other words, they needed to see how the Church came to be, their role within the Church and the graces given to us by Christ at Baptism to continue His work in the Church He founded. A basic outline of the curriculum for this training session looked something like this:
It was important the catechists saw the biblical basis for these doctrinal pillars. In addition, how the Catechism references the teachings of the Church through the footnotes. A short primer on how to use the Catechism of the Catholic Church and view the references, cross-references, and articles numbers to find a particular teaching gave the catechists a better grasp of the information.
This experience is common. A generation of uncatechized faithful over the past thirty-years has drifted throughout their Catholic life not knowing the graces they received through their Baptism. The recitation of our Baptismal promises appears as an afterthought to many. When asked within the Rite of Baptism, Do you reject, sin, and all his empty works, and all his empty promises . . . it begs to ask the question to these teachers whether they truly understand what sin is in order to reject it.
When I posed this very question to one of the teachers in the training session, the response was a common one. Why do we need to concentrate on sin, it is more important to focus on the works of Jesus? Do you see where this particular catechist has quietly misaligned the purpose of Christ and His Church. Whether its ignorance, issues with the doctrine of sin, or a personal experience initiating this response, the opportunity to discuss the nature of sin was difficult. Now, we must be careful when discussing the doctrine of sin from this pastoral perspective; we do not know what the person has gone through personally where a certain sinful act may have caused negative, spiritual harm or drawn out a bad experience. It is vital that a catechist be carefully aware of the audience they are instructing. However, we cannot shy away from addressing the dangers of sin itself.
Another teacher, noting her frustration in sitting through a dreadful class in her opinion said these magic words: “You can keep your catechism, how do you expect me to apply it in the classroom?” Moreover, there you go, this brave soul echoed the sentiments of others who had resisted on using the catechism in the classroom. This “shot heard around the classroom,” reflected the genuine mentality of many teachers viewing the catechism as a useless tool because it probably did not provide cutouts for the kids to “draw” and “cut-out.” This comment troubled me because of an apparent ignorance towards the application or appreciation of the Catechism. There is fruit to the argument that it is not the teachers fault. From one perspective, this may be true; nonetheless, it does not negate the fact of what we are dealing with now. St. Augustine-the Father of Catechetics describes catechizing the ignorant in this way:
“The best method for instructing ignorant men in Christian doctrine, one that will bear much fruit is to ask questions in a friendly fashion after the explanation; from this questioning one can learn whether each one understood what he heard or whether the explanation needs repeating. In order that the learner grasp the matter, we must ascertain by questioning whether the one being catechized has understood, and in accordance with his response, we must either explain more clearly and fully or not dwell further on what is known to them etc. But if a man is very slow, he must be mercifully helped and the most necessary doctrines especially should be briefly imparted to him.”
As the Catechist trainer in this situation, you cannot scold nor demean these individuals. In many ways, ignorance is rooted in their responses due to a lack of formation. Thus, a gentle but firm disposition serves us well in this type of situation because we do not want to lose them. Our hope rests in a genuine conversion for these teachers (1 Pt 3:15). The “you can keep your catechism” statement by the teacher mentioned earlier should not detract anyone from teaching the faith. My call for this person was to help her find God. An opportunity arose to present the Gospel, reveal the importance of Christ in our lives and provide her with an open opportunity to seek Him.
It is very important that the catechist reveal the relevance of doctrine in the lives of the faithful. Our faith is naturally explicit (1 Thess 2:13) because God has made Himself visible through His Church. Man naturally seeks what is visible and revealed. For instance, when we are able to observe and recognize a moral act the exercise of the doctrinal action takes effect on our senses. We are able to witness doctrine exercised. The liturgy – a public work, provides a visible reality of the existence of faith and the exercise of doctrine.
By the end of the day, the teachers who survived my training session realized in a small way the necessity of teaching doctrine to children. The success of the day came not by how much doctrine I could expose them to, it was helping them realize how little they knew about the faith and what to do about. Not only for their souls but also for the souls of the children they teach.
The religion instructor must be prepared to proclaim the truth of the Catholic Church. His/her responsibility is to aid the development of the person they are instructing by explaining Church teaching carefully and appropriately through a careful transmission rooted in Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The door to the nourishing a soul in Catholic doctrine must be convincing so the person applies these doctrines to everyday life. The need for the Catechism of the Catholic Church is more relevant than ever if we genuinely desire to impart the Catholic faith. Our duty and responsibility is to answer the questions our students have. Clarity of truth is primary in our instruction.
If you are certain that his is what God calls you to....that is good.
Money can ALWAYS be donated as led by the Spirit too. We often donated money to specific ministries within and/or outside of the parish.
Some people who live in rural areas have no real choice. Due to distance, there is only ONE parish to attend.
Well, the Catechism is certainly in my classroom.
So there is a man that I’ve been kind of dating for a year now. He’s a fallen away Catholic. We have had our ups & downs but despite that, I have always been inexplicably drawn to him. I have been praying hard every day that he finds his way back to the Church; I care for him & can’t bear the thought of him spending eternity in Hell. I don’t know what else to do. I tread lightly with him about this because I’m afraid of alienating him totally if I’m too forward. He has the potential to be a very good person I think but has really lost his way & I blame his ignorance of the faith for that. Can you all whisper a quick prayer for him, too? Thanks
You’re not on the Seaman Anoreth ping list, so you’ve missed the details of her multicultural experiences in the Western Pacific. “Your economy sucks. Would you like some Thomas Sowell books? My mom will buy me new ones.”
Consider him added to my prayer list. I’ll pray for you too, that you would receive from the Holy Spirit the wisdom to have just the right words when it is just the right time. God bless you.
>>Some people who live in rural areas have no real choice. Due to distance, there is only ONE parish to attend.<<
Very true. But being stuck is different from making that choice.
>>If you are certain that his is what God calls you to....that is good.<<
Let me tell you about a neighbor of mine who thought that God was calling her to stick it out. She is the most spiritual person I know. We were at the liberal parish together. She taught “faith formation”, getting in as much of the actual Catechism as they would allow. She tried to start leading the Rosary before Mass and watched the entire staff of the church walk out on her constantly. (returning at the start of mass). The Pastor of that lib parish begged her to find out how to get vocations and when she came to the Pastor at our (very traditional) parish, he told her to change the “faith formation” back to teaching the Catechism, stress confession, start benediction and PRAY (we have a constant group of seminarians, always around 9 or 10). Taking that information back to the Pastor, he got visibly angry and dismissed her. He then cut the Rosary and would not speak to her again. That was the last straw for her. She is now at our traditional parish.
The Devil is in that parish. The only change that has come has been since many of us left and began praying for them. If they are cemented to the “Social Justice” angle, they will only bring the good Catholics down. Getting out is better for your soul.
You are right. This is an excellent, orthodox resource and they have a lot available in Spanish. (Many Hispanics are being lured away from the Church out of ignorance.)
Thank you so very, very, much!!
Get a Green Scapular and place it under his mattress, pray to St. Monica for his conversion. Stay with what you are doing and don’t push him. Your prayers and actions are more powerful than your words.
That worked with my husband.
I understand and I was speaking in general. I think that often, good opportunities are lost because people see the situation as too difficult. This is also why it is important to have a good spiritual director. Correct discernment is essential. ;-)
Our economy sucks right here in America.
A lot of folks could benefit from reading Thomas Sowell books ...
I think nobody should be allowed to vote without reading at least five Thomas Sowell books.
The Spanish parish in our area uses them too!
That is the only other parish I would consider going to.
If I can follow the NO in Latin and Polish, I can follow it in Spanish. And they have a liturgy free of innovation!
Amen!
It was because of similar feelings that I eventually married my husband. I loved him and truly believed that my faith was strong enough for us both. If you want to gain insight into someone's upbringing, meet the parents. I only wish someone had given me these words of advice when I was dating my husband. The family was not religious and they considered my sincere faith to be quaint and naive. The marriage did not last.
On the contrary, she popped her head into my class on week 3, and asked for "volunteers to perform a liturgical dance". My jaw dropped! I believe you already know how that story played out. If not, I'll be happy to repost it.
Is that the Image of God series from Ignatius Press? That is what I use for the Pre-School / Kindergarten program. Mom, does Catholic Company have a similar Pre-K program? I need to find a new one for this year.
Check my profile page. I’ve put the links for apologetics, and the Beginning Catholic series as well as the Imitation of Christ series on it.
Now I feel the nudge to put a Catechism that NYer posted on there too.
Did we ever get the complete Baltimore Catechism put online here? narses started it at one time, but I’m unsure about the extent of it.
Yes that is the one I am using.
I am sorry about your marriage.
His family lives in Atlanta (we are in Pittsburgh. He’s a surgiacl resident & I met him at work) so I haven’t met his parents BUT they immigrated here (legally) in 1980 from Nicaragua due to the civil war there. They apparently devoutly Catholic & his mother went to HS here at some convent. It’s funny because his mom & dad sound very faithful (as do his Hispanic aunts) but he & his 3 siblings have fallen away. He’s the youngest of 4 & tells me that none of his siblings are practicing Catholics. It breaks my heart to here this. He said the Mass is a “waste of his time” because he gets more out of watching an hour of TV & that he only goes to Mass on Christmas & Easter out of respect for his mother. Ugh.
I will stay the course & pray for him. Thanks everyone for your advice & words of encouragement & prayers.
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