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.
Our elementary catechism (at the NO parish) is a mix — there definitely are crafts (appropriate for the little ones) but also emphasis on prayers such as St. Michael’s and the making of rosaries. Have never heard any inappropriate music. So we are still comfortable with the RE there, even though I personally won’t attend the NO Mass.
Thanks -— apostrope’s’es is such aggravatin’ li’l buggers.
>>If not, I’ll be happy to repost it. <<
I do! But you need to repost it so everyone can see.
I am in a new state, the new parish needs a DRE, I am semi qualified, but....but terrified of applying. It's so draining trying to fight 40 years of ignorance.
They don’t have K or Pre-K.
Our parish takes the 1st grade book and adapts it.
That is true of ANY situation where you have volunteers.
But it's most dangerous in a religious instruction context. If an adjunct professor teaching legal research and writing to 1st year law students blows off the hard work and doesn't teach the kids, because all she wants is something to put on her resume (as far too many of my fellow adjuncts did), the kids will get shortchanged (and cheated out of something they've paid good money for) -- but at least she won't be endangering their souls.
I guess the Church is paying for 40 years of unbelievably bad catechesis. Now those shortchanged kids are teaching the kids.
My Mother Prayed for My Brother during the Vietnam war. He was a marine. When He came back. He was scratching his head telling my mother. How come when called to go to mainland from the south china sea. He was always passed over. Well she told him. She prayed the bible in one hand and the Rosary in the other that he never would kill or be killed. He never was. He became a deacon of the church. What he learned was radio communications which was very important for info going back and fro. He later became a ATT executive. So In the Holy Spirit be my pleasure to pray for her.
I see it more with "professionals." Everyone I've known teaching at church or working with Scouts has been doing their best.
The *big problem* with RE, in my opinion, is that parents are half-hearted about their faith. I suppose getting the children to a class, most of the time, is *something*, but it's not much.
Thank you very much! My father was in Vietnam for two years, and in the Navy for 27 years.
“Seaman Anoreth” is my daughter. She’s 19 years old and in the Coast Guard; it’s been a little over a year since she enlisted. She’s on a cutter based in Seattle, but they’ve been in the Western Pacific since April and she reports about the countries they visit. Practicing her travel journalism skills for a future career, maybe. The ping list is low-intensity. Sometimes there will be three messages in a day, if she’s online, and sometimes two or three weeks will pass when they’re at sea and can’t email.
My husband has pinkeye again, but none of the rest of the family has come down with it, so I’m sure your prayers are doing something for us!
read later
My Mom had 7 kids. I am remind of my mom when I see the pic’s on your homepage. So beautiful a devout faith you have in Christ. God Bless you and Keep you Always.
You may want to look into the Ignatius Press books. They are excellent!
My Catechism teachers were nuns, which unfortunately didn’t guarantee a good or meaningful experience. We were told to memorize a section, and then at the next class to stand up and recite it. Very unfortunate, imho. The memorization was fine, even worthwhile, but there was no interaction, no explanation or analysis of the material.
Our K CCD is free. I’’m not sure they want a book.
Thank you. I will say the rosary tonite. And I appreciate your thoughts
Unfortunately, this is all TOO common. This is why, if possible, we should find those who are committed Catholics and meet regularly to pray for our parishes. This is especially important in the worst parishes. Prayer IS powerful and will eventually work wonders. Those who are committed to such prayer should also get involved in the various ministries of that same parish as led by the Holy Spirit. What God can do with even one person is pretty amazing. ;-))This is outstanding advice. We have two parishes in our town that we frequent, and the one that has 11-12 ladies that stay after daily mass to pray the rosary is fairly vibrant (they have adoration, etc.), but the one where no one prays at all following daily mass, is still pretty much spiritually dry. Prayer IS powerful as you say. Also, getting in touch with one's bishop is helpful. My husband wrote out a letter to ours, and received a snail mail back in cursive as well. It was pretty cool.
That's doing some good work, there!
At year's end, several of my students scored the highest grades on the final exam given to all the 9th grade students. Sadly two of my students scored the lowest, but they were the two girls who paid little attention to what we covered the entire year. When the director of the program asked my opinion about what should be done, I told her that they should be required to repeat the entire year, if they wanted to be Confirmed.
But dedicated volunteers who know their stuff DO try their best and are usually pretty good. Our BSA troop and our Venture crew are full of good volunteers.
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