Connections

“Christ first directs his apostles to go, to set out in all directions with a specific goal in their hearts: to proclaim his Gospel and bring people into communion with God… That fundamental mission is inseparable from the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the energizing center of evangelization and the heart of catechesis. Christ, the first evangelizer, is himself the Good News who proclaims the kingdom of God…”

National Directory for Catechesis, pages 3, 4

When I give presentations on the vision of youth ministry, based on Renewing the Vision, I share an analogy demonstrating the relationship between evangelization and catechesis. I ask the group of teens present how many of them are dating. Several hands go up, and I ask one of the girls if I can ask a few questions. She says yes.

I paint a scenario in which her boyfriend calls and her mom answers the phone. She demands that her daughter get on the phone and talk for two hours. I ask the girl if this is what happens. Usually the reply is a bashful “no.” Then I paint a scenario in which she answers the phone and has a two-hour conversation in which her mother constantly hounds her to get off the phone. I then ask the girl if this is what happens. The usual reply is a bashful “yes.” I then ask if her boyfriend is a babe and the reply is usually a bashful “yes.”

I then explain to the group what is going on. The young couple is on the phone engaging in catechesis because they have been evangelized. You see they met, had a meaningful encounter that was good news and are now engaged in a relationship in which they are getting to know each other better. This impacts their behavior and view of their world.

The problem we have with catechesis is too often, “God is not our babe.” We rush in with catechetical endeavors without the context of meaningful encounters with the person of Jesus Christ, God with us, Emmanuel. If God is not “our babe,” then why do we want to learn, grow and develop this relationship?

A high school senior once approached me near the end of a year of attending our Sunday night fellowship group. She had gone on a retreat the year before and faithfully attended fellowship the year following the retreat. She told me she had learned more that year than in 11 years of faith formation. I agreed but told her that it was because she wanted to learn. There was plenty of instruction, but she wasn’t ready to take it in.

“The Parish Is the Curriculum: While this pastoral plan is concerned primarily with intentional adult faith formation programs, the success of such efforts rests very much on the quality and total fabric of parish life. This includes, for example, ‘the quality of liturgies, the extent of shared decision making, the priorities in the parish budget, the degree of commitment to social justice, the quality of our catechetical programs’ ”

Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us, Paragraph 118

“People listen more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and when people do listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.”

Evangeli Nuntiandi, No. 41

There are so many contextual issues to consider when contemplating the effectiveness of our catechetical endeavors. It is absolutely essential that NDC paragraph 29 on human methodology be read in its entirety.

To conclude this short reflection on the relationship between content and methodology, I turn to the above two quotes. We must ask ourselves if the content we teach is validated by our personal witness and the witness of the faith community in which the message is shared. If our witness as persons in community does not resonate with the content of our message, to the mind of those who receive us, we invalidate the message.

However, if in preparing to pass on the faith, we attend to every aspect of our context and encounter, so that in all ways we share the light of Christ, then the message is validated by its context and the witness of those who instruct.

Content, separate from effective witness, is at best impotent and at worst counterproductive. The key to our effectiveness in sharing the good news is our own conversion, as we humbly walk the journey of faith, in communion with those with whom we share it.

Our dialogue regarding catechesis, from this point on, must never separate methodology and content into separate entities, but realize that one is a natural outgrowth of the other. Insomuch as we are the Body of Christ, and insomuch as, “Christ, the first evangelizer, is himself the Good News who proclaims the kingdom of God…” so must we be the good news as we share the good news with all we encounter. Peace!