The New Directory for Catechesis

Highlights and Summaries for Catechists and Pastoral Leaders

Matthew W Halbach

• Publisher: Twenty-Third Publications/Bayard
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781627855778
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Catechetical expert, Deacon Matthew Halbach presents a user-friendly overview of the Catholic Church's new Directory for Catechesis with this easy-to-read guide that makes the Directory accessible, relevant and meaningful to those involved in catechetical ministry. Perfect for both new and seasoned catechists, this reference is the ideal resource that belongs in the hands of everyone involved in catechetical ministry and religious education: catechists, pastors, Parish Catechetical Leaders, Catholic school teachers, principals, and diocesan leaders. A MUST READ resource!

This guide presents the official document in an easy-to-follow format by:

• Summarizing each of the new Directory's main parts

• Highlighting new points and directions for the Church's mission of catechesis

• Invites catechists and catechetical leaders to deepen their understanding

and appreciation of catechesis and its connection with evangelization and mission

• Providing reflection and prayer for each section

• Offering a user-friendly glossary of terms for quick reference

Part One

Catechesis in the Church’s Mission of Evangelization

Divine Revelation: Remembering the Goodness of the Good News

Following the pattern of the GDC, the DC follows up its survey of the historical and cultural landscape in which catechesis must operate with a look at divine revelation as the source and paradigm of all evangelization and catechesis. The most salient point of this entire section is that life begins and ends with the goodness of God. God is the initiator, purpose, and fulfillment of all life: God is the logos (Jn 1:1).

A beautiful understanding of this point is found in the prayer of the priest or deacon while he prepares the chalice at Mass: “Through the mingling of this water and wine, may we come to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity”(General Instruction of the Roman Missal, no. 178). It’s odd that this prayer is to be said silently, as it is a succinct proclamation of God’s plan of salvation. In Christ, heaven and earth are reconciled; God’s plan of salvation—that all may be one (Jn 17:21)—is fulfilled. Acknowledging this saving truth, and learning to live into it, is the fruit of receiving and proclaiming the Good News, the very “goodness” of which is God’s lavish mercy. Through Christ, and the working of the Holy Spirit, our fantastic dreams of being born with great dignity and purpose, our belief that we are destined for greatness, and our infinite capacity and need for love find their fulfillment in God, who knew us and chose us first (Jer 1:5; Jn 15:16).

We enter into God’s revelation as unique individuals and as members of the Church. Our individual understanding and experience of divine revelation is necessarily tethered to the believing community and to the apostolic tradition (nos. 25–26) on which it stands. Led by the Spirit (no. 23), who acts in us and through us, we are led to deeper communion and holiness of life. The DC succinctly articulates the great mystery of divine revelation, God’s saving plan, in the following outline (no. 14):

The Christian proclamation communicates the divine plan, which is:

• a mystery of love: human beings, loved by God, are called to respond to him, becoming a sign of love for their brothers and sisters;
• the revelation of the intimate truth of God as Trinity and of humanity’s vocation to a filial life in Christ, source of his dignity;
• the offer of salvation to all people through the Paschal mystery of Jesus Christ, gift of God’s grace and mercy, which implies liberation from evil, from sin, and from death;
• the definitive call to reunite scattered humanity in the Church, bringing about communion with God and fraternal union among people already in the here and now, but to be fulfilled completely at the end of time.

Each of the above elements of Divine Revelation builds upon the others, but it all begins with God’s merciful love, the ultimate goal of which is “to reunite scattered humanity in the Church, bringing about communion with God and fraternal union among people already in the here and now, but to be fulfilled completely at the end of time” (no. 14).

One could say that revelation is how God evangelizes us. By bearing witness to Godself through life-giving words and deeds, writing with creation and human history as an author writes a book or an artist paints a picture, God chooses to be revealed. And in God’s self-expression (self-disclosure) we are evangelized. In Christ, the fullness of the revelation of God, we see our fulfillment, the promise of the fullness of joy. From this we can conclude that when we actively participate in God’s revelation we are, in fact, evangelizing. Evangelization (and catechesis) are about being led by the Spirit and sharing that same Spirit with others. We evangelize when we receive God’s revelation and allow our lives to be transformed by it. Out of this transformation comes the desire to share God, whom we’ve come to know, and the wonders God has done for us.

One could say that revelation is how God evangelizes us.

God, the Great Companion

God is the primary evangelizer. God is the author—and editor—of our salvation. Because of this, evangelization and catechesis should never fail to identify God as the One who always takes the initiative and who never fails to accompany us. God’s companionship is experienced in the Church through its mission of evangelization. Through the Church, Christ and the Holy Spirit accompany us into deeper communion with each other and with God the Father. God’s accompaniment of us, vividly expressed in the life of Christ, is the way of evangelization.

Catechesis as a Call to Holiness

God is revealed through history, culminating in Christ: the fullness of revelation. We enter into God’s revelation through faith and baptism, from which come a transformation, expressed in terms of conversion, the fruit of which is communion and intimacy with God. Throughout history, such communion has been present in its clearest and most vibrant forms in the lives of the saints. Therefore, it is not surprising that the DC’s Preface wastes no time identifying holiness as descriptive of both the purpose of catechesis and the catechist’s way of life. Holiness of life is the incarnate authenticator of the truth and power of the gospel message. In fact, the Beatitudes, “are like a Christian’s identity card” (no. 83).

Knowing the Faith and Responding to It

Evangelization and catechesis must keep the love of God as their focus, as “the Christian faith is, first of all, the welcoming of God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ, sincere adherence to his person, and the free decision to follow him” (no. 18). When we, in catechesis, speak of “the faith” being taught or shared, we are, first, speaking of the interpersonal dimension of faith: God reveals Godself to humanity and to each of us individually, and human beings choose to respond or not. In addition, “the faith” also means the accumulation and systemization of religious experiences of (and reflections on) God’s revelation within the believing community, the Church. In this sense, faith describes all that the Church has received, experienced, and taught by way of apostolic tradition, going back to Jesus and the first apostles. Faith described in this way has traditionally been referred to as the deposit of faith, which the Church gives expression to in one of three ways: its law of prayer, law of belief, and/or law of life (lex orandi, lex credendi, and lex vivendi). Though a “deposit” of doctrine, guarded by the Magisterium—the official teaching body of the Church, comprised of the bishops in union with the pope—Catholic Tradition, the DC states, “is not primarily a collection of doctrines, but is a life of faith that is renewed every day” (no. 26). Likewise, “Evangelizing is not, in the first place, the delivery of a doctrine; but rather, making present and announcing Jesus Christ” (no. 29). Catechesis should strive to embody this. Therefore, catechesis should seek to embrace the “both/and” of faith. It should recognize and deliver faith as a content to be learned and believed; and it should present the faith as a unique response to God, in whom we come to believe and live.

The Stages of Evangelization

The stages of evangelization are as follows: Missionary activity, initiatory catechesis, and pastoral action (nos. 33–35). These stages have not changed since the GDC; however, the DC places even greater emphasis on the need for a catechesis that also evangelizes. In other words, catechesis must adopt for itself the same aims and goals as evangelization.

Catechizing without an evangelical aim tends to omit prior missionary activity—which includes the important work of charity and the cultivation of relationships with others based on respect, trust, and love. Such missionary activity (the work of accompaniment) is critical as it lays the interpersonal groundwork upon which the gospel message will be proclaimed and affirmed through the actions of living witness. Contemporary catechesis tends to struggle when it aims to form those who have not yet been evangelized. Such an approach restricts catechesis to an exposition of doctrine (the mysteries of the faith). To those who have yet to come to faith in God, the source and illuminator of doctrine, a presentation of doctrine, regardless of being systematic or not, cannot be received as more than religious information, information about the faith.

Initiatory catechesis is that phase of formation where the catechized are in the process of preparing to receive the sacraments of initiation. For this phase, especially, the inculturation of the gospel message is critical. Catechists should be aware of the cultural context of those presenting themselves for sacraments; catechists should seek to make connections between the faith, sacramentality, and culture.

Developing a more incultured approach to evangelization and catechesis begins with the desire to be in dialogue with the signs of the times—these include the customs, values, languages, technologies, perceptions and prejudices, and hopes and anxieties common to everyday life and discourse. One cannot help but hear in this the echo of the first lines of the Vatican II Dogmatic Constitution, The Church in the Modern World:

The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts. (no. 1)

If the gospel message is going to remain relevant, the catechist must look for ways to connect it with life experience and help others to do the same. Catechists must proclaim the message of Christ’s love using, where possible, the elements of culture—its language, customs, values, technologies, etc.—to repeat over and again that Christ loves us. As Pope Francis summarizes in The Joy of the Gospel:

On the lips of the catechist the first proclamation must ring out over and over: “Jesus Christ loves you; he gave his life to save you; and now he is living at your side every day to enlighten, strengthen and free you.” This first proclamation is called “first” not because it exists at the beginning and can then be forgotten or replaced by other more important things. It is first in a qualitative sense because it is the principal proclamation, the one which we must hear again and again in different ways, the one which we must announce one way or another throughout the process of catechesis, at every level and moment. (no. 164)

Pastoral action is the ongoing accompaniment of the person (people) by the Church. This includes all the ways evangelization and catechesis can support and nourish new initiates and help them continue the journey of faith (no. 35). Because it is a way of accompaniment and deeply connected to evangelization, catechesis must view itself as a lifelong process and effort.

While you can evangelize someone who has not been evangelized, you cannot catechize someone who has not been (or is not being) evangelized. You can’t teach the faith if someone does not have faith. Faith is not like an academic subject, where the student can begin with little to no understanding or experience and, over time, become proficient. Faith is not something learned or accomplished through one’s efforts. It’s a gift given by the Holy Spirit, the author of faith (1 Cor 12:3), which must be freely received. The paramount example of this dynamic is Mary’s “yes” to God’s plan for her (Lk 1:28–38).

You can’t teach the faith if someone does not have faith.

In addition, faith and, therefore, conversion to faith, is not an isolated act. It is intrinsically interpersonal. It involves the submission of one’s will and intellect to God’s revelation: to God’s truth and will for us. Without first acknowledging God’s revelation as true and applicable to one’s life, there is no purpose in moving into a systematic deepening of one’s understanding and experience of the mysteries of faith (mystagogy). In other words, one must be open to divine revelation before one can begin to understand it or conform to its demands.

New Evangelization

More than the GDC, the DC focuses on the need for new evangelization (nos. 38-41) as the way to better engage and challenge the secularization of culture and the ever-trending phenomena of relativism, overconsumption, and hyper-individualization derived from it. As more countries in Europe and the Americas seek to transplant their historical and predominately Christian roots—which provided long-standing social paradigms for moral living—into more secular waters, in these spaces, the Church is trying to renew the desire for (and practice of) faith, thereby re-rooting these increasingly secularized cultures into the nourishing waters of baptism. The DC is quick to highlight that the work of evangelization begins with the Church being evangelized (no. 28). The baptized are called to a life that is guided and nurtured by the gospel. Being evangelized, then, is a lifelong pursuit. Being evangelized also means the Church must reform itself in a missionary key; this reform should also include new approaches to catechesis, modeled on the baptismal catechumenate and informed by the dynamics of accompaniment.

Situations in Need of New Evangelization

Ordinary Pastoral Care

The DC identifies three situations in which new evangelization is urgently needed (no. 41). The first of these is ordinary or ongoing pastoral care. In this situation, the Church accompanies people who are, for the most part, rooted in their Catholic identity. These are people who intentionally practice and live their faith within the local church and wider community.

Yet even those who are rooted in their faith are still in need of ongoing conversion. Because of this, renewed efforts at evangelization and catechesis are needed to keep people engaged with th...