A
Brief History of Catechesis
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We
have always wanted to do this!"
This
is the most common reaction from religious educators when
they first hear about Growing Faith and how it offers catechesis to everyone in the parish, not just the children. |
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The history of Growing Faith – and indeed all
adult education in the Catholic community – is riddled with good
intentions. We have always meant
to do this! But until now, we have lacked the needed resource
to provide catechesis that is systematic, comprehensive, and
intentional for adults in the church.
We
have tended to offer adults “activity nights” during Advent or
Lent, or simple workshops as part of their children’s education.
But we have never before offered youth, young adult and adult
Catholics a complete tour of the Catechism
of the Catholic Church in an easy-to-read-and-understand format like this.
Here’s
a brief review of the history of adult catechesis in today’s
modern Catholic church.
When
Vatican II convened, only a few adults were engaged in catechesis,
mainly in Catholic Worker groups, study groups, the Catholic Family
Movement, or other similar organizations.
At
Vatican II itself, not much debate about catechesis was held whether
about children’s or adult catechesis. It was generally agreed at that
time that we did not do very adequate catechesis within the church. In fact, in those days we mainly worked with children, asking
them to memorize verbatim answers to various questions rising from the
church’s catechism.
At
the Council, therefore, the only meaningful reference to catechesis
comes in article forty-four of the “Decree on the Pastoral Office of
Bishops in the Church.”
There
it calls for a series of “general directories” to be drawn up after
the Council.
These
were to address, for example, the care of souls, the pastoral care of
special groups, “and also a directory for the catechetical instruction
of the Christian people in which the fundamental principles of this
instruction and its organization will be dealt with…”
In
the early 1900s, catechetical leaders meeting in southern Germany were
testing new methods. They recognized that merely knowing facts about the
faith was not the same as encountering Christ and hearing the Gospel
proclaimed!
Following
on this, the so-called “kerygmatic movement” of the 1950s went even
further, moving us “to recapture the spirit and vision of the Church
of the apostolic and patristic era” (Dooley). This movement added the
element of “formation” to the memorized catechism. Learners received
the proclamation of he Gospel, the teachings of Jesus and the saving
acts of his life, death, and resurrection.
This
movement was based on “four signs” that were to be in balance if a
proper understanding of the faith was to be the result:
“Catechesis
was no longer limited to instruction and to the classroom” (Dooley).
Instead, it merged with liturgy, biblical study, and discipleship into
an organic whole, just as it was experienced in the early Church. We
are grateful to Josef Jungmann SJ (1889-1975), who taught pastoral
theology on the faculty of the University of Innsbruck, for these
insights which are part and parcel of all effective catechesis today.
In
the United States, Jungmann’s work was popularized by Johannes
Hofinger (1905-1984). It was mainly by Hofinger’s efforts that a
series of international catechetical study weeks were
held in:
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Nijmegen,
1959
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Eichstatt,
1960
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Bangkok,
1962
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Katigondo,
1964
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Manila,
1967
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Medellín,
1968
These
study weeks, as you can see, anticipated Vatican II and continued during
and after it. Indeed, they had influence on the Council itself. The
Eichstatt week had particular influence as it laid out principles of
liturgical and catechetical renewal. But it was at Medellín, Columbia
in 1968 that serious reflection on evangelization led to a new focus. It
was seen during the week in Medellín that we cannot presuppose faith in
members of the Church. Baptism is no guarantee that people have come to
encounter Christ and adhere to him and the Church with their whole
hearts. ...more
