THE TABLET
September 20, 2008

Ongoing Education in the Faith

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

The annual celebration of Catechetical Sunday reminds the Church of the tremendous responsibility of passing on the faith to a new generation, while at the same time, informing the present generation of the contents of our faith.  Clearly, catechesis transcends the wall of a classroom.  It is not simply communicating information, but rather it is formation in the faith.  It is the immersion of the person, especially the young, into all aspects of Christian life.  It is the interplay of the Liturgy, prayer, and service to neighbor, as well as the examination of Christian Doctrine.  It involves the building and sustaining of Communion among the faithful. 

The theme for this year’s celebration is “The Word of God and the Life of the Mission of the Church”.  The choice of this theme is in response to the Synod of Bishops taking place this October in Rome, where the Bishops will discuss the topic of “The Word of God”.  The Word of God is not simply the revealed Word of God in the Scripture, but it is also the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ.  The document prepared for the 2008 Synod of Bishops says “In an increasing number of ways, people today are displaying a great need to listen to God and speak with Him.  At present, Christians are eagerly seeking the Word of God as the source of life and as a means of encountering the Lord in a personal manner.”  I believe this hunger for encountering God drives some of our brothers and sisters to seek alternative forms of worship and other religious faiths.  It is truly unfortunate that our Catechesis has not been able to form our own people in the reality of our faith, which allows us to encounter God in so many ways, especially sacramentally.  The Word of God which we celebrate in the Sacrament of the Eucharist itself gives us a great opportunity to encounter the living God.  This is the focus of the Catechetical Mission, to allow people to encounter God.  There is nothing less and nothing more sublime than that.

But who is to assist the faithful in this encounter?   Truly, it is the work of the catechists - our priests, religious, lay people, who take the responsibility of bringing God’s Word to others. Each pastor is the chief catechist of the parish family; and upon his shoulders falls the great responsibility of making sure that all of the people entrusted to his care receive the instruction and formation necessary to develop their life of faith. On Catechetical Sunday we should all be especially grateful to the many volunteer parish catechists for their dedicated and committed assistance in this essential ministry of the Church.  We recognize our Catholic School principals, teachers and staff who are also catechists. Most importantly, we recognize parents, who are the first and primary catechists of their children.    The work of Catechesis is truly the work of forming disciples in Christ.  There is no higher mission in the life of the Church than to pass on the call to discipleship given by Our Lord Himself. 

As we look forward to the future, we have in the Diocese, embarked on two important initiatives which I believe can assist our Catechetical Mission.  First, as I said in a recent pastoral letter, a priority of our Catholic Schools will be to strengthen Catholic identity.  This will necessarily concentrate on how we communicate the faith and how those entrusted to our care in Catholic Schools practice the faith.  Catholic identity is critical to the commitment made by the Church to our Catholic Schools.  Secondly, the diocese has begun a new initiative to reach out to those in Catechetical programs who are not attending Catholic Schools, as well as to those young people who are not attending any religious education program at all.   Recently, our research has told us that there are at least seventy to one hundred thousand young Catholics in Brooklyn and Queens who are not participating in faith formation programs.  This poses a tremendous challenge and responsibility to all of us, to recruit those who are not being catechized and may not be practicing their faith.  The responsibility of reaching out to this unchurched generation falls heavily on our shoulders, and is the object of the new evangelization, which has become the overriding theme of my Episcopal Ministry in the Diocese of Brooklyn.  In no way can this great task be accomplished by the Bishop and priests alone.  Our deacons, religious and laity have a tremendous role in this outreach to those who need to be instructed in the faith.

Unfortunately, it seems that much of our religious education is centered on the reception of the sacraments – First Penance, Communion, and Confirmation.  Our faithful do understand the necessity of these sacraments, and are willing to support the children being catechized for reception of the sacraments, however it seems to end there.  There seems to be little continuity in the in-between years for catechesis.  Most importantly, post-confirmation catechesis hardly seems to exist for those who do not attend Catholic high schools.

While we are examining and constantly seeking to improve the faith formation programs in our Catholic schools, those students attending public or other private schools are not having the same attention paid to their ongoing religious education.   For those students in non-Catholic high schools who are exposed to every type of secular and anti-religious instruction, we need to come to their defense.  In the course of one of my parochial visits during a discussion with the pastoral council one Sunday, a young man told me of his plight in trying to establish a Catholic club in a public high school in Brooklyn.  Although other faiths and groups seemed to be able to establish groups of like-minded persons, the establishment of the Catholic club seemed to be almost impossible.  Every other faith group seemed to have an advantage over our own.  We need to support our Catholic teachers and students in public schools so that they can continue to learn about the faith and not be overly influenced by the secular culture that does not respect our religious values and practices.

Putting out into the deep in Catechetical instruction is really a challenge.  The waters of our society have never been more turbulent and we are putting out into the wind of a society which wishes to relegate religious values to the sidelines and impose upon the young other values that seem to support the secular approach to life.  Let us take refuge in the Word of God which is the life of the mission of the Church; by committing ourselves to reading the scriptures, and encountering the living Word of God, Jesus Christ, in the sacraments.  All of us can do this as we praise the catechists who work on our behalf, and ask the Lord to inspire more laity to accept the role of catechist in the Church today.    

Together, on this Catechetical Sunday, let us pray for our catechists.

A Prayer for Catechists

O Word of God,

Help those who catechize to turn their faces to you,

that they might know the Father

and feel your redemptive love

through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

O Word of God,

When the Father spoke,

the world was created, life began,

and love was brought into the world.

Help catechists to count the blessings of the loving God in their midst,

to be filled with your kindness,

and to know the fruits of their labor.

O Word of God,

May the works of their hands and hearts prosper.

Make them towers of strength that can withstand all of the buffeting winds

encountered during this coming year.

May they be beautiful in your eyes,

a beacon of hope for all who seek to know you.

Bless their labor, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Bring those whom they catechize to faith in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

COPYRIGHT 2008, UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS, WASHINGTON, D.C.