Are we recruiting Catechists and sending them to “die”? An honest and hard look at Parish Catechism.
Painting: 'Let the little children come unto me', 1884, Fritz von Uhde (1848-1911)
That was a comment made to me by a Clergyman when we were discussing the state of Catechesis in our local Archdiocese.
When he said it, I immediately knew what he was alluding too. A Parish is short of Catechists. They desperately make an emergency shout out to Parishioners. They get a few “Bravehearts”. They are rushed into the “trenches”, i.e., the classes with a shortfall to fill the gaps. Being completely new, they struggle with boisterous students, students with complex questions, a syllabus that often does not engage, and an overall lack of guidance. Nobody seems to know what is going on or how to make it better. There is a smile from the grizzled veteran (if there are any still "alive") and a word of encouragement perhaps. But that's about it.
After a year, (if they last that long) they tell the Parish, “I think I will take a break for the year”. And they don't come back. They are scared and scarred by the experience. The cycle repeats itself.
I was one of those “volunteers” almost 20 years ago. In my 2nd year of National Service, I heard the call over the pulpit. I showed up. Was rushed to the front. Took a class on my own after just 2 weeks of “mentorship”. Read from the Catechism. Received blank stares and cynical looks. But for some reason, I kept at it.
Fast forward 20 years, I am still at it. Worst, I have been teaching teenagers for a living for more than a decade. And on Sundays, I still show up for “more” punishment. I was not a sucker looking to be scarred. Rather, I was sanctified. The reception these days is one of joyful satisfaction. The class laughs. I laugh with them.
Saint Irenaeus says that “the Glory of God is the human person fully alive”. I feel fully alive when I am catechising.
In this series of columns on Catechesis, I would like to share my observations of the local Catechetical scene and my own story from a “rushed conscript” to “grizzled veteran.”
I promise to be candid, entertaining and edifying. I can start by offering the following thesis: The crisis of parish catechesis is first and foremost an identity crisis.
We have lost sight of what Catechesis is. Not having a clear understanding of what it is, we act out our uncertainty. It impacts those whom we are catechising. I think we can first start by clarifying the term “Catechesis.” It is a translation from the Greek word κατέχειν or katechein. A literal rendition of this is “echo” or “resound”. The word “echo” conveys a sense that whatever is being said needs to be said or “echoed” in the exact same fashion as the one who first said it.
However, this way of conceptualising Catechesis can be a bit passive. On the other hand, it can sometimes be a bit mechanical. Whatever is being said can sometimes be “echoed” in a robotic fashion, with a “just passing the message” along mentality, with little personal engagement. After all, if you shout into the bottom of a well with water for instance, whatever you shout is repeated back to you word for word. Yet, what is echoed back is mechanical and not dynamic. It is simply the result of sound waves bouncing off the surface of the water. No one may actually be paying attention.
Hence, the other alternative translation, i.e., “resound”. This is a more dynamic word which attempts to capture the resonance on the part of the listener to the original message. When these two words “echo” and “resound” are used to describe Catechesis, we come to 2 fundamental ideas of what exactly we are doing in Parish Catechesis.
We are echoing what Jesus Christ and His Church teaches, whole, unspoilt, and entire. We are “stewards of the mystery” (1 Corinthians 4:1) and not its masters. We do not have a right to distort Catholic teaching with our own ideas. But we are also doing it in such a way that resounds in the hearts of our listeners. Our aim is to help them ask the question, “Were not our hearts burning when He opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32)
What then should be “echoed” or “resounded”?
It is another Greek word, namely “Kerygma”.
The Kerygma, is the heart of the Christian message. Pope Francis sums up the heart of Christian proclamation succinctly when he says that the Catechist should convey to those being catechised that “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 pithy formula should be echoed by the Catechist without distortion. Yet, it should also resound in the heart of those catechised. It is the attempt to make it resound that can prove challenging.
The Pope himself notes that even as we proclaim the Kerygma, “We need to be realistic and not assume that our audience understands the full background to what we are saying, or is capable of relating what we say to the very heart of the Gospel, which gives it meaning, beauty and attractiveness.”
Knowing what you are getting yourself into, i.e., Catechesis, is probably a step in helping resolve an identity crisis. But knowing who you are in this role, and how to do so effectively is another thing altogether.
In my next column, I will unpack what exactly is the Kerygma and the difference it makes when this is always at the forefront and centre of the Catechist.
