Catechesis is a word that means “to echo down”, and we understand that when the Church refers to Catechesis, she is referring to the action of “echoing down” the mysteries of Faith through the ages. This clarifies the important work catechists do in the life of the Church, the important duty of parents to see to their children’s catechesis, and the important work of students to embrace wholeheartedly the task of being catechized. In an exhortation of Pope Saint John Paul II on the mission of catechesis in our time, he explains this work:
“The Church has always considered catechesis one of her primary tasks, for, before Christ ascended to His Father after His resurrection, He gave the apostles a final command - to make disciples of all nations and to teach them to observe all that He had commanded. He thus entrusted them with the mission and power to proclaim to humanity what they had heard, what they had seen with their eyes, what they had looked upon and touched with their hands, concerning the Word of Life…And He gave them the Spirit to fulfill this mission. Very soon the name of catechesis was given to the whole of the efforts within the Church to make disciples, to help people to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, so that believing they might have life in His name, and to educate and instruct them in this life and thus build up the Body of Christ. The Church has not ceased to devote her energy to this task” (Catechesi Tradendae, 1).
The Faith is something intrinsically traditional – something “handed on” or “carried over” from one generation to the next. To be a Catholic is to be traditional. Though the Faith is entrusted to each generation, it does not belong to any one generation; it is not something of our own making, something we can shape and reshape according to our own ideas and designs. The Faith exists apart from us, it is something we receive in order to live; by Faith, we come to know in a personal and real way the truth of Jesus, of God, and of who we are called to become in Him. The Faith guides every age into the right knowledge of God to empower us in making a personal act of faith welling up to eternal life. In order to echo the Faith, the truth of Jesus, one must first know and believe this Faith, and strive to hand it on with integrity. Catechists must study the truths of faith to achieve a deeper understanding of these truths. From this understanding, they are empowered to teach in such a way that the Faith might reach their students, who ask God to give them the grace to make their own personal assent to those truths, to receive them and believe them with their whole heart, mind, and soul.
It became fashionable in recent decades to teach, not “The Faith”, but one’s own subjective opinions of faith, often misrepresenting real Catholic Faith; it is not uncommon to hear of catechists (and even clergy and religious) who taught things contrary to the Faith because they were not, in fact, believers; like so many Judases they betrayed their Master and led innocent souls into errors from which recovery has proven very difficult. When a catechist or any authority figure in the Faith obscures truths, their students are deprived of an authentic encounter with Christ – His echo becomes distorted, and they are disoriented in their search for God. Furthermore, the errant teacher, in his misguided effort to lighten the “burden of belief”, places a millstone around his own neck. Such “anti-catechesis” makes difficult or even impossible any real and deep life of authentic discipleship, because if one does not know the fullness of Truth, if one does not know Christ Who is Truth Incarnate, one cannot conform one’s life to that truth, cannot conform one’s life to Him Who is the image and model of what it means to be God’s son or daughter. True catechesis makes it possible to become a Saint.
Praise God that in our days the tides are turning; we have an incredible group of catechists in our parish dedicated to teaching our young people the Fullness of Faith, so they can truly become radiant disciples of Jesus. It is a weighty task to form young people in Catholic religion; our teachers take this task seriously and I am grateful for their dedication. As St. John Paul wrote, “We live in a difficult world, in which the anguish of seeing the best creations of man slip away from him and turn against him creates a climate of uncertainty. In this world catechesis should help Christians to be, for their own joy and the service of all, ‘light’ and ‘salt’” (CD, 56). Integral, Christ-centered catechesis is a step towards the Holy Spirit renewing the face of the earth through the witness of Catholics who have heard the echo and received the light and savor of Christ. For Catechesis to truly take hold, though, it cannot be reduced to forty minutes in class once a week or an hour at Mass on Sunday. The parish and our religious education efforts cannot supplant parental responsibility – we can only supplement and assist. Parents must strive to convert their homes into “echo chambers” where the Faith becomes “ordinary” – in the very best sense! – permeating every facet of life and becoming the foundation of all they do. The home is the cradle of faith; it is the place where families, guided by the teachings of the Church, put into practice the Faith, striving daily to deepen their intimate friendship with Jesus. May God bless you in the week ahead and may Mother Mary lead you more deeply into the Sacred and Merciful Heart of Jesus. I remain,
Affectionately Yours in Christ,
Fr. Hess
