Did you ever consider that maybe you’re teaching the wrong thing?
Most catechetical programs try to give students a complete education in the Faith before 8th grade.
But does the textbook’s spiral curriculum really make a difference if the students don’t believe the teaching and leave the Church? What’s missing?
To me, apathetic 8th graders sitting bored in a Confirmation class are a sign of failure…not of the catechist so much as the system.
I think there is something missing from most catechetical programs that sabotage student’s faith. Here’s what it is and how to fix it.
Catechizing with something missing
When I went to Franciscan, I wanted to learn how to light people up with faith. I wanted others to experience conversion like I had.
I thought I could do it by dazzling students with intricate theological discourses. I was wrong. There was an art and science to conversion I knew nothing about.
I learned a lot of theology and it was amazing. But when I taught a 7th grade CCD class and it didn’t work. They learned the material but it sort of bounced off them. They just looked at me glassy-eyed.
I was teaching the facts of the Faith, the doctrines and how they fit together…all great stuff, but, in a sense, it was falling on deaf ears. Something was missing.
Why it wasn’t working
In the General Directory for Catechesis #62 it states:
“Only by starting with conversion, and therefore by making allowance for the interior disposition of ‘whoever believes,’ can catechesis, strictly speaking, fulfill its proper task of education in the faith.”
The starting point for catechesis is conversion. Without that, students are not disposed interiorly to receive the message.
I believe this is what was happening with my students. And, I wasn’t doing anything to convert them so a real education in the Faith could not take place. The teaching was bouncing off.
So why is this important? Here’s the thing that keeps me up at night.
We may not be doing anything for our student’s salvation by merely teaching them the facts of the Faith. If we’re not teaching them in a way that moves them to love God and respond to him in faith, they may not be saved at all.
What does it take to be saved?
In the Council of Trent’s Decree on Justification, the Church defined the interior disposition necessary for someone to fruitfully receive Baptism and be saved (justified). Here’s the actual text:
Now, they (the adults) are disposed to that justice when, aroused and aided by divine grace, receiving faith by hearing, they are moved freely toward God, believing to be true what has been divinely revealed and promised, especially that the sinner is justified by God by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; and when, understanding themselves to be sinners, they, by turning themselves from the fear of divine justice, by which they are salutarily aroused, to consider the mercy of God, are raised to hope, trusting that God will be propitious to them for Christ’s sake; and they begin to love Him as the fountain of all justice, and on that account are moved against sin by a certain hatred and detestation, that is, by that repentance that must be performed before baptism; finally, when they resolve to receive baptism, to begin a new life and to keep the commandments of God.
That’s a really long sentence! Basically, what it says is catechumens are disposed to receive justification by Baptism when:
- Aided by grace they are moved to initial faith by hearing the gospel
- Believe in revelation (Faith) and that sinners are justified through redemption in Christ
- Understand they are sinners and trust in God’s mercy (Hope)
- Love God (Charity/Love), hate sin, and repent
- Receive Baptism, begin a new life, and keep the commandments
If these conditions are not met, a person does not receive the grace of Baptism, only the character of Baptism.
Faith that saves is called “formed faith,” or fides formata. This is faith shaped by hope and love.
Faith that doesn’t save is fides informis: faith unshaped by love. This is the kind of faith talked about in James 2:14-26.
The truth is, you’re not saved by intellectual/dogmatic belief alone! This faith without love is dead. And this is the kind of faith your students are formed in when you fail to evangelize before, or during, your catechesis.
Catechetical takeaway
Saving faith is infused with hope and love. This is the faith that justifies a person and unites them to God through grace.
If someone learns the doctrines of the Faith but never experiences conversion, never hopes in God’s promises or trusts in his mercy, never turns from sin and conforms his life to Christ–they may not be saved.
I’m afraid for the apathetic 8th graders sitting bored in their Confirmation classes. This is the sign of a dead faith.
And, what if they’re in that position because of me…us? What if their faith is being sabotaged because no one knew to help them understand salvation and desire to be changed in Christ?
However, now that you know this, you can change the way you catechize. You can make a difference.
For catechesis to be effective, to accomplish it’s task, there must be conversion happening…and that’s not easy. But it is satisfying and extremely fulfilling when you see your teaching take hold and change lives.
Image courtesy of renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
So can you give me a concrete example on how to bring them to conversion?
A prime example would be teaching them the “why” of the doctrine and how it relates to their salvation instead of just the facts of the doctrine. Helping students understand the big picture of salvation and how individual doctrines fit into this is evangelizing as well. A simple call to action is something that we seldom do as well…challenging them to believe and telling them why it’s important. Or, discussing if they believe or not and why you think it’s important can work towards conversion as well. I think the key is emphasizing on their action in terms of faith, hope, and love instead of simply presenting the details.
I’m planning to do some posts in the future to talk about these things as well. This is sort of laying the groundwork for those. I’m planning to put them all together as a resource page as well.
thanks for the reply. I do that now! yay for me!!
Awesome!
How do the 5 conditions for receiving the grace of baptism come into play for infants?
That’s a really good question! Thanks for asking that.
When infants are baptized, they receive the character of Baptism, but the graces lay dormant in a kind of seed form until they’re activated by personal faith. Children must be led to conversion through a post-baptismal evangelization when they’re old enough. The 5 conditions are the objectives of that. Kids need to understand and do these 5 things to activate the graces of Baptism and have an active, living faith. If they’re never led to develop a personal faith, the graces will never be activated. That’s why you see many baptized people that act as if they’re not baptized at all. They’ve never been led to conversion.
Here’s another post I wrote that talks about this: http://marccardaronella.com/2012/11/27/the-surprising-truth-about-baptism-and-why-catholics-fall-away/#.UL9z0JPjn6Q
You are absolutely right, Marc: “We may not be doing anything for our student’s salvation by merely teaching them the facts of the Faith. If we’re not teaching them in a way that moves them to love God and respond to him in faith, they may not be saved at all.”
I have been concerned about this for a while. Because our kids who come for catechesis are mostly baptized as infants, we are making a huge mistake when we catechize them as if they have already experienced conversion and simply need to fill in the details about doctrine. Yet, largely, available catechetical materials continue to assume that students need mostly just the “faith facts”. I am convinced more and more that we need to begin by grounding them in the primary kerygma. Otherwise we are teaching them ABOUT being a Christian, not helping them to become Christians.
That is exactly it Joyce! I couldn’t agree more! I was thinking about this reading about the stages of evangelization in the NDC. It said that baptized infants should fall under initiatory catechesis. But that’s a different kind of catechesis than what we commonly do or what the textbook curricula present. Like you said, they’re doing more of filling in the details, the faith facts. An initiatory catechesis would be grounded in the kerygma. It would be based around an understanding of salvation and the need for conversion and making the act of faith. I think it would completely change how we did things. I think it’s a needed change too.
I absolutely agree that we need to ground them in the Keregyma. Figuring out how to empower catechists to do this especially because textbooks don’t do much of this is the challenge.
I so wholeheartedly agree. The textbooks don’t do this at all. I’m starting to run up against this with my oldest son. Learning the facts of the Faith are just kind of boring. He’s eager to learn but it just doesn’t grab him. And, I’ve really worked hard at explaining this stuff in not just the usual ways. There just has to be something more…some better way to do this.
It takes a lot of humility to realize that perhaps students aren’t learning because one isn’t *teaching* effectively, and a lot of flexibility to determination to be willing to make the changes necessary to fix the problem! I am very thankful for you and other catechists who are willing to tackle these challenges.
I read this post twice, and was a little surprised on the second read to realize that you did not actually mention conversation as a part of conversion- I was just reading into your post. So, do tell me, was I reading that implication correctly, or am I completely missing what you’re thinking of in terms of practical ways to implement this?
Hey there! Good point. I didn’t mention that but it’s probably the most practical way of working for conversion. Getting someone to dialogue about what they believe or don’t believe about an issue gets to the heart of it. Ultimately, I think there’s usually some sticking point that’s deeper than the actual issue you’re talking about. Wouldn’t you agree? If you don’t know what that is then it’s impossible to address. Of course, getting people to talk is sometimes the trick.
Looking forward to a resource page, Marc. Great idea!
I am also seeing a huge need to find ways to foster conversion and spirituality in catechists, because a catechist who is on fire for the Gospel is a much more effective one than someone who merely out of good will has a desire to teach doctrine and practice. We need both, but too often, catechists lack “missionary zeal” and the ability to communicate the excitement of the Gospel as “good news”.
That is one of the most difficult and most needed things in catechesis. Yeah, I think that way they’re much more thinking of the session as a missionary instead of a teacher. That’s what we need more of.
If baptized infants fall under initiatory catechesis, then it defaults to paragraph 75 of the RCIA. I have said for a long time that in catechsis we should be go beyond “appropriate acquaintance with dogmas and precepts” to that “profound sense of the mystery of salvation.”
We should be about helping children and youth become people who
* “turn more readily to God in prayer”
* “bear witness to the faith”
* “in all things keep their hopes set on Christ”
* “practice love of neighbor, even at the cost of self-renunciation”
Yes! I hadn’t thought about that going to paragraph 75. I’m liking that.
I’m also thinking of how they say the focus of the pre-catechumenate is proclaiming the gospel and conversion. Perhaps those two things should be the focus and objectives of primary grade religious education.
I agree entirely. I’d add a couple of my own thoughts:
1. We need to lose this idea of giving students a “complete” education in the Faith by 8th grade… it contributes to the idea that adult faith formation and ongoing study/deepening of faith is a luxury rather than a basic part of adult Christianity.
2. Students who have experienced conversion (and who have absorbed the idea above that continued growth in faith is part of Christian life) WILL naturally want to know more about the faith. What if we were to lose some of the “facts” that we think students need to know by 8th grade, and focus on conversion and the gospel? I’d venture to guess that many of these students would be motivated to seek out the facts on their own and would probably retain them better.
Hi Sara,
Yes! That is my position too. I think that if we do a good job converting them, then they’ll want to know more and the job of catechesis in easy. Perhaps there will be some facts that don’t get taught in the first go around. But the important ones, the foundational ones will, and those will lay the groundwork for a lifetime of learning. And besides, kids won’t remember everything they learn in childhood anyway. Only a few select things. We need to make sure they remember the right things and retain them.
God’s grace is freely given. It abides, waiting for the moments when a person freely accepts it. That is the moment when revelation happens. It happens in stages, most often in many partial steps of growth. Sometimes it happens like an explosion. We cannot make it happen.We and our catechists along with the family and the faith community and the whole environment that makes up the lived experience of the person, nurture these moments of growing faith. Our methodology must be life-giving, not deadly. It must make connections to the real world, not describe some distant Neverland that seems so set apart from the person’s sense of real. And we run out of time. Statisticians tell us that we have until age 16. After that, some will recognize the signs that we have prepared them for. The majority will not.
Frank, I agree with you that God provides the conversion and we cannot make it happen. However, I believe there’s things we can do to stack the deck a bit and help it along. We can dispose persons toward conversion through human means by making their intellects fertile ground for the Holy Spirit to grow faith. Knowing that God does the converting, I want to do everything humanly possible on my end to make it as easy as possible for him to work. That’s my part. To work as hard as I can to make my end the best it can be so people can be disposed to grace. And, if God decides not to work in someone at that particular time, then his will be done. But I’ll know I did what I could do and held up my end of the bargain. And, if we only have until 16, there’s even more reason to stack that deck!
I also forgot to say that I like to have them “do” things instead of just talk about it, for example, when discussing the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, bring them to Adoration for them to experience what we’re talking about. You can’t be in front of Jesus and not be transformed 😉
It doesn’t get any better than that! You are so right, you can’t be in front of the Son and not soak up some rays!
Great article.
I think a few more points could be made about how to “stack the deck”.
Kids need to meet others who have experienced a personal relationship with Christ. Building some witness testimony into catechesis is important, otherwise they can’t see how this is concretely worked out in life.
Second, this presentation of conversion still stresses intellectual formation, and is lacking in one significant development. At the Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum 5 supplies us with a somewhat more personalistic definition of faith “by which a man freely commits (or entrusts) his entire self to God.” Karol Wojtyla made a big deal out of this definition, and the “act of self-entrustment to Jesus” or the gift of self to God (otherwise known as the act of faith) needs to become more explicit. (cf. Catechesi Tradendae 20)
People who have done this are the best people to be giving a living witness about being in a personal relationship with God. When one has a personal relationship with the lord (very much stressed by both JP2 and Benedict) it changes the way one feels about sinning.
Third…..we need resources that will help kids to start delving into the Word of God. Protestants are much more convinced about this than we are, but really, there is no conversion that doesn’t involve dialogue with the Word of God. We need web sites, magazines, that provide daily devotional resources for getting into scripture. The Word of God is supernatural and lifechanging. Could say more, but gotta go.
Thanks for commenting Carole!
I’m definitely all over emphasizing the personal response of faith. I think that’s terribly absent in our religious education and needs to be more explicit. And, couldn’t agree more on needing to be in the Word of God. That’s such an important point in all this. Thanks for bringing it up.
So, living witness, personal act of faith, and intimacy with the Word of God. Do say more!