{"id":4959,"date":"2013-06-12T22:27:17","date_gmt":"2013-06-13T04:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marccardaronella.com\/?p=4959"},"modified":"2020-09-10T15:15:59","modified_gmt":"2020-09-10T21:15:59","slug":"biggest-mistake-teaching-doctrine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marccardaronella.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/12\/biggest-mistake-teaching-doctrine\/","title":{"rendered":"The Biggest Mistake in Teaching Doctrine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"teaching-doctrine-milk\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBut I, brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but as men of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not ready for it; and even yet you are not ready, for you are still of the flesh.\u201d 1 Corinthians 3:1-3<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What’s\u00a0the biggest mistake you can make when teaching Catholic doctrine?<\/p>\n

Well, first let’s talk about what you\u00a0should do.<\/p>\n

In my post about\u00a0keeping faith real<\/a>, I talked about how to present\u00a0the Catholic Faith in a compelling way that moved people to take action on what they learned…to integrate it into their lives.<\/p>\n

I contrasted this to presenting the Faith merely as facts to be learned.<\/p>\n

Whenever I write about stuff like that, people write in and tell me I\u2019m wrong. They say doctrine is\u00a0the key.\u00a0They assume I’m talking about not teaching doctrine and\u00a0advocating a “feel-good, sing along”\u00a0kind of fluffy catechesis.<\/p>\n

So, why does teaching the Faith in a compelling way automatically mean you’re not teaching doctrine?\u00a0It’s as if doctrine is by default dry and boring and there\u2019s no way to make it exciting. Just grin and bear it\u00a0because there’s no way to change it.<\/p>\n

Don’t misunderstand me. I also think doctrine is key. I just think you’re making a big mistake if you teach too much too soon and don’t respect the stages of evangelization<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You may think you’re doing more by teaching doctrinal complexities to children and unconverted adults, but really you’re doing less.\u00a0They won’t remember and they won’t care.
\n<\/p>\n

Exciting…but not for everyone<\/h2>\n

The Catholic Faith is not boring. It’s extremely exciting.<\/p>\n

The message is life-changing, and sometimes gives you that vibrate-y feeling in your heart (remember the disciples on the road to Emmaus?). Doctrine is revelation. It’s how we know about God, about ourselves, and how we are to live.<\/p>\n

But it’s not exciting for everyone…at least not right away. First, it\u00a0has to mean something.<\/p>\n

It has be translated in such a way that people can take it inside. It needs to be put into a kind of life-language–words that have meaning in people’s lives.<\/p>\n

The WIIFM principle<\/h2>\n

The truth is, most people are only interested in what they immediately need.<\/p>\n

When evaluating what to give our time, we all operate on the WIIFM principle–\u201dWhat\u2019s In It For Me?\u201d\u00a0We’re all busy. Whatever\u2019s not urgent, doesn\u2019t get our attention.\u00a0And it seems that, for the majority of Catholics, religion isn’t urgent.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re not dying anytime soon (at least, that\u2019s what they think), so why do they need to worry about God?<\/p>\n

You say it\u00a0shouldn’t be that way? You’re probably right…but guess what? It doesn’t matter. That’s\u00a0the way it is.<\/p>\n

We have to make our message compelling and urgent. Students need to\u00a0see it as something they can\u2019t live without.\u00a0We have to translate doctrine into a message that is real for their lives.<\/p>\n

Following St. Paul’s example, we need to feed\u00a0the unconverted easily digestible\u00a0milk before they’re ready for the meat. They’re like spiritual infants.<\/p>\n

Translating meat into milk<\/h2>\n

As a catechist, you need you to take what\u2019s inside your head and heart and, in effect, hand it to them.<\/p>\n

Take your desire for God, your understanding of Church teaching, your commitment, your experience of Christ’s love and translate that into a language they can experience as real. Your faith life is digested doctrine…real knowledge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This doesn’t mean dumbing it down necessarily. It means making it accessible.<\/p>\n

And, what’s the goal\u00a0for any kid when they’re older? They need to eat meat to grow strong. The goal is to teach the newly converted doctrine, but the right amount at the right time. The meaty stuff when they’re ready.<\/p>\n

You start\u00a0with the fundamental building blocks: Christ and the Trinity, the dignity of the human person, the Paschal Mystery, sin, redemption, and the Church. Then you add layers to complete the diet.<\/p>\n

Catechetical Takeaway<\/h2>\n

So yes, by all means, you must teach doctrine. People need to know the facts of the Faith. They need to\u00a0understand God’s revelation to have a relationship with him. But before you can teach them\u00a0everything, you have to make it attractive.<\/p>\n

This is more than catechesis. It’s formation. It’s not easy, but it’s what we’ll have to do to teach doctrine effectively and bring about a new evangelization.<\/p>\n

Photo Credit: Chaval Brasil<\/a> via Compfight<\/a> cc<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cBut I, brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but as men of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not ready for it; and even yet you are not ready, for you are still of the flesh.\u201d 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 What’s\u00a0the biggest mistake […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-evangelization-2","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Biggest Mistake in Teaching Doctrine - Marc Cardaronella<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/marccardaronella.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/12\/biggest-mistake-teaching-doctrine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Biggest Mistake in Teaching Doctrine - Marc Cardaronella\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cBut I, brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but as men of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 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