CATECHETICAL METHODOLOGY

FOR THE APPLICATION OF THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE GENERAL DIRECTORY FOR CATECHESIS

Sister Agnes Raday, SDSH Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart

It is a great honor and privilege to participate in this historic International Catechetical Congress, to be in the heart of the universal Church, for the mission of the Church, for the new evangelization! It is a unique opportunity to hear the presentations and to see the marvelous works of the Holy Spirit in our times!

I am deeply grateful for the particular assigned topic: to speak about catechetical methodology for the application of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the General Catechetical Directory. This is the primary apostolate of our entire religious congregation.

In this presentation I would like to show a unique, practical method which we use to teach the content of the Catechism and the spirit of the Catechism. This method aims at helping the whole person to understand, with the heart, the truths of our Faith and to live our Faith with joy! It is all based on the Chapter entitled "Elements of Methodology" of the General Catechetical Directory, paragraphs #148-162.

But first, permit me to mention that I am not here on my own merits.

I am bringing a religious education treasure which our community, the Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart, received from Sister Ida, our foundress, who has died only two years ago. She was 18 years old when she founded our community in Hungary, in 1940, under Nazism and communism.

As we were preparing children for the Sacraments in various parts of Hungary, Sister Ida realized that, during the religious persecutions, those children may never have another opportunity to learn about God. She was eager to teach the truth of our Catholic faith in a way that children would be able to love, live and die for their faith, and they would always stay close to the Heart of Jesus, that they would always stay close to the Heart of His Church. Because of religious persecutions in those years, we never adopted a traditional religious habit and veil, and we have never changed our habit from this simple neutral color dress and the Sacred Heart badge.

After 5 years under communism, Sister Ida and five of us left Hungary. Today, we have an international membership, 52 Sisters, with missions in Taipei and Budapest and in 3 dioceses in California. Our Society is a religious congregation of diocesan right.

In the program of the Catechetical Congress, I saw that several countries are mentioned under this particular workshop title. Please, allow me to explain that very briefly.

Our community produced a complete video catechesis for children, with a childlike title of "Sacred Heart Kids' Club", in Spanish "Club del Sagrado Corazon." It consists of 30 videotapes: Creed, Sacraments, Commandments and Prayer.

The arrangement of the material is in harmony with the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is being used and broadcast worldwide in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Hungarian. We were deeply honored when the Vatican Film Library asked for a complete set.

Through this video catechesis and through our missions on three continents, our community gained insight into religious education on an international level. This presentation today is based on our first-hand, concrete apostolic experiences.

In our joyful apostolate, our Sisters catechize thousands of children and families on three continents. We give catechist formation in parishes and dioceses. We give presentations to catechists in various dioceses of the United States and in various countries. We have developed sacramental retreats for children who are preparing for First Penance, First Holy Communion and Confirmation. We also initiated sacramentally and catechetically oriented retreats for young people and for families.

Whenever and wherever we present methodological elements to catechists, usually our audience comes from a variety of backgrounds. Our audience is usually composed of some well-educated religion teachers, as well as some dedicated and zealous volunteer catechists who have very little academic background.

Therefore, while we use the theories and principles of methodology described in the General Catechetical Directory, we make our presentation to religious educators very practical. We always present a method which anyone can learn and use. Academically well-prepared educators can recognize the principles which we use; less-educated catechists simply learn the practical application of the theories.

I mentioned that I am going to offer concrete information based on our first-hand apostolic experiences, rather than presenting generalities. So, please allow me to show in an abbreviated, sketchy outline a simple and effective way that we introduce the Catechism of the Catholic Church to catechists. You will notice that we are always building on the principles of the General Catechetical Directory. So, this will be a very sketchy outline of a presentation that usually takes about 1Vi hour.

We always illustrate our presentation with simple stick figures on the chalkboard as we develop the presentation. It is very effective in this highly visual age. We draw the illustrations as we explain the doctrine, so that the story -and history- of God's merciful love dynamically unfolds before the eyes of our audience.

Today, I brought illustrations which are already drawn, hopefully large enough for each of you to see. I also have them on a sheet of paper for those of you who wish to have one later on.

Once again, I would like to show a very brief outline that catechists welcome with enthusiasm. We begin by saying to them that we will give an overall view of topics which we are to teach in our religious education programs. Then, we ask the catechists to bear with us as we put simple illustrations on the board: it will save time and give greater clarity.

What is the first and most important truth for our students to understand? Our students have to be first introduced to the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, not ₀ a lonely God, but the fullness of Persons.

He is an intelligent, creative God: we draw stars, planets, sun and moon, our planet

Earth, creation. As soon as mankind was created, there was a relationship of love between God and mankind; we read about it in Scripture. Then, the relationship was broken.

It is so important to give a good explanation on the origin of sin! Then, a brief discussion can follow: how do we respond when we are offended? How did our merciful God respond when He was offended? He said that He would send us a Savior, He would restore our friendship!

How did he send the Savior? We briefly mention the story of the Annunciation.

Once again, we remind the catechists that this is a simple "table of content" of our catechesis. It is really a historical sequence of the story of God's love for mankind.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem as a baby, a true man.

What do we teach about Him? His life, his works, his words, his miracles... as much as time allows in the curriculum.

Then, the suffering and passion of Our Lord follows. Here we show Jesus before Pontius Pilate.

Then, the Cross. The love of God has no limit! Jesus gave all!

Then, Jesus was buried. He rose from the dead, stayed with His Apostles for awhile, ascended to His Father, sent the Holy Spirit, and the Church grew.

Some members of the Church are living on our planet, some are with God in heaven, and some are being purified for heaven through the merciful love of God. The com-munion of saints!

Membership in the Church has many privileges, among them is the merciful possibility of having our sins forgiven.

And, at the end of time, we look for the resurrection of our bodies, as Jesus had promised that we will live for ever and ever.

At this point of our presentation, we stop and ask the catechists whether they recognize what we have on the chalkboard.

During the past 10 years, after the Catechism of the Catholic Church was published, more and more catechists recognize - and usually with a joyful surprise of recognition! - that we have the Apostles' Creed on the board! The story of the love of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit! Our Faith which we proclaim during every Sunday Mass!

Then, we point out that since this is what we believe, we have much to celebrate! Jesus wants to be with us very personally as we celebrate His redeeming love. He is with us from the beginning to the end of our lives, offering us His divine life, his grace, through the seven Sacraments.

Sometimes, it is difficult to live what we believe. God our Father gave us "road signs" to happiness, the Ten Commandments and Jesus gave us the Beatitudes.

Then, we point to all the diagrams on the chalkboard: all that we have on the board describes our relationship with God! We have a special word for our relationship with God; and sometimes it takes a minute for catechists to realize that the word is "prayer!"

Here we spend more time on pointing at the illustrations on the board, and showing the importance of context and connections. This helps the catechists -sometimes for the first time- to understand how important it is to catechize in a systematic way! This clear and simple overall view of the content is still new to many catechists. Textbooks are being revised and they are getting better, - but many textbooks still lack the context of doctrine.

It is only at this point that we hold up the Catechism of the Catholic Church to our audience, and refer to the table of contents: Creed, Sacraments, Commandments, Prayer. After the simple visual "table of content" on the board, our audience understands what a great treasure it is to have our Faith described in the Catechism of the Catholic Church in an organized way.

After this presentation, many catechists are anxious to acquire a copy of the Catechism They become eager to read it and use it, both to deepen their own faith and to provide better religious education. We give them simple practical suggestion on how to use the Catechism.

Content and method are correlated in this presentation and in all our presentations/This is in harmony with the General Catechetical Directory. We use a method that guarantees fidelity to content. That is what is asked of us in #149 in the General

Catechetical Directory: "A good catechetical method is a guarantee of fidelity to content."

We use some simple means to help religious educators to see the correlation of content and method more clearly. Here are two examples:

The first example is this Comparison Chart (show) which we developed. The first column lists sections of the Catechism with paragraph numbers; the second column states the content of those paragraphs in one easy sentence; the third and fourth columns list the lessons (or video tapes) which teach each particular doctrine

The second way of correlating method and content is reading the appropriate section of the Catechism after we present a lesson to catechists on that same particular section.

For example: we may present an illustrated explanation on the Sacraments in General, visually showing the correlation of stages of our natural life with stages in our spiritual life. After the lesson was presented, we would read from the Catechism: "The seven sacraments touch all the stages and all the important moments of Christian life: they give birth and increase, healing and mission to the Christian's life of faith. There is thus a resemblance between the stages of natural life and the stages of the spiritual life." (#1210) Once the catechists saw the Catechism explained, they discover a deeper meaning of the words of the Catechism.

The illustrated overview and content of the Catechism is the first part of our presentation.

The next part of our presentation on the Catechism helps catechists to begin to understand with the heart the beauty of the Catechism! At this point, there is a brief discussion: we ask the audience: What do you think is the purpose and goal of religious education? After listening to several answers, we read how the Church defines our goal in paragraph #25 of the Catechism, with some commentary. It goes something like this:

This is what we read in the Catechism:

"The whole concern of doctrine and its teaching must be directed to....

... [it] must be directed to the love that never ends. Whether something is proposed for belief (the Creed), for hope or for action (Sacraments and Commandments) the love of our Lord must always be...

... the love of our Lord must always be made accessible, (Prayer) so that anyone can see...

... so that anyone can see that all the works of perfect Christian virtue spring from love and have no other objective than to arrive at love."

We point at the illustrations on the chalkboard once again, and review that we find the merciful and personal love of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in every dimension of our Faith! The simple visual summary helps catechists -as well as students- to understand and remember the magnificent context of every truth of our Faith.

The next task is to help the catechists to see the spirit of warm and tender pastoral love that is expressed all throughout the Catechism. It encourages and strengthens the catechists to see that the Catechism speaks the truth with charity! We read several phrases. Here are a few examples:

#1079: "The whole of God's work is a blessing."

In #1116, the Sacraments are called "God's masterpieces."

#1697: "Catechesis [is] to reveal in all clarity the joy and demands of the way of Christ."

It is surprising for catechists to stop and reflect, when we ask them: How would you begin Part Three on Morality, on Life in Christ? -Then, we read how the Church begins Part Three: "Christian, recognize your dignity, now... you share in God's own nature." (#1691)

And the article on sin begins with the subtitle "Mercy and Sin" and the phrase "The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God's mercy to sinners." (1846)

We find it important to point out the wisdom of simplicity in the Catechism, for example in the beginning of Part Four on prayer: "Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God's thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for Him." (#2560) Of course, we read several more examples to them.

Our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II defined the Catechism as "The symphony of Faith!" In our experience, the easiest and most effective way to bring this home to our people is by giving a taste of the symphony, instrument by instrument, as it were, that is topic by topic, phrase by phrase.

To help our people to savor and personalize phrases from the Catechism, we have found a simple and effective way. During our presentations and workshops, we give to each participant a nametag, like this one, (show) with a brief quotation on the back, and spend a few minutes on reflecting on it, read it out loud and even briefly sharing an insight relating to it. This is one of many helpful ways to promote what the General Catechetical Directory asks for: "the catechist's solid spirituality and transparent witness of life, the soul of every method." (#156)

On the reverse side of the sheet of illustrations that I have brought, there are some nametag quotation examples in English and Spanish, for those of you who wish to have one.

The sentences are paraphrased; verbs in the third person are changed to the second person, to help the readers to internalize and personalize the message. Jesus is speaking to each of us personally through His Church! It is encouraging for us to see how much this simple method helps catechists to have a deeper sense of belonging to Jesus through his Church!

An example for nametag texts is paragraph #799 (CCC). In the Catechism we read: "Whether extraordinary or simple and humble, charismas are graces of the Holy Spirit which directly or indirectly benefit the Church, ordered as they are to her building up, to the good of men, and to the needs of the world."

On a personalized nametag, we would put: "My Holy Spirit gives you charismas and graces - extraordinary or humble - for your benefit, for the Church and for the needs of the whole world."

Another example for personalized nametags is paragraph #850: "Your mission is none other than to make others share in the communion between Father and Son in their Spirit of Love!"

I would like to say a few words about what the General Catechetical Directory calls the "enculturation of the faith." (#110)

We find that people everywhere are more and more appreciative of the reality that our Faith transcends cultures and it brings us all together in the universal divine-human culture of Christianity, in the culture of life. The General Catechetical Directory wisely states that content and method are correlated. We can see this correlation when we experience that basic elements of methodology can also be and have to be universal.

Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, our foundress, Sister Ida, developed a very simple and very unique universal method to effectively communicate our Faith to all age levels, in various parts of the world.

Through our video program, we have seen its effectiveness in at least 40-50 countries that we are aware of. Periodically, it comes to our attention that the video catechesis is being used and broadcast in a country that we did not even know about.

This method is called the Five Step Illustrated Method. Through a two-hour methods course on video, in English and in Spanish, we can see that catechists in many countries find it helpful. It is dynamic, easy to learn and easy to use. The Five Steps are obvious and self-explanatory. Allow me to simply list the Five Steps:

The first step is the Attracting the Attention of our students: a brief story or discussion in the beginning of a class. It captures the imagination and leads into the lesson.

The second step is the Illustrated Explanation, appeals to the intellect. In this part, the doctrine is presented and visually illustrated, usually on the chalkboard.

The third step is the Correlation With Life. It guides the students beyond the intellectual understanding of our Faith to loving our Faith. It helps students to understanding with the heart that knowing and loving our Faith will lead to our true happiness.

The fourth step is the Weekly Practice. This part appeals to our willpower, our freedom of choice. It gives practical ways to live what they learned, in their daily lives.

The fifth step is called Summary and Conclusion. It summarizes the lesson, helps students to capsulize the doctrine and memorize prayers and terms.

The elements of this method appeal to all human faculties, reaching the whole person, guiding to continuing conversion of heart, to warm friendship with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let me conclude with a message for each you from all our Sisters, many of our friends, catechists, families and children. They wanted me to assure you that you are in their prayers. Our hearts are filled with joyful gratitude for your pastoral love, for laying down your lives for us! Please, remember us in your prayers. Thank you.