Catechesis : A Common Vision

The Assembly of Quebec Catholic Bishops
24th October 2001 | Version française

Mgr Raymond St-Gelais
President

Introduction

1 - Some important changes that have occurred recently in Quebec's educational system have given our Church the opportunity to reconsider its catechetical mission as a whole. This mission was given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He reiterates to us the words spoken to the first disciples : "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you" (Mt. 28 :19-20).

2 - At this point in our history as Church, we have a mission to accomplish : "to give birth to disciples of Christ, to engender Christians and to give birth to the children of God" [1]. In order to respond to this mission, we must renew the ways that we give Christian formation to young people in our cultural and ecclesial context and provide the appropriate tools for accomplishing this mission. We already have many varied resources at our disposal to meet this challenge; they come from our Church, from its history and from the desire of believers to transmit their faith.

A Mission To Accomplish

3 - The last decades of the twentieth century brought major changes to the religious portrait of Quebec society; notable among these is the Quebec Government's choice concerning the place of religion in public schools. Law 118 specifies the responsibility of the public school as follows : to transmit a basic religious culture including an initiation to the fundamental elements of the Catholic tradition. The Ministry of Education has already articulated the Catholic Moral and Religious Education program emanating from this choice.

4 - The domain of faith transmission is at an exciting crossroad. We are called to make some bold changes in order to adjust to today's reality.

For a long time, catechesis was almost solely associated with the world of youth, and continuing education with that of adults. From now on, our task is to develop new ways of proposing faith to people of all ages and who are on various spiritual journeys.
Very serious reflection must be given to certain questions :
- How can the approach of transmitting faith move to that of proposing faith?
- How can the focus be placed on the experience of encountering Christ rather than on the transmission of truths?
- What responsibilities and roles should parents have in the catechetical mission?
Christian communities and families can no longer rely on the school to transmit faith to young people; the role of the school is centred on the transmission of knowledge. For its part, the Church has the responsibility of facilitating faith education within the experiences of personal and communal encounters with Jesus Christ; it must be sure to reach both adults and children.
Until recently, dioceses and parishes had seemingly unlimited resources at their disposal, enabling them to make available full-time pastoral personnel at any time. The time has now come for an in-depth review of our methods of intervention and our means of action in keeping with the resources available and the objectives targeted.

5 - Over the last few years, we have gradually realized that some pathways of faith education are more appropriate for our society and our era. As early as 1994, our Episcopal Education Committee published a text entitled, Les options priviligiées en éducation de la foi des adultes, [2] offering suggestions to further the reflection on the catechesis of adults ". . . considered the chief form of catechesis. All the other forms, which are indeed always necessary, are in some way oriented to it" [3]. In a reflection entitled, Annoncer l'Évangile dans la culture actuelle au Québec, published in 1999, the Episcopate identified "the challenges calling for more urgent action" regarding the Christian education of young people and adults. [4] In the Fall of 2000, in a document entitled, Proposing Faith to Young People Today : A Strength for Living, [5] certain orientations were proposed for the renewal of catechetical approaches toward young people. As a follow-up to the changes brought about by the Quebec Government regarding the place of religion in the school, we reaffirmed the importance of making a change in the religious education for the young. [6]

6 - Today, we would like to announce that the Assemblée des évêques catholiques du Québec is hard at work and in the process of producing a reference document. This document will present the orientations that will guide the implementation of the catechetical mission over the next few years. The Church will request the collaboration of all those concerned, from parents and catechists to diocesan leaders.

The Means To Achieve It

7 - Among the essential resources enabling the fulfillment of the mission entrusted to us by the Lord to make disciples, there is the exceptional witness of people who, in their communities are exploring various initiatives in Christian education. Consider, for instance, the families for whom the Christian life has become a way of living. We remember as well, all those parents and grandparents who, at the slightest sign from their Christian community, contribute in a different way to "proposing faith to young people". Credit is due to those young adults who, wanting to give meaning to their life, meet to share their thirst for the Word of God and their personal intuitions. Let us not forget those workers who, at the invitation of their parish pastoral committee, demonstrate their sense of Christian solidarity. All these people and communities will be at the crossroads of the catechetical mission in the measure that new proposals correspond to their aspirations. Our desire is to provide quality formation tailored to their needs, so that their efforts will be successful.

8 - For several years now, we have been searching for new pathways for religious education. Thus, the Office de Catéchèse du Québec, in collaboration with dioceses and several organizations, have been trying out new catechetical approaches, better known as "Operation Passages", with young people and adults. At the same time, diocesan reflection committees are multiplying; theology faculties and other centres of faith education are setting up new formation programs; religious communities and movements are pooling their efforts by allocating an important part of their human and material resources for the benefit of the new catechetical mission.

9 - The work done in the aforementioned documents drew inspiration from the new General Directory for Catechesis [7] which was promulgated by the Roman magisterium. This Directory resituates catechesis within the framework of the whole "evangelization process" comprising essential moments that must be respected. The following phases must be taken into account :

Missionary Activity - the first proclamation of the Gospel, either of "new evangelization" or of "re-evangelization";
Catechetical Activity - directed primarily to those who, having opted to follow the Gospel, need to complete or even restructure their faith initiation and Christian life;
Pastoral Activity - essentially directed toward believers who have attained a certain "maturity in faith" and have begun developing feelings of belonging to the Christian Community.

These three phases in the process of evangelization clearly indicate that sacramental initiation is situated within the broader process of initiation into Christian life.

10 - For the Quebec Church, these essential moments of evangelization can no longer be lived the same way as in the past. In the Christian society that we knew, Christian faith and belonging to the Church were, in a sense, taken for granted by the population as a whole. As a result :

Historically, we were prone to putting "missionary activity" on the back burner - reserving it for what we conveniently called missionary lands. This is no longer the case.
As for "catechetical activity", it was considered normal to be addressed primarily, even exclusively to children and adolescents because they are the ones whom we were supposed to initiate. Moreover, the the division of tasks regarding youth could be summarized quite simply : the family's task was to awaken faith (first proclamation); the school's task was to initiate into Christian life (religious education and pastoral animation); and the parish's task was to ensure pastoral and sacramental service.
Finally, "pastoral activity" primarily targeted adults to whom some "permanent education" faith programs were offered, such as : closed retreats, the RENEW program, growth in faith sessions, etc.

11 - It is not necessary to demonstrate that these models of operating are no longer effective. In a so-called secular society, adherence to the Gospel and growth in faith no longer take place in a generalized or homogeneous way. The awakening and deepening of faith are not related to age, but rather to the individual journeys of the people whom we address. In order to reach young people as well as adults in our social and religious context, we have to put back on track the first two activities that constitute evangelization in its strict sense : missionary activity and catechetical activity.

The Move To Action

12 - We realize that it is not easy to quickly define all the facets of the catechetical mission of the Church in Quebec. Nor do we want to dictate each action to be undertaken. But we insist on fostering the sense of creativity already visible and on encouraging the search for new pathways. We strongly urge that in all the dioceses of Quebec, there be opportunities to reflect on different questions regarding our catechetical mission and to share various ways of implementing this "period of change". We are also counting on the consultative committees organized by the Office de catéchèse du Québec as the key groups for gathering and sharing promising ideas and experiences concerning the implementation of the catechetical mission.

13 - With all the challenges facing us we must not wait until we have all the answers before taking action. When Abraham left his country, he did not know where his spiritual experience would lead him and his family. In like manner, when Moses left Egypt for the Promised Land, the Jewish people could not procrastinate because of the uncertainties of the road. The members of the early Christian Communities, led by the Holy Spirit, did not know what shape the Churches would take, but they did have the certitude that the same Spirit would always go before us, and would do the evangelizing. All witnesses of the Word of God, both yesterday and today, at one point or another are confronted with this same leap of faith. "I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Mt. 28 :20). It is only trust in this word of hope that can collectively mobilize our Church.

† Mgr Raymond St-Gelais
President
Assemblée des évêques catholiques du Québec

October 24, 2001

Published by the Assemblée des évêques catholiques du Québec
ISBN 2-89279-074-3
Legal Deposit - 4th Quarter 2001
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
National library of Canada
Translation of : La catéchèse : une vision commune
ISBN 2-89279-073-5

[1] Gilles Routhier, « L'initiation chrétienne au Québec ou de la difficulté d'enfanter », text of a conference published in L'Église canadienne, vol. 34, no 8, August 2001, pp. 223-235.

[2] Comité épiscopal de l'éducation de l'AECQ, Les options privilégiées en éducation de la foi des adultes, May 1994.

[3] Congregation for the Clergy, General Directory for Catechesis, Ottawa, Concacan Inc., 1997, no 59.

[4] Assemblée des évêques catholiques du Québec, Annoncer l'Évangile dans la culture actuelle au Québec, Fides, Montréal, Québec, 1999, 104 pages.

[5] Assemblée des évêques catholiques du Québec, Proposing Faith to Young People Today : A Strength for Living, Médiaspaul, Montréal, Québec, 2001, 86 pages.

[6] Assemblée des évêques catholiques du Québec, The Change in Religious Education for the Young : A New Challenge, Declaration of the Assemblée des évêques catholiques du Québec, October 18, 2000.