Catechetical Sunday l999: God our Father, God of Love
Last Sunday, September l9, the universal Church marked the 64th
celebration of Catechetical Sunday. In 1935, the Holy See began
this annual event, “in order that the minds of the Christian people
may be directed to religious instruction.” The decree which called
for Catechetical Sunday also called it a “Feast of Christian Doctrine”,
and asked that each parish celebrate it “with as much solemnity
as possible.” I’m not sure how much solemnity surrounds Catechetical
Sunday in our parishes; but the occasion allows us to thank God
for the truths of the Catholic faith, which shape our life with
him, and to thank as well the catechists in our parishes and schools,
who spend themselves so that the faith which comes to us from
the apostles may be handed on from generation to generation.
The support system for catechetics used to be called the Confraternity
of Christian Doctrine (CCD). It then became the Office for Religious
Education and now calls itself by the more traditional title of
Office for Catechesis. The word “catechesis” comes from a Greek
verb which means “to resound”. The catechism teacher, in responding
to questions about the faith from those to whom the Gospel has
been proclaimed, offers explanation and corrections so that the
faith resounds in the minds and mouths of those who seek deeper
understanding of the truth revealed by and in Jesus Christ. No
matter the name, what we are talking about is instruction in the
truths of the faith for those already baptized as well as for
catechumens preparing for baptism.
In recent years, to assure the solid grounding of catechesis,
the Church has provided two documents as foundations: The Catechism
of the Catholic Church and the General Directory for Catechesis.
In the words of Pope John Paul II, the Catechism of the Catholic
Church is “a statement of the Church’s faith and of Catholic doctrine
attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition
and the Church’s magisterium.” The Pope declared it “a sure norm
for teaching the faith.” The U.S. bishops have a committee which
reviews new publications in religious instruction to be sure they
are in conformity with the Catechism of the Catholic Church. In
a year or two, when enough series and books have passed the conformity
scrutiny to give teachers some choice, the parishes and schools
in the Archdiocese will use only those texts which have been judged
to conform to the universal Catechism. Solid catechetical materials
will make it easier for “the Church and, in her name, every catechist
[to] say with truth: ‘my teaching is not from myself; it comes
from the one who sent me’.” (General Directory for Catechesis,
#98; John 7:16). God’s truth rescues us from being trapped in
our own experience and sets us free to explore the world seen
through the eyes of Christ and understood according to his mind
(Ephesians, chapters l and 3).
From the mind of Christ comes the theme for Catechetical Sunday
1999: God our Father. This year is the last of the three years
of preparation for the celebration of the Jubilee next year. Each
of these last three years has been dedicated to one of the Persons
of the Trinity: Jesus, Spirit, Father. Only because we are “in
Christ” do we dare to call God “Father”, for God has from all
eternity generated a Son who became incarnate in the womb of the
Virgin Mary two thousand years ago and received the name Jesus.
As his disciples, baptized in his Church, we enjoy his relationship
to God. “We can invoke God as Father because he is revealed to
us by his Son become man and because his Spirit makes him known
to us.” (CCC #2780). As Jesus’ disciples, we know God as Jesus
knows him and we have the mission to make God known as he has
revealed himself through and in Jesus. “Christ’s whole earthly
life--his words and deeds, his silences and sufferings, his manner
of being and speaking--is revelation of the Father. Jesus can
say: ‘Whoever has seen me has seen the Father...’.” (CCC #516).
Such insight, such vision depends upon the Holy Spirit, who instructs
us all in the truth.
Catechetical Sunday is an occasion to recognize and thank our
catechists, women and men who have been commissioned by the Church
to teach the truths of faith to children and adults. The goal
in this Archdiocese is to have at least one trained and certified
catechist in every parish; but even if we were to meet this goal,
most of the instruction and witness to the faith would remain
in the hands of volunteers. How grateful all of us should be to
these generous Catholic men and women! The vocation of the catechist
is sanctifying because the catechist “enters into communion with
that aspiration of the Church which, like a spouse, ‘keeps pure
and intact the faith of the Spouse’ and which, as ‘mother and
teacher’ desires to transmit the Gospel by adapting it to all
cultures, ages and situations.” (GDC #236). Catechetical Sunday,
and every day, is a time to thank catechists in parish religious
education programs, in schools, SPRED communities and groups of
persons who are deaf, in the catechumenate, adult education and
in every family. Parents are catechists in their own right; they
are to see to it that their children are raised in the Catholic
faith, as that faith is taught them by the pastors of the Church.
“Catechesis is the responsibility of the entire Christian community.”
(CCC #220).
In the Eastern Catholic and the Orthodox Churches, the first Sunday
of Lent commemorates the triumph of true teaching, when the Church
rejoices in the defeat of the iconoclastic heresy espoused by
several of the Byzantine emperors in the eighth and ninth centuries.
The iconoclasts (image-breakers) rejected the portrayal of the
mysteries of the faith in images, effectively denying the incarnation
of the Son of God. The monks of Constantinople were particularly
faithful, many of them escaping to Rome with their icons of Christ
and the saints and influencing Western art. Pope Gregory III condemned
iconoclasm in 731, as did the Seventh Ecumenical Council, the
Second Council of Nicaea, in 787.
Not only on the first Sunday of Lent and not only on Catechetical
Sunday should we thank God for the truths of revelation taught
by the Church. Each Sunday, when we recite the Creed at Mass,
our ears can hear again the articles of faith which give us a
sense of who God is and our hearts can be moved by the truths
that set us free. May the Holy Sprit move many of us to study
and teach the faith that comes to us from the apostles. God bless
you.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
