By Michelle Martin
Staff writer

Catechesis in Chicago will begin a transformation March 4 when a special task force that has been studying the issue for two years makes a series of recommendations to Cardinal George.

“Catechesis is at the heart of the mission of the church, to pass on not only the truth of Christ’s teaching but the formation of disciples,” said Auxiliary Bishop Edwin M. Conway, who spearheaded the effort.

More than 12,000 hours of consultation went into the recommendations, which are intended for everyone in the archdiocese.

“This is aimed at the entire church, to generate enthusiasm for this work,” Bishop Conway said.

The 16 recommendations call for the archdiocese to develop balanced, systematic, comprehensive catechesis programs for all age groups, with a special emphasis on youth, young adults and adults; to pay special attention to the catechetical training given priests; to define the role of the director of religious education; and create new means for paying for the program, among other things.

The effort is the most far-reaching study of catechesis undertaken to date by a U.S. diocese and it should serve as a model for other dioceses, said BVM Sister Vivian Wilson, who coordinated the task force efforts. The task force included seven working groups and more than 100 individual task force members.

Bishop Conway noted in his introduction that the archdiocese already has a strong catechetical foundation in its policies and a strong staff in place.

The first recommendation is for the cardinal to appoint a team to implement the plans, said Wilson, who worked for the last year and a half coordinating the task force.

Such a team must include Maria Sedano, the new director of the Office for Catechesis, who begins in her position this month.

Catechesis, or the “process of transmitting the faith,” according to catechetical consultant Joe Paprocki, is “an apprenticeship to a way of life,” and it does not end when a child finishes preparation for confirmation.

“This is really a paradigm shift,” Wilson said, noting that while individual parishes may have had ongoing adult catechesis programs, much of the archdiocesan-wide focus has been on the catechesis of children.

Taking up the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops documents “Sons and Daughters of the Light” for adults up to age 40 and “Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us” for adults in general, the recommendations envision systematic, comprehensive programs for young adults and adults, Wilson said.

“Jesus played with children and taught adults,” Wilson said. “It seems we have taught children and played with adults.”

However, the religious education of children also must be addressed, as families have changed over the years, with more religiously mixed marriages and single-parent households. One of the recommendations for child catechesis is to develop a guide for families addressing the catechetical opportunities in contemporary families.

Wilson also suggested that the archdiocese could look at the possibility of holding religious ed classes in public schools after school hours, based on the Supreme Court’s 2000 decision that the evangelical “Good News Club” could meet in a school, so parents wouldn’t have to get their children to church on a weekend or evening.

All catechetical programs must be marketed to reach the many people who consider themselves Catholic but are not active, she said. “We’ve got to sell the wonderful thing that we have,” she said.

Priests also must learn how to do catechesis in their homilies, as many more Catholic adults attend Sunday Mass than enroll in church classes.

Directors of religious education and catechists must have appropriate training, clearly defined roles and, for staff members, just compensation.

“They don’t stay in the field if they’re not paid,” said Wilson. “They have families to support.”

That will take money, Wilson said, as will the development of some of the new programs and the marketing effort. To pay for it, the task force has recommended that a variety of means be studied—including an additional parish assessment.

For Wilson, the recommendations mark a beginning rather than an end.

“This is not going to happen overnight,” she said. “But it’s very, very important for the future.”