Catechetics help

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junostarlighter

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I wasn’t quite sure which category I ought to put this inquiry on the forums…oh well…

I’ve been accepted as a new Director of Religious Education for a parish, and I’m in need of some solid catechetical resources. Are there any catechists out there on the forums that could help direct me?

In Christ,
junostarlighter
 
junostarlighter said:
I wasn’t quite sure which category I ought to put this inquiry on the forums…oh well…

I’ve been accepted as a new Director of Religious Education for a parish, and I’m in need of some solid catechetical resources. Are there any catechists out there on the forums that could help direct me?

In Christ,
junostarlighter
Click to expand...
Contact your diocesan office of Catechesis/Religious Education.

They should have guidelines for curriculum, approved textbook lists, training/inservice for catechists and directors, and a list of materials that can be checked out of the diocesan library for use in parishes. Additionally, they will train you on safe environment and what you must do to coordinate safe environment in your parish program.

I just popped over to your diocesan website and the curriculum guides, AV library, certification program, catechist formation, safe environment, sacrament prep, and a lot of other information is all online:

officeoflifelongfaithformation.org/
 
Faith & Life (Ignatius Press) is an excellent series for grade 8 & below; Didache Series (Midwest Theological Forum) is top-notch for high school.

God bless.
 
junostarlighter said:
I wasn’t quite sure which category I ought to put this inquiry on the forums…oh well…

I’ve been accepted as a new Director of Religious Education for a parish, and I’m in need of some solid catechetical resources. Are there any catechists out there on the forums that could help direct me?

In Christ,
junostarlighter
Click to expand...
I am not a Catechist…

But other than the Catechism per se

There is the Compendium of the Catechism …which is one thing i would use…

and one can call Ignatius Press and Midwest Theological Forum they will have very sound materials (and they do have them)
 
SisterSnowflake said:
Faith & Life (Ignatius Press) is an excellent series for grade 8 & below; Didache Series (Midwest Theological Forum) is top-notch for high school.

God bless.
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Someone beat me to it I see 🙂

👍

And of course the Catechism and

like I mentioned last…the Compendium …

"The Compendium had been fervently desired by the participants in the International Catechetical Congress of October 2002, which gave voice to a need widely felt in the Church. My beloved Predecessor, recognizing this desire, decided in February 2003 to begin preparation of the text by entrusting the work to a Commission of Cardinals, over which I presided, and which was assisted by various experts. In the course of the work, a draft of the Compendium was submitted to all the Cardinals and the Presidents of Conferences of Bishops, the vast majority of whom evaluated the text favourably.

The Compendium, which I now present to the Universal Church, is a faithful and sure synthesis of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It contains, in concise form, all the essential and fundamental elements of the Church’s faith, thus constituting, as my Predecessor had wished, a kind of vademecum which allows believers and non-believers alike to behold the entire panorama of the Catholic faith.

In its structure, contents and language, the Compendium faithfully reflects the Catechism of the Catholic Church and will thus assist in making the Catechism more widely known and more deeply understood.

I entrust this Compendium above all to the entire Church and, in particular, to every Christian, in order that it may awaken in the Church of the third millennium renewed zeal for evangelization and education in the faith, which ought to characterize every community in the Church and every Christian believer, regardless of age or nationality.

But this Compendium, with its brevity, clarity and comprehensiveness, is directed to every human being, who, in a world of distractions and multifarious messages, desires to know the Way of Life, the Truth, entrusted by God to His Son’s Church."–Pope Benedict XVI

ttp://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html#MOTU PROPRIO
 
1ke gave you some good advice to get started. You want to be familiar with what regulations are in place in your diocese.

The USCCB also keeps a list of Catechetical materials found in conformity with the Catechism:

[http://www.usccb.org/catechism/document/Currentlist.pdf (http://www.usccb.org/catechism/document/Currentlist.pdf)

Note, just because a book does not appear on here doesn’t (necessarily) mean that it is bad or heretical. It just means it either was not submitted to be reviewed and/or is not the type of materials the USCCB Subcommittee on the Catechism reviews (such as Vacation Bible School materials).

Of course, you also want to be familiar with the chain-of-command dynamic in your diocese. A DRE reports to their pastor, not the diocesan office. I know of some diocesan offices who do not “allow” parishes to use the “Faith & Life” series (despite the fact that it was the only catechetical series that did not require any revision once the USCCB Subcommittee on the Catechism began reviewing textbooks for conformity about 15 years ago). But some parishes in the diocese still use it because the priests are under the authority of the Bishop, not the Office of Catechesis/Religious Ed.

Here are some good resources to draw from:
That should get you started. 👍

FYI, generally, the catechetics related threads are found in the “Evangelization” sub-fourm of the “Catholic Living” forum (as catechetics is part of our evangelizing mission as laid out in both the GDC and the NDC). But don’t beat yourself up over it. 🙂
 
Well, here’s an excellent opportunity you have to change the character of your parish’s CCD program from the normal CCD (really stands for Color, Cut, and Draw in most places) of most U.S. parish religious education programs. Children who can understand Star Wars, etc., can certainly get into some “meat” of the faith! Class should be serious time, not play time. 🙂

If you want to augment your class with audio, you can download and burn CD’s of Bishop Sheen’s catechsim classes from here (yes, for free):

alabamacatholicresources.com/Catechism.html 🙂

For your high school children, I recommend the following, too:

alabamacatholicresources.com/church_history.html

alabamacatholicresources.com/dr_peter_kreeft.html
 
Check out the Evangelization forum here on CAF for ongoing support . . .
 
junostarlighter said:
I wasn’t quite sure which category I ought to put this inquiry on the forums…oh well…

I’ve been accepted as a new Director of Religious Education for a parish, and I’m in need of some solid catechetical resources. Are there any catechists out there on the forums that could help direct me?

In Christ,
junostarlighter
Click to expand...
they have designated Evangelization as our forum and there is also a social group for catechists

what resources are approved by your diocese?
what age group do you serve?
what are the needs of your parish?
what is your budget?
what is the parish using now for RE texts? for other resources?
are your catechists well formed in the faith?
are the experienced in the classroom?
what are their needs in terms of catechist manuals?

Get in touch with the diocesan office of catechetics and find out what trainings, orientation and other help the have for new DREs.

IMO the gold standard for RE textbooks is Faith and Life from Ignatius Press and it is a good investment because you only buy the books once, and just buy student workbooks each year.

there is a resource on how to evaluate RE texts, which I will link if I can find it, but my quick and dirty method is to look at the sections on Eucharist and the Mass and the relative importance they place on the Real Presence and the doctrine of Transubstantiation (appropriately presented for the grade level) and Mass as the participation in the one sacrifice of Christ, vis a vis Christ present in the assembly, in the person of the priest, in the Word, Mass as a celebration, memorial. Then I look at teachings on morality to find out if we commit sins and need a savior, or make mistakes and need a counsellor.
 
The Catechism of the Catholic Church. Try to make an outline,
Or use the Compendium of the Catechism.

BUT, you should also read over the encyclical** Evangelization in the Modern World and
The General Directory for Catechesis.**

Both they will be way over your head, and mine too. But, they will give you an overview of what Catechesis is.
It is part of the Gospel, the Good News of Salvation.

Thus, it is essential you understand the correct definition of salvation. ** It is defined in both those two documents. **
Do a search on the Vatican Web site for the word salvation and see how the Popes use it. By salvation the Popes mean that that gift of God which liberates us from everything that oppresses us, especially liberation from sin and the devil, in the joy of giving ourselves over to God.
Thus salvation for the Church means liberation from the evil of sin, which starts in this life and continues on to eternal salvation in heaven if we die repentant of our sins.

Jesus came to proclaim the Good News of Salvation. That is Jesus came to free us from the evil of sin, and to teach us how to live in happiness (Jesus is the light of the world)
He taught some publicly, but taught ALL the Gospel to His apostles. (I have made known to you all the Father has told Me), and (I will send the Holy Spirit who will teach you all things.)
The apostles handed down these teachings as the Gospel, also known as the Catholic Faith

When the apostles proclaimed the Gospel, they first taught why God sent His Son, (for our salvation), that is for our liberation from the compulsion to sin. If the person hearing this message wanted to be freed from sin, through following Jesus, then next the apostles went on to catechize, or teach the inquirer the rest of the Gospel, that is the basics of the faith (the articles of the Creed), then how we receive the grace of salvation (the sacraments), then how we live a holy life freed from sin, and how we love God (the commandments), and of course prayer.

Thus the Catechisms which are divided into the Creed, Sacraments, Commandments and prayer, are simply the written form of what the apostles first taught the new inquirers to the faith.

Scripture is salvation history. It was used to teach salvation history, and to nourish the teachings of the faith, to illuminate the teachings and as a witness to the teachings. And most important it was to teach about the person of Jesus, how he acted, who He was, etc. Not to know the scriptures is not to know Christ.

But again, because the usual **AND INCORRECT **use of the word Salvation comes from Protestantism and means to go to heaven, there is a heresy in Catholic scholarship which teaches the main reason God became man was to open the gates of heaven, to make it possible for man to enter heaven.

This is the wrong definition. The primary reason God became man is the correct one is the one I gave, from Evangelization in the Modern World and from the General Directory for Catechesis. You can download both from the Vatican Web site.

Unless you understand this definition, you will not understand the basics at all.
You will not understand why God became man. You will not understand the purpose of the Church, and the sacraments and the purpose of the mass,
you will not understand the Catechism or what the Popes have been teaching about the importance of Jesus in the world today.
 
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