C
Crumpy
Guest
CATECHESI TRADENDAE
or, more specifically,
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION CATECHESI TRADENDAE
OF POPE JOHN PAUL II
ON CATECHESIS IN OUR TIME
this thoughtful document is available on the vatican’s website,
www.vatican.va, under the title or under the documents of John Paul II.
I’m working my way through this document but I wanted to call attention to it already, because it is such a refreshing explanation of the subject of catechesis.
As Pope John Paul II says early on
“the name of catechesis was given to the whole of the efforts within the Church to make disciples, to help people to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, so that believing they might have life in His name” (paragraph 1).
I think that’s so revealing right there, to explain the purpose as responding to Christ’s command. Catechesis is nothing necessarily so stuffy as just “learning the catechism.”
He has many great things to say in there. I’m just about halfway through the document.
Well, for example, he says that it is a life-long process and that we have the right to be catechecised and we should be being catechecised all the time.
The focus of catechesis is Jesus Christ and living the life that He wants us to live. (That’s got to catch your eye!)
He says that catechesis should be organized and systematic. But, I think that’s up to us to a great extent, too, to prod us along, if nothing else, to pay attention to our own spiritual development.
He also says that it starts even with infants, and praying and acting with them and making them a part of the kingdom.
While our protestant brothers may so often talk about discipleship, that’s what catechesis is supposed to be all about.
JPII also says that even the best of catechising materials from protestant sources may be acceptable for Catholics. While we want to avail ourselves of good Catholic materials, we need not exclude the best of various evangelical materials, for example, if they can be carefully used and explained.
“The cost of discipleship” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer is quite good, even if it is also quite Lutheran in its perspective.
Someone gave me a copy of The Normal Christian Life, which is an exposition of the first eight chapters of Romans. It is so good (up to the point of the first two chapters) that it sent me off into a Catholic commentary on St. Paul (specifically the section of the New Jerome Biblical Commentary on the theology of St. Paul; this is quite a great explanation of St Paul and clears up a lot of my confusion and ignorance on that subject).
I’d been in quite an extended “dry spell” and hadn’t been really excited about reading anything in particular, and then all this exploded on me. It’s been very uplifting.
This document is so fundamental, that it’s a good starting point for anybody to “dig” into.
or, more specifically,
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION CATECHESI TRADENDAE
OF POPE JOHN PAUL II
ON CATECHESIS IN OUR TIME
this thoughtful document is available on the vatican’s website,
www.vatican.va, under the title or under the documents of John Paul II.
I’m working my way through this document but I wanted to call attention to it already, because it is such a refreshing explanation of the subject of catechesis.
As Pope John Paul II says early on
“the name of catechesis was given to the whole of the efforts within the Church to make disciples, to help people to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, so that believing they might have life in His name” (paragraph 1).
I think that’s so revealing right there, to explain the purpose as responding to Christ’s command. Catechesis is nothing necessarily so stuffy as just “learning the catechism.”
He has many great things to say in there. I’m just about halfway through the document.
Well, for example, he says that it is a life-long process and that we have the right to be catechecised and we should be being catechecised all the time.
The focus of catechesis is Jesus Christ and living the life that He wants us to live. (That’s got to catch your eye!)
He says that catechesis should be organized and systematic. But, I think that’s up to us to a great extent, too, to prod us along, if nothing else, to pay attention to our own spiritual development.
He also says that it starts even with infants, and praying and acting with them and making them a part of the kingdom.
While our protestant brothers may so often talk about discipleship, that’s what catechesis is supposed to be all about.
JPII also says that even the best of catechising materials from protestant sources may be acceptable for Catholics. While we want to avail ourselves of good Catholic materials, we need not exclude the best of various evangelical materials, for example, if they can be carefully used and explained.
“The cost of discipleship” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer is quite good, even if it is also quite Lutheran in its perspective.
Someone gave me a copy of The Normal Christian Life, which is an exposition of the first eight chapters of Romans. It is so good (up to the point of the first two chapters) that it sent me off into a Catholic commentary on St. Paul (specifically the section of the New Jerome Biblical Commentary on the theology of St. Paul; this is quite a great explanation of St Paul and clears up a lot of my confusion and ignorance on that subject).
I’d been in quite an extended “dry spell” and hadn’t been really excited about reading anything in particular, and then all this exploded on me. It’s been very uplifting.
This document is so fundamental, that it’s a good starting point for anybody to “dig” into.