An interesting challenge that I have encountered is that there are many Catholics and mainline Protestants who want the richness of Christianity, but are antagonistic to the idea of authoritative teachers. I’m not using the term “authoritative” as it would be used to refer to the teaching authority of the pope. That’s another use. I’m using it to refer to people who have authority to teach or people to whom we should listen.
Often, even the most traditional Christian, struggles with the idea that another person can be an authority. This is not just among Christians. My family is Jewish, with the exception of a few of us who are converts. The American Jew is facing the same problem. Contemporary culture has instilled in today’s citizen the notion that democracy and freedom is grounded in self-determination. On the surface, that sounds find. But in order to determine one’s direction in life, one must have the necessary knowledge and tools to make the right choices. Knowledge does not drop out of the sky. We acquire it through learning from those who have the knowledge and whose role it is to teach. In today’s society, there is a resistance to those who teach. The student often wants to dictate the curriculum.
I have run across this here on CAF and in my daily work, especially in the classroom. I recently began a course for middle school students. It’s a course in Old Testament studies. I decided to rewrite the curriculum. I renamed the course, “Catholicism Through The Old Testament”. What I do is take dogma, liturgy, moral theology, and Christian spirituality and teach it using the Old Testament. For example, we may study the story of Creation and then refer to the Fathers of the Church and what they had to say about creation and God’s glory. We look at belief like the Immaculate Conception and see where it is foreshadowed in the OT. Or we look at the Passover and then look at the mass. You get the idea.
The Director of Religious Education and the pastor where I volunteer loved the project. However, one child came to the first class and did not return. After four weeks, the parent protested that the course was too intense and not fun.
When I tried to get to the bottom of the problem, I was challenged with “Just because you’re a religious brother doesn’t mean that you’re right.” First of all, what does being a brother have to do with the price of eggs in Jerusalem? Second, attendance at one class out of four (we’re four weeks into the program) does not make one a very good judge of the program. Third, the other children are doing the work and getting the right answers when I ask questions about what I teach. They can even tell me what St. John Chrysostom said about St. John the Evangelist, how the Prologue of John is a reflection of the creation story, and what St. Jerome said about the need to study scripture. They are only 12-years old. Finally, Brother may be right, given the fact that he has a degree in theology, has taught theology for many years and has almost 40-years experience teaching from middle school to seminary students.
We often see how people who say that they want the faith are often resistant to those who teach the faith. What often happens is one of three things.
*]Many who can teach the faith will eventually capitulate, rather than face a daily conflict. They simply teach what the learner wants.
*]Many qualified men and women simply move on to another apostolate, because they believe that they do not have what it takes to teach the faith. In the face of such opposition, it’s easy to become discouraged and to let someone else do it.
*]Some of us (few), stay in there and take our black-eyes
.
I believe that what Father is saying is accurate. We need good religious education. To have good religious education, we need this army of educators and a little more humility on the part of the learner. You will never learn, if you’re not open to listen.
I had a wonderful experience with this. I went through theology during the tumultuous 1970s and 80s (1972-1983) to be precise. I was taught by some wonderful theologians who were dissenters. They were wonderful, not because they were dissenters. They were wonderful, because they were really very good people, great communicators, very honest about their positions. They were not mean to the students nor did they try to ambush their students. They were very kind. They simply taught.
For me, the great thing was that I was able to listen to them, learn their arguments, think about how some of these their statements made sense, if you removed yourself from sacred tradition, and then I was motivated to find out why the Church held a position that these theologians found untenable. It was a great education, because after hearing the dissenting position and comparing it to the teaching of the Church, I walked away with a better picture of the issues and the struggles around the issues. I knew the Church’s teaching and I knew the other argument. Therefore, I had an answer for those who dissented.
This level of learning can only happen when one allows the teacher to teach. You expose yourself to both teachers: the dissenter and the defender. You suddenly have what I call an “Ahhhhhh Moment.” You can see the teaching of the Church and you can see the difficulty that another person has with it. Now you’re ready to answer questions, because you know the answer and you understand the person asking the question.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF 
