Motivation for Adult Faith Formation: Juan Diego's Catechist

Today is the feast of St. Juan Diego, famous for his interaction with Our Lady of Guadalupe. This humble, faithful man, who worked in the fields and as a mat-maker, used to walk barefoot 14 miles every Saturday and Sunday (for 3-and-half hours!) to receive instruction on the faith. Later, after the death of his wife, he moved in with his uncle to a place only 9 miles away from Tenochtitlan, where he went for Mass and catechesis.

Since parish leaders today can barely motivate the average Catholic adult to cross the street for adult faith formation, it strikes me that his catechist must have been amazing for him to want to walk that far to hear about Jesus Christ.

Certainly, today's American Catholic adults for the most part are not poor, and probably not very humble. They have much to occupy their time and on weekends are more likely to seek entertainment and relaxation rather than enlightenment. The key to the kind of evangelization that elicits a real hunger for Christ and his community continues for the most part to elude us, although at least we are talking about it.

Juan Diego's instructor must have been one heck of a catechist!

Review: The Spirituality of the Catechist

The Spiritualityof the Catechist: Feeding your Soul, Growing in Faith, Sharing with Others, by Sr. Janet Schaeffler, OP,  is a beautiful, deeply invitational short book for catechists who teach Catholic faith to people of all ages.

Sr. Janet, a national expert in adult faith formation, is a gentle soul and a wonderful storyteller. The pages of this simple and direct book are sprinkled with memorable, well-chosen  quotations and stories about spirituality and prayer, illustrating the dynamics of a fully-activated prayer life and relationship to the Risen Lord. She invites the reader to explore the possibilities inherent in spirituality in a deeply direct way.

Although the beginning is general enough to apply to any Catholic adult, the later chapters are more specific to how this should play out in the life of a catechist, who should pray for those he or she teaches as well as share prayer with them.

Yes, there is practical advice - lists of prayer types to explore, for example, and there are reflection questions at the end of each chapter, which makes this a great tool for further reflection or for discussion with others.

A much-needed book, which goes beyond the usual catechetical approach to how to pray with others and reaches the catechist where he or she lives, so that  having a deep and living relationship with God is foundational to sharing faith with others. This is a book not just for catechists and school teacher-catechists, but for catechetical leaders, RCIA teams and parish faith formation advisory boards.

I Know My Redeemer Lives: Songs to Share with Kids for the Easter Season

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!  For the next 50 days, we are challenged to remain an Easter people - our hearts filled with joy, our gatherings full of celebration.

Catechists might want to make more conscious use of music during faith formation sessions to help set the tone of celebration.  Here are a few suggestions from several musical genres that might be somewhat inviting to children and teens:

And for a little humor:

: 

Happy Easter!

When the Catechist Fails to Live Up to His Role

Yesterday was tough for many Catholics, especially for regular EWTN viewers and "fans" of the now-infamous Father John Corapi, an admitted former drug addict who underwent a major conversion a number of years ago and who for the last few years has been a regular feature, explaining Catholic teachings.  If you were under a rock yesterday and missed all the commotion, there is a good summary of the facts here and a summary of what has been said around the blogosphere here.  Corapi's religious order's summary of his misbehavior  includes cohabitation with a former prostitute, drugs and sexting, as well as hiding millions of dollars in assets despite his vow of poverty.

Normally, I would not comment in this space on scandals in the Church, but since the latest involves a  television catechist and preacher, it seems appropriate to evaluate what has happened in light of that role. This news reveals a sordid secret life beneath the public persona and a stunning lack of authenticity. Corapi's situation, the scandal and dismay it has caused among the faithful are a good illustration of the damage that can result when a person acting in the role of  trusted catechist fails to live up to the role in his or her private life.

It is no surprise that Catholics are divided even in the face of this evidence, in their opinion of Corapi.  Many who defended him in the past continue to do so. Others are not so sure. I will only say that I very occasionally watched him on EWTN to see what he was about and personally found his style to be too "ranting".  I have never liked people that feel they have to shout to be heard.  In retrospect, I wonder if this was not a case of trying to convince himself of the truth of his own words.

Untypically, Corapi himself, who rather sadly resembled Anthony Weiner in his protestations of innocence and blame-laying at the beginning of this debacle, has so far been silent about these latest developments.  However, his Twitter feed this morning promises a "very special announcement" tomorrow.  Not holding my breath, although I do admit to the kind of natural curiosity one has when watching a train wreck or other disaster.

I wrote a few weeks back about the guideline that catechists have "authenticity of life."  The Guide for Catechists says, "The work of catechists involves their whole being. Before they preach the word, they must make it their own and live by it... The truth of their lives confirms their message. It would be sad if they did not 'practice what they preached'..."  And sad it is, as we are now seeing in Corapi's case. Now, of course, this guideline does not mean that a catechist has to be perfect - we are, after all, a church filled with sinners. However, when the split between the public teacher and the private man is revealed to be so great, his credibility as an instructor on Catholic doctrine (including morality) is irreparably compromised.  Many people trusted and loved this man, and thought of him as holy.  Now they have to untangle the lie of his private life from the truth of anything he taught.  That simply should not be happening.

What is "Authenticity of Life"?

Today was the 45th annual World Communication Day in the Church, and as usual, there was a papal statement attached to the event. This year's title is  "Truth, Proclamation and Authenticity of Life in the Digital Age".  The phrase "authenticity of life" particularly jumped out at me, because I have been reflecting recently on what that means in point 8 in the Vatican's 1993 "Guide for Catechists". Here it is:

8. Coherence and authenticity of life. The work of catechists involves their whole being. Before they preach the word, they must make it their own and live by it . "The world (...) needs evangelizers who speak of a God that they know and who is familiar to them, as if they saw the Invisible".  What catechists teach should not be a purely human science nor the sum of their personal opinions but the Church's faith, which is the same throughout the world, which they themselves live and whose witnesses they are.

Hence the need for coherence and authenticity of life. Before doing the catechesis one must first of all be a catechist. The truth of their lives confirms their message. It would be sad if they did not "practice what they preached" and spoke about a God of whom they had theoretical knowledge but with whom they had no contact. They should apply to themselves the words of St. Mark concerning the vocation of the apostles: "He appointed twelve, to be his companions and to be sent out to preach" (Mk 3:14-15).

Authenticity of life means a life of prayer, experience of God and fidelity to the action of the Holy Spirit. It implies a certain intensity and an internal and external orderliness, adapted to the various personal and family situations of each. It might be objected that catechists, being members of the laity, cannot have a structured spiritual life like that of religious and that therefore they must content themselves with something less. But in every life situation, whether one is engaged in secular work or in the ministry, it is possible for everyone, priest, religious or lay person, to attain a high degree of communion with God and an ordered rhythm of prayer, including the finding of times of silence for entering more deeply into the contemplation of God. The more intense and real one's spiritual life is, the more convincing and efficacious will one's witness and activity be....

Compare what Pope Benedict says today of the online persona:

In the digital age too, everyone is confronted by the need for authenticity and reflection. Besides, the dynamic inherent in the social networks demonstrates that a person is always involved in what he or she communicates. When people exchange information, they are already sharing themselves, their view of the world, their hopes, their ideals. It follows that there exists a Christian way of being present in the digital world: this takes the form of a communication which is honest and open, responsible and respectful of others. To proclaim the Gospel through the new media means not only to insert expressly religious content into different media platforms, but also to witness consistently, in one’s own digital profile and in the way one communicates choices, preferences and judgements that are fully consistent with the Gospel, even when it is not spoken of specifically. Furthermore, it is also true in the digital world that a message cannot be proclaimed without a consistent witness on the part of the one who proclaims it. In these new circumstances and with these new forms of expression, Christian are once again called to offer a response to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is within them (cf. 1 Pet 3:15).

So, what is "authenticity of life?"  It means that what you see is what you get.  A true Christian witness, whether acting as a catechist or interacting online preaches the Gospel at all times because he or she lives it. In the words at the Ordination Rite of a priest or deacon being presented with the Book of the Gospels., a catechist is asked to "Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach."  At all times.

A catechist - or any true Christian - should not have a separate church life and another public life.  How we conduct ourselves every day, whether online, in the classroom, in the workplace or other public forum should be of one piece and should always reflect the teachings of Christ and his Church.  Even when dealing with  issues about which we may personally struggle with accepting Church teaching, we must at all times present a coherent picture of that teaching, and not our own opinion. That is what being "authentic" means.  And it's not always easy.  When Christians speak, we represent Christ and his Church - in a world that needs to hear the authentic voice and not just another personal opinion. St. Paul puts it well to the Corinthians:

We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given us by God. And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom, but with words taught by the Spirit, describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms. (1 Cor. 2:12-13)

This is our call - to be effective witnesses - and we are able to do that because, as St. Paul puts it in verse 16, we "have the mind of Christ." Therefore, whenever speaking in public, whether online, or as a catechist, we put our authentic Christ-filled voice at the service of Christ and his Church.

The Wisdom of Catechists

Yesterday at my parish, we had a morning-long meeting.  About 25 of us were present - for a time of prayer and sharing. It was a time to bring catechists from both the Spanish-speaking and English-speaking cultures together -  most present preferred to speak Spanish at their tables, but there were two tables of us consisting of bilingual Hispanics and some Anglos.  It was truly a case of discerning the wisdom of the community - and there was a surprising amount of agreement.

After some quiet personal reflection on how well we were doing with such things as understanding, living and sharing the faith and listening to our students, we were asked to engage in small group process on two questions:  "What do you need to work on?" and "What do you need?"

For the first question, the two goals named most often were obtaining a better knowledge of the faith and learning who our students are as young Hispanics living in the American culture. Scripture study and a better knowledge of the Catechism were named for the first. On the second point, we named a real need to listen, to explore and to understand the variations among our students (Spanish-speaking at home or not, born here or not, first or second generation here, etc.) We agreed that most of our students prefer Spanish Mass and when they know their prayers it is more often in Spanish, even when students are fluent in English. The difficulties they described pretty much can be summarized simply: not all students in their classrooms participate in the two cultures in quite the same way. Several of the Hispanic catchists very eloquently named that it was important to show teens that faith is not just fiction.

As to the second area - what they need, catechists asked for Bible study, formation, parent meetings and parent formation or more closely mandated parent contact with the catechists. It was suggested that perhaps we have a parent conference night when catechists can interact with the parents. There was an energetic discussion of the failure of parents to assist catechists - and the prevalent attitude that parents seem to have that they are relying on the religious education program to form their children in faith - while most families fail to practice that faith, do not go to Mass, or teach children the prayers they should know. The consensus was strongly that more parental involvement on all fronts is needed - and that perhaps more contact with parents or parent formation would help.

Strange, but this sounds a great deal like what parish directors of religious education (a group I am normally  with on a more regular basis through regional cluster meetings)  name whenever they are asked what they need: formation for themselves, and strategies for more catechist and parent formation.