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Catechetical Resources

Sources and Resources

DOCUMENTS

  •   Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us: A Pastoral Plan for Adult Faith Formation in the United States (2000)  This document is a clear call to reinvigorate the efforts to foster adult faith formation throughout the United States. This pastoral plan guides the implementation of this pledge and commitment of the Catholic Bishops of the United States to build dedicated faith communities of adult believers who will commit themselves to lifelong journeys of understanding, proclaiming and living their faith. 
  • Ecclesia in America(1999)
     A post-synodal apostolic exhortation on the Way to Conversion, Communion, and Solidarity in America
  •  General Directory For Catechesis(1997)
      This document, while retaining the basic structure the General Catechetical Directory of 1971, seeks to arrive at a balance between two principal requirements: the context of catechesis in evangelization as envisioned in Evangelii Nuntiandi; and the content of the faith as presented in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It attempts and succeeds to be holistic as it provides an understanding of Christian faith, inclusivity of participants in catechesis, and is comprehensive in its pedagogy. It broadens the dynamics of catechesis to engage people in their life experiences while providing access to the whole tradition of the Christian faith.
  • The Catechism of the Catholic Church(1994)
      The Catechism of the Catholic Church is the result of Pope John Paul II commissioning twelve Cardinals and Bishops with the task of giving directives and overseeing the work that would ultimately be used to provide a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium. It is to be a reference text for teaching catholic doctrine and particularly preparing local catechisms. It is meant to support ecumenical efforts by showing carefully the content and harmony of the catholic faith. 
  •  Vatican Council II-- The Conciliar  and Post-Conciliar Documents
    The 1992 edition, published by Liturgical Press and edited by Flannery Austin, O.P., contains the sixteen documents of the council and a number of relevant subsequent official documents, which help to give a fuller understanding of the Church's teachings.                                                                                     
    Documents of V-II
  • Document on Christian Education
  • Adult Catechesis in the Christian Community (1990)
      This work represents the efforts of the International Council for Catechesis. Citing Pope John Paul II's assertation in On Catechesis in Our Time that adult catechesis "is the principal form of catechesis" (43), the document touches on common issues, common problems and probable solutions. It recognized that inculturation will need to be made in local churches.
  • Catechesi Tradendae (1979)
      This apostolic exhortation of John Paul II speaks of catechesis as a pastoral and missionary activity, of the need for a systematic development of the content of faith, and of the importance of providing adequate and appropriate catechesis for people of all ages. 
  • Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School (1988)  
      This document from the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education offers guidelines for reflection on and renewal of the religious dimension of catholic schools. It emphasizes the notion of the school as a community of faith that promotes faith education. It distinguishes between religious instruction (the education task) and catechesis (the pastoral task). 
  • Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults(1987)
    This document has perhaps had the single greatest impact on the development of catechetical though during this period. Vatican II mandated the revision of the Rite of Baptism of adults. It also called for the restoration of the catechumenate to provide for a period of appropriate formation and for the accompanying liturgical celebrations at each stage, culminating in the reception of the sacraments of initiation. This rite is a clear example of the integration of catechesis and liturgy. When the National Catechetical Directory was issued, it recognized that the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults was "the norm for catechetical and liturgical Practice" (115). 
  • Sharing the Light of Faith: National Catechetical Directory (1978)  
      Also known as the National Catechetical Directory (NCD), this document was published by the bishops of the United States to give guidance and direction to the work of catechesis in this country. It reflects the concerns of the Church in the United States and addresses educational and pastoral responses. 
  • Evangelii Nuntiandi(1975)  
      Issued by Paul VI, this apostolic exhortation addresses some of the concerns and questions raised by the Third Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, held in 1974. It reiterates the basic mission of the Church to be evangelization and calls all its members to participate in this mission in their own way. 
  •  To Teach as Jesus Did (1972)   Issued as a pastoral on Christian education by the bishops of the United States, its threefold emphasis on message, community and service gives a broad perspective to catechesis. It embraces the concept of lifelong learning, and states that adult religious education is at the center of the Church's educational ministry.
  • Guide for Catechists  Document of vocational, formative and promotional orientation
    of Catechists in the territories dependent
    on the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
    Code of Canon Law

RECENT PAPAL ENCYCLICALS

  • Ecclesia de Eucharistia:  ON THE EUCHARIST IN ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE CHURCH

    "The Church draws her life from the Eucharist. This truth does not simply express a daily experience of faith, but recapitulates the heart of the mystery of the Church. In a variety of ways she joyfully experiences the constant fulfilment of the promise: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20), but in the Holy Eucharist, through the changing of bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord, she rejoices in this presence with unique intensity. Ever since Pentecost, when the Church, the People of the New Covenant, began her pilgrim journey towards her heavenly homeland, the Divine Sacrament has continued to mark the passing of her days, filling them with confident hope."

  • Deus Caritas Est ON CHRISTIAN LOVE  "We have come to believe in God's love: in these words the Christian can express the fundamental decision of his life. Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction. Saint John's Gospel describes that event in these words: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should ... have eternal life” (3:16). In acknowledging the centrality of love, Christian faith has retained the core of Israel's faith, while at the same time giving it new depth and breadth. The pious Jew prayed daily the words of the Book of Deuteronomy which expressed the heart of his existence: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might” (6:4-5). Jesus united into a single precept this commandment of love for God and the commandment of love for neighbour found in the Book of Leviticus: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (19:18; cf. Mk 12:29-31). Since God has first loved us (cf. 1 Jn 4:10), love is now no longer a mere “command”; it is the response to the gift of love with which God draws near to us."

  • Spe Salvi   ON CHRISTIAN HOPE:  “SPE SALVI facti sumus”—in hope we were saved, says Saint Paul to the Romans, and likewise to us (Rom 8:24). According to the Christian faith, “redemption”—salvation—is not simply a given. Redemption is offered to us in the sense that we have been given hope, trustworthy hope, by virtue of which we can face our present: the present, even if it is arduous, can be lived and accepted if it leads towards a goal, if we can be sure of this goal, and if this goal is great enough to justify the effort of the journey. Now the question immediately arises: what sort of hope could ever justify the statement that, on the basis of that hope and simply because it exists, we are redeemed? And what sort of certainty is involved here?"

 

 

 


OTHER RESOURCES
  • Pope Benedict XVI homilies
  • Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis, of Pope Benedict XVI
    on the Eucharist as the Source and Summit of the Church's Life and Mission
  • Romano Guardini's Meditations Before Mass  
  • The Living Light    The Living Light, the quarterly journal of the USCCB Department of Education, ceased publication with the Summer 2004 issue. Some back issues of the journal are still available.
  • Momentum  The official journal of the National Catholic Education Association
  • Catechetical Leader Magazine    We, the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership, formed as an organization of diocesan, parish, academic, publishing, and other catechetical personnel, strive to enrich and strengthen the ministry of catechesis throughout the Catholic dioceses of the United States, and seek to serve the Church
  • Journals of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and other publications
  • The Sower Review   Quarterly periodical that forms catechists and catechetical leaders. The founder of The Sower, English theologian Canon Francis Drinkwater, believed that:
    We educate to some extent by what we say,
    Even more by what we do,
    And even more than that, by who we are.
    But we educate most of all by what we love.
    That is what goes on after we die.

    In short, we cannot effectively teach the faith unless we live and love our faith. This charism given to Canon Drinkwater in 1919, lives on in the work of The Sower, whose goal is to help catechists deepen their understanding of and love for the teachings of Christ, as handed on through his Church yesterday, today and always.
  • Christian Classics Ethereal Library  The mission of the CCEL is to build up the church by making classic Christian writings available and promoting their use.   

 

 

 

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