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Pastor's Page: Becoming Catholics who know their faith and can give a good account of it
July 11,
2010
Your religious formation and mine began in the home. Our parents were the first and foremost
teachers of us in the ways of faith. Their words and their actions more importantly told us about God.
The images that we have of God, uniquely personal to each of us, are the product of our relationship to
our parents. The virtues of our parents impacted us greatly, and so did their neuroses! If God is very
demanding in your imagination, it is likely that one or both of your parents expected great things of you.
If God is compassionate, forgiving and eminently respectful of you and your freedom, it came largely
from your parents and the grace of God.
Besides the domestic church, the family, the extended family contributed to our religious development
as well.
Grandparents, aunts and uncles, the teachers that we had in elementary school, the
neighbors we met in our neighborhood, the schoolyard and the playing field, all had a part to play in our
development religiously. Formal training in the faith happened as we prepared for the sacraments of the
Church. The parish priests that were part of our community revealed God's compassion and care at
Sunday Mass, and for me the women religious of the Immaculate Heart of Mary instructed me in the
Baltimore Catechism.
Catechism, from the Greek words "to sound down" or to teach, is a summary or exposition of
doctrine. Many of these catechisms, used through the centuries in our church, follow a question and
answer format, with the answers to be memorized. Some Bible scholars believe that the Sermon on the
Mount in Matthew and Luke's Sermon on the Plain were employed as early Christian catechisms in the
first century. Pope John Paul II in his encyclical, Catechesi Tradendae, wrote that catechesis is “an education
in the faith of children, young people and adults which includes especially the teaching of Christian
doctrine imparted, generally speaking, in an organic and systematic way, with a view to initiating
the hearers into the fullness of Christian life."
It follows that a catechist is one who engages in such religious instruction. Our parents were our
primary catechists, because handing on the faith is far more than the acceptance of doctrinal statements.
The heart of our faith is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ whom we embrace as Lord and Savior,
the second person of the Blessed Trinity, and Son of God. Wonderful parents draw us into the heart of
God's love.
At the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), all the bishops of the world, together with the Pope
studied, argued among themselves and wrote 16 documents on our Catholic faith. The nature of the
church, liturgy, our relationship with other Christian and non-Christian churches, the church's relationship
to the world, and much more was presented. But there was no teaching on catechesis or formation
in the faith of Jesus Christ.
Next week: "The Years after Vatican II and Lifelong Faith Formation"
Peace,
Father Bruce
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