Update+
Volume 2, Number 15 January 7, 2021
At this time...(31)
The new Directory for Catechesis (DC) has some very valuable insights about the digital culture in which we live. (See #359-#372) They may be helpful in shedding some light as we ponder our experiences of national events this week. This section also underscores the critical need for education in media literacy at all levels.
As catechists, we are called to accompany and dialogue with people – in a “serene” manner -- and we are called to help those we accompany to do the same.
Thank you to all who have completed the survey on adult Confirmation, the Rite of Election and youth Confirmation. There are only a handful still outstanding. A number of people have noted that they are ambivalent about scheduling a celebration this spring because of the difficulty they have had in preparing people. There are many factors that enter into this. While we do not want to delay anyone who is prepared, neither do we want to present candidates who are not ready.
The DC #396 notes: “The specific contribution of catechesis to evangelization is the attempt to enter into relationship with the experience of persons, with their ways of living and the processes of personal and community growth. Inculturation, [even the digital culture that we are living] is, at its heart, aimed at the process of internalization of the experience of faith. This is all the more urgent in the present context in which the cultural preconditions for the transmission of the Gospel, guaranteed in the past by the family and by society, have gone missing . . . [which] has led to a crisis in the subjective appropriation of the faith. It is therefore important that catechesis not focus only on the transmission of the contents of the faith, but take to heart the process of personal reception of the faith, in order that the act by which one believes may express as best it can the reasons for freedom and responsibility that the faith itself entails.”
While we rejoice that there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel, we probably have quite a bit of darkness to negotiate before we get to that light.
Let us not get careless with all the precautions we must take to keep people safe: masking, social distancing, sanitizing, ventilation, etc. Be mindful of the governor’s directives and your local school contexts. If you are unsure, please do not hesitate to call us. This might also be a time to reach out to parishioners who have the computer skills to assist you in doing remote catechesis. Darleen helped Barbara with the technology for the ARE course last spring. Not everyone is expected to know everything!