Challenges Of Catechesis
In North East India
Introduction
Speaking of Catechesis, we would immediately think of text-books, syllabuses, teaching aids, and training programmes. But we know that it means much more than all these. Catechesis in the fuller sense means the handing on of the faith to rising generations. It involves the family, the parish, the school, the community, the whole Church. As believers we belong together, we need help from each other and need to help each other. It is our duty to educate each other in the faith. St. Paul says, “Teach and instruct each other with all wisdom” (Col 3:16). Centuries earlier, Deuteronomy had said to Israelite believers, “Never forget these commands that I am giving you today. Teach them to your children. Repeat them when you are at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working. Tie them on your arms and wear them on your foreheads as a reminder. Write them on the door-posts of your houses and on your gates” (Deut 6:6-9). This then is the challenge: hand on the faith to others and to the younger generations.
2.The Context in which We Carry out our Mission
To begin with, it will be good for us to look at the context within which we have to carry out our mission. The first thing we notice today is the all pervasive influence of secularization in public life: in the area of politics, economics, social life, education, and media. We seem to be moving into a world in which God and spiritual values have no place. It is in this over-secularized and materialistic environment that we have to bear witness to our faith in invisible realities. We could also refer to the rising tide of individualism in society: glorification of self-interest, self-assertion, cut-throat competition, and consequent conflict. How can we build up an atmosphere of mutual responsibility in this highly individualistic world?
In India we notice another curious phenomenon: exaggerated forms of religious self-expressions, political use of religion, mutual hatred fostered by fanatic groups, and the emergence of fundamentalist and anti-Christian elements. How do we preserve and hand on our faith in such a situation of stiff opposition? We may observe, again, the rise of radicals who are eager to manifest fanatical loyalty to one’s community (religious, ethnic, linguistic, religious, regional). They insist on exclusions. ‘The other’ is unwanted, and must be eliminated. Communal and ethnic conflicts keep recurring. There seems to be no end to instances of violence. Bomb-blasts and tragic losses caused by suicide squads make everyday news. And yet, people who are described as ‘the other’ too are the children of God. They belong to us, we belong to them. How do we convince others of this Christian teaching in situations of conflict?
Let us come closer home to Northeast India. It is here that we live and work. It is these communities that we serve. It is here we try to share our faith, and seek to hand it down to younger generations. Though the world and national trends affect our communities a great deal, we live in our own unique cultural world and are under our own compulsions. There is, for example in Northeast India, the mounting self-assertion of tribes and communities, all claiming a right to have a say in the shaping of their future. Some press their claims beyond legitimate limits.
We are constantly trying to discern our specific mission in the midst of problems that are more typical of our region: ethnic conflicts, political violence, corruption, challenge to ethnic identities, threat to cultural heritage, erosion of cultural values, rapid deforestation, land alienation. Even in traditional activities like assisting people in situations of poverty, illiteracy, ill health and other privations, we as a Church feel the need for developing new and creative approaches, becoming more purposeful in goals, and more effective in our efforts, more eager to make of our works sustainable.
We look back with pride at the history of our young missions. A good proportion of our Christians are of the first and second generation, and still in need of deepening their faith. And even the older communities possibly are being served in an inadequate and interrupted manner, and the methods we use for communicating the faith may have grown stale, routine-like, and heavy, both on the teacher and on the taught. In which case, there is a danger that too little is being appropriated, reflected upon, deepened, and personalized. This remains a challenge to all of us: Church leaders, priests, religious, catechists, teachers, leaders in communities, elders in the Church, parents in families, and everyone. Let us search for the most suitable and effective ways of teaching and instructing “each other with all wisdom” (Col 3:16).
There are different ministries in the Church. St Paul speaks of the ministry of the apostles, evangelists, prophets, pastors, teachers, miracle workers, healers, speakers in tongues, and interpreters. He urges that all work together that the body of Christ may be built up (Eph 4:11; 1 Cor 12:28). In Northeast India too all church-workers need to join hands together and assist people to become “mature” in their faith, and not remain “children, carried by the waves and blown about by every shifting wind of teaching” (Eph 4:13-14).
Competing political and economic interests and commercially-motivated electronic media distort the vision even of educated and well-meaning people; all the more, the simple, the illiterate and those least instructed in the faith. We stand in need of special ‘light’ (Is 51:4) to show us our way forward. Our young people, going for higher education or employed away from their community, remain highly vulnerable. It has become incumbent on us to understand our own Christian obligations and hand down the Lord’s message to our younger brothers and sisters. Isaiah said, “I have given you my power and my teachings to be yours for ever, and from now on you are to obey me and teach your children and your descendents to obey me for all time to come” (Is 59:21).
Commodification of Religion
We are all beneficiaries and victims of the prevailing culture. It is true, the definitions of modern and postmodern culture that are commonly being used in western debates, cannot be used in the same sense in reference to the cultures in other parts of the world. However, they do make an impact on our cultures too to a great extent.
The blessings that modern culture has brought (a sense of equality in society, an awareness of justice and rights in human relationships, the idea of rationality in production) and biases it has entertained (godlessness, crude materialistic outlook, fierce individualism) are well known to us. It is pointed out that in a reaction to the exaggerations of modern culture, a new culture has emerged which is called ‘postmodern’. Here we shall study only one aspect of postmodern culture. If modern culture was assertively secular, postmodern culture is open to religion. But what has actually emerged in the current culture is a ‘pick and choose’ sort of religion. It gives respectful attention to religious emotion, with no permanent loyalty or affiliation to any particular form of religion. It offers a ‘free market’ of devotions, practices, maxims, teachings, images, heroes, prayers, experiences, conventions. The practitioner can pick and choose, eliminate and discard, grow fervent or give up altogether.
Religious symbols from traditional religions are coolly dislodged from their cultural and recognized contexts, emptied of their religious depth and meaning, and of their relationship to religious convictions and moral principles within a believing community. These fragments of old and established religious traditions are thrown up in the electronic media between commercials, curiosities, cartoons, and sports: the image of Mother Teresa without her commitment to the poor, of John Paul II ignoring his ethical stands, of Dalai Lama without his contemplative depth. It is not clear whether they as ‘icons’ are admired or adored, whether they are meant to give passing titillation or religious instruction of permanent validity. People display crosses and beads, attend prayer meetings and use prayer-flags, remain faithful to novenas and litanies, go on pilgrimages and religious tours, but are indifferent to Sunday masses and ignore the Ten Commandments.
We Asians want to see depth in religion. We respect persons with profound convictions, who also live by them. For us, anyone who is superficial is not a worthy carrier of the faith. We don’t allow people to play with religion or to trivialize matters related to religion: holy men/women, places, symbols, formulae, sacred objects, equipment, and rules of worship. We don’t feel comfortable when people seem to experiment with things that are considered holy, when they improvise or juggle with religious rituals or age-old traditions, or change them on the spot to make an immediate point or hold a small-crowd attention or press a political claim. These are things that verge on the commodification of religion.
In such cases, the religious symbols cease to have the power to ‘evoke a sense of the sacred’. Individual symbolisms, words, or gestures come to be detached from their original meanings and community-faith context. They become ambiguous, less helpful as signifiers, less transformative of human lives, less capable of challenging evil in society. Their ability to strengthen communion among fellow-believers diminishes. People can manipulate them and make them serve the interests of any political, commercial, pressure group, or some petty local interest. Things can go further, and religious events can be turned into entertainment, therapy, political protest, ideological statement, national or cultural self- assertion. Such things do happen.
4.As Religious Teachers, Feel Compassion for Sheep without a Shepherd
A new form of religion is emerging on the world stage: religiosity without moral obligations, spirituality without belonging to a community of believers, search for religious experience without accompanying religious discipline, interest in religious persons (wandering gurus, the Dalai Lama, John Paul II) without accepting their authority or being true to their central message; even a bundle of Christian beliefs without organic relationship or prioritization among themselves; constant search without intending to give ultimate loyalty to any one, a syncretistic mixture of all religions chosen ad libitum, a secularized value-system without any reference to the transcendent, an ethnic culture serving as religion, fundamentalisms of various types, experiments in supernaturalism, revival of occultism, Satanism, and witchcraft. Missing a meaningful experience of faith in the Church and not happy with the crude materialism of today’s society, people are returning to vague spiritualities that some have referred to as a revival of ‘Gnosticism’. Catholics even from old communities have gone for various forms of Pentecostalisms or uninformed devotion to the Bible.
It may be true that our young people in the region are not exposed to such diverse situations. But they come under the influence of the religions that surround them, e.g., criticism of the Christianity or Church personnel that comes up regularly in the media, science- or ideology-based rejection of religion or Christian faith through the influence of secularized professors or colleagues, erratic theories on questions on morality that keep arising in public life. People keep losing faith. Steady desertions can neutralize gradual conversions. Our young people who have moved to the big cities of the country to pursue their studies or in search of jobs stand in the greatest danger. It has become urgent to develop pastorally appropriate plans to attend to their spiritual needs and to make them in turn apostles unto their peers. The theme of the World Youth Day in Sydney was, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8).
If this would be true of our educated youth, think of the hundreds of thousands of Catholics, young and old, ill-instructed and feebly shepherded, in the distant villages of our region. Mark says, “He saw this large crowd, and his heart was filled with pity for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mk 6:34). Do we have such forgotten sheep in our missions? Some of our new Christians have complained, “You were interested in us until the day of our baptism. After that, you have just forgotten us.”
The teacher from Nazareth was tirelessly on his tours. Matthew says, “Jesus went round visiting all the towns and villages (Mt 9:35). Mark and Luke say the same thing, “Jesus went through towns and villages, teaching the people…” (Lk 13:22). In Mark Jesus is pictured as saying, “We must go to the other villages round here. I have to preach in them also, because that is why I came” (Mk 1:38); “And everywhere Jesus went, to villages, towns, or farms…” (Mk 6:56), people would flock. And again, “Then Jesus and his disciples went away to the villages near Caesarea Philippi” (Mk 8:27).
Luke is enamoured of the villages. He says:
“Jesus travelled through towns and villages, preaching the Good News…” (8:1).
“The disciples left and travelled through all the villages, preaching…” (9:6).
“(The disciples) went into a village in Samaria to get everything ready…” (9:52).
“Then Jesus and his disciples went on to another village…” (9:56).
“...he came to a village where a woman named Martha welcomed …” (10:28).
“Jesus went through towns and villages, teaching the people…” (13:22).
“He was going into a village when he was met by ten men…” (17:12).
“Go to the village there ahead of you; as you go in you will find…” (19:30).
“Two of Jesus’ followers were going to a village named Emmaus…” (24:13).
“As they came near the village to which they were going…” (24:28).
Paul expresses his legitimate pride at Miletus how much he laboured teaching people, “You know how I spent the whole time I was with you, from the first day I arrived in the province of Asia. With all humility and many tears I did my work…as I preached and taught in public and in your homes” (Acts 20:18-20). And again, “Watch, then, and remember that with many tears, day and night, I taught every one of you for three years” (Acts 20:39). This then is our programme of life. If we fail in this, we fail in our central mission.
Catholic Schools have a special responsibility in this regard. The “All India Catholic Education Policy” of the Bishops’ Conference of India insists on religious instruction. The bishops say, “We stand committed to nurture a Catholic culture of faith as a personalized way of life of Catholic students, …a complete Catechetical course, a careful study of the Scriptures, a profound understanding of one’s eternal destiny in Christ, an enlightened fidelity to Catholic religious traditions and practices, and an introduction to an intelligent participation in the Church’s liturgy and prayer-life remain key components of faith education” (AICEP 3.1).
Religious communities ought to be fully awakened to this responsibility. It is interesting to note how centuries ago Emperor Charlemagne decreed (c. 800 A.D) that monastic schools should be open all the neighbourhood children. We want to re-live this age-old tradition in the Church. The teachers and other associates serving in religious houses and institutions should be the best trained and motivated for teaching catechism.
5.Completeness is Important
“Holy Spirit…will Teach you Everything” (Jn 14:26).
The alarming situation described in the previous sections makes evident the need for a systematic approach to the teaching of religion to our people: catechism to children, religious instruction to adults, introduction to the faith to catechumens, deepening of the faith of older Christians, life-related reflections for growing-up young men, profounder search for intellectuals, thorough formation in Christian teaching to persons in formation. It is precisely because our approach has been unplanned, unsystematic, and built on scattered efforts that many people know their religion in bits and pieces. Unless we do justice to the entire content of our faith, the religious knowledge of our people remain fragmentary and inadequate. The content is important.
The content of our Christian belief is summarized in the Creed. When Christians recite their creed together re-affirming their faith, they do a great service to the whole of humanity. In a world that celebrates individuality, they rejoice in doing something together. In an age that avoids commitment; they pledge themselves to common convictions and thereby renew loyalty to each other. In a culture that rewards the new, strange and exciting, they affirm truths that have stood the test of history. In a society where accepted wisdom changes by the minute, they claim that some truths are so important that they must be repeated over and over again. In a throwaway, consumerist world, they accept, preserve, and continue an immensely valuable tradition (Handing on the Faith, Robert Imabelli, Ed., The Crossroad Publishing Company, New York 2006, pg. 65). It is not preservation of a fossilized past, but the ‘treasuring of a great treasure’ hidden in the field.
No doubt, we do much teaching, but completeness is also important. Jesus was never tired of teaching. Mark says, “…he began to teach them many things” (Mk 6:34) until it was “very late”. And he kept on teaching continuously. Mark says elsewhere the crowd was so great that Jesus and his disciples did not have time even to eat (Mk 3:20). And Luke adds, “Every day Jesus taught in the Temple” (Lk 19:47). John reports Jesus’ own words, “I have told you everything I have heard from my father” (Jn 15:15). He says further, “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and make you remember all that I have told you” (Jn 14:26). All that we can do at a given time is to teach ‘many things’. But our intention is to bring within people’s reach ‘everything’ that they need to know as Christians, and enable them to ‘remember’ all that Jesus has taught us. Paul is proud that he “did not hold back anything” from his disciples (Acts 20:20).
It is God who is speaking to us. We need to hear, understand, remember and change our lives. Christianity cannot be reduced to just being reasonable, to being a sort of moral betterment club, stimulating a vague form of enthusiasm about things spiritual, an awakening to social issues, and critical alertness to the evils in society. Going beyond all these, faith must point to the eternal destinies of the human race.
6.Graded Courses, Advanced Studies
Proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching (2 Tim 4:2).
That is why it is important make sure that the right books are chosen according to the standard of the students, that the programme is covered according to a plan, that there is regular revision according to the need. An individual diocese or a group of dioceses seek to provide most suitable books in the languages they use. First of all, there is something like a brief, but complete introduction to the faith, covering the Creed, Commandments, Sacraments, Prayer, and other important topics during the catechumenate. Then there is a revision of it when one is getting ready for first communion, confirmation or marriage, the course being at each stage a little more advanced. These are occasions for re-opting for Christ with the revision of basic catechism, re-acceptance of the Ten Commandments, and the renewal of the baptismal promises. When planning graded courses for students, what seems most appropriate is ‘cycles of three years of religious instruction’, beginning from Class One. During each cycle the entire catechism is revised. At each higher grade, the same programme is covered in a fuller manner.
Then there are special courses and seminars on the Bible, Church History, social teachings, study of papal documents, currently relevant issues for university students and intellectuals. There is possibility also of initiating guided reading of the Word of God, history of the Church, spiritual classics, including books like the Imitation of Christ, Confessions of St. Augustine and others. One should never forget that Bible study is an education by itself. Then there is the possibility of theology courses. A great weakness of the theological courses available today seems to be that it is far too clerical and academic. The study of the Bible and theology should be more spiritual and pastoral, if they are to yield fruit in the field of the apostolate. We may take a lesson from our evangelical brothers and sisters in this area of their special competence.
While emphasizing the importance of completeness, we wish to emphasize that the curriculum, syllabi and programmes are not everything. Life-transformation is the real goal. The mysterious spark of faith must pass on from one person to another, one generation to the next.
7.Special Emphasis
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God (Mt 5:9).
While the general courses are meant for all, there could be a special emphasis on issues of greater relevance for our region: violence, corruption, damage to the environment, growing inequality in an egalitarian society, and threat to cultural values.
With increasing cases of violence in our region, we need to initiate a programme of education to peace. It is quite legitimate that every community is determined to defend its own identity, culture, political and economic interests. But it should be equally prepared to respect other communities that show similar concern for their own interests. Even in the midst of conflict, a person like Mahatma Gandhi knew how to dialogue, concede, and compromise so as to find a solution satisfactory to all. Violence breaks out only when we lose confidence in the power of the mind and hastily rush in to use the power of the muscle or of the gun. But if violence has actually broken out despite our best efforts, the next best thing to do is to point the way to forgiveness, negotiations and reconciliation. It is not easy to bring this about. But Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers”.
In the same way, we have to provide fresh motivations for bringing probity into public life. It is important for young people to understand that corruption is choking the economy at every level, that development projects cannot take off, that poverty relief programmes do not go through, that exploitation of the poor strengthens itself, and that their future is being compromised, precisely because of rampant corruption. The Bible teaches honest and uprightness at every page.
8.Community Hands on the Faith, Parish Coordinates the Efforts
Parents are the first educators of their children in the faith. A Catholic family creates a Catholic atmosphere and promotes a Catholic environment within the reality of today’s secularized society. Even little things count: lifestyles, priorities, relationships, gender roles, discipline, accountability to each other, responsibility for each other, work, recreation, prayer, charity towards the poor, commitment to the common good, justice and fairness in life, sharing of God’s word, family interactions, words exchanged, exhortations given in life-contexts, short prayers said spontaneously, kindnesses shown, forgiveness bestowed, encouragement given, love for liturgy and God’s word manifested, attachment to the Church made evident…all these are ways in which the faith is handed down within a family.
The local Church and the neighbouring Catholic community play a big role in the life of faith of the individual believer. The Catholic faith can be lived out fully only in a community. When young Gregory Thaumaturgos came to Origen seeking instruction in Christian doctrine, the great teacher told him that he should first of all share the life of the Christians and become their friend, and that he should learn to integrate himself with the Christian community. Only in that way he would begin to understand what Christians believe and teach. This advice would be equally valid even today. The catechumens are asked to wait for a period of time before Baptism, because they need time to integrate with the believing community. For, a community of believers is always catechetical; in fact, the whole Church is catechetical. Catechesis is not is just one activity of the Church; nor is it the mission of the priests and religious alone. By baptism, every Catholic is commissioned to teach the faith. The entire community searches for fresh and new ways to communicate the faith.
It is again the community that ensures completeness in the teaching of the faith and hands it on to the rising generation. The younger generations absorb the faith almost unconsciously through interactions within a believing community in formal and informal contexts and through lived values in social life: the ethos prevalent within the community, stable relationships of mutual acceptance, warm social bonds; moral life lived as a satisfying life-experience, prayer as a sustaining force; local meetings, dialogues, debates, feast-related gatherings, parents’ association, similar other associations, discussions related to justice, charity, service and reconciliation; outreach to new converts and fallen-aways, shared memories, sense of mutual responsibilities, and attachment to the parish.
The Parish plays a central role in coordinating the catechetical efforts of the local Church: priests, religious, catechists, teachers, lay leaders, young people themselves. There is the usual Sunday catechism1, village-level teaching by the Catechists and lay leaders, special preparations for Baptism and the other Sacraments, preparation for Sunday liturgy and other liturgical events, the actual celebrations as joyous events, the experience of community prayer. The Parish also educates the community in responsible citizenship: democratic values, a sense of mission, fidelity in stewardship in the administration of common goods, and a cheerful commitment to community welfare, accountability and transparency.
A believing community communicates its faith even on occasions of casual conversation. Socarates showed how real learning takes place in conversation, raising questions and seeking to respond to them. Plato continued the tradition of conversation, mutual affirming, questioning and moving on to new possibilities. In our own country, people like Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindra Nath Tagore were conversationalist-educators. Every encounter with them was a learning experience. Similarly it can be turned into an educative and evangelizing experience. That is want happens during encounters within a family, in a community; what can happen in a bus, at work, at the shop, during celebrations, in formal and informal situations. Jesus taught in the course of a conversation (disciples of Emmaus, Nicodemus, Samaritan woman, Martha) as he moved from place to place. Evangelizers pass on the message at table, in the playing field (Don Bosco), on journeys (the story of the Ethiopian), in jail (Paul).
The community also passes on certain ideals through the heroes that they hold up before its members for imitation. Many lives have flowered because they looked up to a Lincoln, Gandhi, or Mother Teresa. Can we pass on the biographies of Francis of Assissi, Xavier, Francis of Sales, Damien, Charles Foucauld, Lievens, and others to people? Ignatius of Loyola was converted from reading the lives of saints.
9.Lay Associations and Movements as Agents of Religious Teaching
“Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way” (Acts 17:22).
Lay associations can be considered part of the Catholic community as catechizing agents. However, they are, along with very many newly emerging ecclesial movements, beginning to reveal their great evangelizing potentiality in our times. Their role deserve special attention. Aside from the traditional lay associations that formed the backbone of lay apostolate in the old days, like the Legion of Mary, St. Vincent de Paul Society and others, new movements have arisen in the Church responding to her various needs and those of the larger society: Small Christian Community, Focolare, Neo-Catecumenate, San Egidio, Jesus Youth, various charismatic groups. These ensure a great sense of belonging and participation, and therefore keener commitment to sharing the faith.
We cannot over-emphasize the role that the Catechists play both in the field of evangelization and on-going catechetical formation of our Christians. The amazing work they do in sharing the faith with prospective Catholics, giving religious instruction to catechumens and neophytes, consolidating Christian knowledge among the village communities, needs to be appreciated. They themselves ought to be given further instruction following a well-planned programme on First Fridays and special courses organized for them during the year. Catechism teachers and Touring Sisters too must be given similar assistance. Most of all, they all must be motivated and equipped to keep up the village ministry, visiting even the most interior communities and offering religious instruction to different categories of people: children, youth, mothers, those preparing for various sacraments, and others. Unless these communities are carefully followed up, there is a danger that they remain permanently in Class One, as far as religious instruction is concerned.
The sturdiness of the faith of simple people is the strength of the Church. Blaise Pascal used to say, “Do not be surprised at the sight of simple people who believe without argument. God makes love him… He inclines their hearts to believe. We shall never believe with a vigorous and unquestioning faith unless God touches our hearts; and we shall believe as soon as he does so.”
There are people who speedily forget their prayers, hymns and the basics of faith. There are those who have not yet learnt them. In today’s secularized world, it is said, we ought to presume no earlier knowledge of the faith in most contexts. Measure each group’s or community’s level of Christian knowledge and respond accordingly first; only then should you launch into more advanced courses and themes. Special care is needed for persons who have a non-Catholic marriage-partner. Different vocabulary and approach should be adopted when dealing with old Catholics, recent fallen-aways, long-lost Catholics, non-practicing individuals, recent converts, beginners and enquirers2. The volume of work is so great that we need to multiply hands. Winning helpers is a invaluable art. The Lord loves his own harvest, so you may be sure that he will grant you your request, if only you keep praying and insisting. But we should know how to draw helpers, to train them and retain them.
10. Enemies who Help
In the history of the Church we find that even those who harassed or criticized the Church often contributed to its growth in some manner. In the early days, the blood of the martyrs became the seed of the Christians. Great thinkers like St.Augustine or St. Thomas Acquinas developed their teaching skills against the background of severe criticism of Christian doctrine by opponents in their times. They had no fear of the secular wisdom of their age, in fact they made use of it for developing their theolgies. Thomas, in fact, said that he was changing water into wine when he was using Aristotle (Imbelli 84).
In the same way, Reformers, Enlightenment thinkers, Revolutionaries, Communists, and modern critiques have compelled the Church to study more faithfully her original sources, get rid of obscurantist outlooks, superstitions and exaggerations, and deepen her commitment to values like justice, equality, liberty and concern for human rights. Often our critiques help us to rediscover certain forgotten values that were already in the Gospel. In the same way, our present critiques belonging to the Sangh Parivar, RSS, and others can help us to reflect, criticize ourselves, change and adapt. They compel us, for example, to give greater attention to the central values of Indian culture like religiosity, attachment to community and tradition, simplicity, austerity, modesty, family values, and others, and to build our future on these sure foundations.
We handle the opponent better when we begin with an attitude of esteem for him/her. Mahatma Gandhi always paid tributes to the British for introducing India to modern thoughts and values. But he went on to argue that he was seeking freedom for his country only urged by the love of freedom that the British themselves manifested all through their history. Paul speaking to the Athenians congratulated them for their religiosity, their poetic and philosophical heritage, and their belief in a creator. It was only then he confronted their idolatry and rejected the distant God of Epicureanism and the pantheism of stoicism with his presentation of Christ. He showed how the noblest ideals of the Athenians could find fulfillment in Christ (Acts 17). We may need to adopt some wise approach presenting our viewpoints to our opponents.
11. Addressing Cultures
Sometimes hostility is provoked only because there is a lack of respect for the ‘collective identity’ of communities to which the Gospel is being addressed. The ‘collective self’ of a community is usually represented by its culture. That is why we need to pay attention to the diverse cultures of communities among whom we work. We need to avoid anything that can give a cultural shock to people.
Justin the Martyr (c. 150) said that all cultures contained the “seeds of the Word”. When the Gospel encounters a culture there may be the need for both acceptance and rejection. John Paul II said in a homily at Baltimore in 1995, “Sometimes, witnessing to Christ will mean drawing out of a culture the full meaning of its noblest intentions, a fullness that is revealed in Christ. At other times, witnessing to Christ means challenging that culture, especially when the truth about the human person is under assault.”
Living as we do in the Northeastern region with very many distinctive ethnic groups, we need to pay great attention to the identity and heritage of these different cultures. Evangelization means bringing their native geniuses to fulfillment. Our Theologates in Shillong have decided to launch a programme of collecting myths, legends, wise sayings, proverbs, and stories, seek to interpret and classify them under various heads (like ideals, values, relationships, anxieties, goals), and try to relate them to Christian doctrines in such a way that a Catechism teacher or Theology professor can draw from the insights of indigenous wisdom to pave the way for a deeper understanding of religious truths in the context of human beliefs and perceptions in the local cultures.
St. Patrick inculturated Catholicism to Celtic culture with its emphasis on monasticism and love for nature. This love for created realities remained on the Irish spiritual tradition. That is what made St. Columbanus say in later years, “If you wish to understand the Creator, understand creation,” an exhortation that is most relevant today.
We have to come to terms with modern and postmodern cultures as well. Modern culture has always been eager to subject everything to reason. Christianity is open to this idea, keeping clear of exaggerations. It has taught us to trust human reason. That is precisely why sciences and critical thinking have flourished in Christian societies. But Christianity refuses to surrender to the arrogance of those scientists who wish to subject even revealed truths and spiritual realities to their methods of empirical investigation. Evidently scientific tools like laboratory experiments are inadequate for measuring human goodness, kindness, sincerity, or for verifying the validity of religious truths. But we recognize that reason needs to be respected in all human affairs. It has a great destiny. Faith does not put out our minds, but takes them to new heights. Curiously the most recent scientific theories like ‘quantum physics’ and ‘chaos theory’ sound closer to Christian beliefs than to cynical skepticism.
The Church has a duty to address the Gospel to the representatives of both the modern and postmodern schools of thought. But not all Churchmen are adequately prepared for this challenging task. There is a lack of pastoral imagination during the years of formation today, due to which the Christian workers inadequately equipped to enter the cultural world of the intellectuals, educated lay leaders, and critical members among the faithful. Every intelligent person winning attention from society as a whole deserves our attention too. We gain nothing by ignoring them. In fact we can learn a great deal from such persons. It is only when we seem to listen and understand what they are saying, that there is a possibility that they may lend their ears to what we are trying to say too.
The modern man is afraid to be a reduced personality by accepting a higher reality. It is not true that the human being will lose stature because he bends to God. The fear of Feuerbach, Marx, Nietzsche, and Sartre was precisely that, that humanity will be diminished for making room for God. On the contrary, we know that humanity is empowered by its submission to the Almighty. This is a sort of surrender, that uplifts and elevates.
In this age of globalized economy, people speak of prices and profits. It has become a culture to do so. Jesus said anyone who wanted to follow him had to pay the price (Mt 10:37ff). It is with our commitment to the Gospel that we pay the price, and the ultimate price with our lives. We are already beginning to inculturate to a situation of violence by becoming like Jesus always ready to lay down our lives. Some of our colleagues in our region have already done so. Equally generous is the radical living of the Gospel and the sacrifice it calls for. This form of generosity and asceticism do not put out our nature, but harness its resources and channel them in the direction of our eternal destiny. To this destiny we keep inviting people.
12. Make simple things simpler, boring things interesting
Now let us come to the style of teaching Catechism. I do not say make only difficult things simple, but make simple things even simpler. Let clarity, intelligibility, easy and happy acceptance be your target. Let the message go through. Don’t get lost in techniques. Communicate. Be spontaneous. Don’t shout to the deaf man, show a picture. Don’t give a book to the blind man, speak. Know what is to be said and how to say it to each category of people. Go into their world of interest and win attention. Translate your message to students, workers, social activists, professionals, mothers, youth, children, prisoners, sportspersons—to each class of persons in their own language, using the vocabulary that each group is familiar with. Presume no prior knowledge. Make hard things easy, complicated things simple, simple things simpler still. Make old things new, frequently repeated things fresh.
There is a natural boredom about Christian teaching arising out of over-familiarity, the monotonously old questions raised, the same readymade answers given, the same phrases, the same figures, the same vocabulary. A spiritual weariness has come upon many old Christian communities. They have grown weary of religion. The evangelizer must be ready with an element of surprise, like the householder who brings out from his wares things new and old. Artist Picasso is remembered for taking his admirers by a stunning surprise whenever they got too used to his style, with some totally unforeseen themes for his painting.
People are not giving up Christianity because it has nothing to offer. They are leaving because they are bored. Freshness has gone out of the teacher. He himself is bored. We are passing on boring messages to each other. We must make a breakthrough. Listen to Augustine. Himself a teacher of rhetoric in earlier days, Augustine remained a teacher all through his life time. Deogratias, a deacon approached him (c. 400 A.D.), seeking advice how to instruct people who had no Christian background. The busy bishop responded immediately writing De catechizandis rudibus about how to teach the unlearned, the unsophisticated. Even after centuries, his tips are of use to us. After all, in a secularized society most people have become rudes (uneducated, inexperienced) as far as religious teachings are concerned.
To stir interest in students, Augustine proposes the narrative method: story telling and the developing of salvation history. This is the ideal form for Asia. The Asian Missionary Congress at Chiangmai (Thailand) had for its theme “Telling the story of Jesus”. We put our Christian story briefly in this manner in Liturgy: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. But it needs to be expanded. Christianity has a proud history, and it is not someone else’s tale. It is my own story. I am a part of it. I may play a bigger part in it in the days to come, for history continues. We are linked to the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, church fathers, monks, reformers, saints, scholars, missionaries, builders of communities and servants of the poor. Bring the stories about these giants to life and discuss them. Read them, re-read them, read about them, and discuss their teachings. It can be an exciting exercise.
Going to another point, Augustine says effective communication involves teaching, delighting, persuading. He was almost paraphrasing Cicero. Communicating effectively should mean touching hearts, swaying minds, shaking off lethargy, changing attitudes, transforming lives. Augustine suggests hilaritas, cheerfulness, more precisely in the context, enthusiasm in the context of teaching. God loves a cheerful giver. People love a cheerful speaker. In this respect, we recognize our limitation. We cannot imitate someone else mechanically. Each teacher has his/her own personal style. We need not strain ourselves to become someone else. However, we must enjoy what we are doing. We must love the people, love the students. Enthusiasm must come through. It is communicative by itself. After all we are merely responding to a hunger for God which is already there in human hearts. But we can seek to become more knowledgeable, interesting, and energizing. If the teacher is bored because of the repetitive nature of the lessons, he will bore the students. He/she must come to class rested and fresh, creative and alert, attentive to people, to their world of interests and tastes. He/she must put aside for a while his tiredness and his personal interests and concerns.
Relevance makes the themes you are handling more interesting. Jesus made abundant references to the situation of his times. The teacher who makes references to issues that are greatly discussed in contemporary society, to the prominent persons of the day and current events, he wins immediate attention of his students immediately. Young people look up when he/she shows his acquaintance with some interesting aspect of science, economics, politics, arts, psychology; or has his own original interpretation of some great events in history. These things may look marginal, but they can be led to useful religious conclusions and to the imparting of an evangelical message. Making references to the students’ life contexts can arrest attention. If he quotes great authors, refers to well known personalities, tells a story or shares a personal experience, he regains the lost attention of his audience.
13. New and Surprising Ways
Ecclesia in Asia speaks of the “new and surprising ways” in which the Christian message is to be shared in Asia. With these words John Paul II is inviting us to creativity in communicating. There was an element of surprise in many things that Jesus himself said or did. People are taken by surprise at his words, “he speaks with authority”. They are surprised at his deeds, “he does everything well”. He heals the sick, cures the paralytic, cleanses the lepers, raises the dead. When he teaches, he touches hearts. There is an element of surprise in most contexts. His powerful use of parables, images, and dramatizations (cursing of the fig tree, washing of the feet) has a stunning effect on all people around.
Jesus takes Andrew and Peter, James and John, Matthew and Nathaniel by surprise. He takes the initiative in talking to the Samaritan woman, and she is surprised. He invites himself to Zacchaeus’ house, who is overwhelmed. Even Scribes, Pharisees and Chief Priests are taken aback. They are shocked that he forgives sins, and does not wash before meals. An eloquent speaker like Jesus, chooses to be silent before Herod, and reticent before Pilate. Not only does he surprise people with his overwhelming goodness, but astonishes them by what looks like the opposite. He curses the fig tree, allows the pigs to perish, takes the whip, says he has come with a sword, uses harsh words against Peter, and extremely kind words to Judas. He adopts always ‘new and surprising ways’.
Can we introduce something new, fresh, stimulating, attractive and compelling into our styles of communicating the message? Can we act or speak in an innovative way that will call back the attention of people to our traditional teaching? In the earlier centuries the Church used to communicate powerfully to illiterate believers through the use of things like statues, icons, frescoes, crucifixes, stained glass windows, and colourful liturgy. Modern technology provides us with a variety of teaching aids to make our communication interesting and effective, like visual aids, cassettes, CD’s, TV programmes, musicals, cellular phones, computers, web; calendars, laminated pictures, posters, bible maps, church history maps, slogans, mottoes, and sayings of saints. In addition to all these, we can always fall back on local art: puppetries, dramas, skits, role plays, story-telling, narrations, recitations, dances. Pedagogy experts tell us that children get interested when they get to doing things: drawing, painting, acting, dramatizing, mimicking, dancing, competing, letter writing, composing poems, singing.
14. Art Touches the Collective Psyche of People
The dignified performance of classical music can fill the hearts of people with a sense of majesty and awe. Beauty in various art forms like poetry, painting, sculture, architecture, can draw them to virtues like gratitude, beauty, wonder, communion, solidarity, celebration, and the presence of God. This is how the Christian message is taken to the deeper psyche of individuals and communities, opening out fresh paths to a new understanding of the present, a new vision of the future and to unforeseen possibilities for the communities concerned. The Christian message is meant to challenge the contemporary society’s pursuit of futile goals and affirm its spiritual longings.
Further still, it seems there are times when God sends among his people certain spiritually anointed persons who can draw on some subconscious force of enormous evocative power far beyond their individual capacity. They may express themselves in powerful preaching or heart-captivating prayer. They may sound highly personal and yet they seem to respond to a collective need. The experience they share may be simple but subtle in psychological implications, pent with feeling but geared to practical action, of its age yet timeless, an instrument of a new Christianity of a personal commitment which was evolving within the subconscious of an entire society. Is the Khrist Bhakta in the Hindi belt something of this nature?
In modern society, the most interesting thing for those who are bombarded by noise, is just silence. And this silence can be very eloquent of eternal truths. We Asians are spontaneously inclined to contemplation. Our people go searching to remote mountains, sacred rivers, holy places and monasteries because there are gurus and holy men there who can give them both silence and teaching. And the best that they can give is explanation of the Scriptures and interpretation of the Word of God (Lk 24:27).
15. The Word of God
We spoke of ways of making Christian teaching interesting: narrative style, relevance, variety, dramatization, activities. But the principal reason why people turn to Christian literature is not that it reads like a thrilling novel, but that it contains truth. People are convinced that it does so. One cannot easily link hilaritas with Acquinas or Rahner. But they are read. Christian authors of a mystic bend are bestsellers today. Millions of copies of the Bible are sold throughout the world every year. The Holy Scriptures are read because they contain truths important for humanity. Truth has pulling power by itself. It appeals to everyone’s good sense. It will be read. It will win acceptance.
Hans Urs von Balthasar used to say that the most attractive start for our teaching and proclamation is the beauty of our message, so fascinating, captivating, engrossing. Evelyn Waugh believed that the best way to draw people to the faith was presenting the beauty of Christianity. That precisely is what one finds in the Scriptures. Love for truth and goodness comes in consequence.
The history of Augustine’s search for truth is interesting. He gave up teaching rhetoric and began thinking of Baptism. It was at this stage that he approached Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, asking him how to prepare himself for the great Sacrament. Ambrose told him to read Isaiah. Augustine set himself to the task immediately, but found it boring. Then, as he kept of reading, at one moment his eyes were opened, and he began to understand the meaning of what he was reading, and was touched by what he read.
In the same way, for everyone, some initial effort has to be put in before the reading of the Bible becomes interesting. Later it may develop into a passion, and it may lead to a ‘passion for Christ, a passion for humanity’. But the preliminary price has to be paid. One needs to be introduced to the biblical vocabulary and an interest in the themes, and gradually to their deeper significance, in the way one needs to be introduced to the catechetical vocabulary or liturgical language.
Erasmus longed for the day when the Bible would become popular among ordinary people. He said, “I wish that the Scriptures might be translated into all languages, so that not only the Scots and the Irish, but also the Turk and the Saracen might read and understand them. I long that the farm-labourer might sing them as he follows his plough, the weaver hum them to the turn of his shuttle, traveller beguile the weariness of his journey with their stories.” In many places missionaries have put Bible themes into popular songs, thus assisting local communities to deepen their faith. This ministry deserves our attention in various languages.
16. We Struggle and Work Hard…Preaching and Teaching
(1 Tim 4:10, 13)
Catechizing is a challenging task. It involves hard work. When St. Paul spoke of preaching “in season and out of season”, he had in mind to the challenges that can come up in one’s ministry that need to be confronted. With those words he urges that one continues even in the midst of difficulties, speaking frankly and courageously, even in the face opposition and rejection.
Jesus said, “My food is...to finish the work he gave me to do…” (Jn 4:34).
Jesus said, “My Father is always working, and I too must work…” (Jn 5:17).
Jesus said, “As long as it is day, we must keep on doing the work…” (Jn 9:4).
“We…will give our full time to prayer and the work of preaching…”(Acts 6:4).
Paul, “With all humility and many tears I did my work …” (Acts 20:19).
Paul, “I only want to complete my mission and finish the work…” (Acts 20:24).
Paul, “...by working hard in this way we must help the weak…”(Acts 20:35).
Paul, “Whoever has authority should work hard…” (Rom 12:8).
Paul, “We wear ourselves out with hard work…” (1 Cor 4:12).
Paul, “I have worked harder than any of the other apostles… (1 Cor 15:10).
Paul, “Keep busy always in your work for the Lord…” (1 Cor 15:58).
Paul, “We have been overworked and gone without sleep…”( 2 Cor 6:5).
Paul, “I have worked much harder…” (2 Cor 11:23).
Paul, “There has been work and toil;…I have gone without sleep...”(2 Cor 11:27).
Paul, “...they have worked hard with me to spread the Gospel…” (Phil 4:3).
Paul, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart…” (Col 3:23).
Paul, “Surely you remember how we worked and toiled…” (1 Thess 2:9).
Paul, “We worked day and night…” (1 Thess 2:9).
Paul, “We worked and toiled; we kept working day and night…” (2 Thess 3:8).
Paul, “We struggled and worked hard…” (1 Tim 4:10).
Paul, “…especially those who work hard preaching and teaching…” (1 Tim 5:17).
Paul, “You must…do the work of a preacher of the Good News…” (2 Tim 4:5).
Peter, “Do your work…from a real desire to serve…” (1 Pet 5:2).
John, “You are so faithful in the work you do…” (3 Jn 1:5).
Rev, “I know how hard you have worked…” (Rev 2: 2).
Rev, “They will enjoy rest from their hard work…” (Rev 14:13).
17. The Person of Catechist
The wonder-worker behind everything is the Catechist. Ultimately everything depends on him/her. He/she can change a defeat into a success, a set-back into an advantage, a period of crisis into a golden opportunity. The magic wand he wields is his faith. His strength is his inner life. That is why the person of the Catechist is very important.
It would be highly desirable if he has a vast variety of skills, e.g. for organization, administration, teaching, entertaining. The wider his interest, the more useful he can be. However, the Catechist is primarily a person of God. He loves to pray. He loves his annual retreat, his monthly recollection, his daily devotions. He loves to be alone with God. He loves to search the Scriptures. He is essentially a spiritual person. The power of the resurrection is visible in him.
The Catechist loves people. He loves his co-workers. He is not jealous of them. He does not consider them his competitors. He loves the faithful. He loves those beyond the fold. He changes his opponents into his collaborators. As St Paul says, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things”(1 Cor 3:7). He has patience. He waits. He takes risks. He is willing to take the blame. His ultimate motive in everything is love.
The true teacher of the faith keeps his goals ever in mind. He is not lost, as it often happens, in a labyrinth of means. If he meets with difficulty, he faces it. If he is defeated, he begins again; if he comes across the impossible, he seeks strength from the Lord and struggles on. As St Paul writes, “We are often troubled, but not crushed; sometimes in doubt, but never in despair; there are many enemies, but we are never without a friend; and though badly hurt at times, we are not destroyed ( 2 Cor 4:8).
The teacher of religion, while sparing no pains to lead people to conversion, recognizes the need for conversion that he himself has. Thus, conversion becomes not something preached from the books, but a personal experience he goes through every day. St Paul says, “Yet we who have this spiritual treasure are like common clay pots, to show that the supreme power belongs to God, not to us (2 Cor 4:7).
I can do all things in him who strengthens me (Phil 4:13).
