CATECHESIS AND EVANGELISATION IN A SALESIAN CONTEXT |
What are the content and the criteria for evangelization and catechesis?
The General Directory for Catechesis (GDC 1997) makes a summary of several previous document on catechesis when it states:
“The model for all catechesis is the baptismal catechumenate when by specific formation, an adult converted to belief is brought to explicit profession of baptismal faith during the Paschal Vigil. … This catechumenal formation should inspire the other forms of catechesis in both their objectives and in their dynamism. …Catechesis for adults, since it deals with persons capable of an adherence that is fully responsible, must be considered the chief form of catechesis. All other forms, which are indeed always necessary, are in some way oriented to it.” (GDC 59)
2. What are the criteria of a catechumenal formation?
It is not the same as catechism lessons. It is a process inviting all Christians into a journey of conversion and into a way of life based on Christ and the Gospel. Paul says: “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” (2Cor 4:10)
3. What are the catechumenal criteria?
From the early Church onwards, all the way to Benedict XVI’s Encyclical: Deus caritas est, (see no. 20-25), these have always been identified as the five criteria of Christian witness (marturia).
CHRISTIANS ARE CALLED TO BE VISIBLE AND CREDIBLE WITNESSES (marturia) TO THE LIFE, DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS |
Kerygma
|
Jesus Christ |
Evangelia
|
The Gospel |
Koinonia
|
The community |
Leitourgia
|
The prayer life of the community |
Diakonia
|
The mission of the community |
The following table expands further the above diagram:
SIGNS OF CHRISTIAN WITNESS (marturia) |
1. |
KERYGMA |
The followers of Christ must show signs that they have placed Jesus Christ at the very centre of their lives; they must show signs of a deep and ever growing relationship with Jesus Christ who through his life, death and resurrection has brought salvation, redemption and sanctification to each one of them and to every man and woman and to the whole creation.
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2. |
EVANGELIA |
The followers of Christ must show signs that their relationship with Jesus Christ is based on the Gospel.; they are growing in their knowledge and love of the Gospel and turn to the Gospel as a source of their nourishment and growth. They are willing to bear witness to the Gospel in their everyday life.
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3. |
KOINONIA |
The followers of Christ have learned and experienced that their relationship with Jesus and their living of the Gospel can only take place within a community. They therefore shows signs of wanting to be a part of the life and activities of the community; they want to belong and begin to look on the Christian community as their family, sharing its life and tradition and beliefs.
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4. |
LEITOURGIA |
The followers of Christ desire to join the community in living out their baptismal priesthood through personal prayer for the whole world and through participating in the public prayer of the whole Church through the celebration of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist.
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5. |
DIAKONIA |
The followers of Christ must show signs and willingness to live their lives as a service of the community and they share in the privilege and responsibility of carrying out the mission entrusted by Christ to the Church; the accept and desire to use their talents and their charisms for the building up of the Church, the body of Christ.
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4. What does this mean in practice?
If all catechesis must find inspiration in its objectives and its dynamism on the catechumenal model, we need to base and orient all our Salesian process of evangelization and catechesis towards it.
The following diagram is an adaptation of the catechumenal model as applied to our Salesian context.
The objectives of evangelization and catechesis in a Salesian context must be based on a lived experience of what it means being a Salesian
SALESIAN WITNESS (marturia) |
Kerygma |
to know, to love, to make Christ the centre and the model of their life and of the way they live, as Don Bosco did. |
Evangelia |
to know the Gospel and to understand its meaning, to love the gospel and turn to it as a source of nourishment, and to bear witness to the Gospel in their lives as Don Bosco did. |
Koinonia |
to have a deep sense of the Church as the family of Christ; to have a sense of ownership and belonging to the Church; to own the Church’s faith, customs and traditions, s Don Bosco did; to see our Salesian Congregation as a part of the Church and at the service of the Church with the specific task of caring for the young most in need. This is our way of living out the Gospel and our sequela Christi. |
Leitourgia |
to learn to pray both in their private life and with the community through a pattern of prayer which is simple and yet heartfelt; to believe that God’s loving deeds become real in the liturgical and sacramental celebrations, especially the sacraments of reconciliation and eucharist; to long for the eucharist as the source and summit of the Church’s identity and mission |
Diakonia |
to desire to be a part of the mission of the Church in a way which is both Salesian and ecclesial; to give witness to a life which is lived with the young and for the young as a way of witnessing our ‘Da mihi animas, coetera tolle; to invite the young towards a vocational choice that challenges them to offer their lives for the building of the Kingdom of God. |
6. What do these criteria say to us?
Our starting point must be Jesus Christ, the Gospels and the Church. I am sure Don Bosco would cringe if, in our effort to ‘Return to Don Bosco’, we displace Jesus Christ, the Gospels and the Church in order to put him at the centre.
The painting of Mary Help of Christians begin with the eye of God the Father, who sends the Holy Spirit towards Mary who brings forth Jesus Christ to the world. This Trinitarian image is surrounded by the four evangelists (Gospels) and by the 12 Apostles (the primary and first catechists and evangelizers) and further down the Church we have the paintings of another four great catehists and evangelizers: Augustine, Amborse, Athanasius and John Chrysostom. Don Bosco must be seen, studied, loved and imitated within this context and not in isolation.
7. What are some practical application of this process?
These five criteria gives a framework to the following areas:
as mentioned earlier they are the framework of our process of evangelization and catechesis. It is not just an intellectual exercise but a way of life. Dowe truly evangelise and catechize with the heart of Don Bosco who always guided the young towards Christ, the Gospels, the Church, towards a life of prayer and the sacraments and towards a life lived in service of others?
These five criteria can also become the basis for the way we present the lives and the witness of our Saints to the young, to our collaborators and to our communities. How did Don Bosco, Dominic Savio, etc. show and live out their love of Christ, love of the Gospel, love of the Church, love of prayer and the sacraments, and their mission towards others?
These are also the spiritual criteria of each individual Salesian. Are we true sons of Don Bosco ever deepening our love of Jesus Christ, living faithfully according the evangelical counsels, as loyal and faithful members of the Church, as persons who pray and long for the sacraments, especially Reconciliation and Eucharist, as persons who live their ‘Da mihi animas, coetera tolle’ with the same intensity and urgency in Don Bosco’s heart.
The same criteria could be used by the formators during the process of formation and for Rectors and Provincials as the criteria for ongoing formation when meeting with the individual confreres. Asking how the confrere is living out the five criteria.
These criteria could be used to discern the Salesian witness of our Communities and our Provinces. How does our community and our Province give witness to Jesus Christ, to the Gospel, to the Church, to a life of prayer and sacraments, to an urgency for mission and service?
These criteria could also be used to evaluate and discern the Salesian charism of our works (Youth clubs, parishes, schools, etc.). How does this Salesian work give witness to Jesus Christ, to the Gospel, to the Church, to a life of prayer and sacraments, to an urgency for mission and service?
8. What is the role of the Eucharist in the Salesian process of evangelization and catechesis?
Pope Benedict XVI answers this question in the following way.
“If the Eucharist is truly the source and summit of the Church’s life and mission, it follows that the process of Christian initiation must constantly be directed to the reception of this sacrament.” From Apostolic Exhortation, Sacramentum caritatis (The Sacrament of Love), Pope Benedict XVI, 2007, no. 17.
It follows therefore that the Eucharist is
1. the summit of our work of evangelization and catechesis because it is
the ultimate experience of communion with Christ (kerygma);
the primary moment of commitment to the Gospel, because it is Christ himself who speaks to us when the Scriptures are proclaimed in Church (SC 7) (evangelia)
the most intense and intimate moment of communion with the Church as the communion of saints (koinonia)
it is the highest form of prayer and liturgy (leitourgia)
it is the sacrament that send us out to be living witnesses of the death and resurrection of Jesus (diakonia).
2. the source of what we are sent out to do.
We are sent to invite others to share the wonderful and life-giving experience of Jesus Christ, the Gospels, the Church, the prayer and sacraments of the Church;
We are also sent to invite others not only to share these riches, but to also challenge them to become ‘missionaries’ to others as a response to Jesus Christ’s desire that “they all may have life and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10).
