Re-Reading the Catechetical Signs of the Times

Since the Second Vatican Council, Catholics have been clear that faithful people should and must “read the signs of the times.” We need to be attentive to our life situation, for it is the context out of which we come to understand who God is and who we are in God’s plan. In reading the signs, we consider the features of our context that promote the gospel, and those that block the gospel from taking root in our daily lives and in the larger world we seek to love as God loves.

The National Directory for Catechesis (NDC) invites us to notice our context and name the features of our society and our Church that affect the ministry of catechesis. A catechetical directory is a set of guidelines about the practice of catechesis, a ministry that is at once vibrant and in need of renewal in our Church today. It is a unique and relatively new type of book; the story of its development takes us back to Vatican II.

Directory: A Legacy of Vatican II
The genre of a catechetical directory began with the Second Vatican Council. Bishop Pierre Lacointe of Beauvais, France, proposed the composition of general catechetical directory for the universal Church. The perceived need for a directory came from the belief that this complex ministry (1) needed support and leadership from the bishops, (2) required knowledge of the pastoral situation in each place and time, and (3) demanded some guidelines that would support the practice in various settings throughout the world. The council fathers imagined a directory to provide guidelines to establish programs, meet the needs of the populations to whom catechesis is directed, and offer catechetical leaders “a treetop view” of the many features of the turf below, the ministry in all its facets, enriched by the works of so many generous Catholics.

From Lacointe’s proposal and the work of many others, the idea of a catechetical directory took shape and became reality in 1971, with the publication of the General Catechetical Directory. A hallmark of Vatican II was its attention to collegiality and subsidiarity; that is, the empowering of the Church in each nation, through its bishops, to take responsibility for various aspects of pastoral life, including catechesis. The effort to write a national directory for the Church in the United States came from this emphasis.

A Directory for the Church in the United States
The first National Catechetical Directory, entitled Sharing the Light of Faith, did just that. The process of consultation that led to the composition and promulgation of the first directory is a significant story in itself. It is safe to assert that the directory project taught that generation of bishops and catechists the value of processes of consultation. The first directory anticipated many of the steps in the process of consultation that eventuated in the writing of the U.S. Bishops’ pastoral letters on peace in 1983, and on economic justice in 1986. It involved many people in the writing of the document, by inviting them to reflect on their work as a ministry, and by placing catechesis in dialogue with the Catholic people of the U.S.A. in their diversity and variety. One may ask: “So why the need for another national directory?” Two indisputable facts: a new general directory calls for new national directories, and the years leading up to the new directory included interesting developments and many changes in the catechetical scene in the United States.

A New Moment and an Invitation to Re-Read the Signs of the Times
The writers of the NDC began the work of describing catechesis by first taking stock of the current signs of the times. Like the opening chapters of the first national directory, the opening chapter of the NDC tells the story of the context for the practice of catechesis in the United States. The context, shaped by twenty-first century life and the various cultural expressions of Catholicism, differs from the context more than a quarter century ago. Hence the U.S. Bishops felt the need to have all of us “re-read the signs of the times” and to consider the ministry of catechesis in light of the developments in the years since the first directory appeared in print. What are some of those new signs that deserve special attention and careful re-reading?

Two important developments that deserve to be re-read as catechetical signs of the times are: (1) The reconstituted relationship between evangelization and catechesis, and (2) adult faith as the goal and reference point on the lifelong journey of forming disciples in faith. These two features of the catechetical context today help to shape the current practice, and they inform the writing of the National Directory for Catechesis.

For Reflection and Reading:
Consider the first chapter of the NDC, entitled “Proclaiming the Gospel in the United States.” Reflect on your experience and ask yourself:

What features of the descriptions in this chapter are found among the people whom I seek to serve?
In what ways does this chapter challenge me to recognize and respect the context for catechesis in my particular setting (parish, school, etc.)?
What features of proclaiming the gospel in my “culture” and context do I find to be great strengths and helps to effective catechesis? Great challenges or hindrances to effective catechesis?

About the Author

Michael P. Horan, Ph.D.
Dr. Horan is Professor of Religious Education and Pastoral Theology at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. Dr. Horan, who holds a Ph.D. in Religious Education from the Catholic University of America, ministered to youth and young adults in high schools and college campuses in New York and Washington, D.C. He holds a special interest in the preparation of lay ministers for leadership in the Catholic Church. For the past ten years Michael has taught Catholic lay ministers in two graduate programs at LMU, while teaching teachers and campus ministers at Boston College each summer. Michael is an author of two works on the General Directory for Catechesis and is a contributing author of Blest Are We, the parish and school religious education series. Dr. Horan chairs the Advisory Board for the Office of Pastoral Associates for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and he is a member of the Board of Directors of St. John's Seminary, Camarillo, California. Michael and his wife, Patricia Fiedler, live in Marina del Rey, California, and they are active parishioners at Saint Monica Church in Santa Monica.