” “Huge programme of reflection” “

The French Church has decided to focus on catechesis and has distributed a document with the title “Going to the Heart of the Faith” in religious bookshops throughout the country”. In the document, the bishops invite Catholic communities to respond to the provocations offered at the end of each paragraph and to send in their replies to the general secretariat of the Episcopal Conference by Easter 2004. The contributions will serve for the drafting of a new document (to replace the two previous texts issued respectively in 1964 and 1979) containing guidelines and recommendations for “the catechesis of the future”. What’s new – writes Archbishop Jean Pierre Ricard, president of the French Episcopal Conference, in his preface to the document – is that, to carry out this task, the French Church has decided to enlist the help of all the communities and all the Christians of France by opening “a huge programme of reflection” so that each may “gain awareness of his own responsibility” and make his own contribution. (cf. SIR no.9 of 7.02.03) “A difficult profession”. There are some 180,000 catechists in France and an overall judgment of the work they perform cannot but be “positive”. “In often difficult conditions – says the bishops in their document – they work at the side of adolescents who know nothing about the Christian faith, giving the best of themselves”. The fact is – emphasizes Denis Villepelet, director of the Institute of Catechesis in Paris – that “catechists have to cope with a difficult profession”, especially because they come into conflict with a world in transformation. “Our world – explains Msgr. Michel Dubost, president of the episcopal Commission for catechesis – has changed. Once upon a time, a person had the bell-tower of his parish church as his point of reference and lived at the centre of his village. Today no such centre exists any longer and the Word of God must be addressed to each person”. The same goes for catechesis: in the past it was essentially addressed at children; it was assumed that adults were already familiar with the riches of the Christian faith. Today the need for formation is expressed at all ages and requires catechetical itineraries tailored to different age groups. But above all – stress the bishops – it requires a profound inner renewal”. Being “light in the world”… The programme proposed by the bishops takes the form of a four-stage process of reflection. In the first (with the title “Light in the heart of the world”) the document explains: “Human beings live in the world. We Christians too live in the world, sharing the same fears and anxieties with everyone else. A Christian is not someone who has already arrived: he is the brother in humanity of the person who gropes in darkness and seeks to find his way”. It is this humanity that “knocks at the door” of the churches, especially under the pressure of important events such as “the arrival of a birth or the experience of suffering”. Others turn to the parishes for “occasional reasons”; still others have no interest in establishing closer contact. … witnesses of the Word. The second stage of reflection is focused on the “Word of God”: “He who listens, accepts having been changed and renewed from inside”. “Have you time – ask the bishops – to describe how the Word of God has given meaning and joy to your life?”. Frequently, however, biblical language is felt to be “alien, obscure and incomprehensible”. The bishops ask the communities if they have identified “concrete means” to propose the Word of God in an appropriate way to the times we live in. The third stage extends the reflection to the sacraments in the light of the fact that “ever more widely people think it is possible to believe” without celebrating them. …community of life. The last part of the document is focused on the community. What makes it credible – write the bishops – is not the words we speak but the life we live, “the reciprocal attention that reigns among the community’s members and is visible for everyone to see and the brotherly relations experienced within it”. The problem is that ever more people “are distancing themselves” from the Church; “others have never had any experience of it”; still others, “to safeguard their freedom, are careful not to be caught”. We are eager – write the bishops – to embrace what the Spirit will say to us through your testimonies, answers and suggestions”. The document ends with a conviction: “catechesis shall only be a sign of the newness brought by Christ at the heart of our world if it springs from joy”.