Catechesis: generating for faith

In the past days, in the seat of Spanish Bishops’ Conference (CEE) was presented the document, “Cherishing, furthering and promoting the memory of Jesus Christ”, a pastoral instruction on CEE catechists for children and adolescents. The pastoral instruction is aimed at highlighting the relevance of efforts made across the years for the life of the Church in Spain whose effort is to provide the keys of a catechesis that begins in Christian life, to present a complete overview of the itinerary of this catechesis and spread information on the catecheses developed by the Spanish Church. The publications. This commitment led to the publication, on the part of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, of a volume and of two catechisms for the transmission of the faith to children, adolescents and youths: “First steps into faith”, “Jesus is our Lord”, and “Witnesses of the Lord”. These catechisms were compiled in the past years and have already been adopted in dioceses, with a significant circulation. The latest, “Witnesses of the Lord”, released past October, was presented to the Pope a few months ago as well as in 23 dioceses and four ecclesiastic provinces. Over 20 thousand copies have already been sold, and it is currently at its third edition. Being able to consult a catechism for each stage of Christian initiation is a very positive fact. “Witnesses of the Lord” completes the catechisms for children and adolescents. The importance of catechesis. The pastoral instruction aims at reminding parents, priests, catechists and educators in faith of the importance of catechesis in Christian initiation. It consists of three chapters. The first places catechesis at the service of Christian initiation of adolescents, underlying fundamental aspects. The second, mindful of the situation of children and adolescents in Spain, presents the catechetical itinerary of Christian initiation, its stages and related specific aspects. The third describes the basic documents for catechesis, starting with CEE catechisms, along with the documents published by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, offered as tools for the formation of young people and adults. Treasuring the memory of God. The instruction refers to the words of Pope Francis: “Looking at you I ask myself, who are catechists? They are people who keep the memory of God alive; they keep it alive in themselves and they are able to revive it in others. This is something beautiful: to remember God”. As regards the content of the instruction, a section was added containing the fundamental keys to relay an appropriate pastoral of Christian initiation, along with certain elements and dimensions to be contemplated in the path of initiation to the faith. The document highlights the need for “conversion”, a fundamental need along the journey of faith, thus also the “spiritual itinerary” that children and adolescents are called to follow in their Christian initiation. From this perspective, the document highlights the stages of their religious evolution so that may refer to them along the spiritual itinerary, although they must always be applied following the criteria of initiation pedagogy. The present context. The instruction animates also Christian communities to the deepening of this responsibility of generating and educating in faith and in Christian life. The document presents the difficulties encountered in this challenge and invites to acknowledge the fact that faith, a fundamental condition for the successful journey of Christian initiation, cannot be taken for granted by many of the recipients of the various catechistic proposals, nor by many parents demanding the sacraments for their offspring. The entire document highlights the need for a solid renewal of the catechistic practice at the service of Christian initiation, which is already happening in many dioceses. Only starting with solid foundations and a solid theological, ecclesial and human structure will it be possible to undertake the itinerary of Christian initiation proposed by this document.