At the heart of the faith” “

An unprecedented consultation to renew “the proposal of the faith in present-day society”: that is what the French bishops call for in a 64-page document with the title “Going to the heart of the faith, questions on the future of catechesis”, to be published and distributed in religious bookshops throughout the country in mid-February. “The term catechesis – explains a press release put out by the Episcopal Conference to launch the consultation – is often understood as the sum of the content to be transmitted or taught and has ended up designating almost exclusively what is now meant by catechism of children aged from 8 to 12. The document ‘Going to the heart of the faith…’, by contrast, invites the Christian communities to restore Christian initiation to the centre of catechesis and to acknowledge that the demand for catechetical formation is being expressed today by all age groups”. The bishops ask the Christian communities to read the dossier and to send them their proposals and suggestions before Easter 2004. The contributions received will serve to draft a new document with guidelines on catechesis. To animate discussion, the National Centre for Religious Education is promoting, from January to March, a series of 7 interregional forums in seven French cities, involving in the discussion the teams of the diocesan services for catechesis. An international symposium on “Catechesis in a world in transformation” is also to be held in Paris from 12 to 15 February. Promoted by France’s national Institute for Catechesis, it will be attended by some 500 experts from all over the world. In fact, the French bishops have been working on the drafting of a new dossier on catechesis since the spring of 2001, and in November last year they issued an appeal urging “all the people of God” to participate in the initiative. “For a long time – says the message – catechetical activity has concerned itself with believers, and worked for the maturation of their faith. In an environment that has become hostile and critical, we have had to justify our faith to make it credible”. But the situation today has changed. “Ever more people – write the bishops – are knocking at our doors in the search of a possible journey of faith. From the Gospel they seek the power to renew their life”.