“We are convinced that the phenomenon that distinguishes the religious situation of our time is the fragmentation and schism of the message by the practice of the Catholic faith. That’s why the Christian faith is losing its power of synthesis and the consequence is that many people in present-day society have difficulty is seeing what it has to do with their life or even fail to see it altogether”, said Cardinal Simonis, president of the Dutch episcopate, on the occasion of the recent presentation of a pastoral letter on catechesis. The letter, with the title “The Splendour of the Word”, is intended to be a kind of thanksgiving for all those who not only “are responsible in various capacities for catechesis at the parish or diocesan level and actively engaged in it, but who are also trying to find a new impulse for catechesis for the years to come in the Netherlands”. The declared aim of the letter is to open debate within the Catholic community by posing a series of questions intended to quicken this dialogue, through which, the bishops hope, it may be possible to compose a “Dutch directory for catechesis”. The letter has four parts: “In the first section, which tackles the problem of the transformation of catechesis in the current social context, the bishops note that a radical change has taken place in the way in which people are religious. Individualism, authenticity and the importance of feeling have become the keywords of this new way of believing. This challenges Christians to penetrate to the core of their faith. “Today we naturally experience religion and spirituality in a different way than previous generations. People now choose far more according to their own convictions. Christian faith in our society has become an option of life together with many others”. “Faith like life” is the title of the second part of the document, which tackles the problem of the relation between faith and life. “Acting in such a way that people discover Christ like life itself: that is the most important challenge of catechesis today”, write the bishops. “A new approach to parish catechesis” is the theme of the third section that develops the concepts of “catechesis as initiation”, of “catechesis according to the catechumenal model”, of its relation with the liturgy, its being missionary, catechesis of the sacraments, and attention to particular groups. “The Christian community of the faithful guided by catechesis” is the fourth and concluding part. It suggests an intergenerational aspect of catechesis aimed at “involving young and old together in an exchange of experiences”.
