Catechesis in Contemporary Culture: Relativism

This new series examines key features of contemporary culture that characterize the ‘field’ into which the Word is sown by catechists today. There is no such thing as truth!’ ‘That may be wrong to you, but it’s right for me!’ ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!’ We have all heard these maxims in some form or another. They express a philosophical position by which many people direct their lives: relativism. In a homily given on Monday 18 April 2005 Pope Benedict XVI spoke of ‘the dictatorship of relativism’. Catechizing persons immersed in a culture of relativism is one of the most difficult tasks of catechesis in our time.