Catechetical Methodology: Purposeful

Here we continue the series about putting twelve ‘keys’ of the pedagogy of God into practice in our catechetical sessions. We are looking at how we can adapt, in small practical ways, what we normally do in order to come closer to the pedagogy of God in our sessions. These ‘keys’ that we have been examining in the series have all been drawn from the very structuring of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and are discussed in The Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Craft of Catechesis, by Fr Pierre de Cointet, Professor Barbara Moran and Dr Petroc Willey. One of the keys is to ensure that our catechesis is ‘purposeful’ – that is, that it is a catechesis which keeps God’s purpose clearly to the fore. We are workers in his vineyard and we join the Blessed Trinity in the Church where God’s purpose, his plan, is being fulfilled. God’s purpose, his plan, can be stated in many ways, and we might summarise it by saying that it is the salvation of each person, ‘to reconcile and unite in himself, those who turn away from sin’ (CCC 234). How, then, can we make our catechesis purposeful? Here are four ways.