The Catechetical Review - Communicating Christ for a New Evangelization

Articles Under: Articles from Bishops

On June 25, 2020, the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, headed by its president, His Excellency Archbishop Rino Fisichella, presented for the Universal Church a new Directory for Catechesis . The first directory, named the General Catechetical Directory , was issued on April 11, 1971, by the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy and approved by His Holiness St. Paul VI. The second directory, named the General Directory for Catechesis , was promulgated by the same Congregation on August 15, 1997, and was approved by Pope St. John Paul II. In 2013, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI... Read more
El 25 de octubre del año en curso, El Pontificio Consejo Vaticano para la Promoción de la Nueva Evangelización publicó el nuevo Directorio para la Catequesis . Este es el tercer documento apostólico explícito y oficial sobre la catequesis en tiempos recientes. El primero, el Directorio Catequístico General de 1971, hizo hincapié sobre los resultados del Concilio Vaticano Segundo, mientras que el segundo, el Directorio General para la Catequesis de 1997, se refirió extensivamente al Catecismo de la Iglesia Católica que había aparecido unos años previos en 1992. En esta nueva edición, se ha destacado a la catequesis como proceso... Read more
On June 25th of the current year, the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization released the new Directory for Catechesis. This is the third explicit apos- tolic and official document on catechesis in recent times. The first one, the General Catechetical Directory of 1971, emphasized the results of the Second Vatican Council, while the second one, the General Directory for Catechesis of 1997, referred extensively to the Catechism of the Catholic Church that had appeared some years before in 1992. In this new edition, catechesis as a process has been underlined even more than in previous... Read more
Psalm 42:1, “Like a deer thirsting for running water,” illustrates the soul touched by the grace of God. The enthusiastic catechist needs to be confident that God is already at work in the student. However, amid the increasing isolation of youth in the secular culture, it is easy to be less than confident. The growing number of “nones” (those who identify with no formal religion) include those who have, at times, searched for the truth and found the Gospel wanting. Perhaps more typical are those youth who are less motivated to search and too ready to give a shrug and... Read more
Ample research has shown that a great majority of young people are leaving the Church before age 22 and choosing to never return. Many studies have been done on the Millennial Generation to discover their affinity (or lack thereof) to the Christian Faith. The Church’s response to this lack of faith is the New Evangelization. In 1990, Pope John Paul II issued his encyclical letter Mission of the Redeemer , in which he said, “ I sense that the moment has come to commit all of the Church’s energies to a new evangelization …. No believer in Christ, no institution... Read more
Amid the dark shadows that have at times been cast over the face of the Church, too often obscuring for our contemporaries the clear light of Christ shining from her (see Lumen Gentium n. 1), we need to focus anew on the universal call to holiness . It is very striking that, amid all the crises of the 20 th Century, the central message of the Second Vatican Council was simple, direct, and clear: that every one of us, in every state of life, is called to the fullness of the Christian life and the perfection of love; that is,... Read more
Looking back on the past and on the development of the church since the Second Vatican Council, there are two well-known and profound documents, which have brought the biblical call for evangelization into our pastoral consciousness: Evangelii nuntiandi in 1974 and Evangelii gaudium in 2013. Both apostolic letters have reflected on the manner in which the Gospel can be proclaimed and inculturated in our modern times under secular conditions. Both apostolic letters, on the one hand, are the result of a previous worldwide Synod of Bishops and, on the other, demonstrate well the contribution of the respective pontiff that wrote... Read more
In early April 2018, Pope Francis released his Apostolic Exhortation Rejoice and Be Glad , in which he invites us to respond generously to God’s invitation to holiness of life. We are called to be holy disciples of the Lord; but we need to learn from the witness of saints who have gone before us, not just officially canonized saints but also saintly people next door or in our extended family. While urging us not to fall into the trap of ego-centered self-help programs or the illusion that we can be truly spiritual apart from the Church, he outlines three... Read more
El papel de la familia como modelo catequético para el ministerio hispano Cuando tenía unos doce años de edad, fui a la casa de un compañero para visitarlo. Él había nacido en los Estados Unidos de América, pero sus papás habían nacido y se habían criado en Polonia y habían inmigrado a Chicago siendo jóvenes adultos. Esa tarde, estábamos en la planta alta jugando un juego de mesa cuando su mamá llamó desde el sótano, donde estaba terminando con el lavado de la ropa. Le llamó, “Tony! Trow me down da stairs a rag!” (“¡Tony! Lánzame escalones abajo un trapo!”)... Read more
The Role of the Family as the Catechetical Model for Hispanic Ministry To read this article in Spanish, click here. When I was about 12 years old, I visited a classmate at his home. He had been born in the United States of America, but his parents were born and raised in Poland and had immigrated to Chicago as young adults. On that afternoon, we were upstairs playing a board game when his mother called up from the basement, where she was finishing up the laundry. She called, “Tony! Trow me down da stairs a rag!” He and I looked... Read more