The Catechetical Review - Communicating Christ for a New Evangelization

Articles Under: Leadership & Catechist Formation

RCIA & Adult Faith Formation – Catholicity: The Catholic Non-Conspiracy
The human heart loves mysteries. By mystery, I mean hidden knowledge that requires a sleuth to uncover the truth. We love the idea of discovering lost secrets that upend our entire understanding of our world. Think of space aliens and the secret Area 51 in New Mexico. Think of movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark where the “true purpose” of the Ark of the Covenant is revealed or National Treasure , which divulges the “real” mission behind the Knights Templar and features the discovery of an ancient, buried treasure. There are even “mysteries” about the Catholic Church found in... Read more
That They May Be One
The seventeenth chapter of John’s Gospel captures an intimate conversation between Jesus and God the Father. Jesus and his disciples will soon cross the Kidron Valley and enter into the Garden of Gethsemane. He will be arrested and enter into his Passion. “The hour has come” (Jn 17:1). Earlier in John’s Gospel, when Mary approaches Jesus at the wedding at Cana, Jesus responds by saying, “My hour has not yet come” (Jn 2:4). Later, when Jesus heals on the Sabbath, the people seek to arrest him, but “no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come”... Read more
Editor’s Reflections: The Church: Becoming What We Are Free
“About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they’re just one thing, and we shouldn’t complicate the matter.” [1] These are the striking words of St. Joan of Arc, boldly spoken as she stood trial. “They’re just one thing” because Jesus himself described his relationship to the nascent Church as the relationship of vines united to a single branch (cf. Jn 15:1–5). In other words, while distinctions are not difficult to find between Christ and the Christians who make up the Church, at root (forgive my pun), they are one living thing. We live in a time of heightened... Read more
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Children’s Catechesis: Educating in Christ – A Classroom Adaptation of the Work of Sofia Cavalletti
“T here seemed to be a fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones . The effort to restrain it wearied me, I could not bear it .” Jeremiah 20:9 An Unexpected Call In September, 2018, I received a bemusing phone call from Anthony Gordon, the director of Catholic schools in a rural Australian Diocese. He asked me whether I would consider applying for the position of Diocesan Director of Religious Education and Mission. At the time, I was working in my “dream job” as a professor of religious education at the University of Notre Dame in Sydney, Australia... Read more
From the Shepherds: Community Life - in the Directory for Catechesis Free
In 2020, the Shepherds of the Church gave us a treasure in the new Directory for Catechesis . Dr. Farey was a member of the working party for the bishops on the new Directory and continues additional reflections on its practical implications from the last issue and will finish in the next issue. It is an unswerving Catholic conviction that “The Christian community is the origin , locus and goal of catechesis” (DC 133, my emphasis). This phrasing is taken directly from the catechetical directory of 1997 (GDC 254). Other Christians would not claim this so explicitly. They are more... Read more
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Stay connected to your parish or school. Download myParishApp here for free. This is a paid advertisement in the July-September 2021 issue. Advertisements should not be viewed as endorsements from the publisher.Read more
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To learn more about Echoing the Mystery or to order click here . This is a paid advertisement in the July-September 2021 issue. Advertisements should not be viewed as endorsements from the publisher.Read more
Practicing Organic Reading with the Catechism
In its “practical directions” for reading the Catechism the authors have placed a brief instruction: This catechism is conceived as an organic presentation of the Catholic faith in its entirety. It should be seen therefore as a unified whole. Numerous cross-references in the margin of the text (numbers found at the end of a sentence referring to other paragraphs that deal with the same theme), as well as the analytical index at the end of the volume, allow the reader to view each theme in its relationship with the entirety of the faith. [1] What is the meaning of such... Read more