AVAILABLE FROM ABSTRACT Groome, Thomas H., Ed.

253 Pages·2012·3.11 MB·English

DOCUMENT RESUME
EA 029 845
ED 430 318
Groome, Thomas H., Ed.; Corso, Michael J., Ed.
AUTHOR
Empowering Catechetical Leaders.
TITLE
National Catholic Educational Association, Washington, DC.
INSTITUTION
ISBN-1-55833-219-7
ISBN
1999-00-00
PUB DATE
NOTE
252p.
National Catholic Educational Association, 1077 30th Street,
AVAILABLE FROM
NW, Suite 100, Washington, DC 20007-3852; Tel: [phone];
Fax: [phone]; Web site: http://www.ncea.org; e-mail:
[email protected]
Non-Classroom (055)
Guides
PUB TYPE
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EDRS PRICE
*Catholic Educators; *Catholic Schools; Catholics;
DESCRIPTORS
Elementary Secondary Education; Parochial Schools;
*Religious Education; Study Guides; *Teacher Empowerment;
Teachers
*Catechesis
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
This book is intended to help catechetical leaders stay
abreast of scholarship on Scriptures, students, and informed theology. The
themes of its essays vary widely--from the vision of educating for the reign
of God to the practicalities of how to constitute a parish committee for
"The Foundations
catechesis. The 10 essays are divided into 3 parts. Part 1,
of Catechesis," examines the purposes of Christian catechesis, the principles
of catechesis from ecclesial documents, and the processes of catechesis. Part
"The People of Catechesis," discusses the parish and family as catechist,
2,
the participants in catechesis, and the person of the catechist. The last
section, "The Realities of Catechesis," explores the qualities and
competencies of the catechetical leader and includes details on planning and
improving parish catechesis, practicalities of catechesis, the general
directory for catechesis, boards of education, canon law, religious-education
handbooks, gangs and religious education, due process, privacy rights, the
place of liturgy in catechesis, elements of catechetical planning, sources of
catechetical leadership, the art of loving, and obstacles to a balanced
spirituality. It is hoped that this book will provide catechists an informed
and insightful treatment of all major aspects of their ministry.
(RJM)
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EMPOWERING
CATECHETICAL
LEADERS
EDITED BY
THOMAS H. GROOME, ED.D.
AND MICHAEL J. CORSO, PH.D.
,Ameo'
NATIONAL CATHOLIC EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION
3
Copyright 1999
National Catholic Educational Association
1077 30th Street, NW, Suite 100
Washington, DC 20007-3852
ISBN 1-55833-219-7
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgement
Preface
vii
PART ONE
THE FOUNDATIONS OF CATECHESIS
The Purposes of Christian Catechesis
1
Thomas H. Groome
3
2
Principles of Catechesis from
Ecclesial Documents
Jane E. Regan
29
3
The Processes of Catechesis
Carl J. Pfeifer and Janaan Manternach 55
PART TWO
THE PEOPLE OF CATECHESIS
4
The Parish and Family as Catechist
Michael J. Corso
83
The Participants in Catechesis
5
Michael P. Horan
113
The Person of the Catechist
6
Wilkie Au
135
PART THREE
THE REALITIES OF CATECHESIS
Qualities and Competencies of the
7
Catechetical Leader
159
Fran Ferder
Planning and Improving Parish
8
Catechesis
Diana Dudoit Raiche
181
Practicalities of Catechesis
9
207
Mary Angela Shaughnessy
Claiming and Breaking Ground:
10
The General Directory for Catechesis
Thomas H. Groome
233
245
Contributors
6
Acknowledgment
The Mission 2000 Plan of the National Catholic Educational
Associa-
tion stated that one of its objectives is "to promote and inspire
excellence
in leadership development and renewal." To help realize this
leadership
objective in the field of religious education, the executive committee
of the
Chief Administrators of Catholic Education (CACE/NCEA) established
a
conmlittee to develop formational materials for parish directors of
re-
ligious education.
It was this decision that led to the writing of Empow-
ering Catechetical Leaders (ECL).
As with any important document, ECL is the fruit of
many labors.
Initially, it was envisioned as
a similar project to the three-volume work
entitled: Formation and Development of Catholic Education
(United States
Catholic Conference in conjunction with the NCEA). The
development
committee for ECL included the following: Dr. Joseph P. Sinwell
(chair),
diocesan director of religious education, Providence, RI; Virginia
Infantino,
diocesan director for evangelization and catechesis, San Diego,
CA; D'Esta
Verdicchio, diocesan director of religious education, Oklahoma
City, OK;
Rev. Richard Walsh,
secretary for education, Joliet, IL;
Frank Savage,
executive director, CACE; and parish directors of religious education
from
the National Association of Parish Catechetical Directors (NCPD):
former
executive committee presidents Jan Kayser, St. Thomas
Parish, Crystal
Lake, IL and Eileen Loughran, St. John Fisher Parish, Rancho Palo
Verdes,
CA. Dr. Barbara Campbell, associate executive director, NCEA
department
of religious education, served
as staff.
This co=ittee worked diligently to develop
a detailed outline for the
project. Eventually in the fall of 1996 the department of religious
education
assumed responsibility for completion of the project.
Dr. Barbara Campbell
Vi
EMPOWERING CATECHETICAL LEADERS
contacted Dr. Thomas H. Groome and Dr. Michael Corso and asked them
to serve as general and managing editors. Almost immediately they invited
others to assist them in writing for ECL: Wilkie Au, Fran Ferder, Michael
P. Horan, Carl J. Pfeifer and Janaan Manternach, and Diana Dudoit Raiche,
Jane E. Regan, and Mary Angela Shaughnessy.
With the planning and development of any quality text, the energies of
Besides the committee and the outstanding
many people are necessary.
authorship team, ECL is indebted to William H. Sadlier, Inc., which gave
wonderful encouragement and support to this effort through the personal
involvement of Frank Sadlier Dinger, Chairman of the Board, William
Sadlier Dinger, President, Dr. Gerard F. Baumbach, Executive Vice Presi-
In
dent and Publisher, and Dr. Eleanor Ann Brownell, Vice President.
addition Sadlier made a significant financial gift in an effort to keep the cost
of this text at a reasonable level for catechetical leaders. In short, ECL was
truly a community effort.
In closing we are confident that Empowering Catechetical Leaders will
serve as an excellent resource for veteran parish catechetical leaders as well
Catechesis
as in developing future leaders. The General Directory for
emphasizes how "any form of pastoral activity is placed at risk if it does
not rely on truly competent and trained personnel" (GDC, #234). May this
text enrich, challenge, and affirm all who use it and make them ever mindful
of their special and important task of sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ!
Robert I. Colbert, Executive Director
Joseph P. Sinwell, D. Min.
Department of Religious Education
President, NCDRE-CACE
vii
Preface
First, let us thank you and thank God for
your ministry as a catechetical
leader. Surely the Church carries
on no more important work than sharing
its faith and nurturing people to live
as disciples of Jesus in the midst of the
world. And you are in the frontline of this crucial
ministryvital to the
Church carrying on its central mission of evangelization and
catechesis. You
have an august responsibility. Thank
you for taking it so seriously.
Be assured, too, that the authors of these
essays realize full-well how
challenging a task is yours, the importance of it, and how
demanding to do it
effectively. All who write to you here, at
one time or another, have held "job
descriptions" similar to yours in a parish
or school setting. It is our commit-
ment to help meet the challenge of faith-filled and life-giving catechesis
that
prompts us to offer this ready-to-use resource both inspiring and practi-
calEmpowering Catechetical Leaders.
Stand back a bit to view the scholarly
resources required by this minis-
try. For good religious education/catechesis
one needs to draw upon the best
of scripture study and informed theology that reflects the
faith of our Church,
upon educational theory and practice and the relevant social sciences, and
then upon the theoretical and practical
resources that are particular to this
ecclesial function. While every pastoral minister should
continue to read to
enrich one's own faith and enhance effectiveness,
no busy leader can keep
up with such a vast breadth of literature and array of
resources.
So, writing as a team with expertise and experience in
those various
resources of catechetical ministry, we make readily available here the best of
scholarship relevant to the work of catechetical leaders. We
have done so
always with a view to pastoral practice and to promoting
effective catechesis
in our parishes, schools, and homes. Whether
you are a neophyte in this
viii
EMPOWERING CATECHETICAL LEADERS
ministry or a seasoned veteran, we hope you will find here a text that is both
inspiring and useful, both theoretically sound and practically helpful.
The themes of these essays vary from the grand vision of educating for
the Reign of God to the practicalities of how to constitute a parish committee
for catechesis. Such is the breadth of horizon and down-to-earth issue that
every catechetical leader must address regularly.
We have gathered the nine principal essays into three parts: The Foun-
dations of Catechesis; The People of Catechesis; and The Realities of
Each part, however, is equally important to the work of
Catechesis.
catechetical leaders; all nine essays are an essential piece to the mosaic of
catechesis. We conclude with a brief review of the General Directory for
Catechesis; it will serve as a guide for your own reading of this important
document. We are confident that you will find in these ten essays an in-
formed and insightful treatment of all the major aspects of Our ministry as a
leading catechist to your faith community.
We hope this collection of essays can serve as a ready referencea desk
top book that you keep close at hand and turn to often. Take opportunities to
spend reflective time with Empowering Catechetical Leaders, to mull over
its questions and proposals. It will be most effective to gather with a few
other leaders for shared conversation around each essay; this will also nur-
ture a community of support for each other in your ministry. We have in-
serted questions for reflection throughout each essaynot just at the end
to facilitate such "sharing faith" together.
We wish you God's best blessings on your wonderful ministry as a
catechetical leader, and on your family and faith community. We assure you
of our prayers and ask you to remember us likewise.
Sincerely,
Thomas H. Groome