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Whenever I think of a printed catechism, I think of a snapshot of a faith expressed in words and statically imprinted in a certain time. The Catechism of the Catholic Church was an exposition of our faith which serves as a sure norm from which other catechetical works and methods can draw their content... but surely the faith of the People of God grows and deepens with every new star astronomers find, every new sub-atomic particle a physicist explores, and every new tragedy that cause humanitarians to love more intentionally.
While print is static, those behind the printed words are not. I really appreciated this chapter because of the litany of catechetical personalities that Baumbach lists. As I look at the challenges of our present day, including the "intellectualization of theology" Dan Thomas speaks of, I cannot help but agree with Frank DeSiano's statement that "the project now is to recover a broader experience of formation." I wonder which of the personalities in our era will bubble up as the recognized prophets/teachers of our time... maybe the people Jeanne Winkelman spoke of. Maybe Jeanne, Dan or Frank?

Dear Reader: Who would you choose as a catechetical 'great' of our time?

The video is of NCCL's 2012 Catechetical Award Recipent giving a video acceptance talk.(Gerry Bambach was the recipient another year). "The National Conference for Catechetical Leadership presents to Sr. Angela Ann Zukowski, MHSH, D.Min. the 2012 NCCL Catechetical Award in recognition of her innovative, internet based learning initiatives in the areas of adult faith and catechist formation; her use of multi-media and promotion of technology..."
It seems to be a bit of a commercial for the University of Dayton's VLCFF, but it is much more. Listen and dream of what you can do to contribute to our Church's living faith.
-Tim Welch

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NCCL 2012 Catechetical Award Winner, Sr. Angela Zukowski, MHSH, D.Min.

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The National Conference for Catechetical Leadership presents to Sr. Angela Ann Zukowski, MHSH, D.Min. the 2012 NCCL Catechetical Award in recognition of her innovative, internet based learning initiatives in the areas of adult faith and catechist formation; her use of multi-media and promotion of technology through teaching, writing and speaking, and in particular, the creation of the University of Dayton Virtual Learning Community for Faith Formation (VLCFF), a collaborative learning initiative that addresses the diverse range of adult languages, interests, responsibilities, and availability.

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Question 8 on page 173 is
"What encouraging signs of discipleship do you see around you?"
Last week I was a facilitator for our parish gathering on Pope Francis' Synod on Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment. I had the privilege of talking with the young adults. The young adults who participated were passionate about their faith, but felt a lack of opportunities for their age group to form community and to evangelize with in our parish. I found this encouraging for our future. Two of the young men are discerning entering seminary. A couple of college age young adults said that even though they do not attend Mass regularly they still strongly identify themselves as catholic.  I do have great hope for our future. As a faith formation coordinator I see that the majority of the parents want to deepen their family's connection to the Church, they just do not know how. I also find a key point to the discussion is on page 171: "...catechesis is not an end in itself; it moves us along the way to the fire of God's love..."
Jeanne Winkelmann

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Chapter 1: Our Journey on the Way of Catechesis
Chapter 2: Rooting the Journey: Some Old Testament Foundations
Chapter 3: Identifying the Way: Jesus Christ, Teacher and Catechist
Chapter 4: Marking the Way: New Testament and the Emerging Church
Chapter 5: Framing the Way: The Church and the Catechumenate
Chapter 6: Spanning the Way: Catechesis through the Middle Ages

Chapter 7: Sustaining the Way: Fracture and Reform

Chapter 8: Reigniting the Way: Catechesis Bridging a Millennium

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Chapter 7 put the role of the "Catechism" into a clearer perspective for me.  Chapter 6 talked about how religious education centered around the Lord's Prayer and the Creed; I could see how a mostly non-literate society could set up a tradition, mostly oral, to help focus the basic content of belief (and a lot of popular piety to hold it all together).  With this chapter, the Catechism seems to become an instrument in the internal religious wars of Christians--how to differentiate ourselves from the Protestants and how to maintain Catholic identity vis a vis the growth of various Protestant expressions.
In some way, this seems to alter the very shape and purpose of Catechesis--and I could see a direct line from Borromeo to the hours of recitation I did as a child.
I think the project now is to recover a broader experience of formation, beneath and beyond the use of "content" to cement identity.  Looking back at the approaches of these centuries will not, I think, be much of a help in this project.
Frank DeSiano, CSP

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Fractures are traumatic events that significantly impact lives of people and institutions. The Reformation was such an event for the institutional church and was the result of a series of failures in the church after the middle ages: ignorance of scripture and corruption were two crucial issues, which led to discussion of the “matter of justification” and the nature of authority in this period.

Catechisms and the CCD were a response to the need for catechesis. This raises the question of resources and how they are chosen and used. A key to this discussion is found on page 171: “The point here is that catechesis is not an end in itself; it moves us along the way to the fire of God’s love…”

Using Charles Borromeo as an example, Baumbach raises the question of the role of young leaders in catechesis.

The enlightenment with its emphasis on freedom of the individual and the use of reason and scientific analysis brought new challenges, with one of its consequences being the intellectualization of theology. Dan Thomas