By Father Robert Kinast

“Proclaiming the Gospel is a perennial task and joy for the Church of Jesus Christ. Rarely if ever has it been more pressing a need, more urgent a duty, and more ennobling a vocation than in these times when mankind stands poised between unprecedented fulfillment, and equally unprecedented calamity.” So state the American bishops at the beginning of their recent pastoral message on Catholic education, “To Teach As Jesus Did.”

The fulfillment of this task in the Roman Catholic Church depends on the involvement of all its members under the guidance of the bishops. Such guidance has been extended by the teaching authority of the Church (the “magisterium”) in three important documents, with a fourth yet to come.

In 1971, the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy at the Vatican issued a General Catechetical Directory, not a catechism as such, but guidelines and principles for teaching religion. This document and a commentary, Focus on American Catechetics, were summarized in the last issue of Context (Jan. 31, 1973, page 1), the official publication of the Office of Religious Education. The GCD called for similar statements from national hierarchies. The American bishops are now establishing a committee to do this work.

In the meantime, two significant publications on the same subject were issued.

1) The bishops pastoral message “To Teach As Jesus Did” stresses “three interlocking dimensions: the message revealed by God (didache) which the Church proclaims; fellowship in the life of the Holy Spirit (koinonia); service to the Christian community and the entire human community (diakonia).” The pastoral then deals with adult education, higher education, ministry to youth, and Catholic schools, concluding with a note on the ministry of hope.

2) The most recent document is the “Basic Teachings for Catholic Religious Education” prepared by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. The text acknowledges that “no list of documents can bring about real religious education, but certain basic teachings are necessary for doctrinal substance and stability.”

“Basic Teachings” makes no attempt to rank the doctrines or specify what methods are to be used in teaching them. It does single out, however, three themes which carry through all religious education. They are the importance of prayer, participation in the liturgy and familiarity with the Holy Bible.

These documents represent the official guidelines for the teaching of religion in the Roman Catholic Church.

As documents that should be studied and employed by those who have responsibility for religious education in the Archdiocese of Atlanta, the four works are being brought to the attention of these individuals.

To insure the distribution of the materials, the Office of Religious Education, together with the Department of Catholic Education, is sponsoring special meetings of pastors, parish religious education coordinators, parochial and high school principals, and parish board of education members.

Sessions for the presentation and discussion of the documents are scheduled for the four regions of the archdiocese according to the accompanying chart. The evening program at each location will begin at 7:30 p.m.

On hand to profile the documents will be Father Robert Kinast, Sister Frances Ann Cook and Walt Kahnle of the archdiocesan Religious Education Office staff. Group discussion will follow their presentations.