Bishop outlines vision for 'bolder, more effective' teaching of faith

Published: 2005-09-29

WILMINGTON, Del. (CNS) -- Bishop Michael A. Saltarelli of Wilmington has called for a "bolder and more effective" catechesis program in his diocese to educate Catholics about their faith. He issued the call in a 4,600-word pastoral letter titled "Go and Teach: Facing the Challenges of Catechesis Today." The pastoral is a response to what some U.S. church leaders see as a decrease in religious literacy among Catholics in the past 30 or so years, creating what has been called a "lost generation" of "undercatechized" young adults who are not as committed to or knowledgeable about the faith as older Catholics. He placed diocesan efforts to renew the faith in the context of the current American culture and its threats to the exercise of religious freedom. He also said the church itself has been changed and enriched by immigrants from Latin America, the Asian Pacific Rim and other parts of the world. "This is the soil in which we must plant Christ's message," he said. The letter was published in the Sept. 15 edition of The Dialog, Wilmington's diocesan newspaper.

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