Catechesis with the Domestic Church

Abstract

Catechesis with the Domestic Church Gregory Sobolewski (bio) The third in a series of catechetical directories from the Holy See appeared in June 2020, issued by the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization rather than the Congregation for the Clergy that presented directories in 1971 and 1997. The new iteration continues the typical arrangement: observations on the human condition, essential Catholic doctrines, principles for varied catechetical methods, age-appropriate considerations, and ecclesial assets for forming and assisting catechists. The renamed Directory for Catechesis (abbreviated herein as Directory/2020) defines catechesis as "an ecclesial act, arising from the missionary mandate of the Lord and aimed, as its very name indicates, at making the proclamation of his passion, death, and resurrection continually resound in the heart of every person, so that his life may be transformed."1 Directory/2020 is especially noteworthy for catechists who are interested in understanding the social influences on their hearers, whether they be "their children" or "their students" or "their people." The new directory introduces and considers cultural scenarios that have recently emerged to influence persons worldwide, including urban and rural, ecumenical and pluralistic, digital and socially unequal. While restating its predecessors' twin objectives for catechesis—maturing initial faith and educating the disciple of Christ—Directory/2020 emphasizes the social transformation of Christian believers who are in broad dialogue with their culture as well as their local churches. This article will account for Directory/2020's increased emphasis on social transformation of believers and their Church in two parts: 1) an historical overview of the three directories with attention to their evolving focus on family as domestic church, and 2) a discussion of [End Page 5] domestic church, subsidiarity, and accompaniment as three ambient Catholic principles that can amplify our understanding of the most recent catechetical directory regarding social transformation. I argue that attention by catechists and their formators to the domestic church should prioritize the principle of subsidiarity and the practice of accompaniment in order to promote the social maturation of the Catholic faithful as well as their missionary discipleship. Overview of the General Catechetical Directory (1971), the General Directory for Catechesis (1997), and the Directory for Catechesis (2020) Catechetical directories emerged as a genre of magisterial teaching consequent to the Second Vatican Council's Decree Concerning the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church (1965), which stated "this directory will consider the fundamental principles of such [catechetical] instruction, its disposition and the composition of books on the subject. In preparing these directories, special attention should be given to the views which have been expressed both by the commissions and the council Fathers."2 General Catechetical Directory (1971) The Sacred Congregation for the Clergy produced the Directorium Catechisticum Generale in order to provide basic principles of pastoral theology for the ministry of the Word and catechetical maturation of Catholic faithful. While emphasizing doctrinal teaching and including various pastoral methods, this directory taught overall that "catechesis should contribute to the gradual grasping of the whole truth about the divine plan by preparing the faithful for the reading of Sacred Scripture and the learning of tradition."3 Directory/1971 opened with an emphasis that "special pains" had been taken to develop the new integral presentation of Catholic faith [End Page 6] for pastoral action, thereby promoting the council's expectation that local churches would also strive mightily to develop regional catechisms for particular pastoral contexts.4 Berard Marthaler, OFM Conv., observed that a universal catechism, an unfinished project of the First Vatican Council (1869–70), was not endorsed by the Second Vatican Council (1962–65). Instead, the "catechetical directory" emerged as the alternate genre and it evolved through consultations among episcopal conferences worldwide that were conducted by the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy.5 This initial directory specified its proportional concerns, given the traditional twofold definition of "faith which is believed" (fides quae creditur) and "faith by which it is believed" (fides qua creditur): It is clear that not all parts of the "Directory" are of the same importance. Those things which are said about divine revelation, the criteria according to which the Christian message is to be expounded, and the more outstanding elements of that same...