By Fr. Soroj Mullick, SDB –
There is a symbiotic relationship between youth catechesis and Youth Ministry (YM). They are both compelling and complementary. There is an urgent need to work together for a common, unifying vision through communication between leaders, ministries and inter-generation relationship. Church’s significant energy invested in clarifying and communicating policy for pastoral ministry through the Youth Pastoral Plan (YPP) and the General Directory for Catechesis (GDC) should not go in waste, instead collaborate to make youth catechesis and YM effective and meaning¬ful, learning to listen, to learn, and to work together.
The visions of evangelization , catechesis and YM situate youth catechesis within integrative frameworks. The GDC contextualizes the whole of catechesis within the process of evangelization with six catechetical tasks. The YM presents a framework for integration compris¬ing of goals, dimensions and a number of themes within which cate-chesis is situated. The author aims to explore the complementary nature and relationship of these visions and their roles in guiding the Church’s catechetical ministry with youth.
The GDC and the YPP emphasize on the role of the community in fostering faith, stress on evangelization and mission, and call for the integration of catechesis with numerous essential elements of Christian life, thus work towards a renewed youth catechesis. The Church in India needs to further envision a renewed youth catechesis within its YM, supported by pastoral leaders who are able to communicate and collaborate with one another. Catechesis is a complex process and therefore needs the interrelation of catechesis with other aspects of ministry.
As the central mission of the Church, “Evangelization represents God’s loving kindness reaching out to every person in human society through human agencies and his caring concern for the whole of creation.” This way it keeps the youth alive and effective. It respects people’s traditions and religious experiences and one becomes co-pilgrim with faith, hope and charity, with courage and humility, becoming the icon of God’s love through witness.
Catechesis is one moment in the whole process of evangelization that consists of the following six stages: transforms the world, appropriating and renewing all cultures; witnesses the Christian way of being and living; explicitly proclaims the Gospel; initiates into the Christian faith and life through catechesis and the sacraments of initiation; nourishes communion among the faithful by means of continuous faith educa-tion through catechesis, sacraments and acts of charity; makes a missionary, sending the disciples to proclaim the Gospel by word and deed (GDC 48).
Defining catechesis in relation to the multi-stage process means that cate¬chesis is preceded by certain pastoral activities, is accompanied by others, and ideally leads to mission. It also means that catechesis, like evangelization, is a ministry of word and witness, making use of the dual means of formation in doctrine and experience of Christian living. Catechesis is understood primarily in terms of learning programmes of formation that is as “an initiation and apprentice¬ship in the entire Christian life” (GDC 30).
YM refers to all actions that the Church community realizes with and for the young within their actual life situations. Its aim, therefore, is “the integral growth of young into Christ to enable them to be alive to the realities around them and to become active participants in building the Kingdom of God” (YPP 32). The witness of Christian life is important for YM, and is a constitutive part of catechesis. But the dimensions of YM are distinct from that of catechesis, especially the ministries of community, evange¬lization, leadership development, and advocacy.
In YM to teach compassion, generos¬ity, tolerance, peace, forgiveness, acceptance, and love as gospel values and to identify as Christians require to live these values in interactions with young people in the community (YPP 51, 80), as living models of the Christian faith in practice. Whatever is the understanding of the terms, the distinction between catechesis and other aspects of YM are only in theory.
The aim of catechesis and evangelization is – communion with Jesus. Catechesis, a moment within the whole process of evangelization, “matures initial conversion to make it into a living, explicit and fruitful confession of faith” leading to commitments (GDC 82). These objectives are realized through diverse interrelated tasks, corresponding to different dimensions of Christian life and faith. The tasks are: to deepen knowledge of the faith by introducing to Tradition and Scripture; to provide a liturgical education for a full, conscious and active participation; to provide a moral formation transmitting Jesus’ attitudes for interior trans¬formation; to teach people to pray by a conducive climate of prayer; to prepare for community living; and to prepare Christians to participate actively in the life and mission of the Church (GDC 85-86). These tasks are interdependent and they develop together (GDC 87).
Regarding youth catechesis we need to consider the religious diversities of young people as well, and make efforts to contextualize youth catechesis in the wider terrain of YM (GDC 184). The Indian multi-religious situation calls for reaching out to the young with love, Christian witness, and provide a first proclamation of the Gospel thus to prepare them for the catecheti¬cal moment within the whole process of evangelization. In order to seek a “social friendship” (CV 36, 169) aimed at building the common good, irrespective of caste, culture and religion, “young people who are not believers” (CV 4), will have to build themselves on solid life-faith maturity. “[T]he Church is the real youth of the world. In her, it is always possible to encounter Christ “the companion and friend of youth” (CV 34).
To be continued…
Fr. Soroj Mullick, SDB is a Salesian priest from the Kolkata Province. He has a Licentiate in Catechetics and a Doctorate (Christian Education) from UPS, Italy. He has number of years of teaching experience in college and in the formation of future priests. Besides, he has written number of research papers and articles, and has 25 years of Ministry in India and abroad as Educator, Formator, Retreat Preacher, Editor and engaged in School, Parish Catechetical & Youth Ministry. He is now an assistant priest in Bandel Basilica, rendering pastoral and catechetical ministry to the parishioners and to the pilgrims. He can be contacted at [email protected].