As a member of the USCCB’s Committee of Evangelization and Catechesis, we have spent a great deal of time developing a new vision of what we call “Evangelizing Catechesis.” We have defined it as such:
At the heart of the Church’s mission to all people, an evangelizing catechesis seeks to deepen a personal encounter with Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. It proclaims the core message of the Gospel, the Kerygma; it accompanies people to a response of faith and conversion to Christ; it provides a systematic exposition of God’s revelation within the communion of the Catholic Church; and it sends out missionary disciples as witnesses to the good news of salvation who promote a new vision of life, of humanity, of justice, and of human fraternity.
Now I know that is a mouthful (and quite the sprawling sentence!), but it is rich in both theological thought and practical application. Evangelizing Catechesis unfolds in three ways: encounter, exposition, and exercise. I like keeping things simple, thus I have broken it down to 3 E’s.
Before we can fill our hearts and minds with the content of our faith and Church doctrine, what we call catechesis (fides quae), we must have a personal encounter with the Person of Jesus Christ and make an act of faith (fides qua). Evangelization must come first or the content of the faith makes no sense. We all need to hear first and foremost that God is real and that He is close to us — to me personally — to each of us individually. We are loved, beautiful, and precious in God’s eyes. All of us need to know that Jesus Christ came to save us, to walk with us in the here and now, and lead us to eternal salvation. Pope Francis recently reminded us: “Here’s the first thing to tell people: God is not far off, but is a Father, he knows you and loves you; he wants to take you by the hand, even when you travel on steep and rugged paths, even when you fall and struggle to get up again and get back on track” (Angelus Address, 6/18/23).
For the sake of our children, I ask parents to talk about their faith to their children, to pray together as family, to make Sunday Mass a sine qua non, and to surround your family with people who support your Christian values and the practice of the Catholic faith and share the same worldview, what Dr. Christian Smith of Notre Dame calls “intentionally formed communities.” Parents are the key factor regarding influencing faith and its practice. Nothing can replace the invaluable dimension of faith witnessed and spoken of by parents (I would encourage you to watch the YouTube video entitled “The State of Catholic Parenting in the Handing on of the Faith” which unpacks The National Study of Youth and Religion out of Notre Dame.) In order for our youth to grow in their faith, they need parents, other adults, and peers who support and encourage their practice of the faith. Our whole community is called to stand by our youth and witness the joy of the Gospel (cf. Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium).
Catholic school teachers and parish catechists likewise need to talk about Jesus as a real encounter with a Person and not simply present content. Finally, priests and deacons, please take advantage of key homiletic moments to remind the faithful that God is close to them, that He is Emmanuel, “God with us,” and continue to encourage our people to develop and deepen a personal relationship with Jesus Christ who is Lord and Savior.
The second step in Evangelizing Catechesis is the exposition of the beauty and teaching of the Catholic faith. This is what we would traditionally call catechesis, CCD, or religious ed. Only after encountering Christ can the content of the faith make sense as one hopefully wants to know more about this God who loves them and the Church community that He has left us.
Flowing from all of this is the third stage of Evangelizing Catechesis: becoming missionary disciples. We put our faith into action, which in turn feeds our faith (cf. James 2:14–26). Pastoral charity and selfless service to our community are the obvious and evident fruit of a living relationship with a loving God.
Before you finish this article, please go back and re-read the definition of Evangelizing Catechesis and invite the Holy Spirit to inflame your heart and mind in order to grow in our relationship with God and truly make an impact on our world.
To this end, over the course of two months, I am going to invite the diocese as a whole to embark on an initiative entitled “Back to the Table.” This simple initiative will be the months of October through November and culminating in November with Thanksgiving/Christ the King Sunday (November 26, 2023). The whole point of this social media campaign (as well as car magnets, yard signs, and pamphlets for our students to take home) is to focus on getting “back to the table.” We are going to invite our families to sit down at the table at least 2–3 times per week and encourage them to go to the Table of the Eucharist every Sunday at Mass. If each faith community simply did these two things, we could transform our world for the good. Please help me to extend and expand the scope of this message by inviting as many people as we can to get “Back to the Table.” Now that is some great evangelizing catechesis!
#BackToTheTable
About Bishop David Toups
Brilliant. I am getting my online Masters at Steubenville, have taken a Catechetical class or two, and I hear the echoes!!
Why repeated references to “faith” but not to thinking reason?
Often, but not always, there is a weak link in a chain. Although Bishop Toups does not mention the word chain in describing the 3E’s — encounter, exposition, and exercise — I see these entities in that fashion. And my experience leads me to suggest the “weak link” of the three is exposition defined as understanding God’s revelation to the Church. Parents seem poorly formed in the faith and passing Church teachings to their children is often scant. You cannot give what you do not know. Likewise, people are encouraged to enter the Church (a good) despite having irregular marriages or living sinful or immoral lifestyles as defined by the catechism and tradition of the Church. The intent of promoting the encounter with the Mystery followed later by the education is in balance with efforts to not offend and thus risk loss from the Church. The result is a watered-down or forgotten altogether education. Persons continue to live in the Church but outside its teachings. I like the concept of the 3E’s but favor maintaining greater strength and attentiveness in the exposition link of the chain.
Good article! However, I think it obscures the clear distinctions of Pope Paul VI in Evangelii Nuntiandi. . . regarding the specific role of catechesis as part of the process of evangelization.
When people are interested in the faith we get them into rcia and begin to teach doctrine….we rarely ask them what drew them and then based on their answer introduce them to Jesus and make them aware that it is their sin that separates them from God and that is why the savior, our lord should have preeminence first and foremost t h en catechisis…..I wish the way in which we enter the church was shortened and that wr would return to an apostolic way of quick conversion followed by baptism…..