Appeared in The Catholic Virginian September 18, 2000

The Teaching Mission of the Church

With the beginning of the fall season, our parishes gear up for a large variety of activities. Among those activities, the teaching ministries are central to the life of every parish. Through them, the parish responds to the command Jesus gave to his apostles: "Go teach all". The primary role of a bishop is to be a teacher and a proclaimer of the gospel. Priests and deacons share in this teaching ministry.

It is the primary responsibility of all ordained ministers, prior even to their sacramental ministry. Likewise, every parish not only should, but also must see its primary role as proclaiming the gospel "in season and out of season." It is during the fall season when catechesis (the imparting of the truths of our faith) and faith formation (the call to and readiness for Christian discipleship) begin anew each year. This Sunday, September 17 marks the annual Cathechetical Sunday. In all of our parishes, we welcome, recognize and designate all those who share in the catechetical mission of the Church.

The bishops of the United States are placing a new emphasis on adult faith formation. In November of last year, the bishops published Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us: A Pastoral Plan for Adult Formation. The bishops recognize the need to move from catechesis that is solely child-centered to a model that centers on catechesis for adults. The U.S. bishops repeat this focus in their July 2000 statement In Support of Catechetical Ministry. Here, they speak of “the primacy of adult catechetical efforts” and acknowledge the need of many Catholics adult “to be reconnected with the substance of Catholic teaching”.

For too long adults seem to think that their growth in faith ends with the reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation. Growth in faith should be a life-long journey. Adult Catholics must be mature in faith and well equipped to share the gospel. They must actively promote the values of the gospel in all the spheres of life - in every family circle, in every church gathering, in every workplace and in every public forum.

Ours is an evolving age, changing with every new generation. Eternal truths are changeless, but new challenges and issues constantly confront our belief systems. We live in a culture which emphasizes the material over the spiritual, which demeans the sanctity of human life and the dignity of the human person, which canonizes individualism, selfishness and isolationism. In such a culture, the need for adult formation becomes an even greater imperative for our parishes. To make a difference in our culture, the women and men in our parishes must be people of prayer, whose faith is alive and vital, grounded in a deep commitment to the person and message of Jesus.

When the U.S. bishops call for adult faith formation to be at the heart of catechetical vision and practice, they are summoning all Catholics to take seriously the maturity and effectiveness of their personal faith. Through adult faith formation, people constantly grow in faith - consciously molding their life according to the life of Christ - through experience, reflection, prayer and study. This kind of adult catechesis fosters a profound and life-long conversion. It helps adults experience the transforming power of grace. Consequently, adult believers come to grasp the integrity and beauty of the truths of faith. They begin to recognize how those truths interconnect and form a single unity of truth. Likewise, they are able to apply the truth of faith to their daily living and in their responses to the vexing issues of contemporary culture and society.

A renewed emphasis on adult formation should not lead to de-emphasizing our catechetical programs for children and youth. Instead, adult faith formation underscores the life-long nature of faith development. It increases the ability of a parish community to pass on the faith to our young people in ways that are more effective and more convincing, giving our children and youth lively and inspiring models of faith. Adult formation, then, does not replace programs for children and youth, but enhances them and provides them with a firm and supporting foundation.

I can never overstate the importance of parents as primary faith teachers for their children. Every effort and every program in catchesis by the parish has little lasting value if young people do not see in their parents models of faithful and committed Catholics. The same can be said for the children in our Catholic schools - the school is no substitute for the parental responsibility. The school can only build on what is taught and lived in the home. The Catholic school can only reinforce the values and truths first enunciated in the home at an early age of the child. The Catholic school, as well as parish schools of religion, form communities of belief wherein young people grow together, support and affirm one another in the faith. For this to happen, catechetical leaders, teachers of religion, must reflect a faith lived out on a daily basis. Faith is more than mere knowledge, more than information, more than a recitation of truth. It is a lived experience. It must come alive, it must be visible and experienced as truly becoming a way of life.

I am grateful to all those who share in the teaching ministry of the bishop. We are blessed in the diocese to have a large number of dedicated and trained catechists. We are blessed in having an Office of Christian Formation, which provides a large variety of catechetical programs in adult formation and continuing education. We are blessed in having an Office of Catholic Schools and all our Catholic schools with dedicated teachers who give top priority to providing a holistic approach in the education, formation and training of young people in the ways of faith. I am grateful to our priests who make education and faith formation a top priority in the life of the parish.

Great emphasis has been given in our diocese to the importance of good liturgical experiences as a necessary component to education and formation. In the sacramental life of the Church, we come into the presence of the living Christ through the Spirit. In liturgy, God becomes real and personal to us. Our God comes to us many times when we least expect. Our God transforms our lives into the divine likeliness. Ours is not a distant God, but one who accompanies us in life's journey, who nurtures and supports us, who shares in our joys and sorrows, who gives true meaning to all of life. Through faith formation, for adults as well as for children and youth, we come to experience the mystery of God's love in Jesus and we celebrate the mystery of that love through the Eucharist and the whole sacramental life of the Church. The command of Christ is that each of us be teachers and disciples to hand on to the next generation a reason to believe in the one sent - 2000 years ago - to be one with us in the person of Jesus. I pray that we grow together, all of us, as followers of the one who came that "we may have life and have it to the full."