The word of the day:
el escritorio
I love this Spanish word.
Thursday, December 1st, 2011
Daily Archive
1 December 2011
1 December 2011
GDC 74: “The school context and those to whom religious instruction in schools is directed”
Posted by catholicsensibility under General Directory for Catechesis, post-conciliar catechetical documents1 Comment
74. Religious instruction in schools is developed in diverse scholastic contexts, while always maintaining its proper character, to acquire different emphases. These depend on legal and organizational circumstances, educational theories, personal outlook of individual teachers and students as well as the relationship between religious instruction in the schools and family or parish catechesis.
Each subsection that follows references the writing/thinking of Pope John Paul II:
It is not possible to reduce the various forms of religious instruction in schools, which have developed as a result of accords between individual states and Episcopal Conferences. It is, however, necessary that efforts be made so that religious instruction in schools respond to its objectives and its own characteristics. (Cf. John Paul II, Allocution on the Symposium of the Council of the Episcopal Conference on the the Teaching of the Catholic Religion in the public school (15 April 1991): Teachings of John Paul II, XIV1, pp. 780s)
Students “have the right to learn with truth and certainty the religion to which they belong. This right to know Christ, and the salvific message proclaimed by Him cannot be neglected. The confessional character of religious instruction in schools, in its various focuses, given by the Church in different countries is an indispensible guarantee offered to families and students who choose such education”. (Cf. John Paul II, Allocution on the Symposium of the Council of the Episcopal Conference on the the Teaching of the Catholic Religion in the public school (15 April 1991): Teachings of John Paul II, XIV1, pp. 780s)
When given in the context of the Catholic school, religious instruction is part of and completed by other forms of the ministry of the word (catechesis, homilies, liturgical celebration, etc.). It is indispensible to their pedagogical function and the basis for their existence. (Cf. Catechesi Tradendae 69, Congregation for Catholic Education, The religious dimension of education in the Catholic school, n. 66: l.c)
In the context of state schools or non-confessional schools where the civil authorities or other circumstances impose the teaching of religion common to both Catholics and non Catholics (Cf. Catechesi Tradendae 33) it will have a more ecumenical character and have a more inter-religious awareness.
In other circumstances religious instruction will have an extensively cultural character and teach a knowledge of religions including the Catholic religion. In this case too and especially if presented by teachers with a sincere respect for the Christian religion, religious instruction maintains a true dimension of “evangelic preparation”.(Cf. Catechesi Tradendae 34)
There’s probably a lot to discuss on the nature of religious instruction in schools, but I’d like to zero in on the role of liturgy as being “indispensible” to the religion classes offered in Catholic schools. I suspect the pope’s thought expands to the high school, and certainly to the Sunday experience.
That last paragraph mentions yet again the expectation that school students be prepared to evangelize, as part of the experience of faith. I think of those occasional stories about pastors or principals giving students a “pass” for having attended Sunday Mass. What would be more in alignment with Church teaching here would be to give credit for bringing a friend to church.
1 December 2011
GIRM 54: The Collect
Posted by catholicsensibility under GIRM, post-conciliar liturgy documentsLeave a Comment
The introductory rites conclude with the collect This section is largely unchanged from 1975:
54. Next the Priest calls upon the people to pray and everybody, together with the Priest, observes a brief silence so that they may become aware of being in God’s presence and may call to mind their intentions. Then the Priest pronounces the prayer usually called the “Collect” and through which the character of the celebration finds expression. By an ancient tradition of the Church, the Collect prayer is usually addressed to God the Father, through Christ, in the Holy Spirit,* and is concluded with a Trinitarian ending, or longer ending, in the following manner:
• If the prayer is directed to the Father: Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever;
• If it is directed to the Father, but the Son is mentioned at the end: Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever;
• If it is directed to the Son: Who live and reign with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
The people, joining in this petition, make the prayer their own by means of the acclamation Amen.
At Mass only a single Collect is ever said.
*Cf. Tertullian, Adversus Marcionem, IV, 9: Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 1, p. 560; Origen, Disputatio cum Heracleida, no. 4, 24: Sources chrétiennes 67, p. 62; Statuta Concilii Hipponensis Breviata, no. 21: Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 149, p. 39.
One small bit: the call for a brief silence. That’s nothing new. But note the intention that the people bring intentions to this time of the Mass, this silence. That’s a constructive positive thing a bishop should be teaching instead of inventing local anti-rubrics.
