CATECHISTS AND CATECHISMS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is “Catechists and Catechisms.”

Today is the feast of St. Robert Bellarmine, the Patron Saint of Catechists and Catechisms.”

What are your thoughts on Catechisms - Catechists - Religious Education Programs - Learning our Faith as Christians and Catholics?

We’re adults mainly at this 12:10 Mass - so this morning I asked myself what are my thoughts about Catechisms and Catechists - as adults.

Translation: how did I learn the teachings of my faith and what did I learn?

FIRST APPROACH: USE  GOOGLE

A great adult approach - if you use the internet - is to use Google for a Catechism Review.

Use Google or any search engine on a computer program. They usually have that nice clean empty box - in which you can type in a word - and come up with 100 hits - more or less - and they do that in seconds.

You can type in words like “catechist” or “catechism”. That will give you lots of leads for other words to type into Google - and you’ll be learning - by dabbling. Browse.

I typed in “St. Robert Bellarmine”.  Instantly I had a life of Robert Bellarmine. It gave me his dates [1542 - 1621]. I saw where he was born:  Montepulciano, Italy, where he lived and worked and where he died: Rome, Italy. I got background. I got facts.  It brought me to questions about faith and science. It gave me his struggles with Galileo as well as Giordano Bruno. Both were put on trial. Galileo wasn’t; Bruno was burnt to  death.

Check it out on your computer.

So Point # 1 would be to dabble on your computer about this and that - when it comes to our Catholic Faith and about catechisms and catechists.

Then you can make a folder and download articles about catechism and catechists or any topic you wish.

NUMBER #2: A REVIEW OF YOUR CATECHISMS AND YOUR FAITH

Next make a review of your catechism history

I’m 78 and received my catechism lessons from the Baltimore Catechism and Catholic school - way back when.

Some of you would be converts and might have received Catechism from Protestant churches etc.

Some of you went to Catholic Religious Education. We called it CCD.

What were catechisms like in 1950;  what were catechisms like in 1990.

The Baltimore Catechism was a paper back with Questions and Answers. The next generation had drawings and pictures and images - topics and chapters.

NUMBER #3” - MY PERSONAL HISTORY OF LEARNING TO BE A CATECHIST.

I learned my Catholic faith in Catholic schools.

In the seminary we had a 1 year course on catechetic. It was in our 1^st year of theology - the year after we finished college. During that year we went to local parishes near Kingston, New York and taught catechism.

The idea was to put into practice what we were learning from a text book in the seminary.

I have not one idea from that text book - but I have memories of my first experience teaching little kids on Wednesday afternoons in Presentation Church, Port Ewen, New York - right overlooking the Hudson River.

My class - maybe 3^rd graders was in the choir loft of the church.  Jack Sherlock’s class was right below us in the body of the church.  That’s not a good idea for sound and sight.

My only memory from that year in the choir loft in Presentation church was standing there teaching little kids and I begin to notice they are all laughing and looking to their left - my right facing them. A kid has a broom in his hand and he is reaching out with the broom and pushing a hanging church light or chandelier back and forth and kids in the choir loft and the kids down below are watching him and the lamp swinging. It could have crashed into the choir loft or hit another lamp.

I quickly ran over and stopped him. That’s all I remember from my first attempt at being a catechist.

After we finished the seminary, we had 4 months in Annapolis. It was a transition time before our assignments.  A Father Joe D’Acetis brought in speakers on different topics.

We had a Sister Janann - who gave us a week of talks on teaching kids.

I remember she brought in leaves and sticks, plants and toys, and went from the known to the unknown. We were to feel water and see green leaves and autumn leaves.

She was excellent. We learned the use of everyday stuff as props.

Through the years I’ve heard priests and specialists complain about how horrible religious ed was for a good 30 years of time. They said there was a need for a new catechism.

For adults we got the big catechism from John Paul II’s time.

In the meanwhile Sadlier and other religious ed books and publications started to come up with  more content  driven material.

In the early 1970’s I went for a Master’s Degree in theology - I have 3 of them. This one was at Princeton Theological Seminary.

I took a course in religious ed and it was one of the most difficult courses I ever took. Every Monday morning we had to have a book report on one book. I was working big time in a retreat house so that   was very difficult, but I finished that course  - with a C. the only C I got - all the rest     were A’s. I learned the most at that C course.

Each week about 15 of us would discuss a different approach to catechetic: sociology, theology, education theory, anthropology, biblical, etc. etc. etc.

Then there were a couple of thousand classrooms I visited on parish missions, parish work, etc. etc. etc.

I learned by time and practice.

CONCLUSION

That’s enough. I just ask you to consider your sources of learning your faith.

The readings at Mass, Homilies, Parish Missions, Catholic Magazines and on and on certainly helped you.

More.

MUGGY

Muggy stuck to everything - 

slowing everything down - 

doors - chairs - people - 

causing Monday morning 

laziness - weighing down 

our words and our souls. 

Well, at least  it got us to 

sit more, stir our coffee more, 

and talk to each other - more. 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

September 17, 2018

Thought for today: 

“How long  will  grownup  men  and  women in the world, draw in their coloring books an image of God that makes them sad.” 

Meister Eckhart [c. 1260 - c. 1328]

SCULPTURES

Coming down the front steps with you -

after 3 hours together in a museum -

everything on the street seemed

to be -  at least to me - a sculpture:

a traffic cop, taxis, trees, buses,

bikes, kids with yo yo’s, adults with

dogs on a leash, and then you told

me what you were going to do

tomorrow as well as on the weekend.

And it hit me - then and there - you

weren’t with me for the last 3 hours.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018

September 16, 2018 

Thought for today: 

“Jesus might  have  said, I became man for you. If you do not become God for me, you wrong me.”

 Meister Eckhart [c. 1260 - c. 1328]

WHO DO YOU SAY 

THAT I AM?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 24 Sunday in Ordinary Time [B] is a question - the question Jesus asks his disciples in today’s gospel, “Who Do You Say That I Am?” [Cf. Mark 8: 27-35.]

Jesus and his disciples are on the road heading for the villages of Caesarea Philippi and he asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”

And they answer, “Some say you’re John the Baptist. Others say you’re Elijah. Still others say you’re one of the prophets.”

He then asks them, “But who do - you -  say I am?”

FATHER RON ROLHEISER

Father Ronald Rolheiser, OMI,  in a commentary on today’s gospel, puts the scene and the question as follows, “If Jesus looked us square in the eye and asked us, as he asked Peter, ‘How Do You Understand me?’ how would we answer that question?”

If you ever watch Jeopardy - you know how they line up the contestants - at the end of the program - give them a category - and then ask a question and they play the Jeopardy music piece - “Da, then, da, den - da, then, da then….” - and the contestants write down their answer to the final question.

We’re Christians, we’re Catholics, we come to Church, how would we answer either the question, “How do you understand me?” or “Who do you say that I am?”

On Jeopardy  there’s - a pause - a commercial. There’s silence. There’s the music.  Then we see their written answers. What would be our written answer for how we understand Jesus and who do we say Jesus is.

Who is Jesus Christ to you?

MATTHEW, MARK,  LUKE AND JOHN

Different personalities see Jesus in different ways.

Unlike Jeopardy, various answers would be correct.  Some answers would be wrong.  Jesus is God and Human.

I have a theory - using Carl Jung’s 2 ways of seeing people - introverts and extraverts - in varying degrees - that would influence how we see Jesus. Then comes his 4 ways of typing people - how they function -  I’m sure some of you have taken the Myers Briggs questionnaire. People are more or less  - feelers, thinkers, intuitives and sensates. They  would all see Jesus different.  Sensates are the neat - practical - non dreamers. Intuitives are the dreamers - sloppy - all over the place types - creative and unconscious when it comes to time. Then there are the  Head and heart types - the thinkers and feelers.  We all have these 4 characteristics - but in various degrees and usually one or two predominate.

My theory is that Matthew represents thinkers and Luke represents feelers. Mark the shortest Gospel represents the practical types - the doers. Then John represents the dreamers - the intuitives - the poetic creative types.

I’ve not see this anywhere - so take all  that with a grain of salt. I’m a high, high intuitive poetic type and if you are like Mark - direct and to the point - the gospel we have for this year - you should be more apt to be saying, “What is he talking about?”

What I would like you to get is that Jesus is Jesus - but different people will see him their own way.

Just ask people their favorite gospel text from Jesus and this will be obvious.

It’s like 4 people seeing a movie or a play or read a novel and they all see so differently.

It makes for interesting car talk driving home from a movie.

It makes for great  book club chats and discussions.

ONCE MORE THE QUESTION: WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?

Christianity is a relationship. We need words “LOGOS”  about  God and “THEOS” God - but  Christ is not a theology.

The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us.

We’re receiving bread and wine - objects - stuff - material = but it’s the body and blood of Jesus. That’s the miracle.

It’s Jesus - and the call is to move from things to person - to be in communion - and union with him.

It’s personal.

Martin Buber - the Jewish philosopher - helped so many people with his theology and philosophy and theory that we can do life in one or two ways: I-It  or I-Thou.

I-It is going it alone - when we zero in on stuff - or we treat others as its - objects.

I-Thou is going it with others - community, family, talking and listening - seeing others as other than ourselves.

Bringing this into the Christ question means Christ is a person - the 2^nd Person in the Blessed Trinity of Persons - God.

Prayer is personal.

One Our Father that is a conversation is better than 5 Our Fathers that is mumbling - all words - rattling on and on and on - as Jesus described some prayers.

One “I love you” to our family or loved ones is better than 1,000  “I love you’s” that is all words.

TODAY’S SECOND READING: FROM JAMES

Isn’t that what James is getting at in today’s second reading with his message about faith and works? [ Cf. James 2: 14-18.]

Listen to him again: “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?  Can that faith save him?  If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well’ but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.’”

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel from Mark gets all this stuff right into practical stuff of life.

Jesus says: if you want to follow me, then you got to be less of you. You have to deny yourself.  You have to empty yourself of self. You have to take up your cross. You have to lose yourself.

Less selfies - more people in the pictures - than just me, me, me.

The cross has two lines. It’s not 1 line. +

I want things my way - but there’s other people on the planet - who are in front of me - people who want to make that left turn on one way streets - and ugh - there are 15 cars on that side of the road coming towards us.

Another is telling a story and it triggers my story - and I want to tell my story and I don’t want to listen to this other person’s boring story from his or her life.

How do you understand Jesus?  He’s the challenger!

Jesus says some tough stuff - killers - so we kill him each time - not grabbing him and nailing him to a cross to shut up his way of doing life - but just blanking out his calls how to love one another each day - each encounter with each other.

CONCLUSION

Enough already.

The title of my homily is, “Who Do You Say That I Am?

Answer today - there are many answers. As Isaiah opens up today’s first reading, He’s the one who opens up our ears that we may hear - and we won’t be in jeopardy if we listen and then do what he calls us to do.

To love.

HOW WOULD YOU SCULPT OR  PICTURE OUR LADY OF SORROWS  OR THE PIETA? 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “How Would You Sculpt or Picture Our Lady of Sorrows or the Pieta?”

Teachers and parents, aunts and babysitters, know that little kids love to draw with crayons or sculpt with clay. They don’t say, “I don’t know how to draw!” They just do it.

How would you sculpt or picture Our Lady of Sorrows or the Pieta?

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows - Mater Dolorosa - The Pieta. It follows the feast of the Holy Cross. Like the 13th station of the cross following the 12th station. The sorrowful mother is holding her dead son.

QUESTION

How would you sculpt the scene?

Michelangelo did 2 pietas. We all know the famous one in St. Peter’s. It’s in the back. When you come into St. Pater’s look to your right. There it is. It traveled to the United States for the New York World’s Fair in the 1960’s. It was the one that was banged up by a guy with a sledge hammer.

Then there is the other one that is tall and thin. It’s in Florence.

How would you  paint the scene?

There are all kinds of paintings of Mary, the Mother of Sorrows. There is the famous icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help

MY ART

I would sculpt Mary holding a globe and the globe would have people on it. It would be a globe of people. I might even build into the globe 14 television monitors  - each having scenes from around the world of people suffering. I would have about 5 minutes of tough world scenes on each TV monitor. I’d show car and plane crashes. There would also be TV news clips which feature stories about killings, torture, rapes, corruption, bishop cover ups, stealing. Just watch the 10 o’clock evening news.

QUESTION

Why is Mary so popular? Why are there so many pietas? Why are there so many pictures of Mary? Suffering is so universal. So real. So much pain.

QUESTION

How would you sculpt the Sorrowful Mother?