700
This course addresses selected contemporary questions that demand a mature response from the informed Christian. This course emphasizes guided thought into specific dogmatic, moral, and spiritual issues.
The restoration of the ancient catechumenate was one of the major directives of the Second Vatican Council. We will begin with an understanding of the restoration of the catechumenal process which resulted in the Christian Initiation process of today. Primary texts for this section will include the ritual book (RCIA), GDC, and Fr. Yarnold's The Awe-Inspiring Rites of Initiation. We will come to understand the RCIA as a liturgical process, with an emphasis on the role of the initiation sacraments. We will examine the nature and means of the conversion process using the RCIA, catechetical documents, and Newman. Next, we will come to understand the ancient catechumenal origins of the modern RCIA. Finally, we will cover various special topics in the catechumenal process: evangelization, legal issues, and children and teens.
"Even if it is not always easy to approach young people, progress has been made in two areas: the awareness that the entire community is called to evangelize and educate the young, and the urgent need for the young to exercise greater leadership" (Francis, EG 106). This course provides a sociohistorical examnation of youth culture and the Church's response to that culture (successes and failures) in the United States. It examines the role and definition of young people within the Church and society (tweens, teens, and emerging adults). Finally it seeks to propose effective models on how to apply what the Church has taught regarding evangelization to young people in various settings, such as parish youth ministry and campus ministry.
In Christus Vivit, Pope Francis proposed there was a need for “new styles and strategies” in ministry to youth as well as a need to recognize “those practices that have shown their value” (204). This course examines effective methodology in ministry with youth and young adults, helping students critically evaluate current practices as well as propose new styles and strategies to help young people become disciples of Jesus Christ in our world today.
The course examines the relationship between philosophy and catechetics. It is in two parts. The first part reviews the teaching of the magisterium on this relationship, in particular in Aeterni Patris and Fides et Ratio, and then goes on to treat of questions of truth and rhetoric in the transmission of doctrine, studying the role of the catechist as witness and communicator. The second part of the course is an examination of the thought of St Thomas Aquinas and the relation of this thought to themes in the Deposit of Faith. Thus this part of the course enables students to engage with a single figure in some depth, a figure who is philosopher, theologian and preacher of the faith and who is consistently presented by the magisterium as worthy of special study.
During his speech opening the Second Vatican Council, Pope John XXIII stated that one of the purposes of the Council was to "guard the deposit of faith." This course will look at Church history through a catechetical hermeneutic, examining both the successes and failures of catechetical endeavors by reading some major works concerning the handing on of the faith from the time of the apostles to the Second Vatican Council. This course will examine the documents of the Second Vatican Council and their catechetical implications. It will also address the positive developments as well as the challenges encountered in post-conciliar catechesis, and will stress the renewal of catechesis as a result of Vatican II.
THE 604.
This course, building on the work undertaken in the graduate class, CAT 602: Deposit of Faith, examines the transmission of the faith, analyzing the elements involved in this transmission in light of what the Church calls the "original pedagogy" of the faith. Learning the craft of transmission according to this pedagogy is understood as the fostering of faith, hope and love through an intellectual, affective and practical environment that nurtures the development of one's relationship with Christ. The pattern of transmission is analyzed through a study of the annunciation narrative, with the different elements of proclamation, dialogue, questioning,application to life and so on, being inspired by this narrative. A detailed examination is made of the theological virtues of faith, hope and love, gifts that enable us to share in the "dialogue of salvation" and respond to the promptings of God, making a full assent and adherence to him.
Through an examination of Gravissimum educationis, the Vatican II Declaration on Christian Education, as well as key post-conciliar documents on Catholic schools, this course facilitates the formation of a Catholic educational philosophy within the teacher and the school. Key themes include characteristics of a Catholic school, formation of personnel, implications for the curriculum, intercultural dialogue, and the service of the common good.
Students will examine significant periods, figures and texts in the history of catechetics, particularly as this came to be expressed in the Western tradition. Topics include: the classical paideia and its impact on formation of early Christian education and catechesis; the development of catechetical schools; the development of the Creeds; the development and features of the catechumenal model; monastic and cathedral schools in the Carolingian period; liturgy, culture and catechesis in the medieval period; the history of catechisms, with a highlight on the Roman catechism; catechetical movements in the twentieth century; the pivotal importance of Vatican II and trends and movements in post Vatican II catechetics. Students study the catechetical importance of certain perennial texts, including Clement of Alexandria, Paedagogus; Ambrose: de Mysteriis; de Saramentis; Cyril of Jerusalem; Catechetical Lectures; Augustine; De catechizandis rudibus; De doctrina Christiana.
This course will provide a survey of leadership, administrative, management, personal and public relations, policy, legal (civil and canonical), and professional development topics from a gospel perspective for the purpose of facilitating a successful transition to a parish or diocesan position within the Church. It will also explore the mind of the Church and best practices in the variety of catechetical disciplines found in the field today. Specifically it will include discussion of adult catechesis, family catechesis, youth ministry, campus ministry, Catholic schools, parish school of religion, DRE/catechist training, textbook evaluations, chastity education, and catechumenal ministry.