New Thinking in Catechetics

Extract

The new approaches in religious education which are still a controversial issue in this country, certainly did not have to wait for Vatican II, even though the Council and its teaching has been one of the major factors at work. The pioneers of the movement, as of so many others in the contemporary scene, can be traced to the beginning of the present century, and to continental biblical scholars who were not content to let the fruits of their studies remain in academic isolation. Rather they quickly saw the need to communicate their new theological thinking to the youngest members of the Church, so that gradually the content of traditional syllabuses of religious instruction was transformed. At the same time began the introduction of more child-centred methods of presentation of the Christian message under the influence of contemporary educational changes in the teaching of secular subjects.

These two factors, content and methodology, are often confused, not only (and understandably) by parents and priests necessarily remote from the professional field of education, but also, and more regrettably, by the teachers themselves. It is these who arc rapidly losing confidence in their own abilities to cope, and it is this predicament that brings them in such numbers to the wide range of courses being held up and down the country.

In so far as the main aim of such teachers is to find a ready-made syllabus, complete with well-tested answers to their particular problems, this is, I feel, regrettable. Good teaching of religion, as of any subject in the curriculum, is of necessity ‘do-it-yourself’; only the teacher on the spot, knowing the children, their backgrounds, their particular abilities and interests, can effectively adapt the content of any syllabus to their needs.