Catechesis Inside Out A Hermeneutical Model for Catechesis in Parishes

Abstract

Parochial catechesis in Belgium, especially in Flanders as the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, is confronted with a lot of challenges. This text deals with three main thematic clusters. The first cluster centres on the relation between ‘Christianity’ and ‘culture’ and its consequences for the content and the method of the catechesis. In a context where Christianity and culture are no longer intrinsically linked to each other, new models of catechesis have to be found. The authors propose a ‘hermeneutical model of catechesis’, whereby many elements of the surrounding culture and of the faith tradition(s) are confronted with each other in a multidimensional way, challenging each other. In this vision, religious truth is not a set of dogmas that should be transmitted, but an open and ‘utopian’ search process that asks for new questions time and again. From a didactical as well as from a theological perspective this hermeneutical model offers new opportunities for catechesis. The second cluster can be summarized as ‘life-long’ and ‘life-wide’ learning. The authors argue that is it necessary to create vertical (intergenerational) and horizontal (among a generation or a specific group) networks dealing with religious communication. Thereby they propose a specific church organisation with lots of possibilities for cooperation between different parochial groups. The title of the article, catechesis inside out, refers to the vision that religious communication is not only a task inside church communities. The authors argue for open church communities daring to speak with people that hold to different world views. The second thematic cluster also deals with the organisation of the catechesis and more specifically with the question of the target group or the age of those who are catechised. In a third movement the article deals with questions about finding ‘good’ catechists. At the end of the text the authors offer a summarizing reflection on the artwork ‘Daughters of Eve’, which contains the main arguments they have dealt with.