I.

INTRODUCTION

This Chapter examines various aspects of this catechetical task and the different ways to nurture
and deepen their faith life, personally as members of their Christian community.
Catechists are the “personal witnesses” of God’s living Word and presence among his people. It
is therefore, a noble yet humbling task to be a catechist, called to become the human means and witness to
the action of the Holy Spirit, drawing all to Christ Jesus our Lord Savior.
The Church continuously searches for new ways to communicate the “Good News” to Filipinos
today. She pursues ever more effective methods of carrying out her mission through the ministry of the
Word.
Consequently, catechists must be alert and attentive to how God is actually revealing and inviting
Filipinos to respond in Faith-even to how particular person experience God’s presence in their lives. By
their very calling, catechists are “the personal witnesses” of God’s living Word and presence among His
people.
The universal laws of catechetical method are further elaborated for the Philippine setting. The
basis characteristics of the “Pedagogy of Faith for Filipinos Today” as an “integrated”, “inculturated”, and
“community-forming” catechesis.

II. THE PHILIPPINE CATECHETICAL SCENE

a. Catechesis during Spanish Time (1521-1898)

o “Bajo Las Campanas” catechesis prevailed when the whole life of the Filipino
village was governed by the church-bells pealing.
o The Images and Statues on Home Altars
o The Parents Blessing their children with the sign of the cross and the formula
prayer “Kaawaan ka ng Diyos, Anak” when the latter kissed their hands.
o Doctrina Christiana

This Traditional form of Catechetical Methodology eventually broke down as the conditions that
had made it so effective gradually changed because of secularizing modernization. The strong family
structures supported this tradition slowly began to disintegrate as many parents of family members
became “absentees”, pressured to work elsewhere, in the cities or overseas. Thus, today’s Filipino family
is scarcely prepared to function as the “first and principal school of evangelization and catechesis.”
Moreover, the number of priests, religious and formed catechists is so disproportionate to the large
numbers needing catechesis. Indeed, it is true that, “…the harvest is rich but laborers are few.”1

b. Sacramentalized Filipino Catholics

In one Sense, the average Filipino Catholics can be said to be “sacramentalized” – that is
Baptized, confirmed and married in the Church. These include burial that gave rise to the phrase
“KASAL/BINYAG/LIBING”, however, the maturation for the reception of these sacraments and for
maturation in their Christian life in general, still leaves much to be desired.

1 Matthew 9:37 (The New Jerusalem Bible)

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 Parish Catechetical Activity in fact often centers on the yearly preparation for first confession and
first Holy Communion. For many Catholics, this was the first and last systematic catechesis they ever
received. The same is true of pre-marriage catechesis, which compounds the problem because
inadequately catechized newly-weds are not prepared to nurture and educate their children in faith. Thus,
the same lack of adequate catechesis is continued. Likewise, the continuing lack of sufficient priests,
religious and formed catechists, specially in rural areas, constitutes a major obstacle to adequate
catechesis for all, and supports the common charge that Filipino Catholics are “exteriorly”
sacramentalized but never adequately evangelized and/or catechized.2

c. Folk Catholicism

Consequently, one very pervasive influence in the faith-life of many Catholic Filipinos is a
certain “Folk Catholicism” or popular religiosity, including many traditional folk beliefs and cultural
values, prompted by social pressures from family, clan, and community traditions and expectations. Still
“Folk Catholicism” as such cannot be considered an adequate “pedagogy of faith” for the Filipino of the
new millennium, especially in urban areas where faith is coming under increasing attack and pressure
from mass media, commercialism; and the impact of many ideological views and trends of globalization.

Popular Religiosity vs. Media, Commercialism, and the impact of the many ideological views and
trends of globalization.

III. CATECHESIS AS PRIORITY AREA OF RENEWAL

Pastoral priorities such as “empowerment of the Laity towards social transformation”, “active
presence and participation of the poor in the Church,” and the “family as focal point for evangelization”
constitute an initial step in this process of focusing the Church’s resources more sharply. However,
effective results can only be achieved if the generalities expressing the goals sought are brought down to
specific, critically planned programs that can be realistically pursued with the available personnel and
resources.

IV. THE FOCUS ON EXPERIENTIAL

By referring back to its biblical ground, “experiential” catechesis is able to present a basically
Christian view of the human person and the community that supports the renewed interest in personal
fulfillment, freedom and dialogue.

In the Philippines, this experiential stress has been developed through the various methodologies.
In many respects, they represent a distinct advance:

1) In their concern toward drawing on the concrete Filipino experience, in an “inductive” method
from daily life
2) In the developing of self-awareness and a heightened consciousness of the specific existential
Philippine situation, an existential “ascending” method; and finally,

2 The phrase “exteriorly sacramentalized” is used to distinguish between those who simply go through the external ritual of a
sacrament, from those who truly “celebrate” the sacrament fruitfully. Meaningful and authentic celebration of a sacrament is
possible only for those who are adequately prepared by catechesis.

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 3) For exercising Filipinos in actual searching for the deeper and fuller Christian meaning of
their lives, especially through real personal experiential “hearing the Gospel” the “Good News” of our
Lord Jesus Christ.

Christian religious education, grounded in the living Word of God, cannot just be another secular
subject. Doctrine, morals and worship express more than the professional educator’s jargon of cognitive,
psycho-motor and affective.

Organizing school religion programs solely according to the “Management by Objectives”

patterned after business courses, inevitably tend to erroneously reduce Sacred Scripture and apostolic
Tradition to just “other sources.” Divine revelation does not appear as an ordinary source for business
courses.

V. CATECHETICAL METHOD

a. Nature of Catechetical Methods

The “variety of methods is a sign of life and richness, showing respect for those being
catechized,” “as long as the variety is useful and not harmful to the unity of one faith. This confirms the
freedom to employ whatever methods are useful, as long as they “are not contrary to the Gospel and are
its service.

Any catechetical method is dependent, albeit partly, on the competence of the catechist using it
for its effectiveness. The catechist plays a decisive role in discerning and choosing a certain method and
putting it into practice.

The practical “wisdom” and “creativity” of the catechist is the determining key. It’s the catechists
who makes the decision in the “here” and “now” about the Good News can most effectively be
communicated in the concrete situation of those being catechized. The catechists realize that all
catechetical methods are dealing with God’s self-revelation, the proper work of the Holy Spirit. It is
axiomatic, therefore, that the catechist must be a person of prayer.

A process of transmission is required which is adequate to “the particular circumstances of the

faithful to whom the catechesis is addressed.” Thus, there is no doubt that the context of culture, social
change, and the media used to communicate the Gospel message, significantly influence what those being
catechized actually grasp of the message.

There is a great need for critical discernment (knowing the audience/congregation) in order for
the catechesis become effective.

The single most important factor determining catechetical methodology is the Gospel message
itself. While these entire human sciences-educational and communication methods are fundamental and
necessary disciplines, they are always at the service of evangelization which is more than the human
activity.

b. General Directives for Catechetical Method

The first directive is: effectivity for any methodology depends on its intelligent use. The major
challenge we face in achieving effective catechesis is forming catechists in the practical skill and capacity
to use, adapt and apply the methods creatively and intelligently to their concrete audience.

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 A second directive is: there is no single method catechizing. Different methodologies are called
for, depending on the level of psychological and personal maturity of those to be catechized.

A third directive, every catechetical methodology must be grounded explicitly on Sacred

Scripture, apostolic Tradition, and human experience. Our catechetical methods must answer a dual
norm: “fidelity to God” through fidelity to Scripture and Church teaching, and “fidelity to man” through
making the Gospel intelligible in today’s world.

A fourth directive focuses on the total catechetical environment. The operational selectivity of
every catechetical method depends in great part on the socio-religious and socio-cultural contexts of the
catechesis, and its concrete locus or place-community, family, parish, school.

The fifth directive: all catechetical methods gain their efficacy ultimately only through the work
of the Holy Spirit. Catechesis, after all, leads believers to a mature life of faith, hope, and love in Jesus
Christ – all gifts of God never produced by human efforts alone. What must be clear is that the end result
sought is not just “religious behavior” but faith, not just a life-style that could be fostered by
indoctrination, manipulation, etc., but a transformation traditionally known as conversion.

c. TYPES OF CATECHETICAL METHODOLOGY

i. First Type: Methods based on Processes of Reasoning

The inductive method, applied to catechesis, consists in moving from concrete faith realities in
biblical narratives, liturgical acts, lives of saints, events in the Church life especially events of daily life,
to discerning their basic meaning in divine Revelation (ascending).
The deductive method moves from proclamation of the message as expressed in the principle
documents of the Faith (Bible, Liturgy, Creed, doctrinal and moral Church teachings) and applies it to
daily life events (descending).
Memorization, as a catechetical method, when properly explained and deepened- is one of the
concrete ways of transmitting the faith to the next generation, even in places where there is no priest or
resident catechist.

ii. Second Type: Methods based on Process of Doing Catechesis

The development of the general “see-judge-act” process into a five-step pattern –“see-judge-act-
celebrate-evaluate” – helps to identify it as a proper catechetical method, popular in base level
communities (BEC’s) in the country.

The “listen-transmit-dialogue” variation of this pattern focuses on basic individual or group

human experience and proposes three moments:

1. “Listen” to those being catechized;

2. “Transmit” the Living Word of God to enlighten them in addressing their concerns;
3. “Dialogue” or sharing personal Faith in creative ways.

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 iii. Third Type: Methods based on the “Good News”

A distinctively “Christian” pedagogy of faith3 must be grounded in fidelity to God’s Revelation in

the Mystery of the total Christ, who remains present, through the Holy Spirit, in His Church, His
“sacrament’ to the world “to the end of time.”

Based on the law of the three fidelities as outlined by the NDCP – fidelity to God, fidelity to man,
and fidelity to the Church, the Pedagogy of Faith for Filipinos Today follows three basic catechetical
principles: integration, inculturation, and community-forming.

VI. A PEDAGOGY OF FAITH FOR FILIPINOS TODAY

a. Integrated Catechesis and Fidelity to God

Integration, as the first principle of catechetical methodology, refers to the holistic, unified
character of all authentic catechesis. All forms of integration are aimed at “closing the gap” between the
concrete catechesis-how the faith is being taught and communicated-and the way faith is actually lived in
daily life by the ordinary Catholic Filipino.

Faith is not just believing/thinking (head), but doing (hands) and praying/worshipping (heart) as
well. This corrects the common defects of “head-knowledge only” or mere “rote memorization of
formulas “that fail utterly to offer a full authentic catechesis.

It is important, when focusing on one or other specific form of integration, to keep clearly in
mind their one basic goal: to effectively bring the total inspiring message of Christ into the minds, will
and hearts of today’s Filipino. “Life Integration” refers to this overall basic goal of the pedagogy of faith.

o Structural Integration
o Dimension Integration
o Source Integration
o Subject Integration
o Environmental Integration

The principle of integration, which unites all the essential components and dimensions of the
faith, can be grounded in Scriptures through the five activities by which the apostolic Church lived,
celebrated and communicated the mystery of the Risen Christ. As narrated in the Acts of the Apostles,4
five central activities made up the early Church’s life and ministry:

o Kerygma, the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ;

o Didache, the teaching of the Good News;
o Leiturgia, the breaking of the bread together and praising God;
o Koinonia, the community holding all things in common and;
o Diakonia, the witness of loving service to all in Christ.

3 Cf. GDC 139-146

4 Cf. Acts 2;42, 44, 47 (The New Jerusalem Bible)

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 b. Inculturated Catechesis and Fidelity to all Human Persons

The Christian message must be expressed through images, symbols, and rites that are indigenous
to Philippine culture. On the other hand, authentic Filipino cultural values, attitudes and practices must
themselves be viewed in light of Christ and in terms of their basic Christian dimensions because, “at
various times in the past in various different ways, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; but
in our time, the last days, He has spoken to us through His Son that He has appointed to inherit
everything and through whom He made everything there is.”5

Inculturation of catechesis is a process which cannot be accomplished by decree from on high.6

Much creative work and persistent efforts are needed to find the forms and expressions in worship and
life that are both distinctly Filipino and authentically Christian.

More fundamentally, it is the transformation of the Filipino “kalooban” by the interior insight and
deeper understanding of Christ Jesus. The faith, then, becomes constitutive element in the Filipino’s self-
becoming-both individually and as a member of a community.

Customs, traditions and values, in connection with the family and community to which every
Filipino belongs, offer another concrete means for inculturating catechesis. In this work of inculturation,
catechesis becomes a process by which Filipino values are evangelized “in depth and right to their roots.”

c. Community-Forming Catechesis and Fidelity to the Church

The “Pedagogy of Faith for Filipinos Today”, considered as a process, consists essentially in the
growth of the believer’s personal relationship to Christ. The life of faith is mediated, especially for the
Filipino, in interpersonal dialogical encounters among those bound together by their belief in, witness to,
and worship of, Christ Jesus our Lord. The proper context of catechesis, then, is the community of
believers. The community is “a source, locus, and means of catechesis.”

As St. John Paul II reminded Filipinos: “The local parish and the family, the domestic Church,
are indeed the center of faith that is lived, taught and witnessed to.”

Catechesis, then, is essentially an ecclesial activity conducted by the Church, in the Church, and
for the Church. “By” the Church, because “catechesis always has been and always will be a work for
which the whole Church must feel responsible and must wish to be responsible.” “In” the Church, since
the “customary place or setting of catechesis is the Christian Community.” “For” the Church, because the
goal is the “strengthening of her internal life as a community of believers and her external activity as a
missionary Church” and not as any self-centered or narcissistic purpose. Catechists are to help in “making
the ecclesial community come alive, so that it will be able to give witness that is sufficiently Christian.”
Therefore, to the two fidelities to God and to man, a third fidelity must be added as essential to all
catechetical methods: fidelity to the Church.

5
Heb 1:1-12
6 Cf. GDC 206

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 The Christian community both nurtures the faith of its members and catechumens, supplying a
sense of religious belonging and a “home,” and calls them to radical conversion of heart, exposing the
sinfulness of society, structures, and situations, through its prophetic voice.

More simply, generations of Filipino Christian parents have known the power of concrete witness
to mold and inspire their children. So it is the way which the Church, Mother and Teacher, uses to form
her sons and daughters into mature, evangelized and evangelizing lay leaders and communities.

The demands of this process upon the educators/catechists of faith are enormous, for it is through
their personal witness that catechists act as mediator/patron between catechized and the Risen Christ. The
Catechists’ role, then, is to lead Filipinos to encounter the person of Christ, not to interpose them.

Finally, “community-forming” or “interpersonal and communitarian” can also refer to the way
catechists inter-relate among themselves. They will surely be more successful in forming community
among those being catechized by showing themselves to be Catholic men and women of authentic prayer
and service, true Disciples of Christ, united as a community in sharing His mission.

Catechetical methods must be as varied as those who are to be educated in the faith; their
effectivity depends on the solid formation of catechists, who must be trained both to intelligently adapt
methods presently in use to their concrete circumstances, and to create new methods as the situation
demands.

VII. SUMMARY

Traditional faith-formation in the Philippines focused more on sacramentalization-

“Kasal/Binyag/Libing”- and developed a certain “folk Catholicism” through the “bajo las campanas”
catechesis of Spanish times. Meanwhile, post-Vatican II methods are characterized by their stressed on
human experience and on new means of communication.

Christian life is a paschal experience; the gradual but total transformation of a person’s life into
life in Christ. Catechesis is the process that fosters this life of faith within the Christian community, and
continually draws Filipino Catholics toward holiness, the mature measure of Christ’s fullness to which all
are called. Therefore, the “pedagogy of faith” is more than mere methods and techniques, because of the
absolute originality and graced depth of faith itself.

“Education in the faith” is a life-long undertaking which follows both the free graces and
inspirations of the Spirit as well as the natural psychological, sociological, and anthropological rhythms
of human development. Yet, there are times when divine mercy bypasses and dispenses with these human
elements to display the prodigality of divine love.

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 Any method that incorporates the triple characteristics for the Philippines in the new millennium
– integration, inculturation and community-forming - can serve with God’s grace to guide Filipinos today
to full Christian maturity. Ultimately, the single most important question regarding the validity and
efficacy of any catechetical method is whether the chosen methodology satisfies the “law that is
fundamental for the whole of the Church’s life: the law of fidelity to God and of fidelity to man in a
single loving attitude. Every catechetical method depends on its effectiveness on its intelligent use by the
catechist and on the total human environment of catechesis. Neither the demands of the “Good News” nor
of the catechized can mandate a single best method in catechesis. All catechetical methods must be
grounded on Scripture, Tradition and Human Experience. The basic forms e.g. liturgical catechesis, of
catechesis, has their ultimate source of efficacy in the workings of the Holy Spirit.

Catechetical Methods for the Philippine of today must be integrated - showing fidelity to God
(kerygma, didache, diakonia, leiturgia, koinonia) and fidelity to man (cognitive, memorization,
behavioural, affective and celebrating); inculturated through a process that touches the Filipinos’
“kalooban”; and community-forming (fidelity to the Church) through a graced socialization process
(catechesis) that is both transforming as well as transmitting.

Catechetical Methods must be as varied as those who are to be educated in the faith; their
electivity depends on the solid formation of catechists, who must be trained both to intelligently adapt
methods presently in use to their concrete circumstances, and to create new methods as the situation
demand.