Saturday, January 08, 2011

Church launches new 10-year plan

A national directory for catechesis, evangelisation and religious education, the first of its kind to be published in Ireland, has been described as "revolutionary" and a "time bomb" by Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin.

Both Dr Martin and Cardinal Seán Brady were both present for the launch of Share the Good News  in the Mater Dei Institute of Education in Dublin.

The directory was launched by Bishop Bill Murphy, Bishop of Kerry and chairman of the Episcopal Council for Catechetics and the document's author and editor Rev Dr Gareth Byrne.

The directory is a 10-year plan for the Catholic Church in Ireland covering evangelisation, religious education and catechesis - the process by which people are introduced to faith.

Dr Martin described the directory as a "time bomb" thrown into the catechetical establishment and the religious education establishment.

"It is an invitation to break away from our current situation which is overly school-oriented and bring back into the picture in a more focussed way the central role of the parish and the family. It is a reminder that catechesis does not end with the Leaving Certificate," he said.

He noted that the directory was being published at a time of great change in Irish religious culture where the faith education in schools was under scrutiny.

"There are various contending voices and interest groups, speaking often in a polarised way, and there is very little common reflection on what the right way forward should be. I still believe that a broad National Forum on the future of education provision and the place of faith education in the Irish educational system would be of value."

He said the proposals made in the directory were "revolutionary" for parishes: "There is need to provide a new generation of catechists in our parishes, both full-time professional catechists but above all as a new group of committed lay people who will take on a period of formation to be voluntary catechists in their parishes."

"I know that what I am saying may upset some and that it might also delight those who would like to see all forms of faith formation removed from schools that receive State funding.

"The right of parents to choose the type of education they wish for children is a fundamental right. This right is not an invention of the Catholic Church in Ireland or of an out-of-date Irish Constitution. It is clearly present in all the major international human rights instruments."

He said that, if the new national directory was to be effective for evangelisation and renewal in the Church that it must address the current situation directly.

"One way or other we have to recognise that our system of school catechesis is not drawing young people in sufficient numbers into the life of our sacramental communities," Dr Martin said.

Cardinal Brady described the directory as a "most significant document" which addressed in a unified, coherent and co-ordinated manner many of the issues pressing for the Irish Catholic Church.

"I believe that there are many people who know they have a part to play in handing on that faith to the new generations," he said.

"My hope is that as many adults as possible will engage with this beautifully produced document and make it their own - so that what we are launching today will really be a decade of renewed evangelisation and catechesis in Ireland."

SIC: IT/IE