A turning away from the teaching
of Catholic doctrine in favor of experimental liturgical activity and social
protest prepared the way for the application to catechesis of the malevolent
concept of “ongoing revelation” under the leadership of Gabriel Moran. For
disciples of Moran, God was to be sought in the modern world, from which it
follows that catechesis should be centered on finding meaning in one’s lived experience,
an approach which was said to be authoritative following Vatican II. The
following characteristics give indication of neomodernist inspiration in
catechesis after the Council:
· The
prioritization of inquiry over the handing on of the Deposit of the Faith,
wherein students under the catechists’ direction explore the meaning of their
own experience; the net result of this method was to downgrade the bishop from
the role traditionally assigned him as chief catechist in his diocese in
deference to the “professional” expert more versed in the “new catechesis.”
· The
derision of Church Tradition and authority, which was viewed as
“indoctrination” because it offered absolutes and authoritative answers. The truth of these answers was now styled as
relative to the age in which they appeared and did not necessarily speak to the
modern age. That Jesus came to set men free was interpreted to mean that one
was then free to decide for himself the meaning of Christ’s teaching, and under
no obligation to follow magisterial teaching. The immediate fruits of this
approach were dramatic declines in attendance at Confession and at Mass.
· The
priority given to subjectivity over objective reality in the “new catechesis;”
one’s religion now being understood as personal, it was argued that the
believing Catholic could decide for himself the meaning of Jesus’ teaching.
In the face of parental objection to the
new approach to teaching the Faith, which made the interpretation of one’s life
experience the norm for catechesis, the religious education professionals
disingenuously professed that what the parents were demanding was a return to
the “pre-Vatican II” method of indoctrination, of memorizing the Baltimore
Catechism. The diabolic element in the new catechesis was in the reception it
received….
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