CAFFEINE Part 4 (What’s going on here?)

There have been some concerns expressed regarding the church’s ability to authentically communicate faith and tradition through catholic youth ministry and adolescent catechesis. It has been suggested that there is a certain sense of malaise in the catechetical world.

Are many of the faithful, especially young people, inadequately prepared to have an adult faith? Our malaise seems evidenced by our dissatisfied uncertainty if we, the faithful, “get it” in what the call to follow Jesus entails, “get it” in understanding the Eucharist, or “get it” about the mission of the Church in the world today.

There has been questioning regarding that catechesis has possibly limited itself providing the “warm glow” of attendance, but lacking an engaged presence. Should catechesis push beyond a “Glad you are all here” mentality? That next step might be the more complex “got some Good News for you; it may not seem like good news right away because a change or a conversion is required, but it really is Good News!” (Sorry, but the Good News requires you up and off that damn couch!) Has malaise eroded the confidence necessary to make this demand of one another?

Malaise is an odd little word. It describes a feeling of illness or depression. The use of the word “malaise” evoked memories of the end of Jimmy Carter’s presidency. It was the 1970’s- gas lines were long; sweaters were worn in the Oval Office as the thermostats were turned down for energy conservation; and yellow ribbons were wrapped around trees anticipating the return of Americans held hostage in the Mideast. The nation was depressed and gloom permeated the collective consciousness.

And then, the national numbness was roused awake. The conservative optimism of Ronald Reagan’s political campaigns were able to rekindle the hopes of a nation with promise of a new dawn: “It’s morning in America.”

Similarly, the malaise in the catechetical world finds not a campaign slogan but a statement of vision. “It is a new morning in catechesis.” The National Directory of Catechesis identifies the fundamental task of catechesis as being “to form disciples of Christ and send them forth on mission.” For those of us who claim to be believers, there is an urgent need to share faith. This has been the process for over two millennia now: We pass along the faith as part of the mission and ministry of the living presence of the Risen Christ. We experience His living presence as we form the Body of our Church. If we believe this, how could there possibly be a sense of malaise?