My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,
On Sunday, we will celebrate the annual Catechetical Sunday, a day on which we remember our responsibility to transmit the faith to others, especially the next generation. The theme of this year’s celebration is, “Do this in memory of me.” These are the words that conclude the consecration, the words of the Lord Himself, which remind us of the great truth that has been handed on to us. By doing what Jesus did, we make Him present to ourselves in the Eucharistic celebration. Jesus took bread and wine, said the customary blessing, and did something very different. He proclaimed the bread and wine to be His own body and blood to be poured out for the salvation of the world. It is this fact that we must transmit to the world for succeeding generations.
The faith, as has been said, is caught, not taught. How important witness is to the transmission of the faith. While instruction is our means of witness many times, we must live the faith so that others might truly come to believe. Recently, the experience of World Youth Day in Madrid was a great witness to me of the vibrant faith of almost two million young people from around the world who do believe and are convinced that what we do in the memory of the Lord makes Him present to us today.
The first and foremost place of witness and instruction is the family. No one can teach or witness as well as the family. This is our problem today as families lack stability and cohesion. As the time that is spent together is lessened, the ability to transmit the faith has suffered terribly. We must do whatever is in our power to restore the ability of families to transmit the faith to their children. It is, however, our culture, and in part the vast expansion of social media today, that seems to dictate what people come to believe is essential to their lives. As a consequence, we must use every means available to us, especially the media and social networks, to bring the faith to the members of a new and ever hungry generation that seeks meaning and value in their lives.
In the past, a good majority of our children attended Catholic schools, mainly staffed by Religious sisters and brothers. This is no longer the case. Our laity make up the vast majority of Catholic school teachers, but our children are not attending in the numbers that they have in the past. Therefore, we must double our efforts to make our religious education programs stronger, not only in quality, but also in quantity. As we look to the quality of our religious education, our Secretariat for Catholic Education and Formation, under the direction of Sister Angela Gannon, C.S.J., is working on expanding and improving the training opportunities available to our catechetical teachers, both in Catholic schools and religious education programs.
One of the frontiers yet to be challenged is the children who attend public schools who not currently under instruction. It has been estimated that at least 100,000 young people who are baptized Catholics are not attending instruction in our parish programs today. The Secretariat for Catholic Education and Formation is working on a plan for outreach. Many times this may mean working with parent associations in public schools which can inform others of the availability of religious education, and perhaps even a revival of our released-time program which largely has fallen into disuse for many valid reasons.
One of the new initiatives we have begun as part of the Elizabeth Anne Seton Trust is the giving of grants to parishes that request them for a three-year period to improve their religious education programs, which would include the hiring of trained staff. This initiative is one that I have long sought. Now I will be able to live up to that promise through the wonderful compliance of our parishes with their contributions to the Elizabeth Anne Seton Trust which assists Catholic education in general, and will now include religious education programs.
A further concern that we must deal with is the recently mandated sex education programs in our public schools. We have requested from the New York City Board of Education the curriculum to be inserted into the teaching of the public schools, but have yet to receive that curriculum. As I have stated publicly, however, we will assist our parents in public schools to assert their parental rights regarding opting out of the program or modifying it once we have received the curriculum.
In no way are we against sex education. However, this is the responsibility of the family which at times can employ others to assist them and no one can take away that right. The reasons given, unfortunately, for reinstituting mandatory sex education are hardly valid and may even be considered racist since they have focused on the inability of black and Hispanic families to convey sexual education to their children. This well meaning but inefficient approach to the communication of values is something we cannot tolerate. Information about sexual activity will not give young people a value system that will allow them to integrate sexual activity into their personalities. It will, however, encourage them to experiment in what the culture tells them is inevitable.
Each time we celebrate the Eucharist, we put out into the deep because we repeat the words of Jesus and say “Do this in memory of me.” There is much that we do in the memory of Jesus, but we must teach as He did with wisdom, understanding and effectiveness. Join me as we celebrate this Catechetical Sunday to pray that our efforts in communicating and transmitting the faith will be blessed by the Lord and will be effective here in Brooklyn and Queens.