Thesis advisor: Thomas H. Groome / What does it mean to "be church"? How can we foster a sense of collective faith identity through religious education? What resources can we draw upon in this endeavor? I propose that the authentic early Irish Church offers insights that add to the field of religious education by suggesting that religious educators focus on forming persons in faith to be Christians both within a community of believers and in the world. Doing so not only enriches the individual, but also invigorates the Church and allows it to reclaim its voice in the twenty-first century public square. This thesis suggests an approach to religious education rooted in the example of the early Irish tradition yet pertinent to the contemporary desire for faith, spirituality and community. The faith of the early Irish centered upon the triad of Christ the King, covenant, and community. Together these three Christian principles foster holistic lives where faith and life become inseparable, what I term abiding faith. My approach to this task is threefold: 1. To survey the original texts and practices, and catechetical efforts of Early Christian Ireland (5th - 10th centuries) in an effort to recover an authentic understanding of the Early Irish Church. 2. To place the prominent Early Irish Christian understandings of a) Jesus Christ, b) covenantal relationship, and c) community of believers, into conversation with modern theology. 3. To bring the Irish recovery into conversation with the field of contemporary religious education. Chapter 1 contextualizes the research by sketching the historical setting of pre-Christian Ireland through the arrival of Christianity with Palladius in the early fifth century. Chapter 2 continues the historical survey concentrating on the Christianization process, pedagogical practices and the subsequent transformation of Irish society. Chapter 3 turns to the content of the evangelization of Ireland first examining the Irish use of the heretics Pelagius and Theodore of Mospsuestia. I demonstrate that their influence in Ireland was primarily exegetical and that Irish use of their texts did not render the Irish Church heterodox. Secondly, I focus on the texts produce by the Irish Christians with an eye towards their christological and ecclesiological motifs. Chapter 4 engages the wisdom of the early Irish Church, their emphasis on Christ the King, covenant, and community with modern theological understandings. Here, I liberate these understandings from unnecessary tangential concepts that are detrimental to forming persons for an integrated, life-giving, abiding faith. I then take these recovered Christian foci into a conversation with contemporary religious education text. Chapter 5 demonstrates the viability for religious education for abiding faith through the shared Christian praxis approach of Thomas Groome. I offer a description of shared Christian praxis followed by a discussion of its use in both the formal educational setting and the liturgy. Chapter 6 offers, as the title states, some concluding thoughts on the development of the work as a whole. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry.

Thesis advisor: Jane E. Regan / Employing a Christian practice approach to pastoral theology (one that is interdisciplinary in its scope), this dissertation argues that Augustine's mystagogical theology and catechesis provides the basis for a contemporary liturgical formation that transforms human experience into liturgical existence through the practice of worshipful wisdom. Chapter one considers the formative nature of liturgical worship. Both liturgical theologians and catechists view liturgical prayer as a privileged source for liturgical formation. That is, the liturgy mediates an experience and lived knowledge of the Christian message through its performance, one that forms the Christian in a way of life. The first chapter concludes by acknowledging recent scholarship in liturgical studies that has been critical of this approach to formation through liturgical prayer. Fruitful participation in this prayer, one that contributes to a way of life characterized by a life infused with liturgical meaning, requires the appropriation of specific theological and spiritual dispositions that are essential to any act of Christian worship. Yet, what are the theological and spiritual dispositions required for fruitful liturgical worship? Chapter two does not answer this question directly but rather offers a heuristic through the ritual models of Clifford Geertz, Victor Turner, and Catherine Bell. This chapter suggests that for ritual prayer to function fruitfully, one must acquire specific dispositions, ways of knowing and practicing, necessary for any act of worship within a religion. In addition, ritual prayer presumes a specific telos, an end toward which the human person is directed and formed through ritual engagement. Finally, ritual prayer is formative when it leads to the acquisition of a certain habitus, a way of acting in which the ritual agent becomes capable of "ritualizing" in other areas of life. While these disciplines cannot provide a Christian specificity to liturgical worship, they can suggest the foundational questions that will guide liturgical theologians and catechists as they consider the theological and spiritual dispositions necessary for Christian liturgical prayer. Chapters three, four, and five, serve as an interruption to the more common approaches to liturgical theology and catechesis analyzed in the first chapter. In chapter three, I consider the mystagogical theology of Augustine of Hippo. For Augustine, Christian worship is intrinsic to the process of salvation in Christ, a renewal of human perception in which the signs of the created world are to be used to enjoy the reality of God. This renewal of human perception takes place through entrance into the school of Christ--the Church's reading of the Scriptures and its sacramental celebrations. To participate fruitfully in liturgical worship, thus requires the capacity to use the signs of the Scriptures and the liturgical rites to enjoy God through deeper understanding of the texts and practice under examination. This is what I will call practicing worshipful wisdom. In chapter four, I contemplate what the Christian becomes through this fruitful worship, particularly in the Eucharistic celebration. Through the Eucharistic pedagogy of faith, the Christian becomes a sacrifice of love offered to God. In this transformation of human identity, the renewal of the Christian made in the image and likeness of God, the Christian's memory, understanding and will grow into a site for divine sacrifice. Thus, the interior life of divine contemplation is more perfectly expressed in one's visible actions. The Christian, within the life of the Church, becomes a living Eucharistic sign. Finally in chapter five, I conclude with an analysis of Augustine's mystagogical pedagogy. I argue that Augustine's sermons are rhetorical performances, using the signs of Scripture, to form the imaginations of Christians, their way of thinking about God, and to lead the congregation to become what they received in the preaching event. One learns about the liturgical act in the context of the Christian narrative, as a cultivation of memory; thinks about the practice through a theological seeking that is oriented toward both conversion and prayer, cultivating understanding; and then performs the practice anew through the results of these exercises, cultivating love. In chapter six, this Augustinian mystagogical approach is interrupted by the contemporary context of the Catholic parish. This interruption first includes a diagnosis of the primary malaise effecting religious practice in the United States--secularization. American secularization consists of an attenuation of the religious imagination, a discomfort with theological thinking, and an emphasis upon individual flourishing. Then, this chapter turns to contemporary educational theory, including John Dewey and Etienne Wenger, as a way of discerning how to perform this Augustinian mystagogical approach in a secular age through the catechetical ministry of the parish. I conclude that an Augustinian mystagogical approach in the present context requires a de-habituation from previous ways of thinking, as well as an intelligent socialization into a mystagogical imagination within communities of practice. Finally, in chapter seven, I set forth a plan of formation in which the whole catechetical life of a parish becomes an initiation into the practice of worshipful wisdom through the four fundamental tasks of catechesis and an Augustinian mystagogical approach to catechetical pedagogy. By means of this Augustinian mystagogical formation, the Christian learns to offer all of one's existence as a sacrifice to God, the Eucharistic vocation of the Christian. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Thesis advisor: Jane E. Regan / Internet-mediated communication is undoubtedly shaping our culture, especially the way we access, gain, produce, share and understand information. The Internet, a vast resource of content is also taking form as a social communication network, where online content mediates the presence of people animating this network, who are accessing, contributing to, sharing and connecting over information. This movement toward the social web has significant implications for the way we go about communicating, sharing knowledge and making meaning as a whole, giving way to an overall more participatory culture, both on and offline. Commissioned to go and proclaim the Good News to the world, the Church continues to hold the communication of the faith as one of its essential tasks. This cultural shift in communication thus demands the attention the Church, presenting new opportunities and challenges for its evangelizing mission, while inviting a greater dialogue between evangelizing faith and digital culture. This dissertation engages the Church in this dialogue, focusing especially on what the present cultural shift wrought by Internet-mediated communication may mean for the theological foundations of communication in divine revelation, and the practice of the transmission of revelation in the context of the catechetical ministry. The dissertation offers a theological and ministerial foundation for exploring Internet-mediated communication, and the ways it may continue to evolve and shape our culture. To narrow in scope my investigation of the Church's dialogue with Internet-mediated communication, the dissertation approaches the Church's evangelizing mission as an expression of the theology of revelation concretely exemplified in catechesis, the religious education process concerned with facilitating conversion to Jesus Christ. This process of catechesis fueled by the theology of revelation encounters the socio-cultural phenomenon of Internet-mediated communication as its context. For the greater dialogue between the evangelizing faith and digital culture, all three of these elements, the theology, the ministerial process and the socio-cultural context receive careful analysis. After exploring each of these three constitutive elements, the dissertation suggests new directions and possibilities for revelation and catechesis in light of this dialogue. Chapter I introduces Internet-mediated communication and describes its relevance both from an ecclesial and socio-cultural perspective, focusing especially on the Church's clear intention to take social communications media seriously, as articulated through a series of ecclesial documents. Chapter II investigates the theology of revelation and Chapter III examines catechesis, and both of these chapters highlight the particular dynamic of communication operative in both revelation and catechesis as one that emphasizes both relational presence and informational content. Chapter IV on Internet-mediated communication also continues to address this dynamic of communication, offering both revelation and catechesis a new model for integrating the relational and the informational in one process of communication. Chapter V concludes the dissertation by exploring the theological and ministerial implications of this integrated model of communication that the Internet as social network offers, while suggesting new directions especially for the practice of catechesis. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Theology.

Thesis advisor: Richard Lennan / Thesis advisor: Rafael Luciani / Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

Lietuvoje dominuojant nominaliajai, bet ne praktinei katalikybei, Katalikų Bažnyčia joje, kaip ir visame pasaulyje, privalo ieškoti kuo tinkamesnių katechezės būdų, įgalinančių pasiekti šiuolaikinį žmogų įvairiose sudėtingose jo gyvenimo situacijose ir siekia numatyti pagrindines efektyvios katechezės kryptis. Empirinio tyrimo tikslas: atskleisti teologinio-antropologinio katechezės matmens sustiprinimo poveikį Susitaikymo ir Eucharistijos katechezės veiksmingumui. Tyrimo objektas: sakramentams besiruošiančių vaikų ir jų tėvų tikėjimo praktikos ypatumai bei teologiškai-antropologiškai orientuotos katechezės sąlygota jų kaita. Pirmojoje darbo dalyje analizuojamos mokslinės literatūros ir šaltinių aptariamos Susitaikymo ir Eucharistijos katechezės galimybės vaikų, jų tėvų, katechetų ir bažnytinės bendruomenės tikėjimui stiprinti ir atnaujinti. Antrojoje – katechezės procesas nagrinėjamas teologinės antropologijos požiūriu: kaip pagalba asmens atsivėrimui jį perkeičiančiai Dievo malonei – t.y. kaip pagalba atsivertimui, tikėjimui, patyrimui bei bažnytiškumui ir galiausiai laisvam įsipareigojimui krikščioniškai gyventi. Trečiojoje – tęstiniu kiekybiniu empiriniu tyrimu atskleidžiami Pirmajai Išpažinčiai ir Komunijai ruoštis savo vaikus užregistravusių tėvų ir pačių vaikų tikėjimo bei praktikos ypatumai ir teologiškai-antropologiškai orientuotos katechezės sąlygota jų kaita. Remiantis tyrimo rezultatais, pateikiami pasiūlymai katechezei tobulinti. Pagrindinė darbo išvada:... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Lithuanian Catholicism is mainly nominal, so the Catholic Church here, as well as worldwide, is searching for effective ways of catechesis able to reach and to influence the people of today. Aim of empirical study: to reveal the positive effect of reinforced theological-anthropological dimension on the efficiency of preparatory catechesis for the sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist. Object of study: Characteristic features of the children‘s and their parents’ faith and its practice and their changes caused by theologicaly-anthropologicaly enriched sacramental catechesis. The first part of the paper analyzes the literature and sources concerning the trends of strengthening and reviving the children‘s and their parents’ faith in the course of sacramental catechesis, as well as the role of the parish community in the process. In the second part, the catechetical process is examined in terms of theological anthropology, e.i. the teaching of the Church about the unconditional worth of the human person stressed as effective help for believers to open themselves for the love of God and for one‘s neighbour. This leads to true conversion, to participation in the Church community and to Christian life in daily circumstances. In the third part, by way of continuous empirical study, some features of the children‘s and their parents’ faith before catechesis are being disclosed. Later, the positive development of these features is stated as a result of anthropologically directed... [to full text]

Katecheze jako uvedení do mše : Očima jednoho evangelíka Summary Catechesis as an introduction to the Mass: A Protestant's view In my diploma thesis I address the relationship between catechesis and the Mass, namely how the believers of the Catholic Church are acquainted with what is (or is meant to be) the centerpiece of their religious life. In the first - theoretical - part of the paper I first explain what the Mass is and how it has evolved historically, which gradually leads me to the analysis of its present form and content. I then turn my attention to catechesis, whose historical development I outline as well, and to its place among the various services of the Church. I also mention the close connection between catechesis and liturgy, which both contain a dimension of the other.Another common feature of catechesis and the Mass is that they are both Christocentric, yet at the same time anthropological in their focus on man. In the second part of my thesis I deal with the practical form of introduction to the Mass, which takes place with the help of catechetical aids (catechisms, books or coloring books). I analyze these aids and then conclude with the mention of the liturgical basis of the catechesis of converts and of those who are preparing for their First Holy Communion. Keywords catechesis, Mass,...

Darbo autorė: Lietuvos edukologijos universiteto Istorijos fakulteto Krikščioniškosios antropologinės pedagogikos studentė Eglė Jankauskaitė. Darbo vadovė lect. dr. Giedrė Rugevičiūtė. Darbo pavadinimas Antropologiniai aspektai neįgaliųjų katechezėje ir jų raiška Lietuvos „Tikėjimas ir Šviesa“ bendruomenės veikloje. Darbo tikslas: Apibrėžti antropologinius aspektus neįgaliųjų katechezėje ir nustatyti jų raišką „Tikėjimas ir Šviesa“ bendruomenės veikloje. Darbo problema: Negalią turinčių asmenų nuvertinimas, pasyvumas ir menkas indėlis į jų katechizaciją, nesuprantant tikrosios prasmės bei pasąmoningai kuriant kliūtis jų dvasiniai patirčiai. Darbo temos ištirtumas: Darbų rašytų apie neįgalių asmenų tam tikrus poreikius mene, muzikoje, veiklų integracijoje yra Šiaulių universitete bei Vytauto Didžiojo universitete, tačiau darbų konkrečiai orientuotų į katechezę ir jos raišką Lietuvos „Tikėjimo ir Šviesos“ bendruomenės veikloje nėra Darbo uždaviniai: 1. Atskleisti Bažnyčios ir „Tikėjimo ir Šviesos“ bendruomenės požiūrį į asmens sampratą. 2. Išskirti neįgaliųjų katechezės paskirtį, pricipus ir formas evangelizacinėje šviesoje. 3. Atskleisti Jean Vanier „Tikėjimas ir šviesa“ bendruomenės sielovadinę dvasią. 4. Nustatyti neįgaliųjų „Tikėjimas ir šviesa“ bendruomenės katechezės raišką. Darbo metodai: Bažnyčios dokumentų analizė, lyginamoji analizė, interviu, aprašomoji analizė, sisteminimas ir interpretacija. Darbo struktūra: Darbą sudaro įvadas, trys darbo dalys su jose... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The author of this master paper is EglėJankauskaitė, the student of Lithuanian University of Education, the Departament of Catholic Religion Education. The supervisor of this work is lect. dr. GiedrėRugevičiūtė. The title of the work is The Anthropological Aspects of the Disabled Catechesis and Their Expression in "TikėjimasirŠviesa“ Community Activities. .The aim of this master paper is to define the anthropological aspects of the disabled catechesis and determine their expression in community "TikėjimasirŠviesa" activities. .The problem of the master paper is devaluation of the disabled, inactivity and poor contribution to the disabled catechesis, not understanding the true meaning of catechesis and unconsciously creating obstacles to their spirit experience. The analysis of the work: Works written about people with disabilities and some of their needs in the art, music and activities' integration we can find in Siauliai University and Vytautas Magnus University, but works specifically oriented to catechesis and its expression are missing in Lithuanian community. The objectives are 1. Disclose the approach of Church and „TikėjimoirŠviesos” community to the concept of a person. 2. Distinguish the disabled catechetical purposes, principles and forms of evangelization in the light. 3. Reveal Jean Vanier „Tikėjimasiršviesa“ community pastoral spirit. 4. Identify the disabled catechesis expression in „Tikėjimasiršviesa“ community. Methods of the work are analysisof Church... [to full text]

Each year a new group of adolescents start the confirmation class and each year it is perceived that some of them do not have a strong faith identity. This is perceived during conversations about faith issues, including baptism. The researcher suspects that some parents and adolescents do not have a proper understanding of the meaning of baptism. This results in believers who cannot live according to the promises that baptism confirms in one’s life. Parents are supposed to be the primary people to teach this truth to their children. Thus, the question comes to mind whether parents are able to do this? Therefore, the decision was made to look to baptismal catechesis to see if what is presented to parents are indeed enough to equip them for this important task. This research problem is seen in chapter 1 where the research method is also developed. Chapter 2 focuses on the purpose and value of catechesis in the lives of families as well as in congregations. Teaching is a very important part in faith formation. However, faith and Christian identity cannot only be taught. Believers should be guided to also experience faith in order that it can also be lived. In the third chapter the focus is on baptism itself as well as the meaning thereof. Firstly, the decision is made for baptism as a sacrament, rather than an ordination. Thereafter the theological meaning of baptism is described shortly. This chapter also explores how baptism contributes to faith formation. Chapter 4 explores practical ways in which parents can be obedient to their promises in terms of the covenant God made with their children. It is seen in this chapter that there are many difficulties that families are faced with each day. In chapter 5 the focus is on the empirical study that was conducted in the Dutch Reformed congregation Nelspruit-Westergloed. The adolescents in the confirmation class of 2015 and their parents took part in this qualitative study. The results confirm the validity of the research problem. Therefore a few suggestions are made in chapter 6 on how families can be guided to live with a better understanding of the meaning of baptism. / Elke jaar wat ‘n nuwe groep adolessente die belydenisjaar begin, word daar waargeneem dat sommige van hulle nie ‘n sterk gevestigde geloofsidentiteit het nie. Hierdie waarneming word bevestig in onder andere gesprekke wat met hulle oor die doop gevoer word. Die navorser vermoed dat baie ouers en adolessente ‘n beperkte verstaan van die doop het, daarom leef hul nie vanuit die beloftes wat die doop in hul lewe waarborg nie. Ouers is veronderstel om hul kinders hierdie waarheid te leer. Die vraag het dus ontstaan of ouers toegerus is om hul kinders hierin te onderrig? Daar is besluit om na te vors of doopkategese, wat veronderstel is om ouers toe te rus vir die taak, wel voldoende is hiervoor. Hierdie probleemstelling word in hoofstuk 1 beskryf en ‘n metode word geformuleer oor hoe die studie benader gaan word. In hoofstuk 2 is gekyk na die doel en waarde van kategese in gesinne en gemeentes. Lering is ‘n belangrike rol in mense se geloofsontwikkeling. Geloof, en daarmee dan ook ‘n Christelike identiteit, kan nie slegs geleer word nie. Gelowiges behoort daarom begelei te word om geloof ook te beleef en uiteindelik te leef. In die derde hoofstuk word aandag gegee aan die doop self en die betekenis daarvan. ‘n Uiteensetting word gegee van hoe die Gereformeerde tradisie na die doop kyk. Dit sluit eerstens in dat gekies word om die doop as sakrament te sien, wat beteken God handel in die doop. Verder word die teologiese betekenis van die doop kortliks beskryf. Hier word ook aandag geskenk aan hoe die doop bydra tot identiteitsvorming by gelowiges. In hoofstuk 4 word meer prakties gekyk na hoe ouers hul verbondsverantwoordelikhede behoort na te kom ten einde hulle kinders in geloofsontwikkeling te begelei. Daar is heelwat struikelblokke en uitdagings wat gesinne op hierdie pad beleef. Die empiriese navorsing word in hoofstuk 5 weergegee. Die navorsing is kwalitatief gedoen deur gesprekke wat met NG Nelspruit-Westergloed se belydenisgroep van 2015 en hul ouers gevoer is. Die resultate bevestig die geldigheid van die navorsingsprobleem. Dit beteken die kerk het ‘n ernstige taak op hande. In hoofstuk 6 word enkele suggesties gemaak oor hoe gesinne begelei kan word om met ‘n sterker bewustheid vanuit die doop se betekenis te leef. / Mini Dissertation (MTh)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Practical Theology / MTh / Unrestricted

This thesis "Comparison of selected catechist tools in connection with the sacrament of Confirmation" compares selected catechist books regarding the criteria related to theological, anthropological and catechist themes. The first part presents theological themes - it includes the form and quality of informing about the Holy Spirit and its demonstration in the Old and New Testament, as well as liturgical demonstration of the Church in connection with the Holy Spirit and the dimension of symbols. Further it covers the relation of the Holy Trinity to the sacraments and the close relation of the initiation sacraments with its effect on the receiver. It also deals with the position of catechism in relation to evangelisation and the fact how its structure reflects the catechumen's faith. The second part describes anthropological themes - it focuses on the natural behaviour of the humans, their relation to rituals, on the process of maturing and the importance of a community in the life of a human being from the point of view of faith and religious experience. In the third part we compare the contents and the tasks of the catechisms in the selected catechist tools. Upon an analysis and description of the individual catechist tools, the thesis concludes with an evaluation of the development of the approach towards...

This work uses analytical-comparativel methodology in basic outline trying to map catechetical-pastoral activity of the Church in Czechoslovakia since the establishment of the first republic to the present. Given the extensive topic it is focused only to selected major figures of Czech churches who were acting from the thirties of the 20th century to the Velvet Revolution and who, through their services, influenced the lives of many people. Work first defines the terminology and then presents a theoretical study of basic post-conciliar magisterium of the Catholic Church documents, relating to the subject of work - catechesis of adults. In this light as well as in historical and social context of the past, this work also perceives testimony of life, services, and ideas of three giants of the era which were Tomislav Kolakovič, Ota Mádr and Jan Evangelista Urban. Through their lifes analysing the literary works of those, this work will show individual paths of adults-catechesis and what these theologians were anticipating with as it was found later in church documents.