USCCB - (Office of Media Relations) - Bishops to Consider Revised National Catechetical Directory

Bishops to Consider Revised National Catechetical Directory

WASHINGTON (November 15, 1999) -- The U.S. bishops will vote on a process for developing a new National Catechetical Directory, revising the current directory which was published two decades ago.

The proposal comes from the Committee on Education and was developed by its Committee on Catechesis.

The earlier directory, the National Catechetical Directory, Sharing the Light of Faith (NCD), was published in 1979 to guide catechetical efforts in the United States.

Work on a revised document began in 1992 but was set aside temporarily in 1994 at the request of the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy because of the anticipated revision of the Vatican's 1971 General Catechetical Directory, which was published in 1997 as the General Directory for Catechesis--the GDC).

The Vatican document calls on bishops' conferences to develop national directories in order to apply the general directives, norms and criteria found in the GDC within the appropriate cultural context..

The Committee on Catechesis has identified nine significant reasons for developing a new directory at this time and note that still more could be raised. The reasons, which reflect concerns expressed by bishops and their staffs, catechetical scholars, and other members of the catechetical leadership, are listed below:

The cultural context in the United States has changed dramatically since 1978.
Several major ecclesial documents written since 1978--including the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC)--need to be incorporated into the NCD.
The role of the baptismal catechumenate as the inspiration for all catechesis must be emphasized.
Guidance on how to use the Catechism of the catholic Church as the reference for catechetical content is absent.
The importance of the social teachings of the Church and instructions on how to incorporate this teaching into the catechetical process needs to be strengthened.
Guidance is needed for catechist formation programs, with a special emphasis on preparing catechists to work with adults.
The role of the community and the role of Catholic schools in catechesis needs to be totally reworked.
There is a need to acknowledge and give guidance to the catechetical field on new or renewed catechetical methods.
Catechetical ministers seek a renewed vision to guide and energize their work. There is a feeling in the catechetical community that the only way to fully implement the GDC is to develop an NCD.

In June, the Committee on Education approved convening an ad hoc group to propose a process for developing a new edition of the NCD. The ad hoc group has recommended that the new national directory be a vision document, prophetic in tone, challenging those in catechesis, education, and the related ministries of evangelization, youth ministry, campus ministry, liturgy, and the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults to work collaboratively to bring about the comprehensive and dynamic vision of catechesis called for in the GDC.

The ad hoc group also recommended a process for developing the directory.

The proposed process calls for the bishops to

Involve the assembly of bishops in the development of the NCD at every stage as appropriate.
Appoint an ad hoc editorial committee of bishops by January 30, 2000 to oversee the development of the NCD with one bishop serving as official liaison to work directly with the project director and the writer(s).
Ensure an ongoing collaborative working relationship between the Ad Hoc Editorial Committee to oversee the development of the NCD and the Ad Hoc Committee to Oversee the Use of the Catechism's task force studying the feasibility of developing a National Catechism.
Appoint a steering committee representative of people involved in catechetical ministries to work with the project director and the writer(s).
Conduct two national consultations within a period of 18-24 months to gather data and seek guidance from across the whole Catholic community.
1. The findings from the first consultation will be used by the bishops' writing committee, the project director, and the writer(s) to develop an outline and a general overview of the content, organization, and approach of the new NCD. From this, a first draft would be written.
2. The second consultation will test the first draft of the NCD and will be conducted with the same genial audience that participated in the first consultation.
Hire a NCD Project Director no later than July, 2000 and engage writer(s) as soon as possible after that.