Maynooth College Reflects on Catechesis in the Life of the Church

Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-1-78812-718-9
Verlag: Messenger Publications

Buch, Englisch, 264 Seiten, Format (B × H): 140 mm x 210 mm

How do we share the Good News in an era when older models of catechesis are under threat? This volume includes diverse reflections on some of the current challenges. The impetus for the volume came from the 2021 publication of Antiquum Ministerium, in which Pope Francis reintroduced the ministry of catechist within the universal church. This document was a fresh invitation for Christians to re-commit to catechesis.

Maynooth College Reflects on Catechesis in the Life of the Church, edited by Jeremy Corley, Andrew Meszaros, and John-Paul Sheridan, is an anthology of diverse reflections on some of the current challenges for catechesis, divided into four sections. The first part, The Catechetical Task considers wider aspects of catechesis, including insights from the psychology of human development, the mission of the catechist, and the major resources at hand for the catechist. The theme of part two is Bringing Catechesis Alive and has both theoretical and practical chapters on animating the gospel message to touch hearts and spark imagination. Part three, The Good News in Catechesis discusses the Church’s social teaching, theological anthropology, as well as contemporary lessons for catechists from St Augustine. Finally part four, Spirituality of Catechesis focuses on prayer and the scriptures as nourishment for the catechetical task.

Dedicated to reflecting on how all the faithful can more effectively participate in the catechetical endeavour, this volume is an ideal resource for both commissioned catechists and parish volunteers, as well as teachers, priests, parents transmitting the faith to children or those seeking to witness to the faith in the workplace.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Corley, Jeremy

Meszaros, Andrew

Sheridan, John Paul

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christliche Kirchen, Konfessionen, Denominationen Katholizismus, Römisch-Katholische Kirche
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Soziallehre und Sozialethik, Pastoral und Seelsorge
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsunterricht

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents

Foreword – Bishop Michael Duignan

Introduction – Jeremy Corley, Andrew Meszaros, and John-Paul Sheridan

The Catechetical Task

Forming Disciples: Human Development and the Ministry of Catechesis – Michael Shortall

The Catechism of the Catholic Church and Today’s Catechist – Neil Xavier O’Donoghue

The Ministry of Catechist in the Light of Share the Good News: The National Directory for Catechesis in Ireland – Alexander O’Hara

Zambian Catechists: Pillars of Catholic Faith and Evangelisation – Hector Mwale

To Form and Be Formed: The Vocation and Mission of a Catechist – John-Paul Sheridan

Bringing Catechesis Alive

The Place of Beauty in Catechesis – Billy Swan

The Symphonic Pedagogy of Faith: Catechist and Catechism – Seán Corkery

Planting Seeds for a New Catechesis – Kevin Hargaden

The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd– Jackie Scott

On Catechesis and Literature – Julia Meszaros

Catechesis and Religious Education: Still Together after all these Years – John-Paul Sheridan

The Good News in Catechesis

Catholic Social Teaching: The Gospel in Dialogue with the Economic, Political, and Social Movements of the Day – Pádraig Corkery

Good News About the Human Condition: Keeping the Christian Anthropology at the Heart of Catechesis – Chris Hayden

Advice to Catechists from St Augustine – Andrew Meszaros

Spirituality of Catechesis

Psalms to teach the ABC’s of Torah and lead to Wisdom – Seán Maher

Prayer is Vital for Catechesis – Jeremy Corley

‘Faith is the substance of things hoped for’: A Reflection on the Meaning of Christian Hope – Tomás Surlis

Frequently Cited Sources

List of Contributors

Select Index

Über Autor(innen)

Sheridan, John Paul
John-Paul Sheridan is a priest of the Diocese of Ferns, ordained in 1990.  He was educated at Maynooth and at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Boston College and Trinity College, Dublin.  He currently lectures in Religious Education and Catechesis, Liturgy and Children and Systematic Theology at St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth. As well as his responsibilities at Maynooth, he is also Parish Priest of St. Brigid’s Annacurra, a parish in South Wicklow and the most northerly parish in Ferns.

Corley, Jeremy
Jeremy Corley was ordained a priest of Portsmouth diocese in 1987. He subsequently undertook a biblical doctorate in Washington DC at the Catholic University of America, and taught Scripture at Ushaw College in Durham for over ten years. Since 2011 he has lectured in Scripture at St Patrick’s Pontifical University, Maynooth, and for four years he served as President of the Irish Biblical Association. His main research area is the biblical wisdom literature, and he wrote the commentary section on the Book of Sirach in the Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century (2022).

Jeremy Corley, Andrew Meszaros, and John-Paul Sheridan are faculty members at Maynooth Pontifical University.