作者：Martin, Mary Louise 年份：1977
I have been asked to enumerate some trends in catechetics as I see them. I list six trends that I see present in Hong Kong today, indicating the trend catechetics will take in the future.
One trend is the ever-increasing involvement of lay Catholics in the catechetical tasks of the local Church. In almost every parish we find groups of young adult men and women eager to volunteer their time to teach Catholic or non-Christian children, to teach or accompany catechumens, especially those of their own age. They plan, organize, and teach, doing much of the work themselves, consulting a priest or Sister only when their
inexperience or lack of training indicates to them a need for help. They are eager to volunteer their time and energy because they take seriously the Church's teaching that an baptized Christians should take part in the mission of the Church. They feel they have something to share — the Good News of Salvation in Christ— and it is their joyful right and duty to share it. They enter into their volunteer work with zest and creativity, energy and generosity, and a healthy self-confidence. In Hong Kong much catechetical work of the parishes is carried out by young lay people.
Another noticeable trend is the prevalence of team-project. Team members pool ideas and "know-how." Natural leaders emerge. Team members feel they are on a peer level and that each one has something to contribute. A sensitivity to each one's talents and contribution is usually evident. I observed a shy, retiring young woman, a factory worker from a very poor family, conduct a very satisfactory class with a group of factory worker catechumens. The best in her had been drawn out by participation in a team and by the support she found there. In a team the work is more interesting, more easily done. The members feel the support and good-will of others; they are enabled to develop talents previously hidden or unsuspected. The project done by the loner becomes less and less common. Team-work is the order of the day.
The tendency to work in teams is part of a larger trend and quest: the desire to form or be part of a Christian community. Our Catholics often stress the need for the support and companionship of other Christians in order to live a faith-life in our society. When they feel very alone in their struggle as a small minority to preserve high Christian values, to act in accord with Gospel principles, to face indifference, ridicule, even antagonism─they find the greatest help in their faith from other like-minded Christians, with whom they can share their experiences, seek advice, find common solutions. In the catechetical field this trend shows itself in the team-teaching and projects, in efforts to integrate catechumens into the Christian community at an early stage, in attempts to utilize small group discussions, liturgies, prayer days, to give deeper formation to those already Catholic.
An ease and spontaneity in prayer and liturgy, and in sharing faith experiences, is another noticeable trend. Liturgy becomes more and more part of catechetical formation, and rightly so of course. I have witnessed spontaneous prayer among catechumens led by young lay teachers, hymns chosen by catechumens themselves as a real expression of prayer, a readiness to vocalize deep inner sentiments. A facility, a lack of self-consciousness, a willingness to share innermost thoughts, is evident, resulting in quite different expressions of prayer than that present a years ago.
A fifth trend is the desire and effort to combine doctrine with a living faith-life. "We must be witnesses to Christ in daily life," "what we study must be relevant and meaningful for our lives," "we want to have a living faith:" these words we hear constantly. Our Catholics and catechumens are not satisfied with a faith that is only intellectual, with a Gospel study that is academic only. They have a wholesome desire to unify faith and action in their lives. This extends, to an extent at least, to an awareness that their Christian actions must include an attention to society conditions in need of correcting.
The single most influential impetus for catechetical changes that have taken place in recent years in the movement towards indigenization. This is so all-embracing as to be much more than a trend. It is rather a heartfelt plea: "Let us be ourselves." This desire has helped us to appreciate more our own uniqueness and worth. We are less satisfied than formerly to take over wholesale a project, book, programme, from another country. We have been thrown on our own resources, brought to use talents we did not know existed, forced into projects we once thought impossible. The desire to indigenize has focused our attention on areas peculiar to our own situation, as our mixed culture, double language system. It has brought us to question the status quo, for example, the almost exclusive use of Western religion texts. Because of this movement we have begun the search for more suitable content for the non-Christian students of our Catholic schools, discovered that Taiwan translations are not always suitable, and have done more translating and publishing ourselves. We have produced our own materials, even to writing textbooks, a task once thought beyond our capabilities.
Some think our present efforts to stand on our own two feet are superficial. Indigenization has only touched the surface: books, visuals, syllabuses. It has not delved deeply into more essential areas as values, ways of life. I feel this will come .A beginning has been made, a thirst aroused. The trend is irreversible, the thirst unquenchable. No one wants it otherwise.
Some of the trends here listed are universal and will doubtless form part of the discussion material for the 1977 Synod of Bishops, whose theme is Catechetics for youth and children. While a Synod cannot deal with practical problems, it can provide those of us in the field of catechetics throughout the world with an impetus and an exposure to the views of world-wide experts.We look forward to the proceedings and final document from such a world-wide body to stimulate us to greater zest and vision in dealing with the multiple elements of our local catechetical situation.
30th June, 1977
* Condensation of an article for World Mission magazine, N.Y. by the same author.