Begin At The Beginning

Catechesis Lesson 01

Jan 19, 2023

A New Series

I’ve been thinking about starting a series for Catechesis for a long time. I realized it is closer to where my skillset lies—less evangelism, more instruction.

I taught 8th grade confirmation classes for one school year (21-22) and the process was illuminating. First, in how the information was structured; second, in how the information was delivered. It was structured with a lot of prior assumptions, which to me didn’t seem fair—some of my students had questions about some basics, while others had an advanced understanding and could ask about theology. The lesson plan I was given didn’t feel like it established a foundation and then built from it, it rather felt like a series of loosely connected data points we were instructed to tell the students they should know. I didn’t like teaching that style, and I know I wouldn’t have liked it as a student. I like to build. The information was delivered in a manner which was childish and trivial: 8th graders can handle a lot more intensive and thorough explanation, and talking down to them as if they were children would make them feel like they are not being taken seriously.

Further inspiration is taken from the fact that when I was in RCIA I had many cradle-catholic peers express the desire to attend a similar class just for refresher instruction. Either their catechesis was lacking or they wanted to revisit the basics because they had learned a lot since that time.

So this series represents my attempt at building my own Catechetical curriculum. The intended audience is 8th graders with very little prior knowledge, and assuming a general willingness to understand. Apologetics, in my view, is explaining the faith to a hostile audience; Catechesis is explaining the faith to a willing audience. I will not do apologetics except incidentally, the focus is on Catechesis.

The Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed is a basic expression of what we believe as Catholics. We say it every Sunday as an affirmation of our commitment to these beliefs. We can look at the Nicene Creed in whole and then break it into parts.

I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

The Nicene Creed is called Nicene because it was carefully crafted at the Council of Nicaea in the year 325. It is called Creed because it comes from the Latin word credo which means “I believe”—which you will recognize as the first two words of the Nicene Creed.

The Nicene Creed lays out a kind of roadmap of our beliefs: It begins at the top and works it’s way down to us. First with God, the Father; then with Jesus Christ, His son; then with the Holy Spirit and the Trinitarian nature of God; then on to the Catholic Church, our own baptism, and the hope in the resurrection and heaven.

The Creed spends most of it’s words focused on Jesus, and comparatively few on God the Father or the Holy Spirit. This is because the life, deeds, and death of Jesus are vital to our faith, and we ought to focus a majority of our faith life contemplating the life, deeds, and death of Jesus. A detailed understanding of all the aspects of the Creed will be beneficial, but Jesus came to Earth so that you might be saved. Not “humanity”, not “only good people”—Jesus came down from heaven for you.

Understanding Jesus, however, begins with understanding God the Father; Understanding Jesus is enhanced by understanding the Holy Spirit; Understanding Jesus is perfected by understanding the Church, the Sacraments, and Heaven. God created us, the Holy Spirit is with us even now, the Church preserves us, the Sacraments sustain us, and Heaven is the reward which Christ died to be able to give to us.

Stop and contemplate that for a moment. Heaven is the reward which is so great that Christ died so that we might have it. He allowed himself to be killed on a cross so that he might give that gift to us. How great a reward must that be!

We will address each of the parts of the Nicene Creed in subsequent lessons, but for now let’s meditate on this “big picture” view of the Nicene Creed.

Teaching Activity

Before beginning the class, have the students convene a “council” to decide on some class rules. The council cannot invalidate previous councils nor dogmatic teaching. Dogmatic teaching includes, for the sake of this activity, things like, “when does the class meet” and “what time does class start and end”. These were decided previously, so the students can’t vote their way out of it. Neither can they, say, change the subject matter of the class.

Within this framework, have them come up with class rules, like “raise your hand before speaking” or “spend time answering questions at the beginning of class”—give them a little bit of freedom but guide them to something constructive.

Give the students some time for this. When the activity is over, explain that they have just convened a council like the council of Nicaea, and the council of Nicaea had many more people in attendance and many more topics of grave importance.

The goal is to help students understand the experience of coming up with the Nicene creed—both the limitations, and the rewards.

Homework

Your homework for the next lesson is to read the Nicene Creed quietly to yourself, read it once out loud, and to meditate on it at Mass. Do this as often as you like, but doing it more than once would be beneficial.

Meditate on the Nicene Creed, and think about what words or phrases stick out to you? What parts of the Creed do you struggle to understand? What parts of the Creed make perfect sense? Leave your comments and we will talk about them in the next lesson.