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What Is Catechesis?
Catechesis is the series I’ve been slowly publishing once a month. It’s how I would organize an 8th grade Confirmation Curriculum. I’m no expert at this—I taught 8th grade catechesis exactly once (with hopes to do it again in the future)—but this series makes sense to me and hopefully it makes sense to you too. If you’re wondering why you haven’t seen this before, it’s because I haven’t been pushing notifications! It’s been tucked away at the bottom of the monthly Edition. Since March has been a dry month content-wise from me, I thought I would share this so you know it exists and hopefully check out previous lessons!
Welcome Back, Class!
We have tackled some of the big topics: The Nicene Creed to start, and then gone into the Trinity to follow. Now we have some time to explore the last part of the Nicene Creed, before we start digging deeper.
Editorial Note: You may notice in this lesson I’ve added a section for a “Teaching Activity”. I’ve gone back and added Teaching Activities for the previous lessons, and will include them in this series going forward.
If you find this series on Catechesis to be helpful, illuminating, or just plain interesting—please let me know! And kindly consider a paid subscription, to help support me in this work.
Wrapping Up The Creed
The Nicene Creed ends with the following:
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.
We’ve talked about some of the theological aspects of the Nicene Creed, so now we get to talk about how Christianity manifests itself to us in this world as Catholics. Let’s look at what we have:
We have a Church, which is described as One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.
We have Baptism, for the forgiveness of sins
We have resurrection of the dead and life of the world to come.
Let’s take a look at each of these!
The Church
The Church describes the faithful collectively and the structures that help guide us in our journey of faith. The Creed describes the Church as One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.
The Church is One because there is only one church. There is no other Catholic Church, there is no other rocks upon which Christ built some other Church. To be in communion with God is to be a member of the One Church.
The Church is Holy because it was instituted by Christ himself. Christ gave the keys to the kingdom of heaven to Peter, and Peter became the first Pope. Peter’s birth name was Simon, so Christ says “And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church”1. Peter in Hebrew means rock, so Christ is both giving Simon the name Peter, and making a kind of pun: He is the rock, the Peter, upon which the Church is built.
The Church is Catholic because it is universal. Catholic comes from the Greek word katholikos which means universal, as in everywhere and all encompassing. The Church is Catholic because everyone in the world can follow Christ. This is a contrast to the religion of the Hebrews at the time Christ was born, where only fellow Jews could follow the one true God.
The Church is Apostolic because it traces it’s roots to the Apostles, a word which means messengers. The Church can trace it’s roots to the 12 Apostles through something called apostolic succession. We see this in Acts, where they select a replacement for Judas by casting lots and choosing Matthias2. This method of succession allows us to trace all our bishops back to Peter and the Apostles, because it was the Apostles to whom Christ entrusted the Church, with Peter as it's foundation.
These four traits—that the Church is one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic—are known as the Marks of the Church.
Baptism & The Sacraments
We are going to talk about the Sacraments in depth later, but Baptism is mentioned specifically. Why is that? Baptism is the most fundamental of the sacrament. The Sacraments are visible signs that were instituted by Christ to give us grace. Baptism is a sacrament that has it’s roots before Christ, in the practice of ritual washing by the pre-Christian hebrews. In fact, many non-catholic sects have baptisms which are recognized as valid in the Catholic Church.
Why is all this important? Baptism is an ancient practice that unites all Christians in Christ. It is the first sign that a person has been offered to Christ, and that Christ has adopted them as “co-heirs to eternal life”. We will talk more about Baptism when we touch on the other sacraments.
The Resurrection
Finally, at the very end, we have something to hope for, something to look forward to: Resurrection. At the end of all things, the Nicene Creed affirms that we believe Christ will give us our bodies back—but not just our bodies the way we know them now, but glorified and perfected bodies, and reunited with our bodies we will live forever. This is important because it is the reward we have to look forward to after our toil in this earthly life. The practice of virtue is not for earthly reward, but to honor Christ and keep His commandments. Christ will give us the reward for our virtue, but only at the end of all things. This is a great reward, and a source of great hope for us on earth. Whenever we are struggling and trying to remember what it is for, we can remember the life of Christ and the suffering He went through for us, and remember the reward he earned for us—this very same resurrection and everlasting life.
Teaching Activity
Have the students think about some ways the marks of the church can be observed, or their opposite. Organize them into four groups, each group considering just one mark of the Church. Have them explain why their mark of the Church is important and why they think it is important to include in something like the Nicene Creed.
This exercise gives them a chance to demonstrate their understanding of the marks of the Church but also is an opportunity for them to think critically about what role they play in the faith.
Homework
Your homework for the next lesson is to look up the seven sacraments and come up with your own explanation for why the other sacraments are not included in the Nicene Creed.
If you have any questions about the Church, the Sacraments, or the resurrection—leave them in the comments, and we will discuss them in the next lesson!
Thank you for reading!
Ad Jesum Per Mariam