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Starting Afresh from Christ: Catechesis
for the Third Millennium
by Msgr. Gerardo Santos
Situation
I would like to start this year’s report by
providing you a situationer of catechesis in our country,
as reflected in two national surveys conducted in the
past two years. This situationer supported by surveys
was presented to the bishops last July. These two surveys
point to two important conclusions:
- first, we are not reaching enough of the youth,
i.e. between 61% to 76% of those studying in public
schools (and this does not include out-of-school youths),
- second, among those we are reaching, we need to
do a better job in our catechesis.
The first conclusion is from the National Catechetical
Survey conducted in 2000 which shows:
- There are 17.6 million students enrolled in Public
elementary and high schools in the country.
- There are 47,441 catechists teaching in these public
schools, of which we estimate 10% are professionally-trained,
while 90% are volunteers. There is no data on the
teaching hours of volunteer catechists, but assuming
a 2 to 3-hour/week teaching load (vs. 20 hours for
professionally trained), then the above translates
to between 61 to 76% of public school students are
reached by catechists.
- DepEd says that only (almost) 5% of the students
go to the private catholic schools and 95% go to the
non-sectarian private schools or public schools or
out-of-school youth.
80% - Public school students
20% - Private catholic schools and non-catholic schools
students
The role of ECCCE is directly linked with the first
of the 9 Pastoral Priorities of the Church as envisioned
by PCP II, which is that of Integral Faith Formation.
Our aim is to have a faith formation that is discerning
and relevant to our current circumstances. This objective
is addressed by the Key Concerns of ECCCE’s Strategic
Plan for 2001-2003.
In my report last year, I also emphasized that the
number of enrollees in public schools is increasing
not only in absolute figures but also in proportional
figures. This simply means that, every year, an ever-greater
number of students is enrolling in public schools and
an ever smaller number of them is enrolling in private
elementary and high schools. In terms of the finding
presented above, this also means that there will be
a continuing decline in the reach of our catechists
among public school students.
Crudely put, the implication boils down to this: the
catechetical situation in the public schools will become
worse than it is at present unless the Church invests
a greater amount of financial and human resources in
them.
The second conclusion is based on the 2002 National
Catholic Youth Survey, which shows, that the youth:
- Are personal, but individualist, in relating with
God, and we have not been able to form a strong and
committed social conscience that would lead them to
concrete action.
- Still look at the Church as the “building”
and the hierarchy, rather than as a community of Jesus’
disciples; and, importantly, are looking for more
than the usual formation programs, socials and projects
that are provided them.
- Are distant, unaffected, or unaware of the Church
teachings on issues which particularly concern them
such as homosexuality, premarital sex, marriage and
divorce, gambling, sex and violence in media, abortion
and contraception and social justice.
- On the positive side, continue to value the family,
but we have not fully capitalized on the role of the
family in forming them according to gospel values.
- And are highly inter-personal, but our catechesis
continues to be slanted towards the doctrinal and
limited to the classroom setting,
Clearly, this situation demands that we improve both
the quantity, i.e. the number of our catechists, and
quality of our catechesis. It challenges us to shift
paradigm in our catechesis, particularly to the youth.
Among others, it requires exploring new strategies to
reach the youth, both within and outside the classrooms,
e.g. renewed strategies in campus ministries, community
based catechesis, and family apostolate.
Dear Colleagues, may I humbly request you to reflect
on these two conclusions and help determine the strategies
which would best address them in their respective pastoral
responsibilities.
Moreover, may I ask you to look at the state of our
catholic and parochial schools. This was presented during
the First National Convention of Diocesan School Superintendents
held in Cebu. The chart points to us the population
of catholic schools.
Our Response—8 Key Concerns
On the part of ECCCE, we consider these conclusions
as major considerations as we pursue the 8 Key Concerns
of our Strategic Plan for 2001-03, and indeed when we
re-iterate this plan for 2004 onwards. We have continued
to make progress on these 8 Key Concerns, on which I
now wish to briefly update you.
1. Revision of the National Catholic Directory of
the Philippines (NCDP).
The draft of the revision is still on going, but is
nearing its completion. We expect to distribute the
draft for your comments by September or October this
year. I look forward to your review and consequent approval
of the revised NCDP which I believe you will find contemporary
and inculturated, more focused on the key topics, while
being more user- and reader-friendly. The document is
now in its final stage of editing. Archbishop Legaspi
continues this important work for us with the assistance
of catechetical experts. Hopefully, the final document
will be submitted to the CBCP, then to the Congregation
for the Clergy in Rome for approval.
2. Dissemination of and the actual and correct use
of the Catechism for Filipino Catholics/Katesismo para
sa mga Pilipinong Katoliko (CFC / KPK).
In addition to the 12 seminar/workshops conducted
involving close to 800 participants as of June 2002,
we conducted 7 more seminar/workshops with 385 participants
nationwide.
3. The development of the Elements of Minimum Learning
Competencies (EMLC) in Religion.
This refers to identifying the indispensable CONTENT
of the Religious Education curriculum, syllabus, and
program for any given level of classes in the school
setting, or formation program in the pastoral setting.
Its purpose is to assist authors of Religious Education
textbooks in preparation of content, school administrators
and Diocesan Censors in evaluating textbooks, and parish
priests and leaders in preparing Christian Formation
programs.
After completing the EMLC for Kinder to Grade 3 last
year, we also completed these for all levels of elementary,
secondary and college. These are now ready for discussion
at the CEAP National Convention. In fact, this is one
of the agenda items in the Religious Education workshop
tomorrow. The presence of our religious education coordinators
will be of great value for critique and feedback of
this working paper.
4. Catechists’ Welfare and Development.
As all of you are aware, ECCCE & CEAP have established
PhilCARE (Philippine Catechetical Apostolate and Religious
Education Foundation, Inc.). It was incorporated as
a foundation on November 12, 2001. Our foundation is
still in the process of being as a donee institution
by PCNC (Philippine Council for Non-Governmental Organization
Certification).
Expenses have been mainly the cost of the 1st Annual
National Convention of Diocesan Catechetical Coordinators
and Formators of Catechists, held last year and other
expenses of the ECCCE Secretariat. We are still waiting
for your school’s donation to this worthy cause.
I will be reminding the Regional Directors to monitor
the remittances of donation to this worthy cause. You
can make your donations payable to PhilCare Foundation.
Major beneficiary this year was the support given
to the Apostolic Vicariate of Jolo. We were able to
assist them in the procurement of catechetical instructional
materials, so badly needed in a mission place. The Vicar
Apostolic thanked publicly the PhilCare for this generous
support during the CBCP July meeting.
Our dream at PhilCare is that we can give direct assistance
to the catechists teaching in the BECs and the public
schools. Our catechetical human resource is still on
a volunteer basis. We need funding for continuous training
of these catechists and even their subsistence.
5. Formation of Catechists and Religion Teachers.
We are still in the process of drafting an upgraded
version of the Catechists Basic Formation Program (CBFP),
as well as an initial draft of the Religion Teachers’
Basic Formation Manual (RTBFM), geared for teachers
of diocesan, parochial and congregational schools. The
completion of these two documents will, necessarily,
await the final approval and adoption of the NCDP. In
the meantime, we will continue to refer to the CFC for
catechetical content.
6. Strong Linkage between ECCCE, CEAP and Diocesan
Catechetical Offices and Catechetical Formation Centers.
A major accomplishment in this regard is that CEAP’s
report is now included in the ECCCE annual report to
the CBCP and ECCCE/PhilCARE report is part of the business
meeting of the CEAP.
7. Catechetical development in transparochial communities
and other settings.
Since the launch of the Adult Catechesis Workshop
Series in February 2002, we have not been able to make
further substantial progress in this area given the
transfer of Fr. Edwin Mercado, the chair of the committee
responsible for this, to another assignment.
8. Advocacy.
We continue to monitor the passage of House Bill 137,
sponsored by Congresswoman Villaflor Angara-Castillo,
which is an “Act to Rationalize the Teaching of
Religion in Public Schools.” When passed into
law, this will make Religious Instruction mandatory
in all public schools, in line with our Philippine Constitution.
May I, in the name of ECCCE, endorse the official publication
of the commission. ECCCE’s DOCETE, A Catechetical
Review. It is a most helpful catechetical journal for
religious educators and campus ministers in schools.
I do believe that a new pastoral program is needed
under the auspices of the ECCCE and CEAP to address
the growing number of school children and youth in the
public schools as well as the children and youth who
are out of school. Moreover, we need to address the
quality of our religious education in our schools as
well as our review our outreach programs. This will
entail greater networking through cooperation and sharing.
We need you!
It is with pleasure that I formally announce the new
ECCCE Chairman, elected by the bishops last July, His
Excellency, the Most Reverend Socrates Villegas, DD.
And we thank in this auspicious occasion, His Excellency,
the Most Reverend Leonardo Legaspi, OP, DD for his years
of service as Chairman of ECCCE.
Thank you for your patient listening and steady support
for the programs of ECCCE.
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