Catechetical Program

Catechesis IV

Through their participation in the three previous catechetical tutorials, the students come to realize that Christ is calling them to a life of service.  Most likely this call will be to serve the Church as a member of the lay faithful.

In Catechesis IV, therefore, the students study the essence and characteristics of the lay vocation, the lay apostolate, and lay spirituality as taught by the Fathers of Vatican Council II.  The students prepare to enter into the temporal order and secular affairs by studying the social teachings of Mother Church since the lay faithful are called to love out their vocation, apostolate, and spirituality in the ordinary affairs of business, family, and social life. 

In the first semester, the students master the social teachings of the Church found in: “On the Working Classes”; “The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World”; “On Human Work”; and “The Hundredth Anniversary of Rerum Novarum.”

In the second semester the students center their study on the Church’s teachings regarding the Sacrament of Matrimony; “On Christian Marriage”; “On the Propagation of Human Life”; “The Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World”; and the Code of Canon Law. 

Finally, in order to be prepared to serve their bishop as an educated catechist, the students study carefully two documents on the principles of Catechesis: “On Evangelization in the Modern World” and “Catechesis in Our Time.”