NCEA Convention

Archbishop of Indianapolis guides nation at crossroads

The United States Catholic Catechism for Adults (USCCA) expresses the doctrines contained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church in a way that speaks directly to American society and culture. Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein of Indianapolis has been a leader in faith formation in the United States by helping guide the crafting of the USCCA and earlier leading the Bishops' Ad Hoc Committee to Oversee the Use of the Catechism. (File photo by Brandon A. Evans)

By Ken Ogorek

Catholic education, in particular religious education, is at a crossroads of sorts.

Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein of Indianapolis continues to help guide the authentic renewal of faith formation in schools, parish catechetical programs and various other settings for education in religion nationwide.

A national leader

When the Catechism of the Catholic Church became available in the mid-1990s, our American bishops sprang in to action establishing their “Ad Hoc Committee to Oversee the Use of the Catechism.”

Simply put, this committee’s work has greatly improved the doctrinal content of textbooks and other resources used to teach religion in various settings.

Archbishop Buechlein was instrumental in this effort and continues to fill a major role in spearheading efforts to provide reliable materials for truly excellent religious education.

Our own Catechism

Archbishop Buechlein was deeply involved with the process that gives us our own United States Catholic Catechism for Adults.

Why do we need an official American catechism?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church suggests that groups of bishops throughout the world produce local catechisms—articulations of the Catholic faith that accurately express the doctrines in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, yet communicate them in ways that speak directly to people of specific regions, cultures and nations.

With Archbishop Buechlein’s involvement, our U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has blessed us with a great resource for adult religious education—a very important area of faith formation.

The United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, then, will guide teacher training, catechetical certification and overall adult religious education for decades to come.

Local leadership, national impact

In southern and central Indiana, Archbishop Buechlein has overseen the implementation of strategies for religious education that are in turn used by several dioceses throughout the U.S.

For example:

• Our Archdiocesan Religion Curriculum Guidelines, used both in schools and parish catechetical programs, answer the important question of “What am I supposed to teach?” in our archdiocese and several other dioceses.
• The Faith 2000 assessment instrument for religious education, developed by our Office of Catholic Education, provides helpful feedback in the area of faith formation—for school and parish programs—throughout southern and central Indiana as well as in dioceses other then our own.

Information on these and other resources is available on our Office of Catholic Education Web site, www.archindy.org/oce under Our Curriculum.

The National Directory for Catechesis—another document that Archbishop Buechlein helped to bring about—guides all of our Catholic education efforts from curriculum and assessment through approval of textbooks to teacher and catechist formation and certification.

Decisions at a crossroads

From the late 1960s through the early 1990s, some methodological gains were made in religious education even if its doctrinal content wasn’t as clear as it could have been.

Without losing those gains, we have an exciting opportunity to bring greater clarity to Catholic education in light of documents like the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults. Efforts like Archbishop Buechlein’s are meeting the challenges that can arise when courageous decisions must be made for authentic renewal to spur genuine progress.

(Ken Ogorek is director of catechesis in the Office of Catholic Education for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. E-mail him at kogorek@archindy.org.) †