Is religious education stuck in limbo?

It has been a while since I sat in a classroom at St. Jerome School and learned from Sister Mary Davidis, B.V.M. the rudiments of Catholic catechism and was taught by Christian Brother Malachy at St. George High School a somewhat more sophisticated version of those teachings. In the interim, the Second Vatican Council, among other developments in the church, ensued.

Still, the rudiments remain, I think. It is hard for a catechetical layperson to know what is unchanged and what has changed. Obviously a lot of emphases have shifted. The drastically diminished numbers of teaching religious and priests have greatly enhanced, not altogether unhappily, the responsibility of the we-are-the-church gang. But what to teach? There's the rub.

Take last things - heaven, hell, purgatory, and limbo - for example. In the days spoken of earlier these were always matters of faith to be accepted unquestionably. However, the idea of limbo was a serious puzzlement - especially the thought of all those unbaptized infants parked somewhere, happy enough, but lacking only comity with God. (A sardonic friend suggested jokingly writing a thesis titled, "Do kids have fun in limbo?")

Ironically it wasn't until recently that I, a product of 18 years of Catholic education, learned the truth about limbo from Father John Dietzen's perspicacious column in the Northwest Indiana Catholic. It seems that Pope Pius VI in 1974, rejecting a Jansenist heresy, taught that one may believe in limbo, a "middle state" of happiness that is not in heaven with God, and still be a Catholic. The Jansenist had taught that all infants dying without baptism are condemned to the fires of hell! "That remains the only significant mention of limbo in any Catholic document," Dietzen writes. "Obviously," he goes on, "it's a long way from saying that limbo belongs anywhere in official Catholic teaching."

Limbo is hardly a subject of discussion among Catholics today. Most younger Catholics are unlikely even to have heard of it. But why weren't we older Catholics not told when we were growing up that limbo, to put it crudely, was a crock? The baleful influence of Jansenism among Irish and other Catholics is one explanation. The limbo saga is cited as a reminder that there have been only two doctrines enunciated by a pope as infallible (ex cathedra) in the last two centuries and those two doctrines are not exactly integral parts of the average Catholic's daily experience.

What then, one might wonder, is the nature of catechetical education today? There have surely been some splendid additions, especially since Vatican ll. The liturgy in many places is an excellent source of enlightenment; the use of the Bible as "textbook" is worthy of applause; and the new Catechism of the Catholic Church is authoritative but, unfortunately, dry as dust even for professional catechists. The context of catechetical instruction in the United States undoubtedly varies from place to place depending both on the mandates of local bishops or pastors, as well as the degree of preparation of the catechists, many of whom are volunteers.

But one wonders whether Catholic children and young people are learning something of church history, a subject that was largely ignored in the religious education of many of us. The wrangling among first-century Christians, including some of the apostles, is fascinating stuff and the arguments with heretics over the centuries deserves treatment. And the lives and loves of some church leaders, unsanitized, could comprise opera - soap and otherwise.

Also, are young Catholics learning the extraordinary story of Catholic social struggles in the United States? Are they being told about the social encyclicals of modern popes? And do they know of the heroic efforts of American moral theologian and economist Monsignor John A. Ryan, the labor priests, and Catholic labor leaders?

May I make a modest proposal here and invite Catholic catechists and catechetical leaders to tell us of their experiences in this work today? Tell us something of the content of your programs, the response from your students, even the slings and arrows that you suffer along the way. Surely your work is among the most important in the church today. Hearing from you is bound to be a learning experience for all of us.

Some readers may wish to send their comments electronically (at Claret.org~uscath or [e-mail]). But the good old U.S. mail would surely suffice. Reader reactions would be welcome.