The Way of Catechesis ─ Exploring Our History, Renewing Our Ministry

Drawing on more than forty years of experience as a catechist, parish DRE, textbook publisher, and founding director of the Echo Program at the University of Notre Dame, Gerard F. Baumbach explores contemporary catechesis in light of its history. This landmark book is an essential resource for every catechetical leader and will spur a new appreciation of the opportunities and challenges of catechesis in the Church today.

The Way of Catechesis offers a new and timely perspective on the vital ministry of catechesis at a pivotal moment in the work of New Evangelization. Baumbach shows how today’s catechists can follow the pedagogy of Jesus, “the way, the truth, and the life,” and he invites readers to an understanding that includes both the process and the content of handing on the faith and also a way of living in union with Christ the Teacher.

Baumbach asks readers to consider how key issues and questions throughout the Church’s history shed light on today’s questions and concerns. Numerous reflection questions help the reader prayerfully reflect and personally integrate the lessons. For example:

• What is Jesus teaching you through the Beatitudes about the need for a new evangelization in your life as you seek to promote the Church’s mission to evangelize?
• What does our history teach us about inviting Catholics who are distant from the Church to find the way back to this community of faith?
• What is your earliest memory of hearing about the Second Vatican Council? What questions did you have? What questions about Vatican II do you have now?

Drawing from his own experience, study, and implementation of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, Baumbach highlights four characteristics—belonging, believing, discerning, and living—that help the reader connect the history of catechesis with their own faith and practice in the Church today.

Each chapter also includes a broad look at highlights of some important dimensions of the catechetical climate, weaving together influences that affected the era. In addition, Baumbach explains the role of key thinkers in each period of the history of catechesis is explained, including Cyril of Jerusalem, Thomas Aquinas, Robert Bellarmine, and Joseph Jungmann.

Those engaged in catechesis and evangelization at every level will find much to enrich their ministry and deepen their commitment to the Church in this extraordinary book.

Gerard Baumbach is professor emeritus in the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and director emeritus of the Institute's Echo Program. He joined the faculty in 2003 after a distinguished career in publishing, writing, and parish catechetical leadership. He was the founding director of the Echo Faith Formation Leadership Program, which he led until July 2011. Baumbach was appointed senior catechetical advisor at the Institute, serving until 2013. He was concurrently a professor in Notre Dame's Department of Theology and served for many years on the department's Master of Divinity and Master of Arts in Theology committees.

Baumbach was the recipient, with the Institute's Center for Catechetical Initiatives, of the 2008 NCCL Catechetical Award, which recognized the Echo initiative. In 2003, he received the F. Sadlier Dinger Award for his leadership and service to catechesis nationally and internationally. He also was selected for inclusion in the "Christian Educators of the 20th Century Project," recognizing his contributions to religious education. Baumbach has served on task groups of the US Catholic Conference and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He directed and/or participated in the publication preparation process for numerous catechetical publications during his almost twenty-five years at William H. Sadlier in New York City, where he ended his publishing career as executive vice president and publisher.

Baumbach earned a bachelor's degree from St. Michael's College in Vermont in 1968, a master's degree in education from the University of Maryland in 1975, and a doctorate in education from New York University in 1989, where he specialized in religious education. His service to catechesis began in 1967 and includes several years as a parish catechetical leader. Baumbach serves on the Ave Maria Press board of directors.