I still remember that during the pandemic, our Catholic Church has been using many kinds of instruments to provide spiritual and material services to the faithful and give formation in a catechetical manner. Modern tools and social media are the best ‘bridge’ for the Church to approach the people. It becomes more common in this situation when the Church gives its formal and spiritual formation to the people who cannot attend the activity in their area.
Looking at this situation, I was interested in the way how the Church uses instruments of social communication or social media. In my experience, I saw many parishes and priests encounter challenges in continuing their service through this new method. The challenge is a calling for them to provide services with any meaning. Moreover, the use of media to animate the faithful to better understand the instruction by giving actual-factual, related examples is important. Nowadays, we can find many videos on YouTube and other social media platforms that give catechetical instruction that is easier to grasp by viewers. The creativity of using social media in proclamation and the Church’s instruction has been improving and helping the faithful worldwide. Furthermore, the Catholic Church understands the importance of media as a part of integral evangelization, which is helpful to fasten and widen the proclamation.
Nowadays, even though we are already able to attend the celebration and other activities on-site, social media still holds an important role in our evangelization. Our Catholic Church also encourages all of her missionaries to engage in this new world. And so, when I read canon 779, I put myself to reflect on it and tried to see how our canon speaks on social media usage.
What does Canon 779 speak about?
Canon 779 gives instructions on how catechetical instructions should be done. It is imperative instruction where the canon contains wise instruction to be applied in the catechetical ministry. It is calling the members of the Church to be creative, open-minded, and to be aware of the need of the people according to their generations.[1] The instructors of catechetical formations have to try their best to help people understand the given messages by any means.[2]
It is in the same line with the Book III Chapter II of CIC about the ‘Catechetical Instruction.’ Canon 773 says it is a proper and grave duty, especially of pastors of souls, to take care of the catechesis of the Christian people. Thus, the catechesis must not end in the narrative understanding but should be lived in the lives of the faithful. The doctrine and faith must be understood, yet, practical application of the faith must be made well too.[3]
Getting More Understanding of the Letter and the Spirit of the Canon:
The Letter of the Law
Institutio catechetica tradatur omnibus adhibitis auxiliis, subsidiis didacticis et communicationis socialis instrumentis, quae efficaciora videantur ut fideles, ratione eorum indoli, facultatibus et aetati necnon vitae condicionibus aptata, plenius catholicam doctrinam ediscere eamque aptius in praxim deducere valeant.
Catechetical instruction is to be given by using all helps, teaching aids, and instruments of social communication which seem more effective so that the faithful, in a manner adapted to their character, capabilities and age, and conditions of life, are able to learn Catholic doctrine more fully and put it into practice more suitably.
It is said that this canon is a wise pastoral exhortation about the means to be used in the catechetical ministry, the necessary adaptation of the methods to the audience, and a reminder of the goals which the ministry strives to achieve.[4] In this spirit, the canon invites the catechists to know and understand the Catholic faith and its capabilities in using tools, instruments, and social media.[5]
To be effective, the catechetical formation must make use of the most effective means of instructing all of the faithful and preparing them to put that instruction into practice in their lives. These means must be adapted to local conditions and must consider the circumstances of those being instructed.[6] Moreover, the instructions should be given by acknowledging people's character based on their character, capabilities and age, and conditions of life.
The Spirit of the Law
The catechetical instructions follow Jesus’ way of teaching. We might say that Jesus’ method was traditional or old-fashioned, but the contents of our modern catechesis are about faith and salvation of the soul. In his teaching, he showed his authority as a teacher by telling stories, shocking people with outrageous examples of shocking statements (John 6:52-59 about eating his body and drinking his blood to receive salvation), and crafting memorable sayings (Luke 6:31 about the Golden Rule), questioning and answering people (Matt 16:24-28 about the Cross and denial), creating visual illustrations (John 13:3-17 about leader and servant; Matt 18:1-4 about having faith like children; Mark 12:41-44 about offering), and living out his teaching (Luke 5:16 about praying; Matthew 9:10-12; about loving the sinners)
Jesus used all these methods to deliver his message to people. Furthermore, he contextualizes his story or teaching based on the setting of the place and the listeners' context so they can understand what Jesus is saying. Some challenges created confusion and debates among the disciples because of a lack of understanding. Here, Jesus used to give more explanations to help people understand.
Vatican II, in Inter Mirifica, gives guides and explanations for using modern social media for the proclamation of good news. Article 16 says that,
“Since the proper use of the media of social communications, which are available to audiences of different cultural backgrounds and ages, calls for instruction proper to their needs, programs which are suitable for the purpose-especially where they are designed for young people, should be encouraged, increased in numbers and organized according to Christian moral principles. This should be done in Catholic schools at every level, in seminaries, and in lay apostolate groups. To speed this along, catechetical manuals should present and explain Catholic teaching and regulations on this matter”.
The council has envisioned the Canon Law to instruct the catechists and the teachers to utilize these meanings to help people understand better according to their context.[7]
In other words, I can say that this canon was written because the canon urges the use of the full panoply of the means of communication that the modern world has made available. We must search unceasingly for the most suitable and effective methods to accomplish this vital task. Their suitability implies their adaptation to those being reached. The canon lists four measures of the human situation of the faithful to be considered: natural disposition, abilities, age, and life circumstances. Finally, the canon states the aim of the catechetical enterprise: believers are to learn the teaching of their religion more fully and reduce that teaching to practice more aptly.[8]
What Am I Expecting?
Quoting Catechesi Tradendae 46, “Catechesis has not ceased to look for the most suitable ways and means for its mission, with the active participation of the communities and at the urging of the pastors. This effort must continue,” I feel the calling to be more aware that the world and people are evolving to such a level where the proclamation of the Good News must be creatively proclaimed. It is a must job to be done.
Starting from this point, I feel the urgency to actualize canon 779 in my daily life and my call as a missionary. I believe this canon is necessary because the need for proclamation and catechetical formation is always connected to the actual world (the setting or the geographical situation) and the situation of the people (backgrounds). Thus, the formation must be given according to the context of the receiver so that they will understand the content of the formations better.
I feel this necessity because, in my experience of giving catechetical instructions to the youths or catechumens, there were challenges where they could not fully understand what I was teaching. They could not understand how faith works in our lives or why Catholics must faithfully respect the doctrines. The problem was a lack of illustrations and resources where they could get a better explanation. Moreover, the age gap can be so burdensome to me when I must help them understand what I would teach.
When I encountered this, canon 779 – supported by experts from catechetical institutions and other Church documents – gave me a path to me to solve the challenges. As it is written that catechetical instruction is to be given by using all help, teaching aids, and instruments of social communication, I started using a lot of teaching aids, videos, music, pictures, and choreography to help people understand the content of my teaching. Those instruments greatly helped me give more explanations and examples which could draw their attention and understanding of the Christian faith.
Even though Christianity holds the value of unity, the division of giving catechetical instructions according to age is very important. Why? The reason is the capability of kids’ understanding is different from adults. Adult people can understand more complex matters than kids. The classifications are so important because it helps catechists to have more focus on the subject they want to teach according to the need and the age of the person. For example, I will teach kids about the love of God in the Holy Family of Jesus by giving examples of what Mary did to Jesus. For the adults, I will add more explicitly about the importance of the sacrament of marriage in the Catholic Church.
Personally, I am happy with the members of the Church who open themselves to this calling, giving catechetical instructions through social media. They give efforts to learn, prepare, and share their understanding of faith to other people with good animations and simple explanations to the faithful. They apply the spirit of canon 779 in their lives. If it is possible, I hope that the Church will give more formation for the clergies, consecrated people, and lay people on the understanding of faith and the use of instruments of social media to educate others who are still lacking understanding about faith.
Conclusion
The spirit of this canon follows the teaching of our master, Jesus Christ. He is the first master who teaches us about God as our Father. He uses stories, parables, dialogue, and actual life examples of the people according to their context. As Jesus uses any suitable moments according to his era, now is our turn to continue his teaching in our time. We receive a lot of teaching aids, media, and experts who can help us to give catechetical instruction according to the character, capabilities and age, and conditions of the person. So, let us wisely make use of these so that many people can fully understand Catholic doctrine and practice it daily.
In the end, I am also expecting that other than using social media, the direct encounter is still the best way for evangelization. The presence itself is very important because it can help me to see, know, and relate directly to whom I share my faith. It also gives me the vibe that helps me to give thanks to God as a missionary. I hope that all people will know His message and will; that is our salvation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sheehy, Gerard, ed., Ralph Brown, ed., Donal Kelly, ed., and Aidan McGrath, ed. The canon law Letter & Spirit: A Practical Guide to the Code of Canon Law. London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1995.
Coriden, James A., Thomas J. Green, and Donald E. Heintschel. The Code of Canon Law: A Text and Commentary. India: Theological Publications in India St. Peter’s Seminary, 1994.
Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization. Directory for Catechesis. Makati: Don Bosco Press, 2021.
Vatican Council II, Inter Mirifica. In Vatican Council II: Constitutions, Degrees, Declarations, edited by Austin Flannery, OP. Northport: Costello, 1996.
John Paul II. Catechesi Tradendae. In The Apostolic Exhortation of Pope John Paul II on Catechesis in our Time. Accessed May 12, 2022. Vatican.va
[1] See. James A. Coriden, Thomas J. Green, and Donald E. Heintschel, ed., The Code of Canon Law: A Text and Commentary, (India: Theological Publications in India St. Peter’s Seminary, 1994), 558.
[2] Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, Directory for Catechesis, (Makati: Don Bosco Press, 2021), 162-163.
[3] See. Catechesi Traedendae 45-50.
[4] James et al., The Code, 557-558.
[5] See. Gerard Sheehy, Ralph Brown, Donal Kelly, and Aidan McGrath, ed., The canon law Letter & Spirit: A Practical Guide to the Code of Canon Law, (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1995), 430.
[6] Gerard, The Canon, 430.
[7] See. Catechesi Tradendae 45-50.
[8] James et al., The Code, 558.