Anthropologization and sacramentality in the new religious education syllabus

Tikyba Lietuvos mokyklose dėstoma jau daugiau kaip penkiolika metų, tačiau vis dar jaučiamės šiek tiek nevisaverčiai: mums nuolat tenka dėti pastangas, kad pasivytume kitų mokomųjų dalykų statusą. Viena iš tokių pastangų galima laikyti eksperimentinį Katalikų tikybos bendrosios programos ir išsilavinimo standartų projektą. VPU Katalikų tikybos katedros ir Vilniaus arkivyskupijos katechetikos centro iniciatyva suburta mokslininkų bei mokytojų darbo grupė šį projektą parengė ne tik ir ne tiek dėl to, kad deramai prisitaikytų prie šių dienų mokyklos reikalavimų. Mūsų prioritetinis uždavinys, aišku, yra skelbti Kristų mokyklose ir kviesti mokinius į santykį su Juo atsižvelgiant į laiko ženklus bei įkultūrinant tikėjimo žinią taip, kaip siūlo visuotinės Bažnyčios dokumentai ir Lietuvos Vyskupų Konferencijos nutarimai. Kadangi naujosios programos projektas yra jau parašytas ir praktiškai išbandytas eksperimente dalyvavusių mokytojų, atstovavusių visoms Lietuvos vyskupijoms, atrodo tikslinga aptarti ir akcentuoti šių programų teikiamas galimybes adekvačiau ugdyti mūsų mokinių tikėjimą ar bent juo sudominti bei patraukti. Šio tyrimo bei straipsnio tikslas – aptarti naujosios Katalikų tikybos programos teikiamas perspektyvas remiantis Bažnyčios dokumentais bei pastarosiomis švietimo kaitos tendencijomis.Religious Education department of Vilnius Pedagogical University and Vilnius Cathecetical Centre has initiated a new project of Catholic Religious Education syllabus for Lithuanian secondary schools. The project has been worked out in collaboration with teachers of Religion and tested at several schools in each of the seven dioceses of this country. This article analyses the aims and objectives presented in the new syllabus, as well as the contents of teaching and the methods the syllabus suggests. Our analysis reflects on the new syllabus in the light of both the Church documents and the investigations into the latest tendencies of educational reforms. The new syllabus is making a radical move towards a more anthropological approach: the faith issues are being presented in a less direct way than it used to be traditionally done in the previous syllabus (1998). Most of the topics in the new syllabus have very down-to-earth titles, such as “Seeking happiness”, “Our need for love”, “Does anyone deserve death?” etc. The syllabus demands, however, that for each of these topics, a theological dimension is absolutely obligatory. The anthropological approach to the faith seems very appropriate in the light of the Church recommendations about inculturating the Christian message and about adapting it to the needs of the non-believers and the doubting seekers. Besides, anthropologization is helpful for integrating Religious education with the other subjects, so as to touch the whole context of school education with the light of the Gospel. Te syllabus also aims at reforming the traditional reproductive teaching methodology towards a newer interpre-tational methodology, so as to lead the learner and the teacher from monologue to dialogue, from formation to self-education, from moralizing to cooperation, from memorization to discovery. An essential objective of the new syllabus is helping a person to develop proper relationships with self as God’s creation in His own image and likeness, with God Himself as the true initiator of every relationship, with one’s neighbour, with the Church and other communities or groups, with the natural, physical and cultural environment. The syllabus has received a positive evaluation from the teachers who tested it, but it nevertheless keeps causing some misunderstanding and apprehension among the traditionally-minded. To show that the new syllabus does not lead away from Catholicism, the article supports the anthropological approach with the illustrations of the Emaus pedagogy applied by Jesus Himself, as well as with quotations from Church documents and the resolutions of Vatican II. We are also employing the principle of Sacramentality as formulated by Tomas Groome, a famous cathecetical author in the USA. According to this principle, faith can be best proclaimed by presenting everyday reality as graced and sacramental, e. i. permeated by God’s plan and His presence, and therefore able to signify and to disclose Him. This can serve as a suitable initial basis for evangelization which in its turn may become an impetus for a person’s further interest in cathecesis at a Church community where most emphasis will be laid on God’s revelation of Self in the Sacraments. Finally, the article provides key recommendations for using the new syllabus, namely, putting the main emphasis on the idea of showing life and the whole of its reality as God’s gif. Thus, the aim of the teacher is educating in the hearts and minds of his students the concept of Gif and of gifed reality, which should lead them to the perception of the Giver and to the attitude of gratitude that might presuppose prayer. Tese three “G”s (gif, Giver, gratitude) are viewed as a possible starting point for constructing the foundations for the church right in the premises of our students’ everyday life and studies