Real ecumenical dialogue

But even before we learn the difference between a Missouri Synod Lutheran and an Episcopalian, for example, we need to know what we believe as Catholics. Unless we know our own teachings, we will not be able to answer the most basic questions about what we have in common -- belief in a triune God and in Jesus Christ as our savior -- and where we differ.

Real dialogue is impossible if one participant is unable to hold up his end of the conversation. Too many Catholics know so little about their own faith that they are reluctant to talk about their beliefs with Protestant friends, much less evangelize the world.

For more than three decades, ordinary Catholics have exhibited a tremendous confusion and insecurity when it comes to enunciating what it is that they believe. Some of this may be blamed on the confusion over the changes that followed the Second Vatican Council. What was in? What was out?

Dissent worsened this situation, creating a competing "authority" that assured Catholics that what the magisterium taught was only one possible interpretation, perhaps even a wrong interpretation. All of this led in turn to a crisis in religious education.

Children who learned little about their faith subsequently became parents. Poorly catechized themselves, they could not teach their children.

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This is not just a Catholic problem, by the way. Mainline Protestants and even some of the newer Protestant groups face a similar educational challenge. Indeed, the top ecumenist for the Vatican, Cardinal Walter Kasper, recently said that teaching the basics of the Christian faith is an essential part of ecumenism today because so many people know neither what divides them nor what unites them.

The situation is not wholly bleak. In the last 12 years, there has been a steady improvement in catechesis in this country. The arrival of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and, now, the U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults, has ushered in an authoritative restatement of Catholic teaching that, in turn, has begun to impact religious-education textbooks, catechist and teacher training and many RCIA and adult faith-formation programs.

But there still remains much to do. The church must put more resources into education at all levels. If we hope to save future generations, we must save the present generation. If parents remain uncatechized, their children will suffer as well.

Ultimately, any kind of dialogue -- with Protestants, with other religions, with the unchurched -- cannot begin until we know what it is that we believe and why we believe it.

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