About Us Archbishops Education Parishes Ministries Offices Vocations News & Events Catholic Life Giving Search
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta  

Religious Education

phone: 404-885-7413
fax: 404-885-7473
mailing address:
680 W. Peachtree St. NW
Atlanta, GA 30308
physical address:
600 W. Peachtree Street  Suite 600
Atlanta, GA 30308

You are here: home >> offices >> office of religious education

ACT: Reflection Paper #1

Paper #1 – Divine Revelation, History, Creed

The questions below are offered to help focus your reflection.  While I ask that you spend some time thinking about each of them, you do not need to answer every question in your paper.  Pick one or two of the question groups below and write a few pages (2-3) on them.  If you are currently a catechist, please answer at least one question that asks how you can bring what you’ve learned into your classroom.  The point of the assignment is to show me that you’ve spent some time thinking about what was presented in class.  The papers will not be graded but simply marked as completed.

A brief summary of the first five classes

God has revealed himself to us.  Jesus Christ is the fullness of this divine revelation.  That revelation has been handed on to us throughout the ages in two modes: Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, both of which are interpreted, taught, and guarded by the Magisterium.  Church history traces how this revelation, this faith has been handed on and lived throughout the ages.  While the faith has not changed, our understanding of it has developed through the 2000 years of the Church, which has always been guided by the Holy Spirit, as Jesus promised.  This faith, tested and made stronger in the face of persecution and heresy, is encapsulated in the Creed, which has remained unchanged since the earliest centuries of the Church.

Questions for reflection

  1. Reflect on Dei Verbum1. How has God revealed himself? What was God’s purpose in revealing himself? What does it mean {to the world, to humanity, to the Church, to me} that God has revealed himself? How does (or should) this affect your teaching?
  2. Reflect on the following three passages on Scripture, Tradition, and Magisterium and answer the following questions.  Why is it important that we have all three (Scripture, Tradition, Magisterium)?  What would happen if one of them were to crumble?  Why can’t we pick and choose what pleases us in the Bible and ignore the rest?  Why do we need the Church, if the Bible contains all that is needed for our salvation?  Why is the connection between the Holy Spirit and the Church essential for the communication of God’s revelation?  How does this connection inspire us to have faith in the Church’s teaching?
    1. “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16).
    2. “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book” (Jn 20:30).
    3. “The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living, teaching office of the Church alone. . . Yet this Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but its servant.  It teaches only what has been handed on to it” (CCC 85-86).
  1. The General Directory for Catechesis2 (Congregation for the Clergy, 1998) asserts, “Sacred Scripture should have a pre-eminent position [in the ministry of the word, to which catechesis belongs].  In concrete terms, catechesis should be ‘an authentic introduction to lectio divina, that is, to a reading of the Sacred Scriptures done in accordance to the Spirit who dwells in the Church.’ ‘In this sense, to describe Tradition and Scripture as sources for catechesis means that catechesis must imbibe and permeate itself with biblical and evangelical thought, spirit and attitudes by constant contact with them . . . .’” (127).  How do you use Scripture in your classroom?  If you don’t already, how can you add it?
  2. Why is it important to know history?  Is it necessary to include historical lessons in catechesis?  Why or why not?  How can you use history in your classes?  Choose a doctrine, select an episode in history or an historical figure, and show how you can use that bit of history to teach/illustrate that doctrine.
  3. “Throughout the centuries the Church has produced an incomparable treasure of pedagogy in the faith: above all the witness of saints and catechists…. All of these aspects form part of the history of catechesis and, by right, enter into the memory of the community and the praxis of the catechist” (GDC 141).   What can the saints teach us?  How can you use the saints in your class?

1The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Pope Paul VI, 1965).  Available online from http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html. 

2Congregation for the Clergy, 1998. Available from http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cclergy/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_17041998_directory-for-catechesis_en.html

More Information

Sori Govin
Associate Director, Catechetical Ministry
(404) 885-7235
sgovin@archatl.com