Here.

Do you want to know what’s wrong with catechesis in the Church in these United States?

I’ve got it for you, in a nutshell. From one of the mainstream religion (school) series – I can’t remember which publisher it is, and the take-home sheets don’t have a title on the page bottoms.

Before we begin (and no, this won’t take too long), recall the Song of Simeon, the Nunc Dimittis, found in Luke 2:

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, 10 and the holy Spirit was upon him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Messiah of the Lord. 27 He came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, 28 he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying: 29 "Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel." 33 The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him; 34 and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted 35 (and you yourself a sword will pierce) 11 so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."

Now, in this textbook – the Kindergarten level, we acknowledge, here’s how Simeon is described:

Simeon knew Jesus would  be a great teacher. Simeon praised God and thanked him for Jesus.

The prayer for the chapter begins:

Jesus, thank you for being our leader…

The core of the text is:

Jesus leads you to be kind. He leads you to obey. He leads you to pray.

As Michael said, "It’s like freakin’ Communist China – Dear Leader, Good Teacher…"

We could sit here and argue all day about this, I suppose. Age suitability and all that. Oh, perhaps "salvation" and "light for revelation to the Gentiles" could be articulated on a 5-year old level by "leader" and "teacher." And, adopting the MO of "think the best of people’s intentions" – we’ll try to do just that.

Hmmm.

I’m thinking that we could do better. That there is a simple way of at least attempting to communicate to little children a fuller sense of what Simeon means here, what Jesus’ presence among us is all about. As it stands, the presentation is totally horizontal, as it will continue through most of the curriculum. It’s the great frustration and really huge problem area of so many Catholic catechetical materials, one from which a whole host of other problems flow.

All I ever really needed to know I learned in Kindergarten.

Unfortunately, how very true that seems to be.

(BTW, when I was a DRE, I stopped using Catholic materials for PK and K. I ended up using David C. Cook materials, which were very strong, and covered the exact same material as the Catholic programs – Who Am I God Loves Me God Made Me, etc., etc., ..but with much more substance – on a perfectly age-appropriate level, but with big chunks of Bible stories to illustrate the truths being taught. Perhaps things have changed – I know there are a few more series out there that are better, but this example – this rather weird and totally inadequate rendition of what is a stunningly high Christology into "Teacher Jesus" and no more shows that we’re not….quite…there…yet.)