Why The Name Change?   After all, what’s in a name:

Education, Formation, and Catechesis in the Catholic Church

Teach/Educate

teach. Dictionary.com. To impart knowledge or skill to: teaches children;. To provide   
           knowledge of; instruct in: teaches French; To condition to a certain action or frame of   
           mind: teaching youngsters to be self-reliant.

educate. Dictionary.com. To develop the innate capacities of, especially by schooling or
               instruction; To provide with knowledge or training in a particular area or for a
               particular purpose; To provide with information; inform.

Religious Education

This term carries connotations of classroom instruction, particularly as provided in Catholic schools. According to, educator/theologian, Mary Boys, this term was popular prior to Vatican II. Her own definition of religious education is as follows:

    Religious education is the making accessible of the tradition of the religious community and  
    the making manifest of the intrinsic connections between tradition and transformation.

Mary Boys, Educating in Faith.

Faith Formation

Because “religious education” tends to bring to mind images of classrooms, lectures, and instruction, speaking of “faith formation” has become more popular in Catholic contexts. Faith formation includes instruction along with other types of opportunities for people to grow and mature in their faith. Faith formation is a relatively synonymous term with catechesis.

Catechesis

Catechesis can be seen as a focusing of Catholic education post-Vatican II and a reclaiming of the oral character of education. Here a focus question is, “What does it meant to be heralds of the Good News?” Catechesis is biblically grounded and has been understood as a ministry of the Word.  Catechesis is also liturgically rooted in that the faithful learn through the doing of liturgy.

“Catechesis is the word used to describe this essential ministry of the Church through which
    the teachings of Christ have been passed on to believers throughout the ages”
                                     (USCCB, National Directory of Catechesis, 6).

Catechesis socializes individuals into the life of the faith community so that they may grow in faith and serve the Church’s mission in the world.

In On Catechesis in Our Time, John Paul II defines catechesis as “given to the whole of the efforts within the Church to make disciples, to help people to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, so that believing they might have life in God’s name, and to educate and instruct them in this life and thus build up the Body of Christ” (par. 1).