Priest guided by ‘evangelizing catechesis’ in writing book on the catechism

By Sean Gallagher

Serving for the past two years as the director of the Institute on the Catechism, an effort of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), it may be fitting that Father Daniel Mahan has authored a book titled A Journey through the Catechism: Unveiling the Truth, Beauty, and Goodness of the Catholic Faith.

But this book, published last fall by Ave Maria Press, was not the product of Father Mahan’s ministry of leading the institute, a role which he started in the summer of 2023.

The book’s origins go back much further to when the priest of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis was a seminarian in formation at the Pontifical North American College in Rome in the mid-1980s.

In 1985 during a meeting of the Synod of Bishops, a suggestion was made that the Church issue a new universal catechism. Just seven years later, the Catechism of the Catholic Church was a reality.

A few years later, as the English edition of the catechism rocketed to the top of bestseller lists, Father Mahan was asked by members of St. Luke the Evangelist Parish in Indianapolis, where he was serving as pastor at the time, to help them understand it better.

Father Mahan responded by creating a series of six 6-week sessions in which he gave presentations on the entire catechism from start to finish.

During some 30 years since then, he gave these presentations at other parishes where he ministered in the archdiocese and made a series of videos based on the talks titled “A Tour of the Catechism,” produced by Air Maria, a production company of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate who operate the Mother of the Redeemer Retreat Center in Bloomington.

The series more recently led to Ave Maria Press, based in South Bend, Ind., to invite Father Mahan to write A Journey through the Catechism.

“I like to tell people that it only took me 30 years to write the book,” Father Mahan said with a laugh. “The catechism has been part of my priesthood all along, even going back to seminary.”

Guided by an evangelizing catechesis

Like the catechism, A Journey through the Catechism is divided into four sections in which the beliefs, worship, moral teachings and prayer in the Catholic tradition are explored and explained.

In those four sections, Father Mahan explores the catechism’s teachings by answering questions about the faith—263 questions to be precise.

He also relates these teachings to the basic Gospel message, called in the Catholic theological tradition the “kerygma,” in which is proclaimed God’s creation of humanity; its fall in original sin; its redemption in Christ’s death and resurrection; and its restoration to the life of grace that the baptized are now empowered to live.

“The kerygma is foundational,” Father Mahan said. “It is that upon which all of our teachings are situated and where they rest. It’s where we find the real meaning of every aspect of our faith.”

In exploring the catechism in his book, Father Mahan is trying to show what an “evangelizing catechesis” looks like, a way of teaching the faith that the USCCB has been promoting in the Church in the U.S. in recent years.

He described evangelizing catechesis as “forming the mind, the heart and the hands, what we know, our love for the Lord and our expression of our faith in everyday life.”

This approach, Father Mahan said, can be helpful for both lifelong Catholics and those preparing to be received into the full communion of the Church at the Easter Vigil through the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults.

“When people get to the end of a chapter,” he said, “they’re asked to think about some questions that relate to how they are getting closer to the Lord, how they are living out the faith and how they are growing in their knowledge, love and expression of their faith in the Lord.”

A book born of decades of parish ministry

Father Mahan reflected on how his book is the fruit of decades of ministry in parishes in central and southern Indiana.

“The book is written in a pastoral style,” he said. “It’s written in a way that I’m speaking to those who are reading it, inviting them in a personal way to learn more about the life of our Lord and the Church that he founded, and to draw nearer to him and the sacramental life of the Church, especially through the sacrament of penance and the holy Eucharist, to live out that faith in concrete, practical ways.

“That’s what I’ve been doing as a parish priest for 36 years now. That experience of being a parish priest is reflective on every page of the book.”

From that experience and his more recent ministry with the Institute on the Catechism, Father Mahan has gained a good understanding of what Catholics want and need to be formed well in the faith.

“People are realizing that what is being presented to them by the world is not helpful,” he said. “It’s not lasting. It’s not wise. They’re looking for truth. They’re looking for what is really beautiful, what is really good. And they will find it in the One who is the truth, the Lord who is the way, the truth and the life.

“They will find it in the beautiful expression of faith that is to be found in the Catholic Church and in the goodness of the lives of the saints, in the goodness of the life that we are called to live as we strive to be saints.”

Father Mahan also pointed to the leadership of Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, who served as shepherd of the archdiocese from 1992-2011, as a source of inspiration for his book.

He gave credit to him for the “solidification of catechesis in our Church” and in his leadership of the USCCB’s efforts starting in the mid-1990s of helping publishers bring catechetical textbooks and resources into conformity with the catechism.

“Catechetical materials need to be grounded in the truth of the faith as expressed in the catechism and in the life of the Church through which we connect with the Lord Jesus and meet the Lord through the sacraments and the life of goodness to which we aspire, the goodness of one who says ‘yes’ to the Lord and repents when we say ‘no’ to him.”

‘How the Church is going to win souls’

Father Mahan has hope for the future of catechesis in the Church in the U.S. That hope was bolstered in part by what he witnessed last summer when the National Eucharistic Congress took place in Indianapolis.

“There were so many beautiful talks that were given,” he said. “People were inspired and learned so much, all within the context of the holy Eucharist—the Mass, holy hours, the opportunity to go to confession and then the great sending forth. We were sent forth to bring to others the good news in word and in deed.

“What we experienced in Indianapolis last summer is really a good summary of how the Church is going to win souls and to make a true difference in our troubled world.”

Seeing an event like the congress effectively show forth evangelizing catechesis on such a big stage was gratifying to Father Mahan, who has done much to promote it in his ministry with the institute and in his work on his book.

“In an age of doubt and confusion, the Church and its teachings are beacons of hope,” Father Mahan said. “And if just one person finds hope through this book, if just one person gets an insight and is drawn to a conversion by the Holy Spirit, then it will have been worth all the hours that I have put into it.”
 

(A Journey through the Catechism is available in Catholic bookstores across central and southern Indiana and at AveMariaPress.com.) †