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JAMES F. KEEFTAH

Is there something about Cathoiicmorality that distinguishes it fromthe morality of other religious be-lievers? This is a vexing question.Ifs not a question about superiori-ry. It's simply a question aborrt

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mercy as the cotrdition for salva-tion. This is made dear in the [,astJudgment (in Matthew t5), wherethose saved are saved simply ifthey performed what we latercalled tlie corporal works ofmercy*-feeding the hungry, cloth-ing the naked, visiting the sick, etc.

The parable of Matthew 25 is sfrik-ing in that everyone is surprisecl bythe iudgment. The sheep never re-alizd that in feeding the hungry,they were feeding the king. Nordid the goats realize that by notvisiting the sick, theywere not vis-idng the Lord. But for the Gospelwriters, our recognition of tb,e im'portanc': of mercy is inconsequen-dal Ihat is also the "moral" of thestory of the rich man who never

sees po(lr Lazarus at his gate. Wevrill be judged by whether we aremerciful (see Luke 6).

Mercy: How God enters ourchaos to rescue us. We show mercy by enteringthe chaos of others. Otrr entiretheological Eadition is expressedin ternu of mercy, which I defineas the rn.iliingness to enter into thechaos of others. lndeed, like theGood Sirmaritan stopping for

wounded Adam, attending tosomeone in need is no simple af-fair. It means entering intothe en-tire "prrrblem" or "chaos" of thatperson's particular sjtua tjon.

Understood in such terfirs, the cre-ation is an act of mercy that bdngsorder ir,to the chaos of the uni-verse. The lncarnation is God'sentry into the chaos of human ex-istence. And the redemption isbrin;zing us out of the chaos of our

slavery to sil. Every action of Godis aimecl at rescuing us.

One of rny favorite understandingsof God's rescue of us comes fromthe meditation on the Trinify in theSpiritual Exucises of Saint lgnatius.The thrr:e persons of the ble.ssedT.it ity are considering the chaos ofthe world wherein most peonle aregoing to hell; They decide that we

must be saved. How? One c,f threepersoru will enter inte our lives tokeep us all from falling intr: tl'eabyss of hell, itself pure chaos.

Mercy: Christianity's self-definitionEarly Christianity defined itself in

terms of mercy.ln his wonderfulwurk ?1e Rise of Christianity,R-td-ney Stark argues that "Christianiry'lvas an urban movement and theNew Testament v/as set dor,r,n byur-banites." But those urban areaswere dreadful. Stark describes theconditions as "social chaos andchronic urban misery," partiy be.cause of sheer population densify*.At the end of the fust cenhrry, Arr.tioch's population was 150,000within the city walls.--117 persons

per acre. New York City today hasa dersify of37 persons per acreoverall; Manhattao with its high-rise apartrnents, registers 100 per-sons Per acre.

Contra-A to early assumptions,Greco-Roman cities were not set-tled places, the inhabitants de'scended from previousgenerations. Given high iniantmortality and short life expectancy"these cities reqirired "a constant

and substantial stream of ne*'couv'ers" simply to nraintain popuJatio*levels. As a result, the cities weremade up of sbangers. They werewell rreated by Christians, who.again contrary to assumptions,rnrere anything but poor. Through a

variety of ways, financially secureChristians welcomed the newly ar-rived immigrants.

Moreover, Chdstianify was new.While ethical demands were im-posed by the gods of the pagan re-ligions, these demands were

substantively ritualistic, not neigh-bor-directed. And, while paganRonnans knew generosity, it didnot stem from any divine com-mand. Thus a nurse who cared fora victim of an epidemic knew thather iife might be lost. If she were apagan, there was no expectation ofdivine reward for her generosity;if she were a Christian, this lifewas but a prelude to the next,where the generous were unitedwith God.

Although the Romans practicedgenerosity, they did not promotemercy or pity. Since merqy im-plied "unearned help or relief," itwas considered contradictory tojustice. Roman philosophe$ opposed mercy. According to Stark.?ify was a defect of character un-worihy of the wise and exorsableonly in those who have not yetgror4rn up. It was an impulsive re-sponse based on ignorance." He

concludes:This was the moral cfimatein which Christianity taughtthat mercy is one of the pri-mary virtues-that a merci'ful God requires humans tobe merciful. Moreover, the

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C;)l'r)ll.:r..., -!..l,: ...;:r;.1., i_l.rllot cs i:r-r1..::.:' ., ilrr.:lli,l:snl.i-,' .-lot :-llil je C.ld ,.rrrlrss111,''.r iiri.r' otit nrtti!!:tr \\.as e:1-tircly new. Perhaps evenmore revolutionary was theprinciple that Christian loveand charity must extend be-yond the boundaries of fami-ly an'J tribe, that it mustexteld to "all those who inevery place call on the narneof our Lord Jesus Chrisf' (1Cor. l:2)... This was revolu-

tri'i'.ir:y st.iff. irrrlt:.:..j, it,..vastlr,.: cultur;rl b.r-ris ior thc re-',,iializrtion oI I Ron.ranrvorlcJ grolning unrler a hostof miseries.

In our own day. rnercy makes n0less a claim-

Reverend James F. Keenan. s.;., i,rassociate profusor of moral theoiogyat Weston lesuit School of Theology,C arnts id ge, Mas s a c hu se t t s.

For more than thirty years I havervorked in catechesis, eighteen ofthose years as a director ofreli-g-ious education. My early years asdirector were mostly spent organ-izing the fornal religious educa-tion dasses. That task was nevereasy, but textbooks, set sr-ricu-lums, and scope'and-sequencecharts girve it some definition.Much has changed over the years.

Today we find ourselves at the be-ginning of a new millennium witha renewed vision of catechesis thatrealizes education is formationalas well as instructional. Our job Lsnot nearly as dear-cut or foe'used.If the chrrrch is to flourish, howev-er, we have to accept the newchallenges and reshape the waywe catechize. Directors of reli-gious education need to aggrcs-sively model their role ascatechetical leaders in the parish,highlighting the formational aswell as i:rstnrctional dimensionsof catechesis.

What's irn a Name?This shift in emphasis has takenplace gradually. For me the tr;usi-tion began in 1984 when Dr. TomWalters gave a talk to our arch-

diacesan professional organiza-tions on a national suryey he hadcoinpleted, profiling directors ofreligious education. He asked usto respond to one of the questionson the survey: "llfhich of the fol,lowing terrns most accurately de-scribes your actual functions asdirector of religious education?There were eight choices; director,,aclministrator, catechetical leader,c{rordinator, pastoral minister" edu-cator, facifi bator, and programmex.

I had to think about my answer forawfule. I knew I was a djrectoc itlsas vr"ritten on nly office door:"director of religious educafion""'Yet I spent much of my time coor-ciinatin g and programming classer;and activities for the dilferent agegrclups in the parish. I aiso knew Iwas an administrator, since I drewup the budget, ordered the supplies, kept hack of catechists' certi-fication, and so on. I had tr,yodegrees that told me I was an edu-cator. Certainly I was responsiblefor training catechists, teachingsacramental preparafion classes,and leading adult education. Iliked being a pastoral minister,lending a sympathetic ear and of-fering simple advice to the young

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