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Various criteria which can inspire the
use of human sciences in the formation of catechists
243. These are:
a) Respect for the autonomy of the sciences: "the Church... affirms
the legitimate autonomy of culture and especially of the sciences".
(224)
b) Evangelical discernment of the different tendencies or schools in
psychology, sociology, and pedagogy: their values and their limitations.
c) The study of the human sciences—in the formation of catechists—is not
an end in itself. Acquiring awareness of the existential, psychological,
cultural and social situation of man is accomplished in the light of the faith
in which man must be educated. (225)
d) In forming catechists, theology and the human sciences should mutually
enrich each other. Consequetly it is necessary to avoid a situation in which
these materials are converted into the only norm for the pedagogy of the faith
apart from the theological criteria deriving from the divine pedagogy. While
these are fundamental and necessary disciplines, they are always at theservice
of evangelization which is more than a human activity. (226)
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