SPECIAL FORMS 0F CATECHESIS FOR ADULTS

96 There are conditions and circumstances that demand special forms of catechesis.

a) There is the catechesis of Christian initiation or the catechumenate for adults.

b) There is the catechesis for those who are involved in the lay apostate in a special way. Clearly catechesis must provide for a deeper study of the Christian message in these cases.

c) There is a catechesis which is to be given on the occasion of the principal events of life, such as marriage, the baptism of one’s children, first communion and confirmation, the more difficult periods of the children’s education, one’s illness, and 50 forth. These are times when people are moved more strongly than ever to seek the true meaning of life.

d) There is a catechesis which is to be given on the occasion of some change in the circumstances of one’s life, as for example on the occasion of starting work, on entering military life, when migrating, or when changing one’s profession or social status. These changes can indeed increase one’s spiritual goods, but they can also disturb the spirit and snatch away hope. The Christian community has a duty to supply those who experience them with necessary helps in fraternal love. The word of God, which in these circumstances is sometimes more readily accepted, ought to be a light and an aid to them.

e) There is the catechesis which is concerned with a Christian use of leisure, and that which is to be given on the occasion of recreational travelling (cf. Directorium Generale pro ministerio pastorali quoad "turismum," n. 19, 25).

f) There is the catechesis which is to be given on the occasion of special events touching the life of the Church or of society.

These special forms of catechesis in no way lessen the need for establishing catechetical cycles which are devoted to a systematic study of the entire Christian message. This organic and well-organised formation is certainly not to be reduced to a simple series of conferences or sermons.