The Challenge of the Lasallian Catechist in the Late Twentieth-Century United States: One Lasallian Journey | AXIS: Journal of Lasallian Higher Education

Jeffrey Gros, FSC, Ph.D.

ABSTRACT

Essentially a case study of the author’s life in dialogue with the catechetical mission of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States from the 1950s through 2005, the article presents the catechetical challenges of the individual call to catechetical work and several distinctive aspects of Lasallian catechetical heritage. A De La Salle Christian Brother and theologian with specialization in sacramental theology and ecclesiology, combined with decades of leadership in ecumenical catechesis, the author presents a multi-part challenge for effective, strategic Lasallian catechetical leadership in the coming decades. To understand and subsequently to serve the ecumenical catechetical dimension of the Lasallian vocation in a manner that is adapted for the catechetical situation in the U.S. Church today, the author presents nine “continuing realities” of the the U.S. cultural context, and related implications.

KEYWORDS

Catholic catechesis; Lasallian;

FULL TEXT

The Challenge of the Lasallian Catechist in the Late Twentieth-Century United States: One Lasallian Journey

About the Author

Jeffrey Gros, FSC, Ph.D.

Brother Jeffrey Gros, FSC, (1938-2013) was a Distinguished Professor of Ecumenical and Historical Theology at Memphis Theological Seminary. He served a year as Kenan Osborne visiting professor at Franciscan School, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California. He was president of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. He taught secondary school biology for seven years, served ten years as Director of Faith and Order for the National Council of Churches in the USA, and then 14 years as Associate Director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, in addition to 15 years of seminary and university teaching. He served as Dean for the Catholic Institute for Ecumenical leadership, a program for diocesan ecumenical officers. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Masters (Biology Education) degree from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. He earned a Masters degree in theology from Marquette University, and a Ph.D. in Theology from Fordham University.