A History Of Liturgical Catechesis Part I

The Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults is based on a long tradition of uniting the church's ministry of teaching (catechesis) with its ministry of worship (liturgy). This tradition has been recovered in the past two centuries in what has come to be called the "liturgical movement. " The word catechesis literally means a "sounding down," a "re-echoing down to another" (from the Greek katechein: kata [down] and echein [to sound]). Early Christians adopted the word in their follow-up work of teaching the gospel and used it to mean "instruction given by word of mouth" (e. g. , Luke 1:4; Acts 18:25; 1 Cor. 14:19; Gal. 6:6). The word liturgy literally means "work of/for the people" (from the Greek leitourgia: laitos/leitos [of the people] and ergon [work]). In general usage, the word stood for "an act of the public service. " Early Christians adopted the word to mean acts of service to others, donations, etc. , on behalf of the gospel (e. g. , Phil. 2:30; Rom. 15:27; 2 Cor. 9:12), the …