50 years of Medellin: the “to” and “fro” of liberating catechesis.

Abstract

Liberating catechesis is undoubtedly one of the most important fruits of the Second Conference of the Latin American Episcopate celebrated in Medellin 50 years ago. The catechetical paradigm that emerged there revolutionized the way of understanding and doing catechesis in the continent, from a rationalistic, deductive, and mnemonic catechesis that sought the memorization and mechanical repetition of catechism content to a “situational/liberating catechesis centred n Revelation and man, where historical situations and authentically human aspirations became part of the catechesis content, and therefore, must be interpreted in present-day context, in the light of the life experiences of the Peoples of Israel, Christ, and the ecclesial community” (Medellín VIII, 6). This paper gives an account of this transformation, of the liberating paradigm characteristics, of the place occupied by catechism in that paradigm, and the almost thorough disappearance of the liberating catechesis from the offcial Latin American Church discourse.