Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is not on the Conformity List - WHY!?

Continuing from my first post on Catechesis of the Good Shepherd - Conformity and Red Flags


The main "issue" comes down to this:

The USCCB set out to assure that published faith formation (religious education) texts are aligned with the doctrine of the Church.

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd provides hands-on materials and experiences for the children that make real to them the Catechism of the Catholic Church (contains our doctrine), the Sacred Scripture (the Word of God), and the Roman Missal and the books on the Rites (our Liturgy - the practice of our faith through our worship). Thus, our textbooks ARE in conformity, because the textbooks we use are those published by the Catholic Church herself.

We could stop there; but most people don't.


The secondary issue comes down to the fact that the experience of the child in ANY faith formation program is only as good as the catechist who allows the Holy Spirit to be in control and not bring in one's own agenda. One could be using a perfectly sound published textbook and the children will NOT get the proper teaching from it, if the catechist has a different agenda or is poorly formed in his/her own faith.

On the other hand, one could be using a perfectly rotten textbook and the catechist has the know-how to bring in appropriate teaching and appropriate experiences so that the children actually learn and grow (this catechist is being led by the Holy Spirit).


Catechesis of the Good Shepherd provides both the sound doctrine (by using the Bible, the Roman Missal and the CCC) and the proper catechist formation in one package: via 90+ hour formation courses for each level (working with 3-6 year olds, 6-9 year olds and 9-12+ year olds).

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd - Conformity and Red Flags

Some questions that come up that are perhaps not answered in the most succinct way by the CGS National Office:


Does the CGS have an imprimatur? 
Short answer: This isn't quite the right question.
Longer answer: CGS as a whole is not a published curriculum or teaching text. Imprimaturs and Nihil Obstats are reserved for publications addressing the Catholic faith. CGS is a method and an environment whose primary texts are the Roman Missal, Sacred Scripture and the Cathechism of the Catholic Church. Thus an imprimatur and nihil obstat do not apply to CGS as a whole.

Do CGS published texts have the imprimatur? 
Short answer: Yes.
Longer answer: The published texts regarding CGS have both the imprimatur and the nihil obstat; these texts are not the ones utilized by the students - these are utilized by the adults during their formation, with the primary texts of study being the Roman Missal, Sacred Scripture and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Is CGS on the Bishops' approved list of religious ed texts? 
Short answer: No.
Medium-Long answer: the Bishops' list is ONLY for *published textbooks* - thus the question doesn't apply to Catechesis of the Good Shepherd - even if the albums (lesson plans) were published, still the only "published text" the child uses is the Holy Bible and the Roman Missal.
Longer answer: Like the Imprimatur and Nihil Obstat, the approval process to get on that list doesn't apply to CGS because the teaching program that the children receive is not a published text. The (arch)bishops of many (arch)dioceses approve the use of CGS and encourage its use among the faithful, but it doesn't fit within the scope of the "approved texts list".
Even longer answer: CGS Letter of Conformity with the CCC





Definitions: 

Censor's stamp: NIHIL OBSTAT "nothing stands in the way"

Bishop's stamp: IMPRIMATUR "let it be printed"


UPDATE: 3/3/2014 - I think I might make this post a page of its own.
I am also downloading the protocol used to assess each published text - use the same form and the same format to correlate CGS as it stands at this moment in time. CGS serves to meet the needs of the children - thus is a work-in-progress in the fine-tune details.

But this still compares favorably to published texts - just because a lesson is there, doesn't mean it happens. Due to the 3-year nature of the atrium, if something is "missed" one year, it is picked up the next - or absorbed from the work of older children who already received that presentation.