Are we confirming them or ordaining them?” an exasperated parent
once asked a bishop after a confirmation liturgy as the two
stood talking in the parish hall. “What do you mean?” the bishop
replied. “Well, it was a two-year program with homework
assignments, tests, retreats, parent conferences and service
projects. I thought my son was getting ordained!” The sentiment
is perhaps indicative of a larger trend. Since the publication
of the English edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church
in 1992, the number of catechetical guidelines, curricula,
standards, frameworks, formation programs, magisterial documents
and assessments for the church in the United States has
exploded. Some of these provide content and structure for
handing on the faith to the next generation of Christians.
Others are used to train and form those who work in catechesis,
including confirmation programs. (See sidebar, pg. 19.) The
scope of official church documents on religious education has
also increased, as has the publication of su