Education in the Church’s doctrines is not merely a matter of abstraction or learning, a kind of theological grammar. Salvation in Christ is not simply a matter of the mind or of checking off a list of the correct ideas. Education in the faith requires witness, testimony to one’s relationship with Christ and how one came to know, love, and serve him. This can be presented in words, but it most powerfully displays itself in a way of life that demonstrates how the revelatory truths of the faith expressed in doctrines are concretized in actions and activities. Education in the Church’s faith falters and fails if it is not rooted in an invitation to accept a unique way of life. If the teacher does not embody this way of life in Christ-like behaviors, then the risk is that the doctrines might be presented correctly, but the meaning and mysticism of those doctrines will be thwarted.
~ Fr. Stephen Grunnow, “A Word from the Institute,” Evangelization and Culture, Autumn 2023
Locus Communis 