Maria Harris, a renowned Catholic educator and theologian (1932-2005), helped reshape how the Church understands religious education. Through her writing, teaching, and speaking, she challenged catechists to see that faith formation is much broader than textbooks, lesson plans, or classroom instruction. For Harris, religious education is woven through the entire life of the Christian community.

One of her most influential insights was her understanding of curriculum. In everyday language, curriculum usually means a series of lessons or materials used for teaching. Harris insisted that the Church’s curriculum is far richer than that. In her well-known work, Fashion Me a People, she explained that the Church itself is the curriculum. Everything the community does—its prayer, service, preaching, hospitality, pursuit of justice, and creativity—forms people in faith.

This vision invites catechists to broaden their understanding of their ministry. Religious education is not confined to a classroom or weekly gathering. When a parish welcomes the stranger, advocates for justice, celebrates the sacraments beautifully, or cares for those in need, it is teaching the Gospel. In this sense, catechists are not the only teachers. The entire community becomes a living school of discipleship.

Harris also emphasized the deep connections between catechesis, justice, aesthetics, and spirituality. Faith is not learned only through ideas; it is encountered through beauty, compassion, prayer, and the way a community lives its values. When these dimensions are alive in the Church, catechesis becomes an experience of encountering God in the fullness of life.

For catechists today, Maria Harris’ vision is both encouraging and challenging. It reminds us that we are part of a much larger work of formation. Our task is not simply to pass on information about faith but to help people recognize how God is revealed in the life of the community and the world around them.

In this way, catechesis becomes less about delivering lessons and more about helping people read the living curriculum of the Church—a curriculum written in prayer, justice, beauty, and love.

Reflections to Hold, Pray, and Live

• How might justice, beauty, and spirituality become more visible parts of the way faith is taught and lived?

• In what ways can you help learners recognize that the whole Christian community teaches the Gospel?

Author:

Sister Janet Schaeffler, OP
Member, NCCL Board of Directors

Her book, SAINTS & MENTORS for Catechists: 41 Models of Faith to Support and Guide You, can be purchased from Twenty-Third Publications
[GET YOUR COPY HERE]

Learn more about Janet and her publications at https://www.janetschaeffler.com/

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Blog thumbnail portrait photo sampled from: Lasallian Videos for Formation Maria Harris on YouTube