Based on Pontiff’s Expected Themes : Educational Data Readied for Papal Visit

Special materials to prepare America’s 52.6 million Roman Catholics for Pope John Paul II’s trip to the United States next year will be available this fall, according to a nationally known religious educator writing the literature.

Father Alfred McBride, a priest of the Norbertine order and president of the University of Albuquerque, said the seven studies will roughly follow the themes that the Pope is expected to emphasize in the major cities that he will visit in September, 1987.

Distribution Arrangements

By October or November, the nation’s dioceses will be informed about the contents of the education materials as well as arrangements for their distribution, McBride said in an interview.

It has not yet been determined whether the materials, to be printed in English and Spanish, will be sold or distributed free for each diocese to reproduce, McBride added.

“This is the first project of this sort,” McBride said. “There has not been any formal catechesis (instruction material) like this prepared in connection with any of the Pope’s trips to other countries.”

The pontiff is expected to make an eight- to 10-day trip to the Southern and Western United States. The tentative itinerary and themes for each stop are:

Miami--the priesthood; Columbia, S.C.--ecumenical endeavors; New Orleans--Catholic education; San Antonio--social justice; Phoenix or Tucson--health care; Los Angeles--refugees and immigrants, and communications; the Salinas-Monterey area--agriculture, and San Francisco--the religious life.

McBride said the catechetical materials, aimed at Catholic lay leaders and the clergy, are based on a New Testament text chosen by the U.S. bishops’ ad hoc committee on the papal visit. The passage, Ephesians 4:11-12, outlines five gifts, or ministry roles, given by God to the church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.

Teaching about such issues as social and economic justice will be incorporated under the “prophetic role,” or gift, of the church in the materials, McBride said.

The first lesson, to be used at the church season of Advent beginning Nov. 30, and continuing through Dec. 21, is on the papal ministry--”what the Pope does in the church,” McBride said.

Another series of five lessons, to be studied during the weeks of Lent in the spring of 1987 (Feb. 12-March 30), will form a 120-page book McBride is writing, he said.

The final, seventh, lesson will be linked with the Feast of Pentecost, which falls on May 18. The study will focus on “a commitment by every church member as they fit the ministries” referred to in the Ephesians text, according to McBride.

He said each lesson will include an introductory “think piece;” a suggested homily, or sermon, to be preached during the study week; prayers; discussion questions and activities; guides for discussion leaders, and instruction materials to be used with children.

In addition, he said, the package will include “a short sketch of John Paul II’s life, an essay on the major themes of his papacy, and an essay on the biblical background of the five gifts” listed in Ephesians 4:11-12.

McBride said he had been asked by the bishops’ committee, headed by Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly of Louisville, Ky., to be a consultant for six months to develop the materials and possibly to prepare a follow-up teaching program for use during and after the papal trip. McBride is on leave from the University of Albuquerque, a Catholic institution, and recently moved to Washington.

Studied at Oxford

The author of numerous articles and 20 books, McBride, 57, received a doctorate in religious education from Catholic University and did postdoctoral studies at Oxford University.

In announcing McBride’s appointment last month, Msgr. Daniel Hoye, general secretary of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, called McBride “a distinguished scholar and Catholic educator” who would play an important role in preparing for the Pope’s visit.

Pope John Paul II made his first pastoral visit to the United States in October, 1979, when he visited Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington, and Des Moines, Iowa.