Vincent Kundukulam
With the advent of Covid-19, there emerged a new term in our common language namely The New Normal. In the beginning, our impression was that it is a neologism that is developed to designate the new reality of life humanity encounters with the arrival of the pandemic. But later, the scientific inquiry showed that this expression is not altogether new. Related to certain worldwide tragedies like the World war I, this term used to appear for a short period and then vanish from common usage. Recently, Peter Hinssen, a Belgian entrepreneur, coined another term, Never Normal in order to designate the new reality which is constantly triggered by ecological societal and geographical shocks. He claims that if 2020 was all about adjusting to the New Normal, in 2021 we are forced to accept the ‘never normal’ as the future reality.
The debate over the use of the term New Normal has led some thinkers to question the very meaning of the term normal itself. They ask: can we say that people’s life until the pandemic was normal? Given the ironies that were happening in life during the so-called normal time, they answer is ‘no’. In the pre-Covid-19 period, billions lived in hunger in a world bursting with food. A large number of individual bankrupts happened due to the health expenditure. As regards India, the full-time farmers fell out of their status at the rate of 20,000 in every 24 hours. Thus, the Normal age was a theatre of individual and national liabilities. If so, certain intellectuals argue that there is no point in thinking about going back to the ‘old normal’; what matters at present is to adjust with the ‘New’ or ‘Never Normal’.
One of the groups that is terribly affected by the extended lockdown is that of adolescents. In fact, adolescence is a period when takes place high degree of brain development. Teen-agers undergo many physical, emotional and psychological changes at this age. Usually, what helps them to remain poised in the midst of these turmoil is going out on their own. At this age, children grow in peer groups. Their desire to be like others gives them great incentive to learn. They better their capacity to grasp and express by imitating the talented ways of their friends. Unfortunately, the lack of space, of movement and of exposure to the outdoors have made the self-formation in groups practically impossible. The parents mired in their existential worries don’t have the patience to understand their feelings. The absence of friends on whom they fall back upon for emotional support augments their agony. In this context, leaders of Church, especially the catechism teachers, can play a vital role in the formation of adolescents.
One of the platforms by which Church can help adolescents is catechism classes. Through peer interactions in catechism classes, we can initiate dialogue among the adolescents. Circularity of dialogue in the class shall provide youngsters with opportunity to learn about themselves: how to understand and express emotions, how to evaluate on the basis of objective data and how to respond responsibly to the problems of life. During the pandemic, as the adolescents spend more time in the digital world, they miss contact with crucial social issues, social sensitivity and social messaging. All these make them self-centric beings. Lack of this social engagement could be overcome to a certain extent by interactive pedagogy in the online classes on video mode. The pandemic is not merely a disguise but a blessing too for faith education if we deal with the challenges under the guidance of Holy Spirit.
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