Screwtape Letters and the Catechism of the Catholic Church

I'm all for using the Catechism of the Catholic Church, especially in unconventional ways. That's why when I came across this article by Marlon de la Torre about Using the Screwtape Letters to unpack the Catechism for high school students, I had to share it with y'all.

One of the biggest barriers between Catholics and the Catechism that I hear most often is that it isn't accessible. The language is either too complex or too theoretical.

In C.S. Lewis' renowned The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape is a demon advising fellow demon Wormwood about how to tempt and lead a man to damnation. Marlon takes chunks of Screwtape's letters and lead the students in debunking his advise using the Catechism. Engaging the Catechism in this way makes the content immediately practical and exciting to read.

Read the whole article here to get a better feel for what a typical lesson of this type would look like.

As I did some more research, it turns out Marlon wrote a book that does just what he does in class: open up the Catechism using C.S. Lewis' mesmerizing book. Go buy it  here like I just did: Screwtape Teaches the Faith. This Marlon guy deserves a raise.

Check out Marlon's blog at Knowing is Doing.

(Hat tip to Marc Cardaronella of Evangelizing Catechesis who sent this article my way.)