USCCB - Catechesis in the Catholic Church

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Catechism Update
Summer 1999

Catechism Committee Convenes Task Force on National Adult Catechism
At its November, 1998 meeting, the Ad Hoc Committee considered the question of developing a national adult catechism as another means of addressing their charge to study the feasibility of a national catechism/catechetical series. This discussion was prompted by previous conversations among Ad Hoc Committee members and their fellow bishops and by feedback received during earlier stages of the feasibility study. His Eminence, Dario Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos gave further impetus to this discussion when he encouraged the Church in the United States to consider the development of a national adult catechism during his presentation at the symposium on the General Directory for Catechesis on November 14, 1998.

Following consultation with the chairs of the Committee on Education and the Committee on Catechesis, the members of the Catechism Committee developed a four-step process for moving forward with the adult component of the feasibility study. First, adult catechisms published by other episcopal conferences are to be collected for a limited comparative study of the content and structure of the texts. A request for information on existing adult catechisms has been sent to the Holy See. Secondly, the national catechisms obtained will be studied, with special attention to any pastoral concerns or doctrinal issues particular to a national Church that may have guided the development of their particular catechism. Thirdly, a tentative structure and focus for a draft national adult catechism will be developed along with a draft working outline of a national adult catechism. Lastly, all bishops and appropriate diocesan staff will be surveyed regarding the draft outline, seeking input on the structure and approach as well as those pastoral concerns and doctrinal issues most significant to the Church in the United States. Through the survey, the members of the Catechism Committee hope to be able to determine the level of interest and support among the bishops for a national adult catechism.

As part of this undertaking, the Catechism Committee established a task force to assist in the focused study of the feasibility of a national adult catechism. The task force, consisting of six bishops representing various Conference committees, has been charged with the second and third steps of the process described above: the analysis of the structure and content of national adult catechisms from other countries and the development of a possible outline of an adult catechism for this country. The members of the Catechism Committee will consider using the outline developed by the task force as part of the survey that is proposed as the fourth step of the study.

Task Force Membership

Most Rev. Donald W. Wuerl, Chair
Most Rev. Gordon D. Bennet, SJ
Most Rev. Alfred C. Hughes
Most Rev. William J. Levada
Most Rev. William E. Lori
Most Rev. Joseph F. Martino
Catechism
Catechesis
Catechism
Doctrine
Education
Evangelization

Clarification of Doctrinal Elements for Elementary Grades
The March, 1999 release of the provisional instrument Doctrinal Elements for Elementary Grades Based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church has generated a number of questions and inquiries. Based on the nature of the inquiries, it is evident that two important clarifications need to be made regarding Doctrinal Elements: its provisional nature and its relationship to the Protocol.

You may recall from previous communications that the instrument now known as Doctrinal Elements for Elementary Grades was not originally intended to become a public document. It began as a strategic part of the feasibility study of a national catechism/catechetical series. The goal was simply to determine if it were possible to distribute the content of the Catechism over an eight year period. Many of the publishers and other expert and/or interested parties consulted during that phase of the feasibility study recommended and requested that the document be made public. The Catechism Committee also received requests from numerous diocesan religious education offices for the release of the instrument. The Committee has done so, but only as a working instrument, issued on a provisional basis for consultation. Following the period of consultation, the Catechism Committee will then consider, within the context of the larger feasiblity study being undertaken, the possible uses, if any, the instrument may have.

In terms of the conformity reviews of catechetical materials conducted by the Catechism Committee, it is important to understand that the Protocol remains the standard for assessment. This is true for any catechetical materials at any grade level. The Committee does not intend to replace the Protocol as the standard instrument for review. Nor is there any intention to conduct any conformity review by matching placement of doctrinal elements in any series with its corresponding placement in Doctrinal Elements. Conformity reviews for series will continue to be conducted as in the past: the series will be evaluated as a whole against the doctrinal elements presented in the Protocol.

The members of the Catechism Committee appreciate the interest and support for their work that seems to have been generated by the release of Doctrinal Elements for Elementary Grades. We continue to try to provide encouragement and assistance to our fellow bishops and all who aid them in the catechetical work of the Church.

Doctrinal Elements for Adolescent Catechesis: Tool in Feasiblity Study
As another component of its feasibility study, the Catechism Committee has begun the development of an instrument detailing doctrinal elements for adolescent catechesis. The purpose of this task mirrors that behind the development of the elementary instrument: to determine if and how the content of the Catechism can be addressed, in an age appropriate manner, for adolescent catechesis. The Catechism Committee intends to consult with various bodies at different stages of the process. Those publishers who volunteered to assist the Catechism Committee with this instrument will be consulted in an advisory capacity throughout the development of the instrument.

In February, 1999 members of the Committee appointed a steering committee whose responsibilities are to develop plans and objectives for the project and to prepare the instrument for presentation to the Ad Hoc Committee. At this time, the steering committee is composed of Father Daniel Kutys, Brian Keane and Sabrina Kersanac, all staff at the Office for the Catechism; Father Tom DeVries, former staff of the Office for the Catechism and chair of the task force which developed Doctrinal Elements for Elementary Grades; Daniel Mulhall, Representative for Catechesis of the USCC Department of Education; Father John Hurley, Associate Director of the Office for Evangelization; and Siobhan Verbeek, Associate Director of the Office for Doctrinal and Pastoral Practice. The Catechism Committee intends to name two or three additional steering committee members in the near future.

In March, 1999, the Catechism Committee considered several possible models for the adolescent instrument presented to them by the steering committee. The Catechism Committee members endorsed a comprehensive adolescent model structured on the four pillars of the Catechism which would identify doctrinal elements that an adolescent should be expected to know. As this model would be intended to address adolescent catechesis as a whole, it might also contain an appendix which would suggest ways of applying the doctrinal elements in specific situations such as Catholic high schools, parish religious education programs and youth ministry programs.

The steering committee met again in May, and plans on reporting to the Catechism Committee at its June meeting. The Catechism Committee will consider possible structures for the model as well as issues regarding consultation. The steering committee hopes to have a time line prepared for the September meeting of the Catechism Committee.

Next Edition of the Catechism
One of the charges given this Committee was to keep bishops updated on issues related to the Catechism. As you know, Pope John Paul II promulgated the editio typica of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in September 1997. This prompted the need for modifications to be made to the modern language editions already in use as well as the preparation of a new edition of the Catechism.

It is now nearly impossible to purchase a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the Conference is moving forward as expeditiously as possible with the next edition. The corrigenda that appeared following the publication of the editio typica have all been incorporated into the body of the text. The index analyticus which appears in the editio typica is in the process of being translated and will also be included in the new edition. The possibility also exists that a glossary will be included.

While the date of publication is not known at this time, we will continue to keep you apprised of developments as they occur.

Dies Domini and the Catechism
This article concludes the correlation between these two documents, focusing on the fifth chapter, "Dies Dierum" and the conclusion. The paragraphs selected from the Catechism have been chosen for their specific relevance to the particular issues treated in Dies Domini. This correlation is not intended to be exhaustive. It is our hope that this will be of benefit to our fellow bishops and their staffs.

Dies Domini
Since Sunday is the weekly Easter, recalling and making present the day upon which Christ rose from the dead, it is also the day which reveals the meaning of time. It has nothing in common with the cosmic cycles according to which natural religion and human culture tend to impose a structure on time, succumbing perhaps to the myth of eternal return. The Christian Sunday is wholly other! Springing from the resurrection, it cuts through human time, the months, the years, the centuries, like a directional arrow which points them toward their target: Christ's Second Coming. Sunday foreshadows the last day, the day of the Parousia, which in a way is already anticipated by Christ's glory in the event of the resurrection. . . . Christians know that there is no need to wait for another time of salvation, since, however long the world may last, they are already living in the last times. #75

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Since the Ascension God's plan has entered into its fulfillment. We are already at "the last hour." "Already the final age of the world is with us, and the renewal of the world is irrevocably under way; it is even now anticipated in a certain real way, for the Church on earth is endowed already with a sanctity that is real but imperfect."(LG 48, 3) Christ's kingdom already manifests its presence through the miraculous signs that attend its proclamation by the Church. #670

The Holy Spirit's transforming power in the liturgy hastens the coming of the kingdom and the consummation of the mystery of salvation. While we wait in hope he causes us really to anticipate the fullness of communion with the Holy Trinity. Sent by the Father who hears the epiclesis of the Church, the Spirit gives life to those who accept him and is, even now, the "guarantee" of their inheritance. #1107

In a similar way, by inserting into the annual cycle the commemoration of the martyrs and other saints on the occasion of their anniversaries, "the church proclaims the Easter mystery of the saints who suffered with Christ and with him are now glorified."' When celebrated in the true spirit of the liturgy, the commemoration of the saints does not obscure the centrality of Christ, but on the contrary extols it, demonstrating as it does the power of the redemption wrought by him .. . The intrinsic relationship between the glory of the saints and that of Christ is built into the very arrangement of the liturgical year and is expressed most eloquently in the fundamental and sovereign character of Sunday as the Lord's Day. Following the seasons of the liturgical year in the Sunday observance which structures it from beginning to end, the ecclesial and spiritual commitment of Christians comes to be profoundly anchored in Christ, in whom believers find their reason for living and from whom they draw sustenance and inspiration. #78 When the Church keeps the memorials of martyrs and other saints during the annual cycle, she proclaims the Paschal mystery in those "who have suffered and have been glorified with Christ. She proposes them to the faithful as examples who draw all men to the Father through Christ, and through their merits she begs for God's favors." (SC, 104). #1183

Sustaining Christian life as it does, Sunday has the additional value of being a testimony and a proclamation. As a day of prayer, communion and joy, Sunday resounds throughout society, emanating vital energies and reasons for hope. Sunday is the proclamation that time, in which he who is the risen Lord of history makes his home, is not the grave of our illusions but the cradle of an ever new future, an opportunity given to us to turn the fleeting moments of this life into seeds of eternity. Sunday is an invitation to look ahead; it is the day on which the Christian community cries out to Christ, "Marana tha: Come, O Lord!" (I Cor. 16:22). With this cry of hope and expectation, the church is the companion and support of human hope. From Sunday to Sunday, enlightened by Christ, she goes forward toward the unending Sunday of the heavenly Jerusalem, which "has no need of the sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light and its lamp is the Lamb" (Rv. 21:23). #84 The Church knows that the Lord comes even now in his Eucharist and that he is there in our midst. However, his presence is veiled. Therefore we celebrate the Eucharist "awaiting the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. . . . " #1404

The celebration of Sunday observes the moral commandment inscribed by nature in the human heart to render to God an outward, visible, public and regular worship "as a sign of his universal beneficence to all." Sunday worship fulfills the moral command of the Old Covenant, taking up its rhythm and spirit in the weekly celebration of the Creator and Redeemer of his people. #2176

As she strains toward her goal, the church is sustained and enlivened by the Spirit. It is he who awakens memory and makes present for every generation of believers the event of the resurrection. He is the inward gift uniting us to the risen Lord and to our brothers and sisters in the intimacy of a single body, reviving our faith, filling our hearts with charity and renewing our hope. The Spirit is unfailingly present to every one of the church's days, appearing unpredictably and lavishly with the wealth of his gifts. But it is in the Sunday gathering for the weekly celebration of Easter that the church listens to the Spirit in a special way and reaches out with him to Christ in the ardent desire that he return in glory: ‘The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!"' (Rv. 22:17). #85 The mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit is brought to completion in the Church, which is the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit. This joint mission henceforth brings Christ's faithful to share in his communion with the Father in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit prepares men and goes out to them with his grace, in order to draw them to Christ. The Spirit manifests the risen Lord to them, recalls his word to them and opens their minds to the understanding of his Death and Resurrection. He makes present the mystery of Christ, supremely in the Eucharist, in order to reconcile them, to bring them into communion with God, that they may "bear much fruit." #737