Month: June 2005

Earlier today I linked a couple of Zenit stories on the release of the Compendium of the Catechism. Zenit also carried a story excerpting certain questions from the Compendium. Here goes:

3. How is it possible to know God only with the light of reason?

Starting from creation, that is, from the world and the human person, man, with reason alone, can know with certainty a God as origin and end of the universe and as the highest good, truth and infinite beauty.

23. What unity is there between the Old and New Testaments?

Scripture is one, as the Word of God is one; the salvific plan of God is one, the divine inspiration of both Testaments is one. The Old Testament is a preparation for the New, and the New is the fulfillment of the Old: both illuminate one another mutually.

32. How should non-Catholic Christians be regarded?

There are many elements of sanctification and truth in the Churches and ecclesial Communities, which have distanced themselves from the full communion of the Catholic Church. All these goods come from Christ and lead to Catholic unity. The members of these Churches and Communities are incorporated to Christ in Baptism: for this reason, we recognize them as brothers.

171. What is the meaning of the affirmation: "There is no salvation outside the Church"?

It means that all salvation comes from Christ-Head through the Church, which is his Body. Therefore, those cannot be saved who, knowing the Church as founded by Christ and necessary for salvation, do not enter it and do not persevere. At the same time, thanks to Christ and to his Church, those can attain eternal salvation who, without fault, do not know the Gospel of Christ and his Church, but seek God sincerely and, under the influence of grace, try to do his will known through the dictates of their conscience.

471. Why must society protect every embryo?

The inalienable right to life of every human individual, from his conception, is a constitutive element of civil society and of its legislation. When the State does not put its force at the service of the rights of all, and, in particular, of the weak, among whom are the unborn conceived, the very foundations of the State of law are undermined.

475. When are scientific, medical or psychological experiments with persons or human groups morally legitimate?

They are morally legitimate if they are at the service of the integral good of the person and society, without disproportionate risks for life and the physical and psychic integrity of the individuals, opportunely informed and with their consent.

482. What is required for peace in the world?

It requires the just distribution and protection of the goods of people, free communications between human beings, respect for the dignity of persons and peoples, [and] the assiduous practice of justice and fraternity.

502. What are the offenses to the dignity of marriage?

They are: adultery, divorce, polygamy, incest, free unions (living together, concubinage), the sexual act before or outside of marriage.

514. To what type of work does every person have a right?

Access to secure and honest work must be open to all, free of unjust discrimination, in respect of free economic initiative and a just compensation.

533. What is man’s greatest desire?

Man’s greatest desire is to see God. This is the cry of his whole being: "I want to see God!" Man attains his authentic and full happiness in the vision and the blessedness of the One who created him out of love and attracts him to Himself by his infinite love.

SOURCE.

Now, I don’t know how the official English translation will come out, but if it reads like this one in some places, the Compendium will not–as advertised–be suitable for all people of all ages. Seven year-olds are not going to find it easy to memorize and understand what it means to say that "The inalienable right to life of every human individual, from his
conception, is a constitutive element of civil society and of its
legislation."

The answer to question 514 also gets progressively more unintelligible as it goes. I’m thinking that’s just a translation problem, though.

In any event, thanks to Zenit for giving us this glimpse into the Compendium!

Lotsa good stuff in the news about the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCCC or 4C).

HERE’S A BASIC ARTICLE ABOUT IT BEING RELEASED.

Highlights of this piece include the facts that the Compendium is 200 pages long and has 598 questions in it (so, I guess about three or so questions per page on average, which would suggest really small pages given what we’ll see below).

The Compendium is divided in the same four parts of the Catechism.

Part I, "The Profession of Faith," includes 217 questions; Part II, "The Celebration of the Christian Mystery" covers questions 218 to 356; Part II, "Life in Christ," questions 357 to 533; and Part IV, "Christian Prayer," questions 534 to 598.

The book ends with a double appendix on "Common Prayers" (from the sign of the cross, the Gloria and the Our Father, to the Prayer for the Dead and the act of contrition) and "Catholic Doctrine Formulas" (such as the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, corporal and spiritual works of mercy, the Beatitudes, etc.).

It’s also (unfortunately) out only in Italian at the moment, so we’ll have to wait to get an English version. (I’m currently being tempted to order the Italian version and start studying Italian. . . . Subito, y’know?)

Now: HERE’S THE MOTU PROPRIO (A KIND OF PAPAL DOCUMENT) IN WHICH B16 AUTHORIZES THE WORK.

The money passage of this is the following:

The Compendium, which I now present to the Universal Church, is a
faithful and sure synthesis of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

This conveys the level of authority for the Compendium. It is describe as "a faithful and sure synthesis of the Catechism of the Catholic Church," which makes its authority corelative to that of the Catechism. The Catechism, as we’ve quoted Ratzinger here before to demonstrate, synthesized Catholic teaching without changing the authority level of any of the teachings. Since the Compendium doesn’t do anything but synthesize the Catechism accurately, it therefore also doesn’t affect the doctrinal authority of any of the teachigns it contains.

B16 also goes on to make a rather interesting claim:

It
contains, in concise form, all the essential and fundamental elements
of the Church’s faith, thus constituting, as my Predecessor had wished,
a kind of vademecum which allows believers and non-believers alike to
behold the entire panorama of the Catholic faith.

It is important to note here that this does not claim that everything in the Compendium is an essential or fundamental element of the Church’s faith. It would be a basic logical fallacy to take that from what the pope said. ("This contains all X" is not equivalent to "All this contains is X.") Undoubtedly there will be items in the Compendium of different levels of authority, and some may not fit the bill of being "essential and fundamental."

I’m a little surprised, though, that he would claim that the Catechism contains all the essential and fundamental elements. I haven’t read the text, of course, but my native instinct would be to shy away from claims of that nature on the off chance that someone could mount a case that we left out something that is essential or fundamental. Nevertheless, he’s probably on safe ground here because (a) it probably does contain all such truths and (b) because "essential" and "fundamental" are sufficiently ambiguous words that one could defend the claim in any event.

One other tidbit: You may remember that when the Catechism was released there were all kinds of theological dissidents in the catechetical establishment (and elsewhere) who tried to assure us that the Catechism was "just for the bishops and experts" and that we layfolk need not trouble ourselves with reading it as it would be too much for us and that the Vatican never intended for us to read it. This was part of a strategy to minimize the impact of the Catechism and allow faulty catechetical texts to stay in place.

The reception that the Catechism got–at least in many places (the U.S. among them) totally steamrollered this stratagem.

Well, there’ll be none of that this time. Not only does the format of the work itself cry out that it is meant for the common layperson, the pope himself in his motu proprio says:

I entrust this Compendium above all to the entire Church and, in
particular, to every Christian, in order that it may awaken in the
Church of the third millennium renewed zeal for evangelization and
education in the faith, which ought to characterize every community in
the Church and every Christian believer, regardless of age or
nationality.

But this Compendium, with its brevity, clarity and
comprehensiveness, is directed to every human being, who, in a world of
distractions and multifarious messages, desires to know the Way of
Life, the Truth, entrusted by God to His Son’s Church.