Compendium By August

Catholic New Service is reporting that

THE COMPENDIUM OF THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH WILL BE READY BY WORLD YOUTH DAY, WHICH TAKES PLACE IN AUGUST.

For those who may not have heard of it, the Compendium is an abridgement and synthesis of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to make the Church’s teaching more accessible to those who might be frightened off by the monster-thick Catechism.

Benedict XVI–then Cardinal Ratzinger–was entrusted with the task of overseeing the creation of the Compendium.

It’s near-release has been reported before. CNS reported that it was going to be published in April . . . but then the Church kinda had other things on its mind in April. Now it’s reporting that the work will be ready by World Youth Day (90 days from now).

CNS also has some info on the nature of the work:

Sources told CNA the Compendium is “more of a synthesis than a simplification,” that is, “the theological language used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church will be almost completely retained.”

However, sources said the Compendium “balances this continuity in the language with the simplification of some concepts to make them more accessible to the reader.”

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

3 thoughts on “Compendium By August”

  1. For those who may not have heard of it, the Compendium is an abridgement and synthesis of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to make the Church’s teaching more accessible to those who might be frightened off by the monster-thick Catechism.
    The Catechism is something of a door-stopper. It would have been nice if they had included tabs for easy subject look-up, kind of like the Bible tabs I got from Catholic Answers.

  2. The CCC can be skimmed quite easily now. Just read the “In Brief” box at the end of each section.

Comments are closed.