Catholic New Service is reporting that
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.”
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.
The CCC can be skimmed quite easily now. Just read the “In Brief” box at the end of each section.
Here’s a handy search engine for the CCC.
http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm