Catechism of the Catholic Church
Encyclopedia
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (or CCC) is the official text of the teachings of the Catholic Church. A provisional, "reference text" was issued by Pope John Paul II
on October 11, 1992 — "the thirtieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council" — with his apostolic constitution
, Fidei depositum
.
The new Catechism was first published in the French language in 1994 and was then translated into many other languages.
On August 15, 1997 — the Solemnity
of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
— Pope John Paul II promulgated the Latin
typical edition, with his apostolic letter, Laetamur Magnopere. The Latin text, which became the official text of reference (editio typica), amended the contents of the provisional French text at a few points. As a result, the earlier translations from the French into other languages (including English) had to be amended and re-published as "second editions".
The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church was published in 2005, and the first edition in English in 2006. It is a more concise and dialogic
version of the CCC. The text is available in twelve languages on the Vatican website, which also gives the text of the Catechism itself in eight languages.
has been defined as "a summary of principles, often in question-and-answer format". Documents of religious instruction have been written since the beginning of Christianity and the catechism is typically an assemblage of these smaller documents into one large compilation of Church doctrine and teachings.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, for which the usual English-language abbreviation is CCC, is instead a source on which to base such catechisms and other expositions of Catholic doctrine, called a "major catechism." It was given, as stated in the Apostolic Constitution
Fidei depositum
, with which its publication was ordered, "that it may be a sure and authentic reference text for teaching catholic doctrine and particularly for preparing local catechisms." The CCC is in fact not in question and answer format. What corresponds the more common idea of a catechism is perhaps the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
CCC is arranged in four principal parts:
This scheme is often referred to as the “Four Pillars” of the Faith. The contents are abundantly footnoted with references to sources of the teaching, in particular the Scriptures
, the Church Fathers
, and the Ecumenical Councils
and other authoritative Catholic statements, principally those issued by recent Popes.
The section on Scripture in the CCC (nos. 101-141) recovers the Patristic tradition of "spiritual exegesis
" as further developed through the scholastic doctrine of the "four senses." This return to spiritual exegesis is based on the Second Vatican Council's 1965 "Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation", which taught that Scripture should be "read and interpreted in light of the same Spirit by whom it was written" (Dei Verbum 12). The CCC amplifies Dei Verbum by specifying http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License that the necessary spiritual interpretation should be sought through the four senses of Scripture (nos. 111, 113, 115-119), which encompass the literal sense and the three spiritual senses (allegorical, moral, and anagogical).
The literal sense (no. 116) pertains to the meaning of the words themselves, including any figurative meanings. The spiritual senses (no. 117) pertain to the significance of the things (persons, places, objects or events) denoted by the words. Of the three spiritual senses, the allegorical sense is foundational. It relates persons, events, and institutions of earlier covenants to those of later covenants, and especially to the New Covenant. Building on the allegorical sense, the moral sense instructs in regard to action, and the anagogical sense points to man's final destiny. The teaching of the CCC on Scripture has encouraged the recent pursuit of covenantal theology
, an approach that employs the four senses to structure salvation history via the biblical covenants.
A commentator, quoting Pope Paul VI
to the effect that the Catholic Church has made a conscious attempt to adopt "a more humble and fraternal attitude ... that of a search for the truth", claims that CCC displays a shift away from presenting dogma as fact and toward presenting the Catholic faith itself as a search for truth. Referring also to the statement in the Apostolic Constitution Fidei Depositum that "the contents are often presented in a new way in order to respond to the questions of our age," he claims that the "new catechesis ... attempts to produce existential
reactions rather than intellectual conviction."
declared the Catechism of the Catholic Church to be universally authoritative and "a sure norm for teaching the faith" and thus "a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion".
In 1992, Joseph Cardinal
Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI
) noted:
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
on October 11, 1992 — "the thirtieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council" — with his apostolic constitution
Apostolic constitution
An apostolic constitution is the highest level of decree issued by the Pope. The use of the term constitution comes from Latin constitutio, which referred to any important law issued by the Roman emperor, and is retained in church documents because of the inheritance that the canon law of the...
, Fidei depositum
Fidei depositum
Fidei depositum is the Apostolic constitution of 11 October 1992 by which Pope John Paul II ordered the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church....
.
The new Catechism was first published in the French language in 1994 and was then translated into many other languages.
On August 15, 1997 — the Solemnity
Solemnity
A Solemnity of the Roman Catholic Church is a principal holy day in the liturgical calendar, usually commemorating an event in the life of Jesus, his mother Mary, or other important saints. The observance begins with the vigil on the evening before the actual date of the feast...
of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Assumption of Mary
According to the belief of Christians of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, and parts of the Anglican Communion and Continuing Anglicanism, the Assumption of Mary was the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her life...
— Pope John Paul II promulgated the Latin
Ecclesiastical Latin
Ecclesiastical Latin is the Latin used by the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church in all periods for ecclesiastical purposes...
typical edition, with his apostolic letter, Laetamur Magnopere. The Latin text, which became the official text of reference (editio typica), amended the contents of the provisional French text at a few points. As a result, the earlier translations from the French into other languages (including English) had to be amended and re-published as "second editions".
The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church was published in 2005, and the first edition in English in 2006. It is a more concise and dialogic
Dialogic
The English terms dialogic and dialogism often refer to the concept used by the Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin in his work of literary theory, The Dialogic Imagination. Bakhtin contrasts the dialogic and the "monologic" work of literature. The dialogic work carries on a continual dialogue...
version of the CCC. The text is available in twelve languages on the Vatican website, which also gives the text of the Catechism itself in eight languages.
Contents
A catechismCatechism
A catechism , i.e. to indoctrinate) is a summary or exposition of doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament times to the present...
has been defined as "a summary of principles, often in question-and-answer format". Documents of religious instruction have been written since the beginning of Christianity and the catechism is typically an assemblage of these smaller documents into one large compilation of Church doctrine and teachings.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, for which the usual English-language abbreviation is CCC, is instead a source on which to base such catechisms and other expositions of Catholic doctrine, called a "major catechism." It was given, as stated in the Apostolic Constitution
Apostolic constitution
An apostolic constitution is the highest level of decree issued by the Pope. The use of the term constitution comes from Latin constitutio, which referred to any important law issued by the Roman emperor, and is retained in church documents because of the inheritance that the canon law of the...
Fidei depositum
Fidei depositum
Fidei depositum is the Apostolic constitution of 11 October 1992 by which Pope John Paul II ordered the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church....
, with which its publication was ordered, "that it may be a sure and authentic reference text for teaching catholic doctrine and particularly for preparing local catechisms." The CCC is in fact not in question and answer format. What corresponds the more common idea of a catechism is perhaps the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
CCC is arranged in four principal parts:
- The Profession of Faith (the Apostle's Creed)
- The Celebration of the Christian Mystery (the Sacred LiturgyLiturgyLiturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
, especially the sacramentSacramentA sacrament is a sacred rite recognized as of particular importance and significance. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites.-General definitions and terms:...
s) - Life in Christ (including The Ten Commandments in Roman Catholic theologyThe Ten Commandments in Roman Catholic theologyCatholic doctrine regarding the Ten Commandments refers to the official teaching of the Catholic Church in their Catechism, concerning the Commandments listed in and , which are part of the covenant between God and the Israelites. Catholicism teaches that the commandments are essential for...
) - Christian Prayer (including The Lord's PrayerLord's PrayerThe Lord's Prayer is a central prayer in Christianity. In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, it appears in two forms: in the Gospel of Matthew as part of the discourse on ostentation in the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Gospel of Luke, which records Jesus being approached by "one of his...
)
This scheme is often referred to as the “Four Pillars” of the Faith. The contents are abundantly footnoted with references to sources of the teaching, in particular the Scriptures
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, the Church Fathers
Church Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were early and influential theologians, eminent Christian teachers and great bishops. Their scholarly works were used as a precedent for centuries to come...
, and the Ecumenical Councils
Ecumenical council
An ecumenical council is a conference of ecclesiastical dignitaries and theological experts convened to discuss and settle matters of Church doctrine and practice....
and other authoritative Catholic statements, principally those issued by recent Popes.
The section on Scripture in the CCC (nos. 101-141) recovers the Patristic tradition of "spiritual exegesis
Exegesis
Exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text. Traditionally the term was used primarily for exegesis of the Bible; however, in contemporary usage it has broadened to mean a critical explanation of any text, and the term "Biblical exegesis" is used...
" as further developed through the scholastic doctrine of the "four senses." This return to spiritual exegesis is based on the Second Vatican Council's 1965 "Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation", which taught that Scripture should be "read and interpreted in light of the same Spirit by whom it was written" (Dei Verbum 12). The CCC amplifies Dei Verbum by specifying http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License that the necessary spiritual interpretation should be sought through the four senses of Scripture (nos. 111, 113, 115-119), which encompass the literal sense and the three spiritual senses (allegorical, moral, and anagogical).
The literal sense (no. 116) pertains to the meaning of the words themselves, including any figurative meanings. The spiritual senses (no. 117) pertain to the significance of the things (persons, places, objects or events) denoted by the words. Of the three spiritual senses, the allegorical sense is foundational. It relates persons, events, and institutions of earlier covenants to those of later covenants, and especially to the New Covenant. Building on the allegorical sense, the moral sense instructs in regard to action, and the anagogical sense points to man's final destiny. The teaching of the CCC on Scripture has encouraged the recent pursuit of covenantal theology
Covenantal Theology (Roman Catholic)
Covenantal theology is a distinctive approach to Catholic biblical theology stemming from the mid-twentieth century recovery of Patristic methods of interpreting Scripture by scholars such as Henri de Lubac...
, an approach that employs the four senses to structure salvation history via the biblical covenants.
Points of controversy
American Catholic bishops have stated that, though theological opinion was not intended to be a part of CCC, it in fact "does not distinguish between matters of faith and theological opinion."A commentator, quoting Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI
Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
to the effect that the Catholic Church has made a conscious attempt to adopt "a more humble and fraternal attitude ... that of a search for the truth", claims that CCC displays a shift away from presenting dogma as fact and toward presenting the Catholic faith itself as a search for truth. Referring also to the statement in the Apostolic Constitution Fidei Depositum that "the contents are often presented in a new way in order to respond to the questions of our age," he claims that the "new catechesis ... attempts to produce existential
Existentialism
Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...
reactions rather than intellectual conviction."
Commentary
Pope John Paul IIPope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
declared the Catechism of the Catholic Church to be universally authoritative and "a sure norm for teaching the faith" and thus "a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion".
In 1992, Joseph Cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
) noted:
External links
- Catechism of the Catholic Church – English translation (U.S.A., 2nd edition) (English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Modifications from the Editio Typica, copyright 1997, United States Catholic Conference, Inc. — Libreria Editrice Vaticana) (Glossary and Index Analyticus, copyright 2000, U.S. Catholic Conference, Inc.). ISBN 1-57455-110-8
- Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church – English translation (USCCB, 2006). ISBN 1-57455-720-3
- United States Catholic Catechism for Adults – English "... resource for preparation of catechumens in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and for ongoing catechesis of adults" (USCCB, 2006). ISBN 1-57455-450-6
Sites that carry the full CCC text
- Holy See - Archive - Catechism of the Catholic Church; in Traditional Chinese, English, French, Italian, Latin, Latvian, MalagasyMalagasyMalagasy is the name of the people who live in Madagascar. Malagasy is also the name of the national and official language spoken in Madagascar.It may refer to*anything pertaining to or characteristic of the island of Madagascar*the Malagasy Republic...
, Portuguese, and Spanish (as of 17 July 2011) - Fulltext Search Latin editio typicaEditio typicaAn editio typica or typical edition is a form of text used in the Catholic Church as an official source text of a particular document—typically in Latin—and used for all subsequent translations into vernacular languages....
; English text revised in accordance with the Latin editio typicaEditio typicaAn editio typica or typical edition is a form of text used in the Catholic Church as an official source text of a particular document—typically in Latin—and used for all subsequent translations into vernacular languages.... - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; English – Second edition (revised in accordance with the Latin editio typicaEditio typicaAn editio typica or typical edition is a form of text used in the Catholic Church as an official source text of a particular document—typically in Latin—and used for all subsequent translations into vernacular languages....
) - St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, Picayune, Miss., USA; English – Second edition (revised in accordance with the Latin editio typicaEditio typicaAn editio typica or typical edition is a form of text used in the Catholic Church as an official source text of a particular document—typically in Latin—and used for all subsequent translations into vernacular languages....
), with full text search and list of changes between the First and Second editions
Sites that carry comments on the CCC
- US Catholic Bishops Conference: Office for the Catechism
- Catechism of the Catholic Church Simplified - A condensation of the text, not the text itself
- The New Catechism...Is it Catholic?
Text of the Compendium of the CCC
- Compendium at Vatican/Holy See website available in Byelorussian, English, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, and Swedish (as of 17 July 2011)