Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, or CCC, is an official exposition of the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, first published in French in 1992 by the authority of Pope John Paul II. The volume, which is a stout book of over 900 pages, has been translated into many other languages, including English. In 1997, a Latin text was issued which is now the official text of reference the contents of the first French text being amended at a few points.

 

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A catechism has been defined as "a summary of principles, often in question-and-answer format". Although handbooks of religious instruction have been written since the time of the Church Fathers, the term "catechism" was first applied to them in the sixteenth century, beginning with Martin Luther's 1529 publications. Mostly, they are meant for use in class or other formal instruction.

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. 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 to most people's idea of a catechism is instead the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

CCC is arranged in four principal parts:

The Profession of Faith (the Creed)

The Celebration of the Christian Mystery (the Sacred Liturgy, especially the sacraments)

Life in Christ (including the Ten Commandments)

Christian Prayer (including The Lord's Prayer)

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 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.

Doctrinal value

In Fidei depositum, John Paul II declared that the Catechism of the Catholic Church was "a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion and a sure norm for teaching the faith", and stressed that it "is not intended to replace the local catechisms duly approved by the ecclesiastical authorities, the diocesan Bishops and the Episcopal Conferences". 

Points

Some Traditionalist Catholics argue that statements made in CCC conflict with past Catholic teachings on many topics, and that it is infected with Gnosticism, promotes the theory of evolution, exonerates the Jewish people and presents them as still in a covenantal relationship with God, favours indifferentism (the heresy that religions are equal), false ecumenism (cooperation with non-Catholic Christians), secular collaboration and compromise, homosexuality and internationalism.

They maintain 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."

One such writer, 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."

Some, desiring a simpler text instead of so diffuse and "ponderous" a book, object to what they consider to be an absence in CCC of the clarity they see in thirteenth-century work of St. Thomas Aquinas and in the 1885 Baltimore Catechism (a book that was meant as a class textbook in question-and-answer form, unlike CCC, which is intended as a source for use in composing such textbooks). 

Some Orthodox theologians have expressed appreciation of CCC, while not agreeing with all of its contents. This is understandable, since while making references to Byzantine and other Eastern practice and teaching, its basic approach and mode of expression is necessarily Western. Those of Protestant tradition find much more to disagree with, which is also to some extent necessarily so or there would not have been a Catholic and a Protestant camp for the last centuries. 

Redaction

The decision to publish the official catechism was taken at the Second Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops that was convened by Pope John Paul II on 25 January 1985 to evaluate the progress of implementing the council's goals on the 20th anniversary of its closure. The synod participants expressed the desire that "a catechism or compendium of all Catholic doctrine regarding both faith and morals be composed, that it might be, as it were, a point of reference for the catechisms or compendiums that are prepared in various regions. The presentation of doctrine must be biblical and liturgical. It must be sound doctrine suited to the present life of Christians." In 1986, John Paul II formed a Commission composed of 12 Cardinals and Bishops chaired by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger prepared the first draft of the Catechism. The commission was assisted by a committee consisting of seven diocesan bishops, experts in theology and catechesis. Reminiscing those days, Ratzinger says, "I must confess that even today it seems a miracle to me that this project was ultimately successful."

Cardinal Georges Cottier, Theologian emeritus of the Pontifical Household and later cardinal deacon of Santi Domenico e Sisto of the University Church of the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum, claims he was influential in drafting the encyclical. 

Conclusion

Pope John Paul II declared it authoritative, to be "a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion." It is also a handy quotation reference work which provides an entry point to Scripture, as well as to other Church writings.

The interest in Church teachings that CCC has stirred even in circles outside the Catholic Church was noted by Pope Benedict XVI prior to his becoming Pope:

"It clearly shows that the problem of what we must do as human beings, of how we should live our lives so that we and the world may become just, is the essential problem of our day, and basically of all ages. After the fall of ideologies, the problem of man the moral problem is presented to today's context in a totally new way: What should we do? How does life become just? What can give us and the whole world a future which is worth living? Since the catechism treats these questions, it is a book which interests many people, far beyond purely theological or ecclesial circles." 

 

Source and additional information: Catechism of the Catholic Church