2006 Religious Education Supplement
National adult catechism complements universal catechism
By Sean Gallagher
Leaders in religious education from the local to the national levels are praising the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, which went on sale on July 31.
Created under the direction of the U.S. bishops’ Committee to Oversee the Use of the Catechism, it was approved by all American bishops in November 2004 and by the Holy See a year later.
In a recent interview with The Criterion, Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl said that the U.S. bishops decided to create this teaching text in response, to Pope John Paul II’s 1992 invitation to bishops’ conferences around the world to adapt the Catechism of the Catholic Church to their own particular cultures.
“The two are meant to complement each other,” said Archbishop Wuerl, who led the text’s editorial committee.
“The United States Catholic Catechism for Adults is meant to introduce people to the faith. When they want more, when they want to go more deeply into it, well, there’s the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which is encyclopedic in its presentation.”
Archbishop Wuerl said that the national adult catechism is geared to apply the teachings of the universal catechism to the “needs of the hour” in contemporary American culture.
“We’re a highly secular culture,” he said. “We’re a here-and-now culture. We’re a culture that’s focused on the individual. We’re a culture that too often is simply uncomfortable with the concept of transcendence, of sacramentality—all the things that [the Church] brings to the world.
“So what we, as a conference of bishops, did was respond to the pope’s request to take the essential elements of the faith presented in a clear and inviting manner to our culture …”
The national adult catechism presents the faith along the same overall framework used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, starting with the creed and moving on to sacraments, morality and prayer.
However, the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults presents the faith, not in individually numbered paragraphs like the universal catechism, but in 36 chapters.
Each chapter begins with a profile of a renowned Catholic from the past. Most of them are American.
A particular aspect of the faith embodied in that person’s life is then explained. Excerpts from the universal catechism are offered, along with summary doctrinal statements, discussion questions, meditations and prayers.
Judy Koch, a pastoral associate at Our Lady of the Greenwood Parish in Greenwood, is looking forward to using the national adult catechism in the Indianapolis South Deanery parish where she has led religious education programs for 20 years.
“I’m really excited about it,” Koch said. “I think it’s just going to be a great tool.”
In particular, she said that the national adult catechism has great potential for her parish’s many small Christian communities.
“You can take a topic and you have prayer and questions that are included with that topic in that chapter,” Koch said. “I think it makes a really good format for … small Christian community groups. The resources for that kind of format [small Christian communities] really are kind of limited.”
Although intended to be an aid for all adult American Catholics, Archbishop Wuerl said he thinks the national adult catechism will be of particular use for youths and young adults.
“I would really like to see this catechism be a tool for a new evangelization among our young people, one to the other, among our young adults, one to the other,” he said. “First, they get a knowledge of what the Church really teaches, and then the enthusiasm to share it with others. That’s what I hope will be the impact of this book.” †