Catechisms in the local Churches

Local Catechisms: their necessity

(⁴⁴⁴)

131. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is given to all the faithful and to those who wish to know what the Catholic Church believes. (⁴⁴⁵) It is "meant to encourage and assist in the writing of new local catechisms, which take into account various situations and cultures, while carefully preserving the unity of faith and Catholic doctrine". (⁴⁴⁶)

Local catechisms, prepared or approved by diocesan Bishops or by Episcopal Conferences, (⁴⁴⁷) are invaluable instruments for catechesis which are "called to bring the power of the Gospel into the very heart of culture and cultures". (⁴⁴⁸) For this reason Pope John Paul II has offered a warm encouragement "to the Episcopal Conferences of the whole world to undertake, patiently but resolutely, the considerable work to be accomplished, in agreement with the Apostolic See, in order to prepare genuine catechisms which will be faithful to the essential content of Revelation and up to date in method, and which will be capable of educating the Christian generations of the future to a sturdy faith". (⁴⁴⁹)

By means of local catechisms, the Church actualizes the "divine pedagogy" (⁴⁵⁰) used by God himself in Revelation, adapting his language to our nature with thoughtful concern. (⁴⁵¹) In local catechisms, the Church communicates the Gospel in a manner accessible to the human person so that it may be really perceived as the "Good News" of salvation. Local catechisms are palpable expressions of the wonderful "condescension" (⁴⁵²) of God and of his "ineffable" (⁴⁵³) love for the world.