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The creativity of local Churches in the
elaboration of catechesis
134. Local Churches, in
fulfilling the task of adapting, contextualizing and inculturating the Gospel
message by means of catechisms, for different ages, situations and cultures
must exercise a mature creativity. From the depositum fidei entrusted to
the Church, local Churches select, structure and express, under the guidance of
the Holy Spirit, their inner Master, all those elements which transmit the
Gospel in its complete authenticity in a given situation.
For this difficult task, the Catechism of
the Catholic Church is a "point of reference" to guarantee the
unity of the faith. This present General Catechetical Directory, for its
part, offers the basic criteria which govern the presentation of the Christian
message.
135. In elaborating local
catechisms it will be useful to remember the following points:
– it is a question, above all, of
elaborating genuine catechisms, adapted and inculturated: in this sense, a distinction
must be drawn between a catechism which adapts the Christian message to
different ages, situations and cultures, and one which is a mere summary of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church and serves as an introduction to its
study. These are two different types. (465)
– Local catechisms may be diocesan, regional
or national in character. (466)
– with regard to the structuring of
contents, different Episcopates publish catechisms of various structures and
configurations; as has been said, the Catechism of the Catholic Church is
proposed as a point of doctrinal reference, but, does not impose on the entire
Church a determined structure on other catechisms: there are catechisms with a
trinitarian structure; others are planned according to the stages of salvation;
others again are organized along a biblical or theological theme (Covenant,
Kingdom of God, etc.); some are structured around an aspect of the faith, while
others again follow the liturgical year;
– with regard to the manner of expressing
the Gospel message, the creativity of a catechism will have a bearing on its
formulation and content, (467) evidently a catechism must be faithful
to the deposit of faith in its method of expressing the doctrinal substance of
the Christian message:"The individual churches—which are involved not only
with men but also with their aspirations, their wealth and their poverty, with
their manner of praying and living and their outlook on the world—must make
their own the substance of the evangelical message. Without any sacrifice of
the essential truths they must transpose this message into an idiom which will
be understood by the people they serve and those who proclaim it";
(468)
The principle to be followed in this
delicate task is indicated by the Second Vatican Council: "to seek out
more efficient ways—provided the meaning and understanding of them is
safeguarded—of presenting their teaching to modern man: for the deposit of
faith is one thing, the manner of expressing it is quite another". (469)
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