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The service of the Episcopal Conference
269. "The Episcopal
Conference may establish a catechetical office, whose principal purpose is to
assist individual dioceses in catechetical matters". (297) This
possibility, which has been established by the Code of Canon Law, is in
fact a reality in many of the Episcopal Conferences. The catechetical office or
national catechetical centre of the Episcopal Conference has a double function:
(298)
– to be at the service of the catechetical
needs of all Dioceses of a given territory: it oversees publications of
national relevance, national congresses, relations with the mass media and, in
general, those tasks and responsibilities which are beyond the means of
Dioceses or regions;
– to be at the service of the Dioceses and
regions by distributing information and catechetical projects, in order to
co-ordinate activities and to lend assistance to Dioceses less well provided
with catechetical materials.
If an Episcopate so determines, it is also
within the competence of the catechetical office or the national catechetical
centre to co-ordinate its activities with other catechetical institutions or to
co-operate with catechetical activities at international level. All this,
however, is always done as a means of assistance to the Bishops of an Episcopal
Conference.
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