The Vatican has told bishops that they have until May 31 to comment on the draft of the catechism. But it will provide a critical reference point in the perennial debates about how to interpret these sources and whether more popular teaching materials are acceptable.Ĭopies of the Vatican document, ''Catechism for the Universal Church,'' were sent to Catholic bishops last December under an official stamp of secrecy. It will not replace other sources of church teaching, like Scripture, creeds, papal statements and decrees of ecumenical councils. Instead it is a long formal summary of all Catholic doctrine. The draft itself is not the kind of booklet written in question-and-answer form that many people associate with the word catechism. ''It will determine how the faith is passed on to the Catholics who will live in the 21st century,'' he wrote. Reese, an American Jesuit priest and author, said the catechism was potentially ''the most important document to come from Rome since the close of the Second Vatican Council'' in 1965. Writing in The Tablet, an influential Catholic weekly published in London, the Rev. It is intended to be a theological yardstick for bishops and educators in developing material for teaching the faith to young people or those seeking conversion.

They say the proposed text ignores recent developments in theology, uses the Bible inaccurately, confuses central Catholic beliefs with less important ones and elevates theological positions that are still open for discussion to the level of established dogma.įor example, the critics say the document gives equally detailed attention to essential Christian beliefs like the Trinity and to minor teachings on topics like angels.īoth critics and defenders of the document agree that it could have an enormous impact on Catholicism. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, head of the commission that is writing the document, told students at the University of Rome that the draft, although still ''imperfect,'' was a ''marvelous work.''īut critics of the draft, many of them liberal Catholic scholars, say the catechism, although meant to reflect the teachings of Vatican II, is instead an effort to to nullify those teachings by forcing them into a conservative mold. They fear those teachings have fallen into disarray since the Second Vatican Council, the landmark gathering of the world's bishops that changed the face of modern Catholicism in the 1960's.

For the first time in more than 400 years, the Catholic Church is preparing to issue a comprehensive summary of its beliefs aimed at governing church teaching throughout the world, an effort that has provoked a sharp dispute among church scholars.ĭefenders of the proposed new catechism, now being circulated in draft form, say it is simply an effort to clarify the church's teachings.

Catholic catechism online