What is the Catechism of the Catholic Church and who wrote it?
A catechism is a summary or compendium of various teachings about our faith. The idea for the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) as we know it emerged in 1985 at the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops. Previous catechisms have been drafted in our Church’s history, but the CCC is most likely the one you hear referenced.
These catechisms aren’t original works regarding doctrine. Rather, they summarize Church teachings based on sacred Scripture, tradition, and the magisterium (the teaching authority of the Catholic Church). To be clear, the catechism didn’t introduce new teaching; rather, it serves as a reference and catechetical tool for the existing teachings of the Church.
There are four main parts, or pillars, to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
1. The Creed (what the Church believes by explaining each part of the Apostle’s Creed)
2. The Celebration of the Christian Mystery (how we celebrate our faith, including teachings on the sacraments)
3. Life in Christ (how we are called to live our faith)
4. Christian Prayer (the tradition of prayer and explaining each part of the Our Father prayer).
The catechism has numbered paragraphs. I was unfamiliar with the CCC layout when I entered seminary and thought the priest who was teaching us was assigning a crazy amount of reading, only to later realize (with great relief!) that he was referencing paragraphs, not page numbers.
Each of the four pillars is broken down into smaller parts, and a summary concludes each part. Although the book is not necessarily laid out to be read from cover to cover, there is nothing stopping one from doing that. A good recommendation that I received when I first picked up a copy was to read the fourth pillar on prayer first, before diving into the other sections.
Many people worked on the catechism over the years. In 1986, Pope John Paul II appointed a commission of cardinals and bishops to develop the catechism. In 1989, the commission sent a draft text to every bishop around the world for consultation, and the bishops sent back more than 24,000 amendment suggestions. In 1991, the commission prepared the final draft. Pope John Paul II approved the definitive version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on June 25, 1992.
The catechism is available as a book and online.
Other helpful resources available that are connected to the catechism include Father Mike Schmitz’s “Catechism in a Year” podcast through Ascension Media, the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the YouCat (youth catechism), the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, ASL YouCat videos (youth catechism in American Sign Language), and many others. These resources aren’t separate catechisms meant to replace the CCC, but they tailor the catechism’s content to a region, language or age group.
Father Dan Kavanagh is director of the Catholic Deaf Ministry in the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
