And what is it, you wonder?
Why, the Catechism of the Catholic Church of course!
Over the past few weeks, the Catechism has been trending here and there for a couple of reasons. First, Benedict XVI’s death, which prompted folks to recall the Catechism as part of his legacy. Secondly, the Catechism in a Year podcast, which is proving to be as popular as the Bible in a Year podcast. Both are in the top 12 Apple Podcasts as I write, and I know the Catechism edition was #1 for at least a few days when it started at the beginning of the month.
Aren’t we so grateful to Pope Benedict for the Catechism? What a gift! What would we do without it!
Well, I am here to offer, as I like to do, a little bit of historical context. In case you didn’t know it, the Catechism was strongly resisted when it was first promulgated in 1992. This article from Homiletic and Pastoral Review was published near the beginning of the process and reflects the environment:
The sense of published responses to the Catechism by individuals long associated with what might be called “the catechetical establishment” have ranged from serious caveats to shrill alarms. One can see a weather reporter pointing grimly to the arrival of a wintry blast of dangerous storm patterns on the weather map. Some have suggested that the Catechism not be distributed widely to the faithful, that it is not designed for classroom use, that it is only a set of guidelines and certainly not a text to be read at home, that it is only a framework for adaptation and not the result of the adaptation, that it represents merely one ecclesiology among many rather than the fruit of the Council. We are told far more about what the Catechism is not, than what it is, what we are not to do, than what we might do. At this point we are ready to put on a trench coat and flee for the hurricane shelter.
The whole thing was so fraught, an entire book was written about it. You can actually access the entire text here – as it says, Ignatius took it out print, so the content is online here with their permission.
This is something I experienced myself. At on point during those years, I was in a diocesan meeting of parish Directors of Religious Education. The bishop of that diocese was there and the topic was the forthcoming Catechism. He said to us, We have to be careful who gets their hands on this.
The diocesan Director of Religious Education, a religious sister, agreed:
We have to make it clear that it’s for pastoral ministers, not the laity. If they think of it as something for them, they’re going to start comparing our programs with what they read in the Catechism.
As my mother used to say, You think I’m making that up. I’m not.
It was one more element in the anti-JPII/Ratzinger gestalt among church professionals at the time, which was widespread and assumed to be normal. It was difficult to publicly articulate hostility to JPII because he was so popular, although I did hear this same diocesan director saying something about ….when this Pope dies as she prepared to lead us in the prayer service she’d written, lighting the candles atop the kente runner on the conference room table. But Ratzinger, of course, was easy and practically required for them to hate – hate, along with every bit of his thought, from theology to liturgy. Understanding this will help you understand the mindset of those of that generation who are still in Church leadership.
If I had to summarize the mindset I’d say…Why are so you childish that you need to be told what to believe rather than exploring your own mature vision of faith? Oh, exploring includes that book? Nope, sorry. Not for you.
It’s from the same family of ideas as: We’re a listening Church….oh, but not to you. Also: Sensus Fidelium for everyone! Hmmm, that thing over there is getting kind of popular. We should probably shut it down.
Charlotte was Both 
I remember all that nonsense and wondered at the time how Catholics were going to be able to stand firm in their faith, particularly with the Sola Scriptura, Fide and other protestant arguements against the Catholic Church.
No, you’re not making it up! When I did my teaching degree in Ontario, where we have publicly funded Catholic school boards, around 1999-2000, the pantsuit nun who taught the class you had to take to teach in them went on and on about this. We did have the CCC as a required text for that class, but not a session went by where she didn’t remind us that it was ONLY meant for the training of catechists, not use by the laity in general. I can’t recall that we read or discussed it much, other than that admonition.
Virginia Arlington Diocese, the K of C handed them out at masses and (many?) priests from the Ambo openly counseled reading it.
Weren’t the laity not supposed to be able to read the Bible also? I mean, that did allow us to get to the point of every person who could read opening their own storefront church, but I guess if that’s the price to pay for spiritual adulthood I’m selfishly ok with that.
Wow. I had a priest say that to me verbatim when I was teaching RCIA out in Los Angeles in the late 90’s. Our pastor had been removed for indiscretions and the parish had been handed over to the Pauli’s Fathers to run. The new pastor wasn’t in the parish a week before he asked to see me to talk about RCIA. When I told him our main text was the CCC he got visibly angry and said, “That book is for bishops and priests NOT for lay people!” He ordered me to stop using it immediately. He even wanted me to ask the catechumens to “surrender their copies.”
I know you meant Paulist, but oh yeah, they were like that. “How dare you study the faith on your own?”
Pretty stupid. I got my copy from a book club – the great way to get books before the internet – and so did millions of Catholics and non-Catholics, I guess. I knew a German left-wing academic who got her copy just so she could answer my points in debate. This idea that church authorities can restrict what the faithful read is some kind of survival from the Victorian anti-Catholic fables of Macaulay and the like.
What many in the hierarchy fail to realize or choose to ignore is that the laity today is much more educated than in the past and is more prone to question and examine anything being forced on them.
“Pay, Pray and Obey” is no longer received in a vacuum.
I remember those gatekeepers, too. There was an additional wrinkle in that the original English translation was was inaccurate and distorted because Cardinal Law had given the task to an unqualified priest with an agenda. Msgr Wrenn and Kenneth Whitehead did valiant service in getting that situation corrected.
The USCCB has an FAQ page on the Catechism. Worth a read. One that stood out:
43. How can the Catechism be most effectively used by “all the faithful”?
Many Catholic adults are searching for a positive, coherent and contemporary statement of what the Church believes and teaches. The Catechism provides such a statement in a comprehensive, yet summary format. Catholic adults should be encouraged to read and study the Catechism. While private study of the Catechism might fit most comfortably into the learning styles of some adults, most benefit greatly from organized discussion groups or study circles. Growth in the knowledge of the faith which one believes tends to deepen the quality of the faith by which one believes. Thus the Catechism can be used by the faithful as an instrument for the holistic maturation of their faith.
https://www.usccb.org/committees/subcommittee-catechism/faq-about-catechism
Please be careful, CCC 1800 is in very serious error. Conscience only binds when coming to God, a “seared” conscience” can never be followed, conscience can never be followed into violating the commandment “Thou Shall Not Murder”.
Wrenn also wrote *Catechisms and Controversies* (Ignatius Press, 1991) so that’s (at least) two whole books about it!