United States Catholic Catechism for Adults

INTRODUCTION [The Catechism of the Catholic Church ] is meant to encourage and assist in the writing of new local cate chisms, which must take into account various situations and cultures, while carefully preserving the unity of faith and fidelity to Catholic doctrine.

—St. John Paul II, The Deposit of Faith ( Fidei Depositum ), IV, no. 4

On October 11, 1992, St. John Paul II published his apostolic constitu tion The Deposit of Faith , promulgating the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC). He chose the publication date to mark the thirtieth anni versary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. St. John Paul II envisioned the Catechism as a sure and authentic reference text for teaching Catholic doctrine and particularly for pre paring local catechisms. The bishops of the United States subsequently discussed in depth what they might do to follow the pope’s call to pre pare a local catechism. It would need to take into account the local situ ation and culture, while at the same time preserving the unity of faith and fidelity to Catholic teaching found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church . In June 2000, the bishops determined that a national adult cate chism would be an effective way to achieve this goal. Before describing the content and approach of this adult catechism, several preliminary matters need to be presented. First, it should be noted that historically the term catechism has acquired a variety of meanings. It comes from a Greek word that means “to echo.” Before the inven tion of the printing press in 1450, in the Church and elsewhere learning was mainly an oral experience. A Church teaching would be recited, and the listener would be instructed to “echo” it, or repeat it, until it was learned. This way of learning has been around since before the Church. Jewish teachers from both before and after the time of Jesus taught the Scriptures by again and again asking the learner to repeat verses.