Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Year of Faith & The Catechism

Universal Catechism
When Pope Benedict announced that the Church would be celebrating a Year of Faith, he suggested we read the documents of the Second Vatican Council and that we read the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC). This makes sense because this year is the 50th anniversary of Vatican II and it is also the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of the Catechism.

Norm for Teaching the Faith
The CCC is only the second universal catechism handed down by the Church. The Catechism of Trent is the other and was written in 1566 primarily written for priests. The CCC is one of the fruits of Vatican II and is intended as resource for ALL members of the Church. Blessed John Paul II called the CCC "a sure norm for teaching the faith" and he asserted that it would help "serve the renewal" of the Church.

Four Pillars of Faith
The CCC is organized into four pillars of the faith: Profession of Faith (The Creed), Celebration of the Christian Mystery (The Sacraments & Liturgy), Life in Christ (Commandments and Beatitudes) and the Universal Call to Prayer (Our Father). The CCC is written like an encyclopedia and organized by paragraph numbers. In the back of the "big green" version are a number of cross reference tools for scripture, papal documents and documents of the councils. It is written in easy to understand prose and calls upon the writings of the Church fathers, the saints and the Magisterium.

This weekend the men of Joe Catholic will be breaking open the CCC and reviewing how to implement it into our daily lives. Please enjoy this video from Father John Riccardo of Our Lady of Good Counsel. The first 5 minutes are dedicated to talking about the CCC and the Year of Faith.

Additional Resources on CCC:
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