Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/misc/assortx2/newcat.txt

Text File | 1992-11-05 | 7KB | 123 lines

WHAT WILL THE NEW CATECHISM CONTAIN?

by J.M. Guenois

It is built around four "pillars"--

*the profession of baptismal faith: the Creed;
*the sacramental life of the believer; the Sacraments;
*the life of faith: the Commandments;
*the prayer of the believer: the "Our Father."

The first part shows what Revelation consists of; how God addresses
himself to man and gives himself to man and what faith, by which man
responds to God, signifies. The Creed summarizes the gifts God makes to
man as the Author of everything that is good, as the Redeemer, as the
Sanctifier.

The second part of the catechism describes how God's salvation, realized
once and for all for all men by Christ Jesus and by the Holy Spirit, is
rendered present in the sacred actions of the Church's liturgy and
particularly in the seven Sacraments.

The third part of the catechism presents the final end of man, created
in God's image: beatitude. It indicates the ways to achieve it: by a
correct and free way of acting with the help of the law and God's grace,
by a way of acting which realizes the two-fold commandment of love, the
basis of the 10 Commandments.

Finally, the last part of the catechism deals with the meaning and
importance of prayer in the life of the believers.

Different leaks enable us to have a certain idea of what the new
catechism will contain. The texts we quote have already been published
by the Italian news agency Adn Cronos and by the French weekly,
_l'Evenment du Jeudi_; in the Vatican, the text is still _sub secreto_.
The quotes which follow will be, according to these two sources, the
actual text of the catechism. Their translation is that of CWR.

The point that comes back again everywhere and which struck many people
is the warning against "practices claiming to predict the future,"
against witchcraft, satanism, "the pagan conception of body worship."
Next, it is the commentary on the commandment "thou shalt not kill"
which has aroused the most interest, particularly in its exceptions: "a
combatant engaged in a defensive war," legitimate defence when the
sovereign and fundamental right to life is threatened, in the absence of
all other means to defend this right; the death penalty as "a legitimate
punishment although the Church desires rather the habitual recourse to
clemency."

It has then been asked in the press how the Church in this catechism can
still teach "the existence of spiritual creatures, the angels," that the
soul is "the spiritual principle of man that God has created and made
immortal at the time of its separation from the body at the moment of
death," that "all human history is marked by original sin" and that "the
indignation of God the Father was only annulled by the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ," that Mary was a virgin "before, during and after the
birth of Jesus."

Still more suprising for the press is the fact that the catechism
affirms that "souls who die in a state of grace" pass into "eternal
beatitude" and that for others there comes "the definitive state of
despair, damnation and eternal suffering" even if Purgatory awaits those
who die "without being perfectly purified." As for children who die
before baptism "the Church leaves them to God's mercy."

Other religions, always according to the same sources, are considered in
the new catechism as "instruments of preparation" because "the Church of
Christ is found only within the bosom of the Catholic Church, even if
many elements of sanctification and truth exist outside its
structure....The Church of Rome is the bearer of the faith in its
totality as well as of the means necessary for salvation."

The new catechism affirms the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist,
the celebration of which falls to the priests. "If someone is aware of
having committed a mortal sin, he must not approach the Eucharist
without first having received absolution, through the sacrament of
penance...individual and full confession."

The priest "differs substantially from the common priesthood of the
faithful." Divorced people "are not excluded from the Church; on the
contrary they must participate in the life of the Church which, however,
cannot recognize as licit a new union if the first marriage is valid."
Likewise, "since divorcees who have remarried civilly are in the
situation which is opposed to the will of God, they cannot accede to the
Sacrament of the Eucharist if this situation exists. However, some
people, who often preserve a very sincere faith and who wish to raise
their children in this faith, need very special attention on the part of
pastors and of the whole Christian community, so that they can establish
the just balance in such situations between the truths which are
obscured by them and charity which must all the same exist, although
respecting these same truths."

On the political plane, the new catechism recommends "submission to the
legitimate civil authority" and adds: "The powers of the State and of
other civil authorities are limited. The State must not act in such a
manner as to take from individuals, families and other social groups the
rights that are theirs and their legitimate functions. In such a
situation, it is legitimate, even necessary, to defend the rights that
have been violated. Opposition can be morally justified under certain
circumstances when the fundamental rights of man are not respected by
the civil authorities. The Christian has sometimes the duty to bear
witness against the State, with courageous criticism. Opposition to the
civil authorities, when their demands are contrary to their conscience,
is justified by the distinction between the service of God and the
service of State."

On the economic plane finally, "the Church rejects the idea that capital
gain is the exclusive and absolute rule. This rigid conception leads to
considering money as the one resource of economic life. The hegemony
attributed to money produces adverse effects and constitutes one of the
conflicts that disturb the social order. Any economic doctrine reducing
man to a cog in a machine or a simple instrument of production must be
rejected." Private property is a "valid and necessary" right, but one
"which does not suppress or attenuate the principle according to which
the goods of this world are destined for all." Moreover, "the Church
recognizes as legitimate the aspirations of the poorer classes to give
themselves licit means to free themselves of misery, hunger and the
other vicissitudes of existence."

--Taken from the November 1992 issue of _Catholic World Report_,
published by Ignatius Press, 2915 McAllister Street, San Francisco, CA
94118.