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Church Teachings Church Documents Made Simple A Synopsis of Several Church Documents Often when participating in a religious education program catechists and parents encounter some of the important directories, documents, and/or teachings of the Church that have been major influences to both catechisms and methods of teaching catechesis. This section will briefly give an overview of some of these influential works. Links to where you can find these documents in their entirety are located at the bottom of each section. Conciliar Documents of the Second Vatican Council The Second Vatican Council was the 21st ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. It was mandated by Pope John XXIII in 1959 and held 1962-1965. The Second Vatican Council was created as a means of spiritual renewal for the Church and as an occasion for Christians separated from Rome to join in a search for reunion. The Conciliar Documents of Vatican II address various aspects of Church renewal and the understanding of the Church's role in the modern world. The teachings of the Second Vatican Council continue to be a primary means through which the Church understands itself and its role in the light of sacred tradition and sacred scripture. These documents include:
http://www.rc.net/rcchurch/vatican2/ Catechism of the Catholic Church The Extraordinary Synod of Bishops of 1985, assembled for the 20th anniversary of the close of the Second Vatican Council, proposed to Pope John Paul II the creation of a universal catechism for the Catholic Church. Upon this recommendation the Holy Father commissioned the preparation of a catechism. After six years of intense work with the collaboration of the Bishops throughout the world, numerous theologians, exegetes, and catechists, the Catechism of the Catholic Church was created. In 1992 Pope John Paul II presented the Catechism of the Catholic Church referring to it as a "reference text" that "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition, and the Church's Magisterium." The Catechism of the Catholic Church has become the reference for a concise presentation on what the Catholic Church believes and teaches with regards to faith and morals. http://www.christusrex.org/www2/kerygma/ccc/searchcat.html
The Second Vatican Council mandated that a directory for catechetical instruction be created. The Congregation for the Clergy, a theological commission, and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith created and presented the General Catechetical Directory (GDC) to Pope Paul VI who approved and distributed the GDC in 1971. The GDC pointed the way for the renewal of catechesis and became the reference for catechetical content, pedagogy, and methodology. In 1997 the GDC was revised. The revised GDC retained the basic structure of the 1971 edition but incorporated some major new components:
All Benziger products are created in complete conformity with the General Catechetical Directory and the Catechism of the Catholic Church!
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