Handbook on the Conformity Review Process Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis Subcommittee on the Catechism United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Washington, DC The Handbook on the Conformity Review Process was developed as a resource by the Subcommittee on the Catechism at the direction of the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). It was reviewed by the committee chairman, Bishop David L. Ricken, and the subcommittee chairman, Bishop Leonard P. Blair, and has been authorized for publication by the undersigned. Msgr. Ronny E. Jenkins, JCD General Secretary, USCCB Excerpt from Pope Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, copyright © 1975, Libreria Editrice Vaticana (LEV), Vatican City; excerpts from Pope Benedict XVI, Porta Fidei, copyright © 2011, LEV; excerpt from Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Note with pastoral recommendations for the Year of Faith, copyright © 2012, LEV. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Excerpts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, copyright © 2000, Libreria Editrice Vaticana–United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Scripture excerpts used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner. Copyright © 2012, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright holder. To the Most Reverend Daniel Buechlein, OSB, archbishop emeritus of Indianapolis, whose dedicated leadership and inspired vision enabled the work of the Subcommittee on the Catechism to substantially improve the catechetical materials in use in the United States of America. CONTENTS Introduction . ............................................................... 1 History of the Efforts of the U.S. Bishops to Implement the Catechism of the Catholic Church . ................................ 3 The Timeline for the Development of the Conformity Review Process . ........................................................ 5 Purpose of the Conformity Review Process . .............................. 8 Summary of the Conformity Review Process . ............................ 9 The Structure of the Oversight of the Conformity Review Process . ....................................................... 14 Conclusion . ............................................................... 15 Appendices Protocol for Assessing the Conformity of Catechetical Materials with the Catechism of the Catholic Church . 18 Doctrinal Elements for Elementary Grades Based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church....................... 53 Protocol for Assessing the Conformity of Secondary Level Catechetical Materials with the Catechism of the Catholic Church . ........................................... 114 Doctrinal Elements of a Curriculum Framework for the Development of Catechetical Materials for Young People of High School Age . ................................. 215 Guidelines for the Treatment and the Interpretation of Sacred Scripture in Catechetical Texts . ..................... 270 Oral Report to the General Assembly of Bishops by Archbishop Daniel Buechlein, Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Catechism, June 19, 1997 . 273 Oral Report to the General Assembly of Bishops by Archbishop Alfred Hughes, Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Catechism, November 10, 2003 . 277 Report to the General Assembly of Bishops, Archbishop Hughes, July 2006 ........................................... 285 Sample of Catechism Update ...................................... 289 Printout of Home Page ............................................. 297 INTRODUCTION Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, has declared expressed the hope “that local catechisms and a Year of Faith to extend from October 11, 2012, various catechetical supplements in use in the until the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Uni- particular churches would be examined to ensure versal King, on November 24, 2013. The starting their complete conformity with the Catechism of date marks the fiftieth anniversary of the opening the Catholic Church.”3 of the Second Vatican Council and the twentieth In response to these recommendations for the anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of Year of Faith, the Committee on Evangelization the Catholic Church (CCC). In his apostolic let- and Catechesis requested that a handbook on ter, Porta Fidei, proclaiming the Year of Faith, our the conformity review process be prepared by its Holy Father wrote, “In order to arrive at a system- Subcommittee on the Catechism. The subcom- atic knowledge of the content of the faith, all can mittee is the Conference entity that has had the find in the Catechism of the Catholic Church a pre- responsibility of reviewing catechetical materials cious and indispensable tool. It is one of the most as to their conformity with the CCC for almost important fruits of the Second Vatican Council. twenty years. It is in this sense that the Year of Faith will The conformity review process itself has been have to see a concerted effort to rediscover and an important and highly effective part of the study the fundamental content of the faith that catechetical efforts of the Church in the United receives its systematic and organic synthesis in States, especially as it has encouraged the devel- the Catechism of the Catholic Church.”1 opment of catechetical materials that present the Within the apostolic letter, Pope Benedict complete and authentic teaching of the Church. XVI “invited the Congregation for the Doctrine The work of the bishops in the United States of the Faith, by agreement with the competent in reviewing catechetical materials as to their Dicasteries of the Holy See, to draw up a Note, conformity with the CCC has also succeeded in providing the Church and individual believers bringing a growing number of catechetical materi- with some guidelines on how to live this Year of als into conformity with the CCC. Faith in the most effective and appropriate ways, The purpose of this Handbook is to provide at the service of belief and evangelization.”2 In a record of the efforts that have been made to light of that invitation, the Congregation for the implement the CCC in the United States in Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) issued the Note with order to ensure the continuity of the work The pastoral implications for the Year of Faith, which Handbook will present the history of the efforts of 1 Pope Benedict XVI, Porta Fidei, no. 11, October 17, 2011. 3 CDF, Note with pastoral implications for the Year of Faith, II, 2 Ibid., no. 12. 9, January 6, 2012. HANDBOOK ON THE CONFORMITY REVIEW PROCESS 1 the U.S. bishops to implement the CCC, as well process. In this way, the Handbook will also help as the development, purpose, description, and mark the twentieth anniversary of the publication structure of oversight for the conformity review of the CCC in the English language. 2 HANDBOOK ON THE CONFORMITY REVIEW PROCESS HISTORY OF THE EFFORTS OF THE U.S. BISHOPS TO IMPLEMENT THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH In 1992, in light of the impending publication of fundamental content of the CCC as doctrinal ele- the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), the ments for inclusion in catechetical material over bishops of the United States established an Ad the eight grades of elementary catechesis. It was Hoc Committee to Oversee the Implementation of intended for use by bishops, diocesan directors of the Catechism in the United States. The mandate religious education, and publishers of catechetical of the ad hoc committee was twofold: to prepare for materials in the development of catechetical mate- the reception of the CCC in the United States and rials in conformity with the CCC. It is important to assist the bishops of the United States in plan- to note that the Doctrinal Elements did not attempt ning its implementation in their (arch)dioceses. to address, but left to publishers, things such as After two years of successful efforts to pro- pedagogical considerations, age-appropriate lan- vide a positive reception for the CCC, the bishops guage, examples, cultural adaptations, notes on renamed and refocused the ad hoc committee they child psychology, concrete applications, learner- had established. The Ad Hoc Committee to Over- based behavioral objectives, and formation goals, see the Implementation of the Catechism became which a catechetical text would ordinarily include. the Ad Hoc Committee to Oversee the Use of the The USCCB established a standing Commit- Catechism. In addition, the mandate of the ad hoc tee on Catechesis in November 2002 to address committee became refocused. Its responsibility was broader catechetical concerns beyond the man- again twofold: (1) to review catechetical materi- date of the ad hoc committee. Prior to this time, als used in the parishes and schools of the (arch) catechetical concerns were addressed under the dioceses of the United