ARTICLES

Guess What? Most Diocesan Books Are Okay

CATECHETICAL TEXTS COME "INTO CONFORMITY" WITH THE CATECHISM

By James McCoy

On its religious education report card, the San Diego diocese gets one "A" at least. A recent News Notes survey found that nine out of ten Catholic schools and CCD programs use textbooks judged "in conformity with the Catechism of the Catholic Church" by the U.S. bishops.

Yet that 90 percent average may represent only the realities of the marketplace, as the publishers of the most popular catechetical series have put out editions carrying the "in conformity" judgment in the past couple of years. The catechism committee has described its "in conformity" judgment as carrying more weight than an imprimatur, which used to mean that nothing in a book was contrary to Catholic teaching.

The National Conference of Catholic Bishops has charged a six-bishop committee with implementing the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "especially in the revision of catechetical material presently in use and the development of new catechetical materials."

Publishers voluntarily submit series for review. So far, the catechism committee has judged 24 parish school and CCD series to be in conformity with the catechism (see lower table, page 8).

Since the texts were all for the primary school level, News Notes called more than ten of the largest parish schools and more than 20 of the largest parish CCD programs to find out what catechetical series they were using (see table, top of page 8).

Of the ten who responded, nine were using series in conformity with the catechism. One director of religious education (DRE) declined to answer. A few DREs and Catholic school principals said that they were using a series precisely because it had been judged "in conformity" by the U.S. bishops.

"Yes, and that's why we chose it," said Sister Marilupe Mier y Teran, principal of St. John of the Cross School in Lemon Grove. Her 350 students are using Walking by Faith, a kindergarten through sixth grade series published by Brown-ROA. It seems to be unique among the current crop of in-conformity catechisms in that it is not a revision but a creation from scratch.

Another rave review of Walking by Faith -- and, by extension, the catechism -- was given by Rosa Lopez, secretary for a CCD program with more than a thousand children at Church of the Resurrection in Escondido. "I like it," she said. "It gives you the references to the Catholic catechism and the Bible. It's good to be able to tell the parents the citations." Lopez said that each classroom in the CCD program has several copies of the catechism, which, when it was promulgated six years ago, Pope John Paul II declared "a sure norm for teaching the faith." And when it comes to students "in the middle school," Lopez said, "we do make them read it. They do group activities where they have to look it up."

But other responses seem to indicate business as usual. A publisher will bring out various editions of the same series over the years, and this time, the fact that a series has now been judged in conformity with the catechism seems incidental to some religious educators' minds. For example, the latest edition of Sadlier's Coming to Faith series, the "Keystone Edition" (copyrighted 1999), has been judged in conformity with the catechism. But some parishes seem to have bought it simply because they have always bought Sadlier, and not because the new edition adheres to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Kathy Wood is DRE for more than a thousand CCD students at St. Michael in Poway. Asked what series they were using, Wood replied, "Sadlier." Asked the name of the series, Wood didn't know. Asked whether it was the latest edition of Coming to Faith, she said that she thought so. Asked for her reaction to the series having been judged in conformity with the catechism, Wood replied that she had no comment.

To be fair, unlike the imprimatur, which in Latin means literally "it may be printed," being "in conformity with the catechism" is a new concept. An imprimatur is typically given by the ordinary of a diocese after his censor finds a book to have nothing objectionable ("nihil obstat") in it. "In a sense," according to a statement by the catechism committee, "this represents a negative approbation. It says the work contains no doctrinal or moral error. No implication is given, however, that the work has been endorsed by those who have granted the ecclesiastical approval...."

"In conformity" with the catechism, on the other hand, does seem to be an endorsement. "In order for a catechetical work to be in conformity with the catechism," the committee statement goes on, "it must present the doctrinal issues it treats completely and faithfully. It must demonstrate more than freedom from doctrinal or moral error."

The Holy Father intended the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which was created in consultation with all the bishops of the world, to be "a sure and authentic reference text for teaching Catholic doctrine and for preparing local catechisms." In an October 11, 1992 address (the 30th anniversary of the opening of Vatican II), the pope also said that the "approval and publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church represent a service which the Successor of Peter wishes to offer to the Holy Catholic Church...the service, that is, of supporting and confirming the faith of all the Lord Jesus' disciples." So if a text is judged as being in conformity with the catechism is an endorsement, then ultimately the endorsement derives from the Holy See itself.

But such a distinction seems lost on some religious educators, who look only for the imprimatur, and seem largely ignorant of the catechism committee and its ongoing review project. Lopez, however, said that she first heard about "'in conformity' with the catechism" from the diocese. "I took the class from the diocese on the Catholic catechism," she said, "and they did a wonderful job."

News Notes tried to find out if the diocese has officially recommended that parish schools and CCD programs use only those texts which have been judged in conformity with the catechism. But calls to Terry McGoldrick, director of the diocesan Institute for Adult Education and Ministry; to Pat Bannon, director of curriculum for Catholic schools; and to Sister Claire Fitzgerald, CSJ, director of the education office, were all fruitless. Citing the diocesan policy of not talking to News Notes, the director of communications, Bernadeane Carr, also declined to comment.