EUROPE/SPAIN - Presentation of the new Catechism for Christian Initiation “Jesus is Lord”: “more than a book, it is a treasure because it contains the Good News that our Holy Mother Church teaches us.”

Madrid (Agenzia Fides) - Bishop Javier Salinas Viñals of Tortosa, Vice-President of the Bishops’ Committee on Education and Catechesis for the Spanish Bishops’ Conference (CEE), yesterday presented the catechetical workbook “Jesus is Lord,” geared towards children of 6-10 years of age, that has been the result of a long and careful editing process. The beneficiaries of this catechetical work will be children who attend catechism classes and are of the proper age for receiving their First Holy Communion. It is also geared towards families, priests, catechists, and those in charge of pastoral ministry, in their mission of transmitting the faith to children.
In the Bishops’ letter to children, presenting them the catechism book, they tell them that it is “more than a book; it is a treasure because it contains the Good News that our Holy Mother Church teaches us.” The Bishops also remind them that, “our faith is a gift that we are given on the day of our Baptism, and like a seed it is planted in our heart and develops over the course of our lives.” In this sense, the catechism will help “to know and live this faith, that will be strengthened in the Sacrament of Confirmation and will grow from being fed and nourished by the Eucharist.” The Bishops remind them to keep the lessons of the catechism in their hearts: “Read it attentively with your families and your catechists. Then you will be happy to be in the company of so many other brothers of ours who are members of the Church, the great family of God.”
“Jesus is Lord” is a catechetical text for Christian Initiation and has the same objective as catechesis itself: the encounter with Christ. It cannot be seen as something entirely new, but rather as a catechism whose text has been renewed since its publishing in 1982, keeping in mind the 1992 publishing of The Catechism of the Catholic Church, which became a driving force that gave way to the publishing of new catechism texts and revisions of previous editions, in light of the current needs in the field of evangelization and catechesis due to social, cultural, and religious changes.
“Jesus is Lord” contains 44 themes, distributed in 10 main parts that cover the articles of the Creed in an ordered format. The design is “carefully done, with an attractive and modern style” that uses fonts and drawings geared towards children. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 8/4/2008; righe 30, parole 401)