Zagreb, (IKA) – The Croatian translation of the Compendium of the Catholic Church was presented in Zagreb, which was issued in an edition prepared by the Croatian Conference of Bishops and published by Crkva u svijetu and Verbum of Split. The Compendium was presented by the president of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, Archbishop Josip Bozanić of Zagreb; a professor of dogmatic theology at the Catholic College of Theology in Zagreb, Prof. Ante Mateljan, the head of the National Cathechesis Office of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, Prof. Ivica Pažin; and the editor-in-chief of Verbum, Petar Balta.
Cardinal Bozanić briefly spoke about the origin of the Compendium, pointing out that it was prepared to meet the needs for a concise catechism of the Catholic Church which would contain all the essential and fundamental elements of the Catholic faith and morality, would be compiled in a simple, clear and all-encompassing manner, representing a suitable guide for every believer. According to Cardinal Bozanić, the Compendium faithfully reflects the Catechism. It is not an independent work and in no way is intended to replace the Catechism of the Catholic Church; moreover, it constantly refers the reader to the original the Catechism. Furthermore, the Compendium should arouse renewed interest in the Catechism, which remains the fundamental text of today#!s Church catechesis, said Cardinal Bozanić, briefly discussing the structure of the Compendium, which essentially follows the organization of the Catechism. The Compendium provides impetus for new evangelization and formation in faith, which must characterize each Church community and every believer in Christ, regardless of age or nationality, said Cardinal Bozanić, citing Pope Benedict XVI. At the end of his presentation, the Cardinal expressed the hope that the new Compendium would become an effective tool of evangelization and provide assistance for all the members of God’s nation of the Croatian language to grow in faith. “I should like the Compendium of the Catholic Church to enter all our Catholic families,” said Cardinal Bozanić in conclusion.
A theological review of the Compendium was then presented by Dr. Mateljan, who pointed out that Pope Benedict XVI had been directly involved in the creation and formation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which has been translated into over fifty languages throughout the world. As the basic reason for the preparation of this Compendium, he mentioned that the Catechism was too demanding for many and therefore the Compendium provides a “shorter version” and a “different method” for the presentation of the contents of the faith from the Catechism. The Compendium also has some things that are lacking in the Catechism, a selection of prayers and an illustrated section, added Dr. Mateljan. He emphasized that the Compendium was compiled in dialogue form, questions and answers, which faithfully follows the four sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Profession of the Faith, the Celebration of the Christian Mystery, Life in Christ and Christian Prayer.
Dr. Pazin pointed out that faith must always be reinvented and advanced anew, and recalled the various proclamations of the faith that exist within the Church. He presented some opinions on the Compendium, also discussing the question and answer form for presenting the contents of faith.
The last speaker was Mr. Balta, who pointed out that the Compendium has become the best selling religious book in many of the countries where it has been recently published, and that 40,000 copies have already been printed in Croatia.
The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is divided into four chapters and written in a form of thoughtful dialogue between a teacher and a pupil. In the new Compendium, besides the text there are also illustrations from the rich Christian iconography for the purpose of illustrating the doctrinal content of the Catechism. At the end of the Compendium is a section containing several general prayers of the Church and some catechesic forms of the Catholic faith. In each of the translations, as in the Croatian translation, the majority of the prayers presented are also in the Latina language, which will facilitate common prayer with Christian believers who speak other languages.