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YOUCAT a grassroots initiative becomes the Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church by youcat-co-author michaela heereman July 2011
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rather embarrassing incident in 2005 became the birth of YOUCAT. At the presentation of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in Vienna, by Cardinal Schönborn, a disillusioned journalist piped up: „Your Eminence, I wanted to buy the catechism for my growing children, but it is totally incomprehensible to young people. I will not buy it.“ This statement triggered a presumably unique event in the church. The grassroots initiative YOUCAT, thanks to the patronage of Cardinal Schönborn, became the Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church! YOUCAT was published this year in 22 languages in 50 countries and 700 000 copies will be in the backpacks of the World Youth Day pilgrims in Madrid. YOUCAT, the little yellow booklet, appears like a Travel-Guide-Through-theFaith, and it intends to be exactly that. It originated from the private initiative of four authors: two priests, Johannes Eltz, now pastor of Frankfurt, and Dr. Christian Schmitt, priest of the community Emanuel and the diocese of Muenster, and two lay theologians, Bernard Meuser, director of the publishing house Pattloch and author of books on spiritual topics, and Michaela Heereman, journalist and author, both married and parents of several children. What makes YOUCAT unique is the staff of 52 young people between the ages of 15 and 25, church-affiliated and un-churched, Catholic and Protestant, apprentices and students. In two summer camps in 2006 and 2007 they plowed through the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church with the help of the authors. For five days, 6 to 8 hours per day, they read and discussed the teachings of the Church, in 4 groups according to topical categories. Their openly voiced lack of understanding, their harsh criticism of the difficult theological terminology, their existential questions, and their growing interest in theological matters lead and inspired the authors’ efforts to depict the deposit of faith of the Church in a relevant and attractive form for young people.
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The genesis of YOUCAT is also the reason for its success. It sprang out of open questions and very personal answers in conversations between seekers and believers, for instance: „What exactly is chastity? What is wrong with contraception? Then there is the collision between modern language feeling and expression on one hand and biblical images on the other. For instance, „Church as the Bride of Christ? Silly, need to cut that….” The answer, ‘that Jesus loves each and every person as much as a bridegroom would love his bride, although his love is often an unrequited one because many act as if they could care less’, led to great thoughtfulness and intensive discussions about how each person could become better able to feel his love and return it. For those who want to give the YOUCAT as a present, to use it for groups, for confirmation, for alter servers, catechumens or friends, he or she should also give of his/ her time as a dialog partner, as a personal witness to faith, and as a fellow seeker. For the YOUCAT is only a door opener. The companion who walks with that person, through that open door into the land of faith is just as important. As with the disciples of Emmaus ...
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