The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 2: How the Catechism Works (2026)

Episode Date: January 2, 2026

The Catechism reveals to us its intended readership, structure, and some practical directions for use. Fr. Mike and the Roman Catechism remind us that—above all—”the works of perfect Christian virtue spring from love and have no other objective than to arrive at love.” Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 11-25. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us revealed in scripture and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a Year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day two. A quick note. A few reminders. Before we get started, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the foundations of faith approach.

You can follow along from any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Also, you can follow along with our reading plan to download your catechism and your reading plan. Visit ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. And lastly, you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily notifications. Today, we are reading, as I said, the second half of the prologue. So basically paragraphs 11 through 25. As I mentioned yesterday, kind of like syllabus day, or say, okay, here.

Here is what the catechism is in the first place. And here is why it is in the first place. Now today, we're going to be covering a couple different things. Those things we're talking about are why did they make the catechism? Who are the people that the catechism was written to talk to? Who's the intended readership? Also, the structure of the catechism. There are four pillars.

And we're going to talk about those four pillars, what they are and why they are. Also, the church wants to offer some practical directions for using the catechism, meaning, yeah, on the sides of your catechism, you'll notice little numbers. numbers. What are those numbers? What do they refer to? They also note that sometimes it's a large font, sometimes it's small font. Why is that? And then lastly, the invitation that the church is throwing out there saying, okay, this is the catechism that we made. And what's going to happen is based off of this universal catechism, there are going to be other, like, more local catechisms. That was the idea when this catechism, the universal catechism, was originally made. It was,

okay, take this, this massive summary, that's universal, and then apply it. to your local community. You can make catechisms for young people, catechisms for old people, catechisms for all the sorts of people. And that's kind of the idea. So that's what we're going to be covering today. One thing to note is that we're also going to be looking at this thing called the Roman catechism. So it's going to refer to that at the very end of our reading today. It's going to talk about the Roman catechism. What is that? That is the catechism that came out of the Council of Trent back in the 1500s. I think it was maybe 1566, something like that. You can have to quote me on that. You actually could because I just checked Wikipedia, and that's what it told me, is that the Roman catechism, which will be quoted at the very end of our reading today, was published in 1566, basically as a result or as a response to the questions people were asking as a result of the Protestant Reformation.

So that's why that catechism was made, but this catechism was made because the church essentially realized we have to have an updated way to express the eternal truths of the faith to a new generation. And that's, and that's why we meet the catechism. So, as I said, today we're reading the prologue and paragraphs 11 through 25. Let's say a prayer as we get started because we're just going to ask the Lord to open our hearts and open our minds. Father, in heaven, we give you praise. And we thank you so much. Thank you so much for bringing us to this day. We ask you, please, give light to our eyes, that we can see your goodness, open our ears,

that we can hear your truth, and open our heart, that we can be transformed by your goodness and transformed by your truth. We make this prayer. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. Name of the Father and Son, the Holy Spirit. Here we are, reading the second half of the prologue, paragraphs 11 through 25. The aim and intended readership of this catechism. This catechism aims at presenting an organic synthesis of the essential and fundamental contents

of Catholic doctrine as regards both faith and morals in the light of the Second Vatican Council and the whole of the church's tradition. Its principal sources are the sacred scriptures, the fathers of the church, the liturgy, and the church's magisterium. It is intended to serve as a point of reference for the catechisms or compendia that are composed in the various countries. This work is intended primarily for those responsible for catechesis, first of all, the bishops, as teachers of the faith and pastors of the church.

It is offered to them as an instrument in fulfilling their responsibility of teaching the people of God. Through the bishops, it is addressed to redactors of catechisms, to priests, and to catechists. It will also be useful reading for all other Christian faithful. Structure of this catechism The plan of this catechism is inspired by the great tradition of catechisms which build catechesis on four pillars. The baptismal profession of faith, the creed, the sacraments of faith, the life of faith, the commandments, and the prayer of the believer, the Lord's Prayer. Part one, the profession of faith. Those who belong to Christ through faith and baptism must confess

their baptismal faith before men. First, therefore, the catechism expounds revelation by which God addresses and gives himself to man and the faith by which man responds to God. The profession of faith summarizes the gifts that God gives man, as author of all that is good, as Redeemer, and as sanctifier. It develops these in the three chapters on our baptismal faith in the one God, the Almighty Father, the Creator, His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and the Holy Spirit, the sanctifier in the Holy Church. Part 2. The Sacraments of Faith The second part of the Catechism explains how God's salvation accomplished once for all through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit is made present in the sacred actions of the church's

liturgy, especially in the seven sacraments. Part 3. The life of faith. The third part of the catechism deals with the final end of man created in the image of God, beatitude, and the ways of reaching it, through right conduct freely chosen with the help of God's law and grace, and through conduct that fulfills the two-fold commandment of charity specified in God's Ten Commandments. Part 4. Prayer in the life of faith. The last part of the catechism deals with the meaning and importance of prayer

in the life of believers. It concludes with a brief commentary on the seven petitions of the Lord's Prayer, for indeed, we find in these the sum of all good things which we must hope for and which our Heavenly Father wants to grant us. Practical directions for using this catechism.

This catechism is conceived as an organic presentation of the Catholic faith in its entirety. It should be seen, therefore, as a unified whole, numerous cross-references in the margin of the text, which are italicized numbers referring to other paragraphs that deal with the same theme, as well as the analytic indexed at the end of the volume, allow the reader to view each theme in its relationship with the entirety of the faith. The texts of sacred scripture are often not quoted word for word,

but are merely indicated by a reference, the letters CF. For a deeper understanding of such passages, the reader should refer to the scriptural texts themselves. Such biblical references are a valuable working tool in catechesis. The use of small print in certain passages indicates observations of an historical or apologetic nature or supplementary doctrinal explanations. The quotations, also in small print, from patristic, liturgical, magisterial, or hagiographical sources, are intended to enrich the doctrinal presentations. These texts have often been chosen with a view to direct catechetical use. At the end of each thematic unit, a series of brief texts sum up the essentials of that unit's teaching in condensed formulae. These in-brief

summaries may suggest to local catechists' brief summary formulae that could be memorized. Necessary adaptations. The catechism emphasizes the exposition of doctrine. It seeks to help deepen understanding of faith. In this way, it is oriented towards the maturing of that faith. It's putting down roots in personal life and its shining forth in personal conduct. By design, this catechism does not set out to provide the adaptation of doctrinal presentations and catechetical methods required by the differences of culture, age, spiritual maturity, and social and ecclesial condition among all those to whom it is addressed. Such indispensable adaptations are the responsibility of particular catechisms, and even more, of those who instruct the faithful.

As the Roman Catechism stated, whoever teaches, must become all things to all men, to win everyone to Christ. Above all, teachers must not imagine that a single kind of soul has been entrusted to them, and that consequently it is lawful to teach and form equally all the faithful in true piety with one and the same method. Let them realize that some are in Christ as newborn babes, others as adolescents, and still others as adults in full command of their powers. Those who are called to the ministry of preaching must suit their words to the maturity and understanding of their hearers as they hand on the teaching of the mysteries of faith and the rules of moral conduct. Above all, Charity. To conclude this prologue,

it is fitting to recall this pastoral principle stated by the Roman Catechism. The whole concern of doctrine and its teaching must be directed to the love that never ends. Whether something is proposed for belief, for hope, or for action, the love of our Lord must always be made accessible. so that anyone can see that all the works of perfect Christian virtue spring from love and have no other objective than to arrive at love. Okay, there we are. That is the end of the prologue that we just received from the catechism. A couple of things to note, as I said before in the introduction,

kind of before I read the catechism itself, is what is the aim in the intended readership? Well, the church says the intended readership, this is originally for bishops, and then for those who are in the bishop's name going on to teach the faithful. So that's priests, that's catechists. But also it is for, as it says very clearly, it will also be useful reading for all other Christian faithful. So that's us right now. It's useful listening for all the other Christian faithful.

Also, as I mentioned, the structure of this catechism is based off four pillars. As we noted, those pillars are pillar one, the professor in a faith, where we basically say, okay, what is it that we know about God himself? What is it that we know about God the Father? What about God the Son? God, the Holy Spirit? What is our response? What's our response to God? That's called faith. And so we're going to be looking deeply into that. What are our sources for knowledge about God? That's part one, as I said. Part two is the sacraments of the faith. So basically how God's saving action, his saving work in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, are made present to us now through the church's

liturgy. Part three, the life of faith. Basically, how do we live this? What is the moral life? And then part four, which is prayer in the life of faith. And so we're going to not only dive deeply into the meaning and importance of prayer, but also they base that off of just like the life of faith is based off the Ten Commandments and off of the beatitudes. The life of prayer is based off of the Lord's Prayer or the Our Father. So that's going to be really key for us. Also, practical directions for using the catechism, this is really important.

You're not going to have necessarily, if you're just listening, you're not going to get those numbers that are in the side or in the margins. Almost every paragraph, not everyone, but many paragraphs have these numbers on the side in the margin. If you have a catechism with you, whether that's the ascension, catechism or any other catechism, those numbers in the margin are references, basically. And so you'll be reading about a topic, say reading about scripture. And then in the margin, there'll be a number. And that number is a reference to some other part of the catechism that talks about what's being talked about in that current paragraph.

So it's a way to highlight the fact that the whole faith is united. It's not just simply isolated, but it is a unity. And also, there are some quotes. There are a bunch of quotes, in fact, as we talked about before, and there's also small print, large print, superscript, small script, those kind of things. One thing, though, to kind of conclude with this is, as I stated before, we read the actual content of today's reading, I mentioned that the church gave us the universal catechism

with the hope that people would take this, this massive work. and be able to say, okay, how can this best be communicated to children? How can this best be communicated to adults? How can this best be communicated to people in different cultures, in different seasons of life, in different situations of life? And so that still happens here and there, but we get to dive into the universal catechism. And I'd love this because, you know, the Roman Catechism, again, from the Council of Trent, 1566, which we know that date now, for sure, says very clearly that we have to understand as teachers, as catechists, as preachers, and even the church has to understand that there's not a single kind of soul, right? There are souls that are like babes, souls

that are like adolescents, souls that are fully mature and ready to, you know, eat the solid food. And so we know the truth doesn't change, right? The truth is eternal. Truth is, is constant, like the Lord, the source of truth. And yet, we're not. We grow. We have maturity and we have immaturity. We have degree of understanding and we have a lack of understanding. And so here's the church saying, by the way, you guys, when you teach, please take into account the people who are listening. And that's what I'll be trying to do as we read this catechism.

The very, very last piece I think is just so good. It is a quote in paragraph 25 from the Roman catechism that says the whole point of all of this is not just to know a bunch of stuff about God. It's not just to know a bunch of facts about God that I didn't know. before. It's not to win arguments. It's not to have, you know, like, I went through the catechism. I read the whole Bible and I read the catechism. It's the end and the goal. The whole purpose of this is love. And I just want to read that one last time. The whole concern of doctrine and it's teaching. Again, whole concern of doctrine is teaching. It's not just to know stuff.

Must be directed to the love that never ends. That's the love of God himself. Whether something is proposed for belief, for hope, or for action, the love of our Lord must always be made accessible so that anyone can see that all the works of perfect Christian virtue spring from love and have no other objective than to arrive at love. That is the goal of the next 363 days, you guys, is love, that we come from love. We've been made by love himself, and we are made for love himself. And so on this journey, 363 more days to go, I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike, and I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless. Thank you.