Catholic bishops in South Korea have launched an audio-visual version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in English to help Asian dioceses teach the catechism to adults of other religions who aspire to be Catholic.
April 08, 2022
A screenshot of the audio-visual catechism in English that the Korean bishops published in March with the intention of distributing it throughout Asia. (Photo from UCA News)
SEOUL: Catholic bishops in South Korea have launched an audio-visual version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in English to help Asian dioceses teach the catechism to adults of other religions who aspire to be Catholic.
The Catholic Pastoral Institute of Korea (CPIK) and the Catholic Peace Broadcasting Corporation on March 24 released the English version of the video, originally released in Korean, in 2020 to support the teaching of catechism to catechumens, the rehabilitation of Catholics and Sunday school learning.
The Korean version was produced after a 2017 research on catechesis issues for catechumens, which showed the lack of visual material in catechesis. The English version is dubbed and subtitled in English.
The CPIK, which conducted the research, was established by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea to research and address the pastoral challenges of modern Korean society.
The Korean bishops plan to provide the English version to the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences as well as to English-speaking Korean Catholics living abroad, according to a press release from the bishop.
The catechism covers the basics of the Catholic faith, participation in the liturgy and the daily practice of the faith.
He cites official documents such as the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Catholic Prayer Book, the Second Vatican Council Documents, and papal documents to explain the history of Catholic doctrine.
Audiovisual catechism helps the faithful, as well as catechumens, learn by seeing people’s religious ceremonies and practices.
The English version is largely translated from the Korean version and thus “the specific circumstances of the Catholic Church in Korea are reflected” in these parts, according to an official memo on the project.
The layout of the Audiovisual Catechism is different from that of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is produced to support catechesis and therefore catechists are expected to “fully explain the contents of the catechism”, he said. — ucanews.com
