The General Directory for Catechesis includes a preface of thirteen numbered sections. That’s before we get to the Introduction (GDC 14-33). Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, however. I’ve already mentioned that the Congregation for the Clergy was responsible for this document as well as its predecessor. Theologians and bishops were part of the consultative process. The CDF signed off too. A document like this does not get promulated without the approval of the pope.
Let’s read, then the comments are yours:
1. The Second Vatican Council prescribed that a “Directory for the catechetical instruction of the Christian people”(Christus Dominus 44) be drawn up. The Congregation for the Clergy, in execution of this conciliar mandate, availed itself of a special commission of experts, and consulted the various Episcopal Conferences, throughout the world, which made numerous suggestions and observations on the subject. The text prepared was revised by an ad hoc theological Commission and by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The General Catechetical Directory was definitively approved by Pope Paul VI on 18 March 1971 and promulgated on 11 April 1971.
