Casual readers of Catholic blogs might have been puzzled by the high interest in the just released English translation of the Compendium of the Catechism.  The US version has taken far longer than almost any other to be released, the dates have been pushed back repeatedly for months, and earlier this week, when word finally came that it was shipping, joy broke out throught Catholic blogdom.

Strange people.

The interest and the yes, dare we say excitement, are totally justified. It is strikingly organic and deeply rooted. It is totally focused on the task at hand: communicating the fundamentals of the Catholic faith in a way that is completely accessible, comfortably confident. There is an ease about it, clarity and simplicty that is the essence of good teaching.

It doesn’t stand alone, of course. But it provides an excellent introduction, core and a bit more – because the volume, as a whole, words and images (very important – Benedict selected them and the editions are required to reproduce them, with the explanations, in exactly the spot in the text specified.), communicates what we’ve come to call, in more informal times, the Catholic Thing with grace and clarity.

And it begins at the beginning – the cover image. From a Sandro Magister article on the art:

Apart from these, the cover illustration of the "Compendium" features as a logo a pastoral figure found on one of the stones of the catacombs of Domitilla in Rome, which dates from the end of the third century.

The explanation provided states that the figure suggests the overall meaning of the new catechism: "Christ, the good shepherd, by means of his authority (the staff), guides and protects his faithful (the sheep), draws them to himself with the sweet melody of the truth (the flute), and gives them rest in the shade of the tree of life, his saving cross, which opens paradise."

It is lovely, right from the beginning, hinting at an understanding of what it is we all need and seek, and holding out an image of the Way from antiquity, telling us in a simple drawing, that our questions are not new and the answers are not about anything else but love and life.

That piece is well worth reading.

From the Pope’s Motu Proprio upon the Compendium’s publication:

I entrust this Compendium above all to the entire Church and, in particular, to every Christian, in order that it may awaken in the Church of the third millennium renewed zeal for evangelization and education in the faith, which ought to characterize every community in the Church and every Christian believer, regardless of age or nationality.

But this Compendium, with its brevity, clarity and comprehensiveness, is directed to every human being, who, in a world of distractions and multifarious messages, desires to know the Way of Life, the Truth, entrusted by God to His Son’s Church.

This has been a long time coming, on many levels. A lot of us – hopefully most of us – involved in catechesis of one sort or another are very glad that it’s here. It’s not too much, it’s not too little, it’s just what we need to hand to someone who wants be introduced to the general contour, roots and ultimate direction of Catholicism.