Cardinal Laghi on the Catechism.

Toronto--Pio Cardinal Laghi, Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education, gave a lecture at Convocation Hall at the University of Toronto, on April 8. The lecture was entitled "The Horizons and Limitations of the Catechism of the Catholic Church within the Framework of the Educational Mission of the Church." It was sponsored by the U of T Newman Centre.

In his introductory remarks, which were on the whole very positive, Newman Centre Executive Director Fr. Thomas Rosica (CSB) gave a detailed list of the "limitations" of the Catechism from what might be called the "liberal" point of view: the Catechism doesn't take new theological insights into account, it might promote a "fundamentalist" mentality, etc. Fr. Rosica indicated he had discussed such concerns with Cardinal Laghi when the two met to plan the lecture last fall.

The Cardinal, however, did not address such concerns. Instead, he devoted his time to showing how the Catechism is profoundly Christ-centred, and designed for the building up of the Church, and how these qualities should be at the heart of Catholic education. He did say that the Catechism would not replace theological texts in seminaries and universities. ("This is, I suppose, its limitation," he said.) He went on to say, however, that the Catechism is still the sure norm for teaching the Faith at any level. "It can arouse interest," he said quoting Cardinal Ratzinger, "especially because it does not reproduce one or another private opinion, but it formulates the answer which comes from the great communitarian experience of the Church of all centuries."