Did you see our cover photo? That's Anna and Giulio on their wedding day. With them is Flaminia, a girl with serious communication challenges, whom they prepared, supported, and accompanied to her First Communion and Confirmation.
Their testimony is one of the examples you'll find in this issue. They show us how important and fruitful it is for the Christian community to welcome children and young people with disabilities. Important, because the Church must be the true Church of Christ. Fruitful, because their presence brings gifts to the entire community.
We believe this deeply. Given the weight of the subject, we've chosen to give the floor to Father Henri Bissonier, who has devoted nearly fifty years—as both scholar and priest—to the pastoral care and catechesis of the sick, the disabled, and the marginalized.
We urge everyone to read what follows: parents, friends, educators. But above all we ask priests, religious sisters and brothers, catechists—all of you—to read it and let it sink in. We hope each reader will feel a little more responsible for welcoming children and young people with disabilities into our churches, so that none of them are forgotten, and so that each one may be "let go by Him."
- Mariangela Bertolini, 1992
Catechesis
Catechesis is a word the ancient Greeks used in the theater. It means "to echo" or "to resound."
The young Church adopted it early on to describe the work of announcing salvation: the facts and words were meant to echo in the hearts and minds of those who heard them, transforming their lives.
Over time, a small book became the standard tool for this work. It was called a "catechism."
A CATECHISM contains—in fuller or briefer form—what the Church and every Christian believes, celebrates, lives, and prays.
"That tiny book is worth more than a vast encyclopedia. It holds the truths we must believe, the duties we must perform, the means of our own holiness. What could be more important on earth? It is the book of wisdom, the art of living well, the peace of the soul, our strength in trial. It teaches us how to please God" (Pius XII, 8/VI/52).
(From the Information Dossier of the Catechism of the Catholic Church - Vatican Publishing House, 25 June 1992)