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Lahore (Agenzia Fides) – “At the end of 13 years of intense work , the entire Catechism of the Catholic Church translated into Urdu, approved by the Holy See and sent to press, has been just published in Pakistan. We are so happy the work has been completed for this Holy Year of Mercy. The text can also be of use to Muslims”: this is how Fr Robert Mc Culloch, today Procurator general of the Society of St. Columban, for 34 years a missionary in Pakistan, announces to Fides that the Catholic Church in Pakistan has at last completed this valuable volume.
“This first edition of the Catechism, approved by the Holy See and by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, is being made available to all Catholic dioceses and parishes in Pakistan at a modest price (the equivalent of 5 US dollars), and will be useful for catechesis at all levels, for children, young people and adults. It will also be fruitful for interreligious dialogue: many of Pakistan’s leading Muslims have offered congratulations and intend to use it to better understand the Catholic faith and Church” says the missionary, who was involved in the long and difficult work of translation together with Pakistani Catholic Emmanuel Neno, Secretary of the Bishops’ Commission for Catechesis.
The achievement is also thanks to warm support from Archbishop Sebastian Shaw, of Lahore and head of the Pakistani Bishops’ Commission for Catechesis, who followed its completion and publication thanks to financial support from bodies such as the Italian Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the international department of Aid to the Church in Need Foundation
Fr. Robert Mc Culloch explained to Fides also the effort at the level of terminology: “No term used in the Catechism has been left in Latin or any other language. It was therefore a creative endeavour: we had to coin new words in Urdu such as the translation of the concept of ‘transubstantiation’ and other concepts proper to the Catholic faith”.
Archbishop Shaw, delighted that the volume has been published, hopes it will serve for “a renewal of catechesis, a commitment which involves priests, religious, missionaries and lay Catholics: this will be possible thanks to this Catechism of the Catholic Church, in the Urdu language ”. The Catechism, he concludes, “is useful for growing in holiness and in this Jubilee Year it is truly a Work of Mercy for the Catholic Church in Pakistan”. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 7/3/2016)
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