While not being formally identified with them, catechesis is built on a certain number of elements of the Church's pastoral mission which have a catechetical aspect, that prepare for catechesis, or spring from it. They are: the initial proclamation of the Gospel or missionary preaching to arouse Faith; examination of the Reasons for belief; experience of Christian living; Celebration of the Sacraments; integration into the Ecclesial Community; and apostolic and missionary witness. 9

Beneath the changes in discipline and Celebration that this Sacrament has undergone over the centuries, the same fundamental structure is to be discerned. It comprises two equally essential elements: on the one hand, the acts of the man who undergoes conversion through the action of the Holy Spirit: namely, contrition, confession, and satisfaction; on the other, God's action through the intervention of the Church. the Church, who through the bishop and his priests forgives sins in the name of Jesus Christ and determines the manner of satisfaction, also prays for the sinner and does penance with him. Thus the sinner is healed and re-established in Ecclesial Communion.

This Sacrament reconciles us with the Church. Sin damages or even breaks fraternal Communion. the sacrament of Penance repairs or restores it. In this sense it does not simply heal the one restored to Ecclesial communion, but has also a revitalizing effect on the life of the Church which suffered from the sin of one of her members. 76 Re-established or strengthened in the communion of saints, the sinner is made stronger by the exchange of spiritual goods among all the living members of the Body of Christ, whether still on pilgrimage or already in the heavenly homeland: 77

The Sacrament of Penance can also take place in the framework of a communal Celebration in which we prepare ourselves together for confession and give thanks together for the forgiveness received. Here, the personal confession of sins and individual absolution are inserted into a liturgy of the word of God with readings and a homily, an examination of conscience conducted in common, a communal request for forgiveness, the Our Father and a thanksgiving in common. This communal celebration expresses more clearly the Ecclesial Character of penance. However, regardless of its manner of celebration the sacrament of Penance is always, by its very nature, a liturgical action, and therefore an ecclesial and public action. 90

Only priests (bishops and presbyters) are ministers of the Anointing of the Sick. 130 It is the duty of pastors to instruct the Faithful on the benefits of this Sacrament. the faithful should encourage the sick to call for a priest to receive this sacrament. the sick should prepare themselves to receive it with good dispositions, assisted by their pastor and the whole Ecclesial Community, which is invited to surround the sick in a special way through their prayers and fraternal attention.

An Ecclesial Grace. the sick who receive this Sacrament, "by freely uniting themselves to the passion and death of Christ," "contribute to the good of the People of God." 137 By celebrating this sacrament the Church, in the Communion of saints, intercedes for the benefit of the sick person, and he, for his part, though the grace of this sacrament, contributes to the sanctification of the Church and to the good of all men for whom the Church suffers and offers herself through Christ to God the Father.

In the Ecclesial service of the ordained minister, it is Christ himself who is present to his Church as Head of his Body, Shepherd of his flock, high priest of the redemptive sacrifice, Teacher of Truth. This is what the Church means by saying that the priest, by virtue of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, acts in persona Christi Capitis: 23

The priest (or deacon) who assists at the Celebration of a marriage receives the consent of the spouses in the name of the Church and gives the blessing of the Church. the presence of the Church's minister (and also of the witnesses) visibly expresses the fact that marriage is an Ecclesial reality.

This is the Reason why the Church normally requires that the Faithful contract marriage according to the ecclesiastical form. Several reasons converge to explain this requirement: 132 - Sacramental marriage is a liturgical act. It is therefore appropriate that it should be celebrated in the public liturgy of the Church; - Marriage introduces one into an Ecclesial order, and creates rights and duties in the Church between the spouses and towards their children; - Since marriage is a state of life in the Church, certainty about it is necessary (hence the obligation to have witnesses); - the public Character of the consent protects the "I do" once given and helps the spouses remain faithful to it.

Through ecumenical dialogue Christian communities in many regions have been able to put into effect a common pastoral practice for mixed marriages. Its task is to help such couples live out their particular situation in the light of Faith, overcome the tensions between the couple's obligations to each other and towards their Ecclesial communities, and encourage the flowering of what is common to them in faith and respect for what separates them.

It can seem difficult, even impossible, to bind oneself for life to another human being. This makes it all the more important to proclaim the Good News that God loves us with a definitive and irrevocable love, that married couples share in this love, that it supports and sustains them, and that by their own Faithfulness they can be witnesses to God's faithful love. Spouses who with God's Grace give this witness, often in very difficult conditions, deserve the gratitude and support of the Ecclesial Community. 156

Today there are numerous Catholics in many countries who have recourse to civil divorce and contract new civil unions. In fidelity to the words of Jesus Christ - "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery" 158 The Church maintains that a new union cannot be recognized as valid, if the first marriage was. If the divorced are remarried civilly, they find themselves in a situation that objectively contravenes God's law. Consequently, they cannot receive Eucharistic Communion as long as this situation persists. For the same Reason, they cannot exercise certain Ecclesial responsibilities. Reconciliation through the Sacrament of Penance can be granted only to those who have repented for having violated the sign of the covenant and of fidelity to Christ, and who are committed to living in complete continence.

Sacramentals derive from the baptismal priesthood: every baptized person is called to be a "blessing," and to bless. 172 Hence lay people may preside at certain blessings; the more a blessing concerns Ecclesial and Sacramental life, the more is its administration reserved to the ordained ministry (bishops, priests, or deacons). 173

Catechesis has to reveal in all clarity the joy and the demands of the way of Christ. 22 Catechesis for the "newness of life" 23 in him should be: -a catechesis of the Holy Spirit, the interior Master of life according to Christ, a gentle guest and friend who inspires, guides, corrects, and strengthens this life; -a catechesis of Grace, for it is by grace that we are saved and again it is by grace that our works can bear fruit for eternal life; -a catechesis of the beatitudes, for the way of Christ is summed up in the beatitudes, the only path that leads to the eternal beatitude for which the human heart longs; -a catechesis of sin and forgiveness, for unless man acknowledges that he is a sinner he cannot know the truth about himself, which is a condition for acting justly; and without the offer of forgiveness he would not be able to bear this truth; -a catechesis of the human virtues which causes one to grasp the beauty and attraction of right dispositions towards goodness; -a catechesis of the Christian virtues of Faith, hope, and charity, generously inspired by the example of the saints; -a catechesis of the twofold commandment of charity set forth in the Decalogue; -an Ecclesial catechesis, for it is through the manifold exchanges of "spiritual goods" in the "Communion of saints" that Christian life can grow, develop, and be communicated.

The holiness of the divine name demands that we neither use it for trivial matters, nor take an oath which on the basis of the circumstances could be interpreted as approval of an authority unjustly requiring it. When an oath is required by illegitimate civil authorities, it may be refused. It must be refused when it is required for purposes contrary to the dignity of persons or to Ecclesial Communion.

"The Christian family constitutes a specific revelation and realization of Ecclesial Communion, and for this Reason it can and should be called a domestic Church." 9 It is a Community of Faith, hope, and charity; it assumes singular importance in the Church, as is evident in the New Testament. 10

Prayer groups, indeed "schools of prayer," are today one of the signs and one of the driving forces of renewal of prayer in the Church, provided they drink from authentic wellsprings of Christian prayer. Concern for Ecclesial Communion is a sign of true prayer in the Church.

Christ instituted the Sacrament of Penance for all sinful members of his Church: above all for those who, since Baptism, have fallen into grave sin, and have thus lost their baptismal Grace and wounded Ecclesial Communion. It is to them that the sacrament of Penance offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of justification. the Fathers of the Church present this sacrament as "the second plank [of salvation] after the shipwreck which is the loss of grace." 47

In imparting to his apostles his own power to forgive sins the Lord also gives them the authority to reconcile sinners with the Church. This Ecclesial dimension of their task is expressed most notably in Christ's solemn words to Simon Peter: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 45 "The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of the apostles united to its head." 46

By design, this Catechism does not set out to provide the adaptation of doctrinal presentations and catechetical methods required by the differences of culture, age, spiritual maturity, and social and Ecclesial condition among all those to whom it is addressed. Such indispensable adaptations are the responsibility of particular catechisms and, even more, of those who instruct the Faithful:

"Furthermore, many elements of sanctification and of truth" 273 are found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church: "the written Word of God; the life of Grace; Faith, hope, and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements." 274 Christ's Spirit uses these Churches and Ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church. All these blessings come from Christ and lead to him, 275 and are in themselves calls to "Catholic unity." 276

Intrinsically linked to the Sacramental nature of Ecclesial ministry is its Character as service. Entirely dependent on Christ who gives mission and authority, ministers are truly "slaves of Christ," 392 in the image of him who freely took "the form of a slave" for us. 393 Because the word and Grace of which they are ministers are not their own, but are given to them by Christ for the sake of others, they must freely become the slaves of all. 394

Likewise, it belongs to the Sacramental nature of Ecclesial ministry that it have a collegial Character. In fact, from the beginning of his ministry, the Lord Jesus instituted the Twelve as "the seeds of the new Israel and the beginning of the sacred hierarchy." 395 Chosen together, they were also sent out together, and their fraternal unity would be at the service of the fraternal Communion of all the Faithful: they would reflect and witness to the communion of the divine persons. 396 For this Reason every bishop exercises his ministry from within the episcopal college, in communion with the bishop of Rome, the successor of St. Peter and head of the college. So also priests exercise their ministry from within the presbyterium of the diocese, under the direction of their bishop.

Finally, it belongs to the Sacramental nature of Ecclesial ministry that it have a personal Character. Although Chnst's ministers act in Communion with one another, they also always act in a personal way. Each one is called personally: "You, follow me" 397 in order to be a personal witness within the common mission, to bear personal responsibility before him who gives the mission, acting "in his person" and for other persons: "I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ..."; "I absolve you...."

Since, like all the Faithful, lay Christians are entrusted by God with the apostolate by virtue of their Baptism and Confirmation, they have the right and duty, individually or grouped in associations, to work so that the divine message of salvation may be known and accepted by all men throughout the earth. This duty is the more pressing when it is only through them that men can hear the Gospel and know Christ. Their activity in Ecclesial communities is so necessary that, for the most part, the apostolate of the pastors cannot be fully effective without it. 433 The participation of lay people in Christ's priestly office

"The laity can also feel called, or be in fact called, to cooperate with their pastors in the service of the Ecclesial Community, for the sake of its growth and life. This can be done through the exercise of different kinds of ministries according to the Grace and charisms which the Lord has been pleased to bestow on them." 448

The catechumenate, or formation of catechumens, aims at bringing their conversion and Faith to maturity, in response to the divine initiative and in union with an Ecclesial Community. the catechumenate is to be "a formation in the whole Christian life . . . during which the disciples will be joined to Christ their teacher. the catechumens should be properly initiated into the mystery of salvation and the practice of the evangelical virtues, and they should be introduced into the life of faith, liturgy, and charity of the People of God by successive sacred rites." 47

For the Grace of Baptism to unfold, the parents' help is important. So too is the role of the godfather and godmother, who must be firm believers, able and ready to help the newly baptized - child or adult on the road of Christian life. 55 Their task is a truly Ecclesial function (officium). 56 The whole ecclesial Community bears some responsibility for the development and safeguarding of the grace given at Baptism.

The sign of peace that concludes the rite of the Sacrament signifies and demonstrates Ecclesial Communion with the bishop and with all the Faithful. 114

Ecclesial communities derived from the Reformation and separated from the Catholic Church, "have not preserved the proper reality of the Eucharistic mystery in its fullness, especially because of the absence of the Sacrament of Holy Orders." 236 It is for this Reason that Eucharistic interCommunion with these communities is not possible for the Catholic Church. However these ecclesial communities, "when they commemorate the Lord's death and resurrection in the Holy Supper . . . profess that it signifies life in communion with Christ and await his coming in glory." 237

It is called the Sacrament of conversion because it makes Sacramentally present Jesus' call to conversion, the first step in returning to the Father 5 from whom one has strayed by sin. It is called the sacrament of Penance, since it consecrates the Christian sinner's personal and Ecclesial steps of conversion, penance, and satisfaction.

Thus the Lord's words on forgiveness, the love that loves to the end, 142 become a living reality. the parable of the merciless servant, which crowns the Lord's teaching on Ecclesial Communion, ends with these words: "So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart." 143 It is there, in fact, "in the depths of the heart," that everything is bound and loosed. It is not in our power not to feel or to forget an offense; but the heart that offers itself to the Holy Spirit turns injury into compassion and purifies the memory in transforming the hurt into intercession.