Showing posts with label YouCAT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label YouCAT. Show all posts

Monday, February 27, 2012

Flawed YouCat Youth Catechism by Flawed Cardinal Selling Well


Edit: The Catechism published by the German Bishops' pornography distributor, Weltbild, seems to be enjoying a great deal of popularity despite questions about its truthfulness to Catholic teaching. It is the brainchild of Cardinal Schoenborn.



Best selling Catholic book worldwide?

New Youth Catechism

The following comes from a February 23 story by the Catholic News Agency 

The co-creator of the Church’s catechism for young people has revealed that it's now the top selling Catholic book in the world. 

“The latest figures show that Youcat has sold 1.7 million copies worldwide. It’s been a great success in nearly every country where it has been published,” said German publisher Bernard Meuser in a Feb. 23 interview with the Catholic News Agency. 

“For example, it is number one in Spain, number one in America, and number one in Germany along with the Pope’s latest book.” 

Link to article...
H/t: Stella Borealis....

Friday, April 15, 2011

Blogs Are Read in the Vatican -- Msgr Tighe About the Vatican and Communications


(Vatikan) There are over 700 messages received as yet for the Vatican Blog Meeting about the new reality of Catholic internet blogs. Msgr Paul Tighe of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications explained this to Katholisches.info. "The great interest in this initiative has been really encouraging for us in our efforts to draw the community of bloggers in conversation in order mostly to encourage and strengthen."

The number of participants will be restricted to 150 places, and the applicants will be organized according to their language, geographic origins and typology of the blog (like personal, institutional or journalist). A key to the greatness of the significance of languages and the continents the 150 participants will be assigned lots.

Next to bloggers from the whole world, there will be those countless people responsible for Catholic internet sights, diocesan sites and the Catholic media work for the meeting.

Msgr. Tighe is concerned that the German language area has been "too little considered". "In the future this will be different." The meeting is only being considered as a "first initiative", in order to get in contact with the "new reality" of bloggers. On the contrary to Catholic radio broadcasters or newspapers there aren't associations and structures for contact persons. "Everything is much more spontaneous and more decentralized" than other media, said Msgr Tighe.

The Vatican "sees the increasing importance" of blogs and "wish to see that they are as quick communication and the dissemination of news increasingly important." The meeting intends recognition of the "diversity" of these "new realities of communication". There is "no roll" in play, if a blog "is more academic, or more interested in Church politics, more for liturgy or more for doctrine, or if it is right or left, progressive or traditionalist." One doesn't want to evaluate, rather "simply to get a view of the face of blogs, in order to come in direct conversation." For it is a fact that "there will be more people are informed about various Blogs", says Msgr. Tighe.

The Papal Office for Social Communications observed "the continual development of blogs", says Tighe. "Today's traditional press agenda -- and the weekly press is just coming to the Internet this moment." It makes it so that there is no systematic oversight of certain pages, says the Secretary of the PCSC. "And thus there is the need the help of blogs to oversee, if and how the message of the Vatican is being received." The blogs are because of their speed, "invaluable barometer", if the message "is understood" and "how it is understood". "Blogs enable us to evaluate the efficiency of our communication", says Msgr Tighe.

The question if blogs are read "even in the higher levels" of the Vatican, was answered by Msgr. Tighte with a decisive "naturally, no question." In this sense the "importance of blogs in the Vatican as a reaction to an outgoing message is considerable." It is a "fact" that the various "blogs are very much read in the Vatican". This naturally happens "peripherally at the individual level introduced by individual coworkers up to decision makers". Which blogs are read depends "on the importance of a blog and of the agreement with its positions," says Msgr Tighe.

The blogger would have other needs than the traditionally accredited journalists. the Vatican is to begin for that reason at the end of May with a new multi-media News portal, which can interface more easily with the new forms of social communication like Facebook and Twitter. All of the relevant offices of the Vatican press service should appear there together: of Radio Vatican, Osservatore Romano, Fides and Vis (Vatican Information Service). This should enable the "concentrated and direct access for bloggers and natural for all who are interested". At first there will be Italian and English language versions, and then there will follow other languages, step by step, "even German".

Msgr Tighe did not want to refer directly to "translation mistakes" and "ambiguous" formulation in several editions of the new youth catechism YouCAT. "Generally" he explained therefore: "Communication must be clear". The Vatican is planning steps for the future that "reinforce online publication and place less emphasis on printed editions". This will enable "not only a rapid, worldwide communication and direct dissemination", rather also "a possibility for quick corrections of eventual errors", says Msgr Tighe. Fundamentally the search for a "understandable, but at the same time, adequate language, for a newer challenge". It is "not easy" to "pull back colleagues who are not familiar with the language of the Church."

On Saturday, April 16th, the list of participants of the Vatican Meeting Blog will be published at the Council for Social Communications www.pccs.va.

Translated from katholisches...

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Distribution Stopped: "YouCAT"

Editor: Naturally, Cardinal Schoenborn's catechism has some problems with it.

But he's now shifting the blame:
[Catholic Culture] Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, who supervised the production of YouCat, said that each translation was produced under the aegis of another prelate. The Italian translation was guided by Cardinal Angelo Scola of Venice.

The Italian edition of "YouCAT" contains a substantial translation error. Who will take responsibility? Naturally, no one.

(kreuz.net, Vatikan) The publication of the Italian edition is part of a Vatican commission? This was reported by the news agency of the US-Bishops Conference 'Catholic News Service'.

The Italian edition of 'YouCAT' appears in the press 'Citta Nuova'. It belons to the falsely ecumenical Focolare Movement.

Youth catechism's Italian edition suspended after translation error


The English language "Youcat: Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church" is published by Ignatius Press of San Francisco. (CNS/Ignatius Press)

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Distribution of an Italian edition of a new youth catechism was temporarily suspended because of a translation error concerning the church's teaching on contraception.

Thousands of copies of the Italian translation of "YouCat," a recently released supplement to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, erroneously left the impression that Catholic couples could use "contraceptive methods."

As a result, "the product is temporarily suspended, but not halted," so that the Italian publisher can "examine the text," Elena Cardinali, a spokeswoman for the Citta Nuova editorial group, told Catholic News Service April 12. Citta Nuova, the publishing arm of the Focolare lay movement, handled the Italian edition of the catechism.

The youth catechism was originally written in German and the work was supervised by Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna. The Italian edition was translated by Pietro Podolak and translation revisions were overseen by Cardinal Angelo Scola of Venice, according to the credit pages in the book.

The 300-page book uses a question-and-answer format to talk about what the church teaches.

Question 420 of the Italian edition and its brief reply incorrectly suggest that a married couple can use contraceptive methods.

The question in the Italian version reads: "Can a Christian couple turn to contraceptive methods?" The answer reads: "Yes, a Christian couple can and must be responsible about their capacity of being able to give life."

The answer in Italian goes on to explain -- in line with church teaching -- that the church does not accept artificial means of contraception, but does allow regulation of fertility through natural methods.

The error was not found in the original German text of "YouCat," nor in the U.S. English edition, which was published by Ignatius Press.

The German text of question 420 "asks whether a Christian married couple may regulate the number of children they have. It does not ask whether the couple may use methods of contraception," wrote Mark Brumley, president of Ignatius Press, on the Ignatius Press blog, Insight Scoop.

"I don't know why the Italian translation reads as it does, nor do I know how it came about that it reads as it does, but it should be fixed to reflect, without ambiguity, the church's teaching that contraception is evil," Brumley wrote April 12.

"It is my understanding that the Italian text is being fixed," he added.

A Vatican official, speaking on background, said a previously planned press conference April 13 was expected to clarify the issue.

The English translation of the question and reply in "YouCat" as published by Ignatius Press is: "May a Christian married couple regulate the number of children they have? Yes, a Christian married couple may and should be responsible in using the gift and privilege of transmitting life."

The "YouCat" Italian edition came out in bookstores March 30 and sold 14,000 copies in five days, a Citta Nuova press release said April 6. At that time, Citta Nuova said some 46,000 copies had already been printed and more than 27,000 copies ordered.

It was the third best-selling religious book in Italian, it said, coming in behind Pope Benedict XVI's "Jesus of Nazareth" and a recent biography of Pope John Paul II.

"YouCat" was to be translated into at least 13 different languages and about 700,000 copies were to be distributed to young people taking part in World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid. An electronic version will also be available.

Pope Benedict wrote the book's foreword and said he wanted to supplement the Catechism of the Catholic Church by translating it "into the language of young people."