ASIA/PAKISTAN - For the Year of Faith, the Catechism of the Catholic Church in urdu
Islamabad (Agenzia Fides) - The Church in Pakistan is preparing to publish the Catechism of the Catholic Church in Urdu language, the national language. As reported to Fides, the initiative will be launched on the occasion of the Year of Faith: the work of translation and revision of the first two parts of the Catechism ("The profession of faith"; "The celebration of the Christian Mystery") will be completed within two months and will be given to the press next autumn. For the two remaining parts of the Catechism ("Life in Christ", "The Christian prayer") one will have to wait another few years: it is a long and difficult work, and those carrying out this great task are the lay Catholic Pakistani Emmanuel Nino, Secretary of the Episcopal Commission for Catechesis, and Fr. Robert McCulloch, Australian missionary of the Society of St. Columban, who has been in Pakistan for 34 years.
"The first half of the work will be published after about 8 years of hard work," Fr. McCulloch explains to Fides. "We wanted to take the opportunity of the Year of Faith, which begins next October, given the emphasis that the Holy Father has given to the need to spread Catechism. It is intended to give the Pakistani community a text of doctrine in urdu, from which catechetical material of various kinds may derive, useful for pastoral care. The Catechism is not a popular book, but it will be an important source to elaborate Christian literature texts in Urdu."The missionary continues: "The work will also contribute to the evangelization, as it offers the Church a means to talk about herself and to be known. The text will clearly present the doctrine of the Catholic Church in Urdu, the national language, and this will bring clear benefits to Christians but also to non-Christians, who will join our faith in a much richer and deeper manner."
"The translation - notes Fr. McCulloch - was a challenge because we often had to coin a new terminology. Therefore it represents a contribution to the national language, showing that it is appropriate to the terminology and the Christian message. " Thus, he concludes, "it will be useful to young people, since they can convey the contents of faith in urdu in social media and text messages in their language." (PA) (Agenzia Fides 23/2/2012)
"The first half of the work will be published after about 8 years of hard work," Fr. McCulloch explains to Fides. "We wanted to take the opportunity of the Year of Faith, which begins next October, given the emphasis that the Holy Father has given to the need to spread Catechism. It is intended to give the Pakistani community a text of doctrine in urdu, from which catechetical material of various kinds may derive, useful for pastoral care. The Catechism is not a popular book, but it will be an important source to elaborate Christian literature texts in Urdu."The missionary continues: "The work will also contribute to the evangelization, as it offers the Church a means to talk about herself and to be known. The text will clearly present the doctrine of the Catholic Church in Urdu, the national language, and this will bring clear benefits to Christians but also to non-Christians, who will join our faith in a much richer and deeper manner."
"The translation - notes Fr. McCulloch - was a challenge because we often had to coin a new terminology. Therefore it represents a contribution to the national language, showing that it is appropriate to the terminology and the Christian message. " Thus, he concludes, "it will be useful to young people, since they can convey the contents of faith in urdu in social media and text messages in their language." (PA) (Agenzia Fides 23/2/2012)
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I have often wondered about the Catechism in Urdu for sometime now. I have been struggling with words in the Liturgy and prayers, looking up in Urdu dictionary and not finding them there. As Fr. McCulloch points out this is a huge challenge and there will be new words coined, I hope this publication will be accompanied with a glossary. Emmanuel Neno has done a fine job with "A New Dictionary of Christian Terminology" which I hope to share about some more in the future post. Please keep this project in your prayers as this will benefit the Catholics and Non-Catholic alike.
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