Archbishop Christoph Schönborn of Vienna stressed the youth catechism, which has been adapted for young children, is a "faith book not Facebook."

It will be an important resource for children and their parents as "a book to be read and discussed together," he said at the launch.

Describing children as "great theologians," he said "out of the mouth of children you can get the deepest answers to the greatest questions."

Bishop Brendan Leahy of Limerick and Michaela Freifrau von Heeremann, who is one of the ‘Youcat' authors, spoke about the importance of establishing faith within the family.

Leahy suggested Youcat could be read by older age groups and that it might "help people who feel disaffected by the faith to look again to see what are we about."

"Very often people don't realise that the church has a vision about life and about the meaningfulness of life that isn't just limited to a few issues like sexual morality - it is a much broader vision about life."

Leahy said one of Youcat's underpinning themes is care for the earth.

This ties in with Laudato Si', Pope Francis' 2015 encyclical on the environment, he noted.

Source

• The Tablet
• Image: East Tennessee Catholic