24 / 665
xxii • United States Catholic Catechism for Adults
and neighbor, the dignity of the person, and the Church’s social teach-
ings are part of the foundational elements for morality. Subsequently,
when the Ten Commandments are presented, it is easier to see how the
Covenant with God comes first and how the Commandments are ways
in which we live out this Covenant. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus
presents to us a summary of the New Covenant in the Beatitudes. Hence,
the Commandments are more than moral laws; our commitment to liv-
ing them flows from our response to the Covenant we have with God, as
members of the Church strengthened by the Holy Spirit.
D. Prayer: The Faith Prayed
The last section of this text bears an essential relationship to the second
section on the liturgy, which is the prayer life of the Church herself.
This section deals with vocal prayer, meditation and contemplation,
and the types of prayer—adoration, petition, intercession, thanksgiv-
ing, and praise. A special chapter is devoted to a commentary on the
Our Father, which is the Lord’s Prayer. It seemed suitable here to
acknowledge the special link between doctrine and prayer so that a
Church teaching is not seen as an abstract idea, and so that prayer not
be without a solid doctrinal foundation.
3. Sidebars
The doctrinal section in each chapter is followed by a sidebar composed
of three questions with answers taken from the
Catechism of the Catholic
Church
. This is one of several ways in which the reader is drawn to
explore the extensive resources of the universal
Catechism
. Throughout
the text, other sidebars on various topics appear where appropriate.
4. Relationship of Catholic Teaching to the Culture
The next section in each chapter returns to the theme of relating Church
teaching for a diverse U.S. society. There are many issues to address such
as human dignity, fairness, respect, solidarity, and justice. Each chap-
ter contains a reflection on how its teaching can apply to our culture.
Sometimes there are positive elements; at other times, challenges are to