The Catechism of the Catholic Church is one of the key legacies of Pope John Paul II. It is now joined by a sister compendium, which is ‘designed to stand alongside the Catechism of the Catholic Church as an authoritative summary of the Church's teaching on what makes for human flourishing.’ The compendium has a long way to go before matching the influence and fame of her big sister, but as we all know social doctrine is one of the Church's best kept secrets.

So who can benefit from the compendium and how can it be used to promote Church social teaching? The answer to the first question is potentially every person. The introduction states: ‘By means of the present document, the Church intends to offer a contribution of truth to the question of man's place in nature and in human society’(para. 14). This contribution continues the modern papal strategy of addressing Church social doctrine both to the faithful and ‘to the brethren of other Churches and Ecclesial Communities, to the followers of other religions, as well as to all people of goodwill who are committed to serving the common good’(12). The context for this ‘contribution of truth’ is evangelisation, and the compendium here quotes Sollicitudo Rei Socialis: ‘The teaching and spreading of her social doctrine are part of the Church's evangelical mission’(7).

More specifically the compendium is intended for those involved in teaching the Faith, primarily bishops, but with them all those ‘responsible for formation will find herein a guide for their teaching and a tool for their pastoral service’(11). It is the lay faithful, however, who in their lives confront temporal realities and therefore the compendium sees its role as offering enlightenment to the laity and assistance to Christian communities as they bring the light of the Gospel to social, political and economic realities.

This leads to the second question: how can the compendium be used to promote the Church's social teaching? The first thing to note is that it acts as a reference guide for modern Church social teaching. For the teacher who wants to find out what the Church teaches on a particular social question it not only condenses modern encyclical and the social documents of Vatican II, but also refers to a vast array of pontifical addresses and documents from various Roman congregations. Secondly, it is not merely an amalgam of Church social doctrine, but attempts to present this teaching in its theological, anthropological and evangelical unity. In order to appreciate this it is necessary to examine the structure of the compendium.

The compendium is presented in three parts, but unlike the sections of the Catechism these parts are not given titles. The clue to understanding each section is given in its opening quotation, each draw from Centesimus Annus. The first part quotes the encyclical regarding the need for the theological dimension in answering social questions, and the second part begins with a quotation regarding the link between social teaching and evangelisation. The quotation at the start of the third part stresses the need to turn social teaching into practice. The chapter headings in each part fill out these clues, such that the first part is a presentation of the theological and philosophical foundations of Church social teaching. The second, on the basis of these foundations, offers the Church's vision of human society and the third concerns how the faithful can use this vision to transform society.

In order to appreciate the significance of this ordering it is instructive to compare the structure of the compendium to that of Gaudium et Spes. It is clear that the compendium draws heavily on Gaudium et Spes, but the differences are also marked. The most obvious difference is that there are two rather than three parts to Gaudium et Spes; the first two parts of the compendium correspond to the two parts of Gaudium et Spes, but there is no third part of the pastoral constitution. So why has a third part been added to the compendium? There may be pastoral motives at work here, particularly the importance for the faithful to place social action in its full ecclesial context at a time when many experience a tension between their membership of civil society and their belonging to the Church. The section may furthermore be intended to emphasise the distinction between the Church and the modern world, and the need for critical appraisal of cultures in the light of the Gospel. However, any attempt to set up an opposition between Gaudium et Spes and the compendium would be premature as is shown by the ninety two citations listed in the index of references.

The second part of the compendium follows the structure of the second part of Gaudium et Spes, starting from the family as the vital cell of society and finishing with the international community. The compendium also adds a chapter on the environment, responding to more recent concerns, and a chapter on work drawing heavily on Laborem Exercens. Interestingly there is no individual chapter on culture; rather questions of culture are treated throughout the compendium.

We might therefore expect the first part of the compendium to echo closely the first part of Gaudium et Spes, but whereas many of the theological and philosophical themes are the same, their ordering and presentation are different. Gaudium et Spes begins by founding its social ethics on the human person as created in the image of God, before then presenting its Christology. This provides the basis for human rights language, and the foundation for the rest of the document. In contrast the compendium begins with salvation history, culminating in Jesus Christ and the mission of the Church, and it is not until chapter three that we presented with the person as created in God's image and human rights. This might represent a difference in the basic purpose of the documents, that whereas Gaudium et Spes primarily addresses all people of goodwill in the modern world and therefore begins with a common language, the compendium, although addressed to all people, is primarily a teaching aid for the faithful. Deeper theological motive might however be at work here and in particular the importance of presenting Church social teaching as truly biblical and rooted in tradition.

So the compendium can be used by those interested in specific social questions, but also by those who wish to learn about the foundations and principles of Catholic Social teaching. The further question then arises as to how effective the compendium is as a teaching aid. Could it be used by parish justice and peace groups? Is it a useful aid in preparing talks for parish groups? Can it act as the basis of dialogue with the modern world and is it easy to use as a guide for practical action? The answer to all of these questions is a qualified ‘yes’. As my discussion of the compendium's structure indicates, there are theological and ecclesiastical issues raised in the compendium that require further explanation to understand more fully their significance. Also, those looking for a detailed analysis of the development of Church social teaching and its relationship to other currents of social, economic and political thought will find limited material for this in the compendium. There is certainly scope for good commentaries detailing this wider context.

There is also the more basic difficulty of how intelligible the average non-specialist parish group will find many of the passages. An example is the following passage, which comes from the section describing the relationship between social principles and values: ‘The relationship between principles and values is undoubtedly one of reciprocity, in that social values are an expression of appreciation to be attributed to those specific aspects of moral good that these principles foster, serving as points of reference for the proper structuring and ordered leading of life in society’(197). I hope I’m not the only person who feels like Jim Hacker bamboozled by Sir Humphrey on reading this passage! Another problem in using the compendium is that the analytical index is one hundred and thirteen pages long, for a text that is just under three hundred pages. The index entry for ‘Life’ alone is three pages long.

Further difficulties in using the compendium relate to the nature of the subject area, for as the compendium itself notes: ‘The Church's social doctrine is presented as a “work site” where the work is always in progress, where perennial truth penetrates and permeates new circumstances’(86). This means that although the compendium shows an admirable concern with present social realties, some of its presentation may date rapidly. Much of the general teaching contained will prove central for Catholic social thought for years to come, but with changing social circumstances new questions will arise and old ones may loose their prominence (see also 9). It is also worth mentioning that in the introduction to the document responsibility is given to Episcopal Conferences for adapting its principles to local situations.

Will the compendium assume its rightful place alongside its big sister the Catechism, or will it be consigned to dusty libraries, the preserve of specialists in social ethics? Only time will tell, but if we want to make know the Church's greatest secret there is no better place to begin than with consulting, with due assistance, the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church.