All the baptized, because they are called by God to maturity of faith, need and have therefore a right to adequate catechesis. It is thus a primary responsibility of the Church to respond to this in a fitting and satisfactory manner. Hence it must be recalled that those to be evangelized are "concrete and historical persons",39RH 13; cf. EN 31. rooted in a given situation and always influenced by pedagogical, social, cultural, and religious conditioning. They may or may not be aware of this.40Cf. RH 13-14; CCC 24. In the catechetical process, the recipient must be an active subject, conscious and co-responsible, and not merely a silent and passive recipient.41Cf. DCG (1971), 75. A community need and a community right 42Cf. DCG (1971), 21.
In giving attention to the individual, it should not be overlooked that the recipient of catechesis is the whole Christian community and every person in it. If indeed it is from the whole life of the Church that catechesis draws its legitimacy and energy, it is also true that "her inner growth and correspondence with God's plan depend essentially on catechesis".43CT 13. The adaptation of the Gospel both concerns and involves the community as a community. Adaptation requires that the content of catechesis be a healthy and adequate food 44Cf. GS 44; EN 63; CT 31; CCC 24-25.
The "adaptation of the preaching of the revealed word must always remain a law for all evangelization".45GS 44. In this Part the terms adaptation and inculturation are used because they are employed in the Magisterium and for practical purposes. The first term mainly applies to attention given to persons while the second term is applied to cultural contexts. There is an intrinsic theological motivation for this in the Incarnation. It corresponds to the elementary, pedagogical demands of healthy human communications and reflects the practice of the Church throughout the centuries. Such adaptation must be understood as a maternal action of the Church, who recognizes people as "the field of God" (1 Cor 3,9) not to be condemned but to be cultivated in hope. She sets out to meet each person, taking into serious account diversity of circumstances and cultures and maintains the unity of so many in the one saving Word. Thus the Gospel is transmitted as genuine, satisfying, healthy and adequate food. All particular initiatives must therefore be inspired by this criterion and the creativity and talent of the catechist must bow to it. Adaptation takes account of diverse circumstances
Adaptation is realized in accordance with the diverse circumstances in which the word of God is transmitted.46Cf. RM 33. These are determined by "differences of culture, age, spiritual maturity and social and ecclesial conditions amongst all of those to whom it is addressed".47CCC 24. Much careful attention shall be given to them. It shall be remembered that, in the plurality of situations, adaptation must always keep in mind the totality of the person and his essential unity, in accordance with the vision of the Church. For this reason catechesis does not stop with a consideration of the merely exterior elements of a given situation, but is always mindful of the interior world of the person, the truth of being human, "the first fundamental way of the Church".48RH 14. In this manner a process of adaptation is determined which becomes the more suitable, the more the questions, aspirations and interior needs of the person are considered.