This dissertation is a study on the essential historico-juridical components of the canonical institution called «catechesis». It includes a survey of catechetical history, a commentary on magisterial documents and legislation, and a glimpse into its actual practice. First, the dissertation traces the history of the institution and of its select canons in the 1983 Code of Canon Law, i.e., cann. 773, 779 and, in a subsidiary manner, also cann. 778-779. Second, it seeks to provide a correct interpretation of the canons both in their text and context according to the provision of can. 17. Third, it examines the application of the canons in the administrative level of the local church in the Philippines.

This canonico-catechetical study investigates the manner by which the Church – in her catechetical doctrine, legislations and directives – has sought to address the need to provide a holistic formation in doctrine and life to her members, thereby helping them to integrate their Catholic Christian faith with their daily life. Specifically, it focuses on the evolution of the Church’s understanding of the most important constitutive elements of the entire catechetical action: the object and means of catechesis. In so doing, the author clarifies the end, goal or purpose as well as the general ways employed by the Church in her long-standing activity of catechizing from the period of early Christianity to contemporary times.