You do realize that there are 4 levels of the Baltimore catechism don't you? Level 4 could hardly be viewed as meant for children, and level three has at least the level of depth that any confirmant would need.
there's simply nothing comparable to the CCC as the basis for an RCIA program or adult education curriculum.
Even if this were true, as if a 700 plus page catechism would be usable in an RCIA program, it isn't used. Not in my diocese anyway, and I would be willing to bet not in most. Nor was it ever used or even referred to any of the "pastoral formation classes" I was obliged to sit through.
I would like to know what you base your opinion on. I too think there is nothing comparable to the new catechism, in that no prior catechism has as many unnecessary words, which instead of clarifying any points of doctrine, succeed in only obscuring them.
Experience. Our RCIA program uses the CCC extensively, and many of the catechumens and candidates go out and buy their own.
The shorter, condensed version of the CCC, to be compiled under the auspices of the USCCB, should certainly aid in making the CCC more widely used in catechetical programs of all kinds.
All the World is not like New York.
Deo Gratias
The CCC is widely used in the Archdiocese of Washington, and in the Diocese of Arlington.
Your negative opinion of the CCC is noted. I disagree. I also have, and refer to, the Catechism of the Council of Trent, and the Baltimore Catechism (which one of your traditionalist confreres recently condemned on this forum as being infected with "Americanism".) Rejecting everything from after 1962 is as silly as rejecting everything from before 1962.