Last Thursday, we began our formal inquiry period for the Rite of Christian Initiation of adults. We do have an "on-going inquiry" that usually begins around late October to prepare those who come to us throughout the year for the final stage of the RCIA which is our year long program that culminates at Easter and then has several sessions following Easter, what is called "mystygogia."
We've experimented with various catechisms over the years. For many, many years, I've used "In His Light" which I thought was good, but wasn't as thorough as it might have been.
Then a couple of years ago we used "Catholicism for Dummies." I thought it was a disaster for the RCIA, although perhaps a good supplemental book for them.
Last year we began using the "United States Catechism for Adults" by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. I like it very much, but for many in the RCIA it might be a bit intimidating. But I like the order of it and certainly it is modeled after the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Please know, too, that once we celebrate the Rite of Welcome around Advent, we also dismiss our candidates and catechumens after the homily of the Sunday Mass for them to study the word of God that have just heard, so this portion of their catechesis is lectionary based.
But this year, in addition to the Bishops' Catechism we are giving them the Baltimore Catechism, #2 which is really intended for middle school children.
Why, you might ask, are we doing this, give a pre-Vatican II catechism in the post-Vatican II Church? Let me count the ways:
1. We have a wide swath of people with different academic backgrounds and religious backgrounds, some very strong others very weak. The Baltimore Catechism is simple and gives the very basics of the faith in a way that is very easy to comprehend. There aren't a lot of details but much practical advise--it is foundational.
2. Most of our Inquirers do not have a clue about what it means when we say, "pre-Vatican II or post-Vatican II. With the Baltimore Catechism as well as the Bishops' one, we can point out the hermeneutic of continuity but also show where there has been development since Vatican II. It also gives the order of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass and this helps to explain the changes in the post-Vatican II Mass and also shows them that we do have two forms now of the one Roman Rite and both are legitimate and both are a part of the Church of today!
3. It is basic, basic, basic! Our new bishop, Bishop Gregory Hartmayer lamented at our recent clergy retreat that our children for confirmation that he experienced this past year are abysmally ill-prepared catechetically. They don't know the basics of the faith at all; many don't know who the pope is let alone their own bishop! He wants to turn that around and I have two suggestions for this turn around:
A. Like the religious orders of the Church were asked to do after Vatican II, we need to go back to what worked for us in the pre-Vatican II Church in terms of catechesis and for us in the USA the Baltimore Catechism prepared generations of Catholics in the very basics, foundational elements of the faith and in a clear, simple and concise way. That isn't the case today with our cathecetical materials and there are way too many choices some better some worse than others although today the materials are much better than they were up until the 1990's!
B. The Liturgy of the Church needs to be celebrated in a traditional way with a very clear awareness of the Divinity of Christ, the Hierarchical nature of the Church and the truths of Holy Religion. The Vertical must take precedence over the horizontal. The horizontal should be experienced in other religious venues apart from the Mass.
4. The Baltimore Catechism has all of the basic prayers at the beginning of it that a Catholic should know and memorize. The book will be a good reference book for them later on and easy to find answers to questions they might have without having to deal with a novel size catechism to find what they need.
5. If they have children, it will help them to hand on the faith to their children who will become Catholic too and in an easy and concise way with lots of suggestions for how one lives their lives as Catholics.
8 comments:
The Baltimore Catechism is great. It cuts through all the distractions and gives clear answers for all of the basics.
A couple of years ago, my oldest daughter was confirmed. She came into a situation where Confirmation was in two months and she joined a Confirmation Class which had been meeting for a year. They had been using a thick textbook and had no copy for her. After three weeks, they had a 60 question test and my daughter scored higher than any of the others. What was the difference? The Baltimore Catechism. The priest preparing them had an afternoon of "exit interviews" before the ceremony, to quiz them on their faith. Several of the students were clamoring around my daughter, asking her to coach them with answers. Why did SHE know the answers while the others were unsure? Again, I attribute it to the Baltimore Catechism.
"Preconciliar"? That's a word I think we need to dispose of. The Church is the Church. Councils define dogmas and clarify confusions. They don't reorient the faith. I think your use of the Baltimore Catechism is a great idea. If nothing else, it's a time-saver, because it's not nearly as verbose as many of the other texts used for religious ed.
Pastor, beautiful idea. As a credentialed catechist of 20yrs. who has intrumented formation worldwide across cultures and SES, I say I like it. I like it alot. To Mr. Kumpel, well put.
I think the "United States Catechism for Adults" is a solution for a problem which does not exist. The CCC presents all the information, and does so clearly. That said, it would be a bit much as a text on which to base RCIA. On the other hand, in my two years in RCIA, the CCC went unmentioned, but we had many essays from Sr. Joan Chittister, Fr. Richard Rohr, and other dissidents.
I do like the Baltimore Catechism, though for my use, volume 3. Or the Catechism of Trent. And I also found This is the Faith by Canon Ripley to be quite good.
In the end, however, any of these will be better than any of the post-conciliar prepared instructions, in my opinion.
I have some pretty controversial thoughts about using the Baltimore Catechism, but since I've been pretty controversial around here, I'll share. LOL!!! ;)
I think that every adult catechumen should go through the whole of the Baltimore Catechism from 1-4. I know that isn't how it was designed, but I can honestly say, that even in Baltimore Catechism #1, the majority of catechumens won't be able to answer the questions as they are posed.
One of the big peccadilloes regarding Vatican Council II was that we needed to start treating Catholics like adults. On one hand, that is true, but when it comes to education of those who are not Catholic, it is best to start simple and through repetition, (which is why I advocate sending adults through the whole of the Catechisms) learn the basics of Catholicism.
The use of the Baltimore Catechism is much easier to understand, it is designed for memorization and it is not complicated in presentation. Quite simply put, it is still the best Catechism for use in the English speaking world.
I think that this is a little controversial, because it deviates from the traditional usage, but also because, as Father McD says, it is designed for children. But then again, those coming into Holy Mother Church have the knowledge of a child regarding the faith and there is no better way to teach the faith to them.
Heck, I still refer to my Baltimore Catechism series all the time.
Just my $0.02.
What a great idea! I recall, long ago, starting out with the old Baltimore Catechism in preparation for 1st Holy Communion and Confession then being moved away from that as I progressed towards Confirmation. It was night and day in terms of clarity and quite frankly a joke and waste of time. Were it not for my parents and ultimately some great Domincans at Providence College, I would never have had a somewhat decent grounding in the tenets of my/our faith. I've watched all my children go through CCD and have had to re-point them on numerous occasions given the cartoon like course materials they have had to deal with. In doing so, it has been interesting to observe the "light bulb" going on when I simply state what and why be believe and do what we do. No cartoons, no sappy music, no nonesense. I don't consider myself a neanderthal, knuckle dragging pre-vatican II quasi fascist. Our faith is so wonderful in it's simplicity and going back to the basics is really all we need. St Joesph's is a great parish.
That thing from the USCCB we used last year was dismal. Thank you Fr. for choosing the Baltimore Catechism this time. Let's stick with it.
Very good! I bought the Baltimore Catechism during lent last year. The section on the 10 commandments is very useful when preparing for confession.
Father, how is your mom doing? I pray that she is getting well.
I would be the last to really advocate an alternative to the Baltimore Catechism. Nevertheless, while the CCC admittedly is too wordy and diffuse for most catechetical purposes, the "Compendium of the CCC" with its Baltimore Q&A like format, is plenty good for any RCIA program.
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