Baltimore Catechism
- Lesson 1: On the End of Man
- Lesson 2: On God and His Perfections
- Lesson 3: On the Unity and Trinity of God
- Lesson 4: On Creation
- Lesson 5: On our First Parents and the Fall
- Lesson 6: On Sin and Its Kinds
- Lesson 7: On the Incarnation and Redemption
- Lesson 8: On Our Lord's Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension
- Lesson 9: On the Holy Ghost and His Descent upon the Apostles
- Lesson 10: On the Effects of the Redemption
- Lesson 11: On the Church
- Lesson 12: On the Attributes and Marks of the Church
- Lesson 13: On the Sacraments in General
- Lesson 14: On Baptism
- Lesson 15: On Confirmation
- Lesson 16: On the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Ghost
- Lesson 17: On the Sacrament of Penance
- Lesson 18: On Contrition
- Lesson 19: On Confession
- Lesson 20: On the Manner of Making a Good Confession
- Lesson 21: On Indulgences
- Lesson 22: On the Holy Eucharist
- Lesson 23: On the Ends for Which the Holy Eucharist Was Instituted
- Lesson 24: On the Sacrifice of the Mass
- LESSON TWENTY-SEVENTH: On the Sacramentals
- Lesson 25: On Extreme Unction and Holy Orders
- Lesson 26: On Matrimony
- Lesson 27: On the Sacramentals
- Lesson 28: On Prayer
- Lesson 29: On the Commandments of God
- Lesson 30: On the First Commandment
- Lesson 31: The First Commandment -- On the Honor and Invocation of the Saints
- Lesson 32: From the Second to the Fourth Commandment
- Lesson 33: From the Fourth to the Seventh Commandment
- Lesson 34: From the Seventh to the End of the Tenth Commandment
- Lesson 35: On the First and Second Commandments of the Church
- Lesson 36: On the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Commandments of the Church
- Lesson 37: On the Last Judgment and the Resurrection, Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven
- Prayers
14 comments:
How do our adults and teens learn about the things they DO know very well?
Daily immersion, reinforcement, role playing, reminders, carrots and sticks...and almost total social 'band wagon' support.
Thus we think it not at all odd that a boy might know every national sports team and most of the key players...but would think it weird if he knew all the major saints and councils.
We think it pretty standard that teens could recite from memory the basic dialogue of dozens of movies and top 40 songs...but weird if they could recite the rosary, creed, and more than a couple verses of scripture.
The world, flesh, and devil don't rest their project on a single hour per week with Catholic youth but insist on as many waking hours as possible.
So what are our sources of 'daily bread'? What do we reinforce in our daily media consumption? Whom do we really serve and really get excited by in our free time?
I love the Baltimore Catechism! It and the Athanasian Creed mince no words.
Pastors do well to support Catholic homeschooling families, who tend to pass on the Faith with notable effectiveness. These families may preserve the Faith in a manner not unlike monasteries during the fall of the Roman Empire.
Amen to that!
Yes, we ordered the Baltimore Catechism at a time when it had all but gone out of print (80's), but the Seton homeschooling curriculum still had it. Our parish priest doubted my sanity at the time... TBTG, it has begun to see a resurrection among serious Catholics for kids who are not getting proper catechesis in Faith Formation (aka CCD, aka Religious Ed, aka Catechism).
Deo gratis, FRAJM
I'm going rogue based upon LOLC.
Vey, very good post Father. Good job
I gave the Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism to a niece for first communion. I asked her mother what she thought about it. She said it was a little Dick and Janey. Which it is but that shouldn't be a turn off. I wonder if some publisher could update the illustrations.
I'm hoping John Nolan will share insights about the Penny Catechism, which I think was the British equivalent of our Baltimore Catechism.
My husband, Dan, is walking 3 miles each way to get to Confession and Mass where he is deployed for the summer. I wonder how many other Americans would do the same.
My mother is teaching 6 year olds at her modern parish from the Original Baltimore Catechism. Their parents are learning too! My mother is Traditonal and blunt, but is keeping it age appropriate. She doesn't want anything left out bc she cares about their souls.
The so-called Penny Catechism (A Catechism of Christian Doctrine) is in question-and-answer format and covers much the same ground as the Baltimore, but is pithier and less discursive. The Baltimore gives more detailed explanations which the authors of the Penny Catechism tended to leave to those teaching it. The Penny Catechism also has more lists, particularly under the heading 'Virtues and Vices' which one had to learn. When it came to the 'four sins which cry out to heaven for vengeance' I remember as an eight-year-old asking what sodomy was. I was told it was 'the sin of Sodom' which left me none the wiser.
Published by the CTS, it has never been out of print, although it was revised slightly (some would say diluted) in 1971.
You know it's the cure. So do most of our bishops.
SO WHY ISN'T THIS BEING USED AS THE STANDARD ANY MORE?
Many bishops my age and older and a few younger were ingrained in the 1970's that the Baltimore Catechism was the problem with the pre-Vatican II Church and of course all things pre-Vatican II from liturgy to popular devotions to Catholics actually being obedient to the Faith were considered childish.
The Baltimore Catechism is not the be all and end all of Church religious instruction but for the vast majority of Catholic laity it is, whether we like it or not) just as the coloring book era of Religious formation was and still is.
We all know how little our teenagers know about the faith and most don't even care about the Faith and are as ambivalent towards true Catholicism as their parents are, who seldom if ever bring their children to Mass (I'm speaking of those Catholics who don't attend Mass, not the faithful who do).
I use the Baltimore Catechism when I teach in our school each Thursday and over the course of two years I can cover the entire book (simple one) with our Grades 1-6 (we don't have 7th and 8th, but I would like to remedy that in the future, but not sure how.
But back to your question...Bishops think it is outdated and the newer stuff we have is better (and it is certainly better than the stuff of the 1970s). The problem is that there are too many options and some better than others. We need a standard once again and across the country and the Baltimore Catechism is a no-brainer. Obviously there should be some updating of artwork and it should reflect both forms of the Latin Rite Mass as well as more sensitivity to ecumenical and interfaith advances. But the actual active role of the laity, while symbolized in the Mass, is not churchy, it is in the world, at home, work, play, politics, the public square.
I have to thank the Baltimore Catechism and the sisters at Holy Names, Blessed Sacrament, and Saint Anne's in Memphis for all my formal religious instruction. After that I attended public high school.
Post a Comment