Catholic kids were forced to memorize the answers to the questions in the Baltimore catechism but that was it. They were not taught the meaning behind the answers. The practice of memorizing and reciting the answers was generally hated by Catholic kids in the 50’s and 60’s.
Too bad that you didn’t have parents who helped you study and explained the answers to you. I did. Thanks be to God the Father. Thanks be to God the Son. Thanks be to God the Holy Spirit.
Too bad that you didn’t have devoted Bernardine sisters who helped you study and explained the answers to you. I did. Thanks be to God the Father. Thanks be to God the Son. Thanks be to God the Holy Spirit.
That was not my experience at all. We learned the answers and the meaning behind them. Loved it.
What would you have preferred? Sex-ed taught to third-graders? And inter- religious events with muslims at Ramadan?
That is not true. But your assertion ignores how the mind of a child develops. Until he.she reaches puberty, and for many even afterwards, he/she wants definiteness. NO child, even the brightest, can be a philosopher. Aristotle pointed this out many years ago. Pascal, who was a geometer of genius at fifteen, did not philosophize until he was near 30. Even young men and women who doubt and fall away do so for moral not intellectual reasons. They learn dialectic, maybe. They have been told what is good and what is bad, and to do good— but now they are told , by the enemies of the Church—to be good is too hard. Think for yourself, say these enemies, when they really mean, choose for yourself even if you are not sure of why you do it. These enemies are often the men/women the church allows to catechize.
That wasn’t my experience. I started off with the Baltimore Catechism and had no problems understanding anything. It all made perfect sense to me. And then...right in the middle of my education, they went to the Buddy Jesus coloring book method of “teaching.” AWFUL!
Anyway, I made sure my own kids (and my convert husband) were educated with the Baltimore Catechism, and they understand everything just fine.
Regards,