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WHY ARE OUR CATHOLIC LAITY SO ILLITERATE WHEN IT COMES TO THE CATHOLIC FAITH
Southern Orders ^ | May 31, 2013 | Fr. Allan J. McDonald

Posted on 05/31/2013 2:44:05 PM PDT by NYer

WHY ARE OUR CATHOLIC LAITY SO ILLITERATE WHEN IT COMES TO THE CATHOLIC FAITH--BLAME THE TEXT BOOKS, BLAME THE TEACHING METHODS AND BLAME THE PARENTS, BUT BLAME THE BISHOPS, PRIESTS AND CATECHISTS TOO, BLAME EVERYONE INCLUDING SATAN, EXCEPT NO ONE TEACHES ABOUT HIM ANYMORE OTHER THAN POPE FRANCIS, DON'T BLAME HIM!

Do our Catholic children and most adults know what these images teach?

All of us know one of the elephants in the room of the Catholic Church. Our religious education programs are not handing on the essence of our Catholic Faith, our parents are befuddled about their role in handing on the faith and the materials we use are vapid or if good do not make an impression on young minds. We are afraid of asking for memorization and thus most don't remember anything they've learned about God and Church other than some niceties and feel good emotions.

I teach each class of our grades 1-6 (we don't have 7th or 8th) each Thursday, rotating classes from week to week. For the last two years I have used Baltimore Catechism #1 as my text book. It is wonderful to use with children and it is so simple yet has so much content. If Catholics, all Catholics, simply studied Baltimore Catechism #1, we would have very knowledgeable Catholics.

These past two years I've used Baltimore Catechism #2 with our adult religious program which we call Coffee and Conversation following our 9:30 AM Sunday Mass, which coincides with our CCD program which we call PREP (Parish Religious Education Program).

This #2 book has more content and is for middle school, but upper elementary school children must have been more capable of more serious content back when this book was formulated and used through the mid 1960's because it is a great book to use with adults and not childish at all. We all use this same book as a supplemental book for the RCIA because it is so clear, nobly simple and chocked full of content!

Yes, there are some adjustments that need to be made to some chapters, but not that many, in light of Vatican II and the new emphasis we have on certain aspects of Church that are not present in the Baltimore Catechism. But these are really minor.

What is more important though is that when the Baltimore Catechism was used through the mid 1960's it was basically the only book that was used for children in elementary and junior high school. It was used across the board in the USA thus uniting all Catholics in learning the same content. There was not, in other words, a cottage industry of competing publishing houses selling new books and different content each year.

The same thing has occurred with liturgical music, a cottage industry of big bucks has developed around the sale of new hymnals, missalettes and new music put on the open market for parishes to purchase. It is a money making scheme.

Why do our bishop allow this to happen in both liturgical music and parish catechesis? The business of selling stuff to parishes and making mega bucks off of it is a scandal that has not be addressed.

In the meantime, our liturgies suffer and become fragmented because every parish uses a different resource for liturgical music and the same is true of religious formation, everyone uses something different of differing quality or no quality at all.

Isn't it time to wake up and move forward with tried and true practices that were tossed out in favor of a consumerist's approach to our faith that has weakened our liturgies, our parishes and our individual Catholics?


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Ministry/Outreach; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: catechism; catholic; catholicsects; ignorantprotestants; papalpromotion; traditionalcatholic
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To: MarkBsnr
Adam watched Eve eat. So? How does that transpose that Adam and all fathers pass sin on to the children. How did Adam know better than Eve. Are you being sexist in claiming that Adam knew better but Eve did not?

Call it sexist all you want. God tells us that the husband is the head of the wife like Christ is the head of the church.

God gave Adam instructions about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil BEFORE Eve was created. It was clearly then Adam's responsibility to tell Eve. Either he didn't pass the message along correctly, or Eve didn't get it right.

Either way, when Adam heard Eve talking with the serpent, he didn't intervene, nor did he correct her error in what God Himself told Adam.

Furthermore, he WATCHED her eat and then when nothing obvious happened to her, he ate as well.

Scripture also tells us that Eve was deceived. Adam was not. He ate KNOWING.

So, yes, sin entered through Adam and corrupted the whole human race and it is HIS responsibility.

Do you not understand WHY Jesus did not have a sin nature?

941 posted on 06/02/2013 11:52:01 AM PDT by metmom (For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore & do not submit again to a yoke of slavery)
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To: editor-surveyor
"Scripture is quite plain to me, and to most that read it with the intention of accepting what it tells us."

Really? So I guess that's why everyone agrees with you on all matters of interpretation. So tell me, why do you need to participate on these threads if that were true?

942 posted on 06/02/2013 11:59:02 AM PDT by Natural Law (Jesus did not leave us a book, He left us a Church.)
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To: verga

Intellectual dishonesty? How interesting. Which part did you consider “intellectual dishonesty”? Was it 2 Kings 18:4 or Deuteronomy 12:30? Other than that I simply asked you a couple of questions. Surely you weren’t using that “intellectual dishonesty” line because you were stumped were you? That seems to be a pattern with your responses.


943 posted on 06/02/2013 12:02:12 PM PDT by CynicalBear (For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ)
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To: metmom

Show me where scripture says this, please.


944 posted on 06/02/2013 12:05:43 PM PDT by JCBreckenridge (Texas is a state of mind - Steinbeck)
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To: Natural Law

Your post only confirms what so many of us non-Catholics have known for centuries, at least since the Bible was made available to the common man, Romanists care not a whit for truth.

A simple glance at a concordance, looking up the word “Mary,” for instance. One mention of her in the entire 28 chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. And, in that singular passage she is included with the apostles, “the women,” and “with his brethren (Jesus’ brothers),” Acts 1:13, 14, all “continuing with one accord in prayer and supplication.”

Obviously, she is no different from the rest of us, she has to seek God like the rest of us. She needed the Holy Spirit like the rest of us. Moreover, with all the importance placed on her by Romanists, why is she not listed first?

The apostles are listed in importance before her, even “the women” are. Romanists consider Mary the greatest among women, here womankind precedes her.

This, the ONLY mention of her in Acts. Where’s the Mariolatry in Acts?


945 posted on 06/02/2013 12:06:46 PM PDT by sasportas
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To: metmom

So you don’t believe that Eve sinned?


946 posted on 06/02/2013 12:06:53 PM PDT by JCBreckenridge (Texas is a state of mind - Steinbeck)
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To: Natural Law

Don’t see many having any problem but you and a small handful of Maryolators


947 posted on 06/02/2013 12:07:16 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: MarkBsnr; metmom
"Adam watched Eve eat."

So man's sin was in permitting a woman to sin. Can you imagine the treatment some poor guy would get if he tried to tell some of the women on this thread what was and was not acceptable behavior? The term "hell to pay" doesn't come close to what I imagine it would be.

So how does Metmom's hypothesis comport with ones Jewishness coming through the mother.

Peace be with you

948 posted on 06/02/2013 12:08:29 PM PDT by Natural Law (Jesus did not leave us a book, He left us a Church.)
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To: editor-surveyor
"Don’t see many having any problem but you and a small handful of Maryolators."

How long have you been a shut in?

949 posted on 06/02/2013 12:10:05 PM PDT by Natural Law (Jesus did not leave us a book, He left us a Church.)
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To: sasportas

“Obviously, she is no different from the rest of us”

Funny, I did a keyword search and she comes up 52 times

Jesus comes up 1310 times.
David comes up 974 times.
Jacob comes up 363 times.
Solomon comes up 272 times.
Both Josephs come up 248 times.
Paul comes up 239 times
Abraham comes up 235 times.
Peter comes up 178 times
All the Johns come up 121 times.
Elijah comes up 105 times
Elisha comes up 103 times.

Mary comes up 52 times.

That’s it. That’s the entire list of names that come up more frequently than Mary.

Are you telling me this list is just ‘ordinary’ people?


950 posted on 06/02/2013 12:19:48 PM PDT by JCBreckenridge (Texas is a state of mind - Steinbeck)
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To: JCBreckenridge
So when two women scientists create an infant from a female embryo in a petrie dish they will have created a perfect, sinless, human being. Isn’t that sweet?

Feminism revives a discredited bit of stupidity and the Self Alone crowd hop right on it.

951 posted on 06/02/2013 12:33:54 PM PDT by Rashputin (Jesus Christ doesn't evacuate His troops, He leads them to victory.)
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To: Rashputin

You’re then presuming that it will be a human being.

Isn’t that sweet?

And stupid.


952 posted on 06/02/2013 12:44:25 PM PDT by metmom (For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore & do not submit again to a yoke of slavery)
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To: MarkBsnr; Natural Law
It's always interesting to see people who start by saying,
"We reject a huge portion of the Old Testament that Christ and the Apostles accepted. Now we can talk, but anything that isn't in the Pharisee Approved Luther Subset of Scripture we didn't throw out will be ignored."

They insist anti-Christ Pharisees are more authoritative than Christ and the Apostles but claim they're Christians?

What's throwing a huge portion of the Scriptures based on the authority of anti-Christ Pharisees rather than on anything Christ or the Apostles say in Scripture, then swearing they believe in "Scripture Alone", if it's not a delusion?

953 posted on 06/02/2013 1:00:13 PM PDT by Rashputin (Jesus Christ doesn't evacuate His troops, He leads them to victory.)
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To: Petrosius
The Catholic Church is a highly liturgical one and our worship is regulated by official books.

Sola WHAT???

954 posted on 06/02/2013 1:06:53 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: RPTMS
What has that got to do with the Real Presence?

I was thinking more of Tea in China prices.

955 posted on 06/02/2013 1:07:31 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: RPTMS
You thought wrong.

Often claimed;
rarely shown.

956 posted on 06/02/2013 1:07:59 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: RPTMS
What is that supposed to mean?

You'll have to ask the author.

957 posted on 06/02/2013 1:08:36 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: RPTMS
You’ll find out soon enough.

Perhaps; but not by anything the posters in this thread have shown so far.

958 posted on 06/02/2013 1:09:21 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: RPTMS
You heard wrong.

Perhaps; but I've seen no evidence to DISprove it.

959 posted on 06/02/2013 1:10:11 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: RPTMS
The thing is, you only think you're right. We know we're right.

"What MUST we do..."

960 posted on 06/02/2013 1:10:35 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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