Posted on 05/31/2013 2:44:05 PM PDT by NYer
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?
Give it a break man. Paul told the Bereans to “search the scriptures daily”. Now does that sound like no one had them? Those not under the cult teachings of the RCC don’t fall for that nonsense.
Hello! What does the CHURCH say the penalty is!!!?
Whatever God says that it is.
If you believe that Scripture begets the Church, that is one perspective. However, the Christian one is that the Church begets Scripture at the guidance of God.
I posted an essay from the Orthodox who more closely defined the Dormition/Assumption before the West accepted it.
That is the attitude and assumption (heh) of the OSAS crowd. Look at the posts and see what the development of the 'I cannot be denied salvation' presentation gives us.
Call it what you want. Fraud, myth, supposition, assumptions, or whatever. It’s absolutely preposterous to believe the apostles were “caught up from various lands on the clouds of heaven, and were transported to Gethsemane” and “kissed the burial clothes which were lying in the tomb” and not one word in scripture. An event so monumental not even mentioned or referenced in any of their writings. Preposterous made up story by a cult that will one day suffer the wrath of God.
The “church begets scripture”? What blasphemy! The Holy Spirit inspired, (begat) scripture and that is clearly stated in scripture itself. It’s astounding the arrogance of the RCC and it’s followers.
“No other people in history or today were given that promise or commission.”
How did you find out about Jesus?
I have a grandfather. Is it correct to say that my grandfather did not beget me?
What were the contents of these ‘scriptures’? Which books?
Was it the Septuagint?
Jesus message was predicated upon an acceptance of who He was. Paul told the Bereans to search the Scriptures, the 450+ predictions of Jesus and his ministry in the (Greek) Septuagint (which included the Deutercanonicals), to verify that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.
Peace be with you
Presumption is a sin against Hope.
ROFL! You mean the Holy Spirit talks to some of them but there’s a different spirit talking to the others and the ones with the most votes must be the Holy Spirit ones? Oy! But those Protestants that have those different interpretations…………….That’s different. Right?
I just went through your posting history and could not find where you posted that as you claim.
Could you direct me to the post number showing the Scripture that states that sin entered the world through the woman?
That's what Scripture teaches. Eve was deceived.
I’m going to plead the fifth.....
Sure because God doesn't have a mother. Jesus did.
If you don't understand how the Magisterium functions you should not comment. If you knew Scripture you would already know it functions today as it always has:
"The apostles and the elders met together to consider this matter. After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers. And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us; " Acts 15:6-8.
Peace be with you
Again, provide the post numbers.
I haven't seen anyone state or brag that they can sin with impunity because they know they're saved.
Jesus IS God. If you do not believe that you are not a Christian.
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