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?
Oh; I see...
Got it.
SOME say 'half' of the time.
How many people here claim that they are saved - and they know it?
Jesus is not God in your theology?
Did I make one?
COOL!!!!
(You guys don't get the job of being the sole dispenser of Christ's; either.)
There ya go!
(Now if all the bells and whistles can be gotten rid of...)
It says so in them
>> Why do you believe the New Testament is authentic?<<
Because the Holy Spirit testifies to that fact.
Acts 15:8 And God, who knows the heart, bore witness by granting them the holy Spirit just as he did us. 9 He made no distinction between us and them, for by faith he purified their hearts.
And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever--the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. John 14:16,17
>> On what authority do you rely?<<
Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.
Me...
I don’t think that your references to Mark’s BS or the photo of the dog’s anus are fitting for the RF. But I’ll let the moderator decide.
That CAN'T be right, can it? We "have been"...are you sure it doesn't say we "MIGHT have been"??? ;o)
1 John 5:13 (ESV)
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.
Sigh...
When a person (a Christian at least) says 'GOD'; to me that implies the GODHEAD: all three parts of the Trinity.
Thus, one cannot be the mother of 'god' for HE3 has ALWAYS existed.
Jesus; however; is merely (bad choice of word) ONE of the 3.
HE did have a 'mother' if you wish to say so, and the bible certainly does.
Mary was the vehicle that supplied 1/3 of 'god' with flesh.
I’ll take three sigma.....Its better than a humorless life.
The Holy Spirit teaches and ALL true believers have within them the Holy Spirit for guidance.
"The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Cor 2:14
And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever--the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. John 14:16,17
It’s the lies of the RCC that would have you believe otherwise.
Have you even read Dei Verbum? You may want to personally revisit your statement.
Catholic teaching prohibits in vitro fertilization, ...
On what basis? Its own opinion? Or on the Scripture that you claimed does not address contemporary issues?
Scripture ... as explained at the link I posted above.
So Scripture really does address contemporary issues after all, eh?
A bunch.
What's that got to do with the charge that people think they can sin with impunity because they know they're saved?
I'd just HATE to be a JW today!
Heaven's already got it's 144,000 - no birthday parties - and they have no dog in the fight over politics!!
I thought of a dozen JW jokes to respond with, but in all reality, their error outweighs their zeal and I just feel sorry for them.
Peace be with you
It's not like people are saved until they reject Him.
Scripture teaches that men are lost unless they accept Him.
Anyone who wants salvation is free to avail themselves of it. God will not deny it, say *No* to anyone who asks, repents and believes.
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