FFC CATECHISM
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[ Introduction ].[ Section 1 ].[ Section 2 ].[ Section 3 ].[ Appendix ]
Appendix:
STATISTICS OF THE
CATECHISM
The 404
answers in this Catholic family
Catechism contain 7,200
words. This is an
average of less than 18 words per answer.
By
comparison, the old Green Catechism
Contained 8,200 words over 386 answers, an
average of 21 ½ words per answer.
Moreover, 252 answers in the Catholic Fami-
ly
Catechism are marked with an asterisk (*) to
form a shorter catechism on their own. These
contain 4,270 words, an average of 17 words
per answer.
The
remaining 152 answers that can be omit-
ted the first time through or with younger
children contain 2,930 words, an average of 19
words per answer.
AMBIGUOUS
WORDS
There is
a story told of a mother who was instructing her
three year old daughter. Mum said: “God hasn’t got a
body.” The three year old went off into peals of laughter:
“He must look funny, with his legs jointed on to his
head!”
There is an important lesson for adults in
this: “Body”
had a precise meaning for this child, namely the trunk of
the human “body”, where “body” means the material part
of our human nature, in contrast to our soul or spirit.
In the
INDEX, “body” has four meanings, and we
grown-ups tend to glide from one meaning to another
without realizing what we are doing. The index is very
useful for recognizing these “Catholic ambiguities”.
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The following list of ambiguous Catholic
words should
be kept in mind when talking with children. Children
are
quite capable of understanding how words can have several
meanings: after all a lot of their jokes depend on it. What
is more, many of the words listed have meanings that
are
derived from each other, and an understanding of this can
help produce that “Catholic mind” that is the measure of
a
maturing faith.
Adoption:
(1) human; (2) by God.
Celebration:
(1) emotionally joyful party; (2) publicly per-
formed rites.
Charity:
(1) love of neighbour; (2) love for God; (3)
almsgiving.
Chastity:
(1) virginity; (2) virtuous use of sex, as in chaste
marriage.
Church:
(1) the building; (2) God’s People; (3) a denomination
Confession:
(1) part of the Sacrament of Penance; (2) the
Sacrament of Penance.
Communion:
(1) Holy Communion; (2) Communion of
Saints; (3) denomination.
Eucharist:
(1) Liturgy of the Eucharist; (2) the Consecrated
Bread
and Wine; (3) receiving them.
Faith:
(1) God’s gift of power to believe; (2) the doctrines
believed; (3) trust.
God:
(1) the Father; (2) the Trinity.
Grace:
(1) God’s gift of himself; (2) prayer before meals.
Head:
compare all the Answers listed in the index.
Heaven:
(1) where God shows his glory; (2) the skies above.
Hell:
(1) where the Devil rules; (2) “descended into hell” of
the limbo of Old Testament saints.
Host:
(1) the gift in a sacrifice; (2) the consecrated Bread;
(3) an army; (4) one who welcomes guests.
Last
Rites: see Answer 290.
Love:
(1) an emotional liking; (2) willing what is good: (3)
God’s
love given to us with grace; (4) our love for God; (5)
our love for our neighbour;
(6) an excuse for lust.
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Ministry:
(1) priesthood; (2) being an acolyte or server; (3)
Loving
service inspired by the Holy spirit’s charisms.
Passion:
(1) Our Lord’s sufferings; (2) bodily desires.
Penance:
(1) a Sacrament; (2) part of that Sacrament; (3)
self-denial.
Sacramental:
see footnote on 308.
Sacrifice:
(1) the Mass; (2) Jewish and Pagan; (3) self-denial.
Victim:
(1) the living gift offered in Sacrifice; (2) road casualty.
THE
HOLY TRINITY AND
“APPROPRIATION”
See the note following the heading “GOD
THE
CREATOR”, just before Answer 7.
THE
FATHER, THE CREATOR: The work of creation
Belongs to all Three Divine Persons of God the Holy Trinity.
Yet it
is appropriated to God the Father, because within
the Trinity, the Father is the source of life for
both the Son
and the Holy Spirit. True, the Son and the Holy Spirit
are
equal with the Father, yet it is the father who gives the
Son,
the quality of having divine life in himself (see John
and the Father and the Son give this quality to the
Holy
Spirit
(see John
Moreover, the Three Persons do not all
have the same
Role in
creation: it is the work of the Father, through the
Son:
John 1:3; Hebrews 1:2-3. So it is appropriate that the
Scriptures,
the Liturgy, the Church’s Creeds and this
catechism appropriate Creation to the Father.
THE
SON, THE SAVIOUR: It is more abvious that
the
work of salvation would be appropriated to God
the Son,
because he alone became incarnate as the God-man and
made the sacrifice for our salvation. But he did not do
this
without the Father sending him and accepting his offering,
or without the Holy Spirit’s role in his miraculous concep-
tion and in
the application of salvation to our individual
souls. Again, the entire trinity is in action (so to
speak),
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but each Divine Person acts in a way appropriate to
his rela-
tionship with
the other Two.
THE
HOLY SPIRIT, THE SANCTIFIER: The work of
Jour
sanctification belongs to all Three Divine Persons – all
Three
dwell in our souls by grace – but it is appropriated to
the Holy Spirit, because he is bond of love between
Father
and Son, and because he is the Gift of the Father. Thus St.
Paul
says our “bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit” (1
Corinthians
6:19). Thus grace is appropriated to the Holy
Spirit
(see answers 43-45) even while all Three Persons are
indwelling (see 45). This is why the Church, land the Com-
munion of
Saints that share holy things like Sacraments,
are grouped in the creed as works of the Spirit, even
while
they so obviously involve the Father and the Son as well.
FURTHER
Cross”,
translated by Roy Campbell; the Second Vatican
Council’s
“Constitution on the Liturgy”, Nos. 5-7, and
“Constitution on the Church”, Nos. 1-8 and 17.
COMPUTERS
AND HUMAN THOUGHT
Computers do not think.
In view of Answer 37, this is most
important. Our unique
human capacity to know and understand proves that we
have spiritual souls. The animals have knowledge too,
but
only a picture sort of knowledge such as appears on a
T.V.
screen, without any general ideas. Computers do not even
have an animal sort of knowledge.
The
computer can only do the things that it has been pro-
grammed to do.
This is does very quickly. A computer is a
complicated tool, an instrument for the human mind to
facilitate some of the mind’s operations, just as tools
facilitate the work of human hands.
A computer is something like a
combination of an elec-
tric
typewriter, a desk calculator multiplied many times, an
electronic card index that can store vast amounts of infor-
mation, a
video-tape recorder, sometimes a T. V. screen,
and a tele-printer.
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None of these items, taken separately,
involve thinking
or understanding. Rather, they are an instrument for
us doing so.
Nor taken in combination, as a computer,
can they think
or understand.
The science fiction stories of the
machines taking over the
government of human beings are horrifying precisely
because robots are mechanical and electrical slave-
machines, that could only act towards us as sub-human dic-
tators.
The qualities that make our thinking something
specifically human are our consciousness of our thinking,
our capacity to make generalizations and recognize
approx-
imations, our
understanding of the reasons why things hap-
pen and not just the fact that they happened, our apprecita-
tion of completely
non-materialistic ideas like love and
justice, wisdom and temperance, etc.
THE
MEANING OF GENESIS 1 AND 2
1.
God made
everything, hence the listing of light, air,
earth, trees, sun, moon, stars, birds, fish, animals and
finally man. The Church does not define the meaning of the
six days of creation: the Hebrew word for a day simply
means a period of time.
2.
God is Almighty:
he created everything by a word, a
thought: “Let there be light – and the light was made”!
3.
Man is unique among God’s creatures: man’s dignity,
duty and destiny are due to his soul being made in God’s
image and likeness; also, men and women are equal before
God;
marriage is bless by God; mankind is responsible to
God for his use of creation.
4.
Man is made for
the worship of God: the rest day is
God’s,
and the first man and woman enjoyed God’s
fellowship.
5.
There really was
an historic first man (“Adam” means
“the man”) and an historic act of disobedience. Therefore
there are restrictions on what a Catholic may hold by way
of private opinion on the evolution of the human body.
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EVOLUTION
See 41, also 36-40, 47-54.
The teaching of the Catholic Church on
evolution was
given clearly by Pope Pius XII in his encyclical letter,
“HUMANI
GENERIS’, IN 1950:-
(1) Each
human soul is a direct creation of God. Souls do
not evolve.
(2) All
human beings now on earth have Adam for their
ancestor.
Because of this descent from Adam, we are
born with
original sin.
(3) The
evolution of the human body from other living mat-
ter
is an open question. A Catholic could hold it, but he
must hold (1)
and (2).
(4)
Such evolution has not been proved and should not be
taught as fact.
Since then, the Second Vatican Council
referred to the
historical fact of Adam and of original sin in several
places:-
“On the
Church”, No. 2, in 1964;
“On the Church in the Modern World”, Nos. 13 and 22, in 1965.
Also, Pope Paul VI, in his “CREDO OF THE PEOPLE
OF
GOD”, IN 1968, re-affirmed this teaching.
Catholic thinkers should heed point 4 above.
Since 1950,
all the scientific discoveries have weakened the theory
of
evolution:-
(a)
“Piltdown Man” of 1912 was proved to be a deliberate
fraud in
1953-54; yet it was “Piltdown Man” that
helped establish
“Peking Man” in 1927 and “Java
Man” in 1936.
(b)
Around 1950, evolutionists declared mankind to be
100,000 years old, and they worked out a
series of miss-
ing
links and common ancestors and presented them as
factual proof of
evolution. Since then, more recent
human fossils in
2,000,000 and more recently 4,000,000
years old, thus
wiping out all
the previous details of the theory.
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( c) Professor Jerome Le Jeune,
Contemporary researcher
into the
chromosome excess in Mongoloid children, has
declared that,
because the chromosomes are so com-
plicated
in their arrangement and in their constituent
genes, it is
impossible for any species now on earth to
have descended
from anything but a single make and
female of its
own species. Thus Adam and eve are once
more perfectly
respectable scientifically.
A further interesting point about the theory
of evolution
is that if Point (2) of Pope Pius XII were wrong, not
only
does original sin cease to exist in its traditional
form, but so
also does human solidarity. It is only by descent from
Adam
that we now have kinship by blood with all other
human beings on earth. Racist theories usually reject
Adam
and embrace polygenism. Also,
human solidarity with
Adam is
the foundation for human solidarity with Jesus
Christ
in his Mystical Body, the Church.
THE
OLD TESTAMENT
“To be ignorant of the Scriptures is to
be ignorant of
Christ.”
The Old Testament is the inspired record
of God’s deal-
ings with
his Chosen People. These dealings prepared the
way for the coming of God’s Son.
It is said that the best commentary on
the New Testament
is the Old Testament, Many of the New Testament
prayers,
and those of the Church’s liturgy, are taken directly
from
the Old Testament, or at least based on it.
Our Lady,
and their listeners, were all familiar with the Old
Testament
Scriptures. They were brought up on it:
“Continue in what you have learned and
firmly believed.
You
know from whom you learned it and how from your
Childhood
you have been familiar with the sacred writings
Which
are able to instruct you for salvation, through your
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faith in Christ. All scripture is inspired by God and
pro-
fitable for
teaching, reproof, correction and instruction in
righteousness, so that the man of God my be perfect,
capable of every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:14-17.
The following passages are part of every
Christian’s
heritage:-
Creation:
Genesis 1-2
The Fall: Genesis 3
Cain
and Abel: Genesis 4
Noah
and the Flood: Genesis 6-9
The
The Call
of Abraham: Genesis 12: 1-9
Abraham
and Isaac: Genesis 22
Esau
and Jacob: Genesis 27
Jacob
and Rachael: Genesis 29-30
Joseph’s
Coat: Genesis 37
Joseph’s
great Success Story: Genesis 39-41
Moses
in the Bullrushes: Exodus 1-2
Moses
and the Burning Bush: Exodus 3
Moses
and the Plagues: Exodus 4-10
Death
and Passover: Exodus 11-12
The Ten
Commandments: Exodus 19-20
Samuel
the Prophet: 1 Samuel
3
David
and Goliath: 1 Samuel
17
David
and Saul: 1 Samuel 18
and 24
David
and Jonathan: 1 Samuel
20
David,
Bathsheba and Uriah: 2 Samuel
11
David’s
Repentance: 2 Samuel
12:1-23
Elijah
and the Prophets of Baal: 1 Kings 18
Elijah
on
Naboth’s Vineyard: 1 Kings 21
Achab’s Doom: 1 Kings 22:1-40
Elisha
and the Leper: 2 Kings 5
The Fall of Jezebel: 2 Kings 9
The
Fiery Furnace: Daniel 3
The
Writing on the Wall: Daniel 5
Daniel
in the Lion’s Den: Daniel 6
The Maccabees’ Martyrdom: 2 Maccabees
7
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THE
LAY APOSTOLATE
“Here are a few practical ways in which
we can exercise a
lay apostolate in our street and let our neighbours hear the
Gospel
message and recognize the Christ in us, as we
recognize the Christ in them:
1.
ALWAYS BE FRIENDLY: Try and be friendly with
everyone you meet in your street, greeting them or waving
to them whenever you see them. Like you they are
children
of God.
2. BE A
GOOD LISTENER: Let your neighbours talk out
their problems with you. Don’t be too busy. Like the Good
Samaritan
be prepared to stop. You may be the only one
they can find to talk to. Fewer and fewer people are
prepared to listen.
3.
VISIT THE SICK: When neighbours are taken ill, visit
them either at home or in hospital. What you do for them
Christ
will take as done to himself.
4. HELP
THE ELDERLY AND L ONELY: Drop in occa-
sionally on the
elderly and visit them, especially when they
live on their own. You might even be able to help with
some
little job around the house or yard.
5. GIVE
ADVICE: If you are asked for advice by
neighbours on any topic whatever, do your best to help
them. Even go to the trouble of finding out additional
in-
formation, if it could be helpful.
6.
ASSIST THE POOR: When a neighbour for whatever
reason is in financial difficulty and the family is
experience-
ing poverty,
first of all do whatever you can to help them,
and then let the St. Vincent de Paul Society or some
other
welfare agency know of their need.
7.
EXPLAIN THE FAITH: If the subject of religion is
brought up by a neighbour,
explain the Catholic viewpoint
as best you can with sincerity and without apology. If
you
neighbour wishes to take the point further, give him
Catholic
literature on the subject or introduce him to a priest.
8. PRAY
FOR THEM: Regularly include your neighbours
and their needs in your family prayer and Sunday Mass.
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9.
FAMILY PRAYER: Occasionally share family prayer
with other Catholic families from your street, either in
their
home or in your own. This is sharing what your families
hold dearest. You are inviting Christ to come more fully
in-
to your midst. Then you are most truly neighbours to one
another.
10.
LOCAL ACTIVITIES: Take an interest in local
government matters affecting your area. See if there is any
way that you can co-operate better with your neighbours to
improve the quality of local life and make your street a
bet-
ter place to live
in.
Reprinted from “The Catholic Weekly” of
Kind permission of the author, Mr. Wal Maggs and the Editor.
PREPARING
FOR A BAPTISM
By asking for their child to be baptized,
parents are “ac-
cepting the
responsibility of training them in the practice of
the faith” to “see that the divine life which God give
them
is kept safe from the poison of sin, to grow always
stronger
in their hearts’. It is their “duty to bring them up
to keep
God’s
commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God
And our
neighbour”. The Rite of Baptism for
Children.
Parents should prepare:-
1.
themselves spiritually by Confession and Communion;
2.
the Christian name(s) by which their child will be called,
both by them and by God, and which should be used in the
Litany
of the Saints at the Baptism;
3.
one or two godparents, to assist them now and
later, and
to represent the Church; if there are two godparents,
one is
of each sex, and one of them can be a non-Catholic
Christian
witness as long as he or she is baptized and believes in
Christ;
4.
for a visit from the priest, to help them
and their own children
to take part in the Baptism and to follow it up
afterwards;
5.
a while garment, which can be used for all the children of
the family, perhaps with their names embroidered on it;
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6.
a candle, perhaps decorated something like an Easter
Candle,
though this is not essential: a domestic candle will do;
7.
an offering in an envelope
for the support of the priests.
THE
CEREMONIES AT BAPTISM
Seven times during the Rite of Baptism
(‘rite” means
ritual or ceremony) something is DONE to the baby: the
essential ceremony is the third, the sacrament itself, while
the other six are sacramentals
(see 3080 by which we wor-ship and are instructed:-
1.
The Sign of the Cross by which the priest,
parents and
godparents claim the child for Christ our Saviour,
tracing a
small cross with their thumbs on the baby’s forehead;
2.
The Oil of Catechumens as a prayer for salvation:
the
priest dips his thumb in the olive oil blessed by the
Bishop
and makes a cross on the baby’s breast: the word
“catechumen” is a reminder of “catechism”, which in the
case of infants will be taught to them after baptism;
3.
The actual Sacrament with Water and Words, see 224;
forever afterwards the use of holy water at the Church
doors, at home and sometimes at the beginning of Mass,
will be a reminder of Baptism and a prayer for a renewal
of its grace;
4.
The Chrism (see 240-241) as a reminder of the permanent
character of Christ given to the baptized child (see
230-231):
the priest dips his thumb in the chrism and traces a
cross on
the crown of the child’s head:
5.
The White Garment, as an
outward sign of the Christian
dignity and a reminder to preserve one’s baptismal
innocence,
is put on the child:
6.
The Lighted Candle lit by the father from the Easter Candle,
to show that the flame of faith must be kept alive in
the
child’s heart, especially by the efforts of parents and
godparents;
7.
The ‘Ephphetha” (pronounced
“ef-f-tha’), meaning
“be opened” where the priest imitates Christ’s gesture of
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touching the ears and mouth, to show that the ears will
listen to Christ’s words and the mouth will proclaim his
faith to the praise and glory of God the Father.
THE
CHRISTIAN VOCATION
Child: What is the Christian “vocation”?
Parent: A vocation is a call, a call from God to be
something. The
Christian vocation came to us at
our Baptism, and
it is the call to follow Christ, to
be disciples, to
be like him. At our Confirmation,
we are called to
be more like him by sharing in his
mission: we are sent
to do his work as lay apostles,
with the Holy
Spirit as our Helper and Guide.
Child: I thought a vocation was becoming
a priest.
Parent: That’s the highest of the
Christian vocations: to
act as Christ’s
representative at the Altar so all can
join in his
offering of sacrifice, to heal the wounds
of sin, and to
“activate” the lay apostles to do
Christ’s work in the world.
Child: That means there are other vocation for Christians?
Parent: Yes, As well as the Sacrament of
Holy Orders for
priest, there is the
Sacrament of Marriage for
parents, for their
vocation, and the blessing and
vows for nuns and
brothers.
Child: What’s my vocation?
Parent: At the moment, your vocation is to be a young
apostle at home, in
the family, at school, and in
the world of
youth. Your job is to make things bet-
ter at home, at
school and in the world. God has
entrusted something
special just to you!
Child: But when I grow up, how will I find out my God-
given vocation in
life?
Parent: We have to train ourselves to be willing to do what
God wants, especially by doing what is right when
we don’t feel
like it. Look up No. 130 in your
Prayer Book, “Heart Speaks to Heart”, at least
the top part.
Spend as much time on this as seems
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useful. The emphasis
should be on using one’s
abilities to meet the
needs of others.
Child: Can ordinary jobs be vocations?
Parent: All the ordinary work that people
get paid for
should be building
up a better world to live in
These jobs must be vocations to a follower of
Christ because the Father calls us to work on his
creation to make it
more perfect through his gifts
to us, and to
overcome the evil from human sins.
From the “Confirmation Kit for Home Preparation”,
Lesson Plan No. 7, published by the Cardinal Newman
Catechist Centre.
PREPARING
FOR CONFIRMATION
“With
regard to children, in the Latin Church the ad-
ministration of confirmation is generally postponed until
about the seventh year. For pastoral reasons, however,
especially to strengthen the faithful in complete obedience
to Christ the Lord and in loyal testimony to him,
Episcopal
conferences may choose an age which seems more ap-
propriate, so that the sacrament is conferred at a more
mature age after appropriate formation.
“In
this case the necessary precautions should be taken so
that children be confirmed at the proper time, even
before
the use of reason, where there is danger of death or
other
serious difficulty. They should not be deprived of the
benefit of this sacrament.
“One
must be baptized to receive the sacrament of confir-
mation. In
addition, if the baptized person has the use of
reason, it is required that he be in a state of grace,
properly
instructed, and able to renew his baptismal promised.”
Rite of Confirmation, Introduction,
Nos. 11-12
Preparation
for Confirmation: Children preparing for
Confirmation
should be practicing the Faith by prayer,
Sunday
Mass and the regular reception of the Sacraments
they have already received. They should be “properly in-
structed”, using this Catholic Family Catechism and/or
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other suitable material – suitable to them, to their
catechists and to the Catholic Church.
If
possible, they should attend the Parish Baptisms one
Sunday,
to see what was done at their own Baptism. This
should help them understand their Confirmation. The
priest may be willing to take this into account in his ex-
planations of the Baptismal ceremonies, as they proceed.
A
Confirmation sponsor is needed to present the child to
the Bishop. The sponsor should be a godparent from the
child’s baptism, or a new sponsor can be chosen, including
a parent. It is not required that the sponsor be of
the same
sex as the child, but this may be preferable from the
point
of example. The sponsor should be a practicing
Catholic,
and not chosen simply to please relatives or neighbours.
The
baptismal name is preferred for use in Confirmation,
But the
custom of choosing a new saint’s name is permitted.
An
on-going instruction must follow up the Confirmation,
so that the child grows in awareness of being a
confirmed
Christian.
The Catholic Family Catechism provides conti-
nuing instruction, and the Liturgical Year is a continuing
call to deeper commitment, especially by a well-prepared
Easter and Pentecost each year.
MARRIAGE
Before a marriage takes place in the
Catholic Church, the
engaged couple must state in writing that they hold the
basic Catholic beliefs about marriage. The three
questions
put to them are also repeated within the Marriage celebra-
tion as a
“declaration of intentions”. The non-Catholic in a
mixed marriage must also hold these beliefs.
1. Has your decision to marry been taken freely
and willingly?
2. Will you love and honour
each other as man and wife
for the rest of
your lives?
3. Will you accept children loving from God and
bring
them up according to the law of Christ and his Church?
(for mixed
marriages: his law?)
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The
three question must be answered “yes” and signed in
the presence of the Parish Priest or his assistant.
Within the
Marriage
celebration, the questions are asked in a similar
form, and bridegroom and bride each answer each question
in turn, “I have”, “I will” and “I will”.
Mixed
marriage dispensation: The following promise must
be made by the Catholic party in a mixed marriage:
Aware that the Catholic faith
which I profess is a gift
from God, I recognize my duty to guard and nourish it,
especially by prayer and the
reception of the Sacraments
which our divine Saviour
provides for us by the ministry of
his Church; and I declare that I am ready to remove all
dangers of lapsing from it.
I shall strive to love and
serve God faithfully, and obey
The commandment of Christ: “Love one another as I have
loved you. “In this way I shall endeavour
to be both for my
partner in Marriage and for my
family an example of con-
stancy “in faith and love and holiness”(1 Timothy
and I shall make it my constant aim to pray for their
welfare, both in body and in
soul.
Since I believe that the
Church founded by Christ subsists
(that is, continues to exist) in the Catholic
church which is
governed by the successor of Peter
and the Bishops in union
with him, I promise to do all in my power to have our
children baptized and brought up
in the Catholic faith.
My intended partner in
Marriage has been informed of
my duties as a Catholic and of the declaration I have
made
concerning my own care to preserve
my faith and of my
promise concerning the children
with whom God may
please to bless us. I am
confident that with the grace of God
I shall be faithful to these duties and promises.
FALSE
BELIEFS
(see Answer 330)
Atheism:
being sure that God does not exist.
Agnosticism:
not being sure if God exists or not.
Extreme
selfishness: making a god out of oneself.
Materialism
(and secularism): making a god out of material
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goods and money.
Hedonism:
making a god out of the pleasures of the body.
Evolutionism:
believing in the forces of blind chance.
Communism:
worshipping the classless society.
Humanism:
making a god out of
Rationalism:
making a god out of human reason.
Modernism:
making a religion out of the scholarship that
denies miracles.
Heresy:
denying a truth revealed by God and defined by his
Church.
A number of these “-isms” are often held in common, even
when they contradict each other. The Second
Council treats other religions, and particularly the
separated Christians, in a positive
fashion, stressing what
truth is prominent in them. See the Constitution on the
Church, Nos. 14, 15 and 16. It asserts that “they could not
be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was
founded as necessary by God
through Christ, would refuse
either to enter it, or to remain
in it”, and also, “even
though incorporated into the
Church, one who does not
however persevere in charity is
not saved”; (from No. 14 on
the Church).
EDUCATION
IN PURITY
(see Answers 369-378, 393-397)
As noted before Answer 372, the basic
treatment of the
6th
Commandment can be given without the details on
human sexuality.
But the treatment of purity in 372-376
must be given
positively. Purity means keeping the sexual powers of the
body under control, and for use according to God’s plan.
This
requires an explanation of the human sexual powers.
1. This
explanation has already begun in the child’s ex-
perience of
family life and parental love. In the home, day
by day, the child should be learning the value and
dignity of
mother and father, of brother and sister, and of self.
This is
even more important than the points that follow. It is
the
foundation for them and for the attitudes to them.
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2. Sex
means male and female, literally, “divided into two”
within the human species. This is the way God designed and
made human beings. Hence every part of the body is good,
because God made it. Some parts are more private than
others (see 1 Corinthians
evil. Each part of the body has its correct use which
pleases
God. But good things can be misused or abused (see the
ex-
ample of the tongue in James 3:1-12).
3. See
the “Hail, Mary”, 75, for “womb”. God planned
that each baby would grow in the mother’s womb until
ready for birth.
4. The
baby’s soul was made directly by God: see 37-38.
5.
He was
not the earthly father of Jesus – see 70 and 72 and
footnote. For ordinary children, God planned that their
bodies would begin to exist and grow when their father and
mother showed their love for each other in a special em-
brace, that is, when they joined their bodies together in
sex-
ual intercourse.
Use correct names for the parts of the
body. Describe what the opposite sex looks like. It is
best to
give information in small, digestible amounts and then
answer questions simply and without any great detail. The
detail can be supplied later when further questions
require it.
6.
These matters are wonderful and sacred because they
concern God’s plan for human life. But original sin has
made them somewhat embarrassing (see Genesis
contrast to 3:7-11). We need the correct attitude, that is,
modesty (see 396) and the avoiding of occasions of sin. See
the prayers in “Heart Speaks to Heart”. Nos. 142-145, and 147.
7.
Children should be reminded to avoid bad companions
who make smutty talk about the body and its powers.
8. This
sort of instruction should be given individually, to
one child at a time. This preserves reverence for the
subject
and the mental privacy of the child. Public instruction
in
these matters was forbidden by Pope Pius XI, and the Se-
cond
Vatican Council locates its encouragement for “a
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positive and prudent education in matters relating to sex”
in the context of a general upbringing at home and not
in
the context of schools (see “Christian Education”. No.
1:
schools are not mentioned till the end of No. 4).
9.
Nowadays parents are taking up their responsibilities in
these duties to their children. Some schools prompt
parents
by sending home advertisements for booklets and
cassette
recordings and a general request that these private instruc-
tions be
given at home.
10.
Some suitable books for parents to use are: with
younger children, WHAT IS LOVE? SEX EDUCATION
FOR
CHILDREN, BY Patrick Berry; also, IN
THE IM-
AGE
OF GOD by Dr. Sean O’Reilly, to help parents who
are not sure of their capacity to cope with the
subject; and
pamphlets HE’S YOUR SON and INSTRUCTIONS FOR
GIRLS.
PRAYERS
Because this Catechism is to be studied
in conjunction
with the Prayer Book, “Heart Speaks to Heart”, it does
not contain a Prayer-Appendix.
The Answers in the Catechism itself
require the
memorization of The Apostles’ Creed (2), The Sign of the
Cross (4), the Hail Mary (75), the Our father
(88), and for
older children, the Confirmation Prayer (245).
Other prayers that should be memorized
are in the Prayer
Book “Heart Speaks
to Heart”. They are:
A
Morning Offering (one out of 8, 11, 12 or 13),
An Act
of Contrition or Prayer of the Penitent (91, 156,
100(4)
Glory
be to the Father (29)
the People’s responses at Mass (104 onwards)
Grace
before and after Meals (160, 161)
Acts of
Faith, Hope and Charity (39-41)
Angel
of God (18)
Prayers
for the Dead (136)
All
these should be known and used regularly by the end of
Year 5
of schooling, that is, boys and girls aged 11 years.
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VESSELS & VESTMENTS, ETC.
MASS
VESTMENTS
1.
AMICE: a neck
cloth with tie cords
worn under alb to
protect it.
2. ALB:
white linen
ankle-length
garment with
sleeves, also worn
by deacons, acolytes
and altar servers.
3.
CINCTURE:
white or coloured
cord to gather alb
at waist; its ends
hang loose.
4.
STOLE: worn
round neck,
hanging down each
side, held at waist
by cincture; stole
matches chasuble. A
deacon wears the
stole as a sash over
left shoulder.
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5.
CHASUBLE:
outer priestly
vestment akin to
Christ’s
seamless
robe. Liturgically
coloured for
season
or feast, often
braided with a cross
etc. A deacon wears
a dalmatic which
has short sleeves.
VESSELS
AND FURNISHINGS
shown here can be identified from their pictures and an
ordinary school dictionary:
ALTAR, CANDLES, CRUCIFIX:
PATEN, CHALICE, CIBORIUM:
CORPORAL,
PURIFIER, MISSAL.
(Not shown here: chalice veil, pall
and altar cloth.)
Page 211
RECOMMENDED BOOKS
AVAILABLE AT MAJOWE CENTRE
1. CHASTITY by Dr. Murray
Norris. This booklet shows
Teenagers the beauty of sex, the
importance of chastity
and how to say
‘No’ when required.
Price : 20 cents each. (24 pages)
2. PREPARING FOR THE BAPTISM OF YOUR CHILD
by Fr. Nicholas
Schneider. Useful to parents for
intelligent
participation in the baptismal rite and helpful
to priests and
catechists.
Price : 30 cents
each. (24 pages)
3. WHO WILL TELL US THE TRUTH? By Fr. C. Pereirs,
S.J. A frank
discussion for young boys reaching
adolescence and
mature boys thinking about the
priesthood.
Price : 50 cents
each. (35 pages)
4. THE CHRISTIAN LIFE (A Course in the Catholic Faith
for adults) by
Fr. A.J. Renckens. Based on Holy
Scripture the Christian doctrine becomes
alive and easy
To understand in this
booklet.
Price : $2.20
(120 Pages)
Page 212
5. SALVATION HISTORY by Neal
M. Flanagan, O.S.M.
It is biblical theology about the one
theme: salvation of
mankind. It
introduces the important people and events
in the history of
salvation.
Price : $5.00 (344
pages)
6. LITURGY SERVICES (HANDBOOK FOR LAY
MINISTERS) prepared by M-J Diocesan Liturgy
Commission. Extremely useful for Law Ministers.
Price : $3.50
(117).
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