Catechisms of the Catholic Church

[jmm08]

My basic question is this: now that we have the post Vatican II Catechism of the Catholic Church, what about the earlier Catechisms? Are the ealier catechisms replaced or augmented? Or are they partially incorrect concerning current practices?

It seems to me that on the vast majority of major points, there is no significant disagreement. However, there may be a minor detail or points brought out in an earlier catechism that is not discussed in the current catechism. And certain specific things have changed without really being important.

In summary, should I only examine the current Catechism on a matter (and figure it is conclusive and comprehensive). Or should I also read earlier catechisms because the earlier catechism may discuss a minor point not mentioned in the current catechism?

Some of the sources I’ve studied include:

Baltimore Catechism – which I think was a summary of a larger catechism I haven’t studied.

Catechism of Pope Pius X (I sent to all the Bishops in 1880). It isn’t very in-depth but it seems to have important content.

Catechism of the Council of Trent

And there are other sources of information such as Church Fathers, St. Augustine and other Doctors of the Church.

 

[Verbum_Caro]

jmm,

You could look at the “Aquinas Catechism”.

The “Master Catechism” has side by side comparisons of all the catechisms you mentioned plus the Aquinas one:

The Nazareth Master Catechism

VC

 

[puzzleannie]

My
Some of the sources I’ve studied include:

Baltimore Catechism – which I think was a summary of a larger catechism I haven’t studied.

Catechism of Pope Pius X (I sent to all the Bishops in 1880). It isn’t very in-depth but it seems to have important content.

*Baltimore Catechism did what Cat of PPX asked for, US bishops prepared age-appropriate catechisms for instruction of the faithful, as did bishops in other countries. *
*Comparable to the CCC in 1990s, which was then translated into other languages, and bishops instructed to use it to prepare catechisms for use in their countries. Result: Compendium, and the new US Cat for Adults, both excellent. *

you can still use, for instance, Baltimore Cats, which have by the way been revised several times during the years, for the age group you need, if you want a Q&A style for kids. Compendium is excellent Q&A style for adults.

Catechism of the Council of Trent

–was the great granddaddy of Catholic Catechisms, and no approved ones since deviate from them, but it put more emphasis on issues critical or under attack in its day, and stated dogmatic definitions in no uncertain terms, since Catholics, including clergy, in countries where reformers were active often had been poorly catechised and needed such direction.

And there are other sources of information such as Church Fathers, St. Augustine and other Doctors of the Church.

CCC lists in footnotes these sources, also scripture cites, and longer references to sources are in the Companion to the CCC.

you can use whatever is useful for the task at hand, and the CCC is not a textbook, it is a reference book, and while some memorization is necessary it is not the beginning and end of catechesis, so in some contexts a Q&A has more limited usefulness

this thread might work better in evangelization

 

[jmm08]

jmm,

You could look at the “Aquinas Catechism”.

The “Master Catechism” has side by side comparisons of all the catechisms you mentioned plus the Aquinas one:

The Nazareth Master Catechism

VC

Thank you for the link. I had used the link before and read all that I could on a particular topic. But I had forgotten the link although I thought I had saved it in my “favorites”.

jmm08

 

[T.A.Stobie_SFO]

The Other Official Catechisms are still valid for what they contain.

However, the (New) Catechism of the Catholic Church was designed as a compehensive collection of church teachings on faith or morals and was declared by the Pope (John Paul II) as a sure norm for the teaching the faith and as the official source for other (newer) catechisms.

 

[puzzleannie]

I would like to add that the search tool I have found most useful and easy is the searchable CCC on catholicity.com, much easier to find what I want than searching from the USCCB site.

 

[jmm08]

The Other Official Catechisms are still valid for what they contain.

However, the (New) Catechism of the Catholic Church was designed as a compehensive collection of church teachings on faith or morals and was declared by the Pope (John Paul II) as a sure norm for the teaching the faith and as the official source for other (newer) catechisms.

On the surface of reading “sure norm, etc.”, one might easily conclude that the Catechism can be studied by itself and all else previous can be ignored. But when you read the Catechism, it frequently has many footnotes to previous documents and writings (and the Catechism appears to draw and gain some authority by quoting such things). So perhaps what we also learn from the Catechism is to also research earlier valid Church documents and writings, especially if there are still unanswered questions that are specifically answered in an earlier valid writing.