Is it common for Catholics to memorize the Bible or the catechism?

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If you visit Amazon, you can still purchase the Baltimore Catechism which was introduced by the Catholic Bishop of Baltimore to remedy shortcomings in the teaching of Catholic religion to American children.
 
Understanding concepts is good, but over a long period of time, memorization carries us through.
 
We are encouraged to study scripture. My parish gave out Bibles to every kid in my Confirmation class, which seems like a strong enough hint. How many actually follow through is anybody’s guess. I know I would like to see more emphasis at parishes on adult catechesis and Bible study. It should be a major part of the Church, but it seems it’s not taught as strongly in our community. Really it’s something I’d like to see more priests speak firmly about in their homilies. They should be telling parents to read the Bible to their children, and telling single young adults to join a Bible study group.

I think for many Catholics, reading the Bible is more of a theoretical exercise, something considered to be good, but not something they feel an obligation to do. They put their Bible on a shelf somewhere and listen in Church to the readings, but that’s as far as they get. Instead it should really be a living breathing exercise in the Church.
 
Several people have mentioned memorizing the Baltimore Catechism as children. I too started with the Baltimore Catechism. Unfortunately as a First Grader confronted by peers in a public school, my memorized answers were not sufficient to deflect their skepticism.
More was needed than simple rote answers to standard questions. Understanding Faith well enough to explain to those outside the Catholic community takes time to develop. As Fulton Sheen on his talk about evangelization says, it also entails some understanding of the other person.
My family was one in which the rosary was prayed daily. It was unthinkable to leave home with kissing my mother and receiving her blessing on the forehead. I loved watching my grandson bless his father, a Presbyterian minister, in the same way when he was younger.
One of the books I have is the _Scriptural Roots of Catholic Teaching._It does go into the importance of Tradition, and how customs are carried from one generation to the next.
 
Memorization of the Bible does no good if you are getting it wrong. Whenever a Catholic reads the Bible the Catechism of the Catholic Church should be close at hand. Or even better have a Catholic Bible with references to the CCC.
 
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Minor correction, but it was approved and promulgated by a plenary council of US bishops that met in Baltimore (the Third Council of Baltimore)–so it had more authority behind it than just the one bishop. It was based on St. Robert Bellarmine’s Small Catechism as well.
 
WELL DONE “Good and Faithful servant”

Thanks for sharing!

Blessings

Patrick
 
I’m not great with numbers, therefore focus on the words, this I remember biblical phrases and events, but usually have to look up chapter and verse.
Mathew 35 verses 31-46, Psalm 42, and Isaiah 53: 1-12 are my definite never-forget quotes with verse and chapter.
The Catchism is online and I look up what I know is there for the particular response.
 
Roseeurekacross said:
Yeah, nah, not a good thing to do to a stranger who doesn’t need CPR or to be rescued from wells, wild bulls, lions
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[I omitted what happened previously … the stranger who accosted me had just previously harassed some woman shopper who was trying to get away from him. She was able to use the distraction to jump into her car and zoom away. I pulled him away from the parking lot and toward the building.] [Yeah, it was risky and not my most brilliant moment and I have never done anything like that before or since.]
 
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Quick thinking too

On another note, since you are up with news, what’s going on that your government has shut down partially
 
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Actually, no thinking at all. I was just playing back some agglomeration of memorized biblical and catechism quotes. Which is one benefit from memorizing “stuff”.

Regarding the shutdown … I have NO IDEA. I went to bed early and missed all that drama.

People like Senators Durbin and Chuck Schumer and the guy from Carolina … Lindsey Graham … are engaging in wishful thinking. Trump is ten moves ahead of them. Trump is laughing at them. I think it is not a “real” shut down. Merely “non essential personnel” and they will get paid later on. There have been hundreds of “so called” shut downs in the past.

Air traffic control will continue, the postal service will continue, social security checks will still be sent out.

Borrowed from a friend of mine:
Every federal agency has a reserve fund. They have their budgeted number every year, the amount of money they’re given to run — and from that budgeted number, there’s a reserve that’s always held back. This is why near the end of every budget year sometimes there has been advertising for food stamp applicants.

Remember this? The federal government advertising, selling food stamps to applicants, running TV and print ads reminding people they might qualify for food stamps. Why did they get the money for this? They get it from the reserve fund. Why are they spending it? Because they don’t want to get any less money in the next budget. What Mulvaney is saying here is that the Obama administration bureaucratic departments did not use their reserve funds. They didn’t spend it. They caused chaos in the last shutdown.
There’s always a reserve fund to continue operations. Obama’s agencies did not use their reserve funds, their carry-forward funds. They let things go unpaid for to create the chaos, to create fear and panic so that it would all be blamed on the Republicans. Mulvaney is saying, “We’re not gonna do that. There will not be any pain and suffering. Our departments are gonna use our carry-forward funds during the shutdown.” In fact, Mulvaney at one of the agencies he runs didn’t even ask for any additional funds because he says they have plenty to get through this.
 
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This was my thought as well. It’s seen as less necessary nowadays because of the ease of access. Heck, I have a copy of both on my phone and I can get them online easily. So memorization is seen as less necessary than in an era where books were expensive and many people couldn’t read.

It’s not that memorization is a bad thing, but a lot of the protestant denominations tend to prooftext. I grew up in a denomination with a lot of emphasis on memorization, and it was considered exceptional to memorize whole chapters. Usually the verses were memorized in isolation - I remember working off of a handbook that just had the verses to memorize on the page, or off of small cards that just had the one verse there.
 
I found this comment this morning about the “shut down”.

DoD personnel here - we´ve been told to report to work as normal on Monday. If the shutdown is still ongoing then, and if our positions are funded by an appropriation that is out of funds, then we will be issued a furlough notice and sent home until the impasse is resolved. In past shutdowns we have always been retroactively reimbursed for the days off, so I´m not terribly concerned about this. In any case, I don´t expect it to last long. The Rats have badly overplayed their hands, sacrificing our military in favor of giving illegal aliens voter cards, and the blowback while cause them to fold quickly.
 
The problem I have with “prooftexting” is that the Bible was not written in English. Jesus did not speak English. And the “prooftexting” is in English. AND the meanings of the original “foreign language” words may have been different or had “nuances” and the translations have their own “issues” with nuances.

When I gave an explanation of one episode … about John leaping in Elizabeth’s womb when Mary showed up for a visit … It went right past my listener. It was not in their (biblical) understanding. And they were friendly.
 
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I am 75. And I take bible study courses ALL THE TIME. Sometimes I will visit the Blessed Sacrament and just put my head down and explain to Him that sometimes I get soooo confused. [He knows already; but maybe He can provide yet another book or another explanation or some additional insight.]

Jesus did not speak English because English was not yet invented and would not be invented for another thousand years or so.

I get irritated all the time at what I consider to be poor translations from Hebrew or from Latin or from Greek. And it matters. Different translations carry different meanings.

And some languages just carry richer meanings and richer nuances and richer emotions.

One of my friends is an archeologist. Well, you can’t usually make a living as an archeologist. So he works in personnel. We got to talking and he described some biblical archeology he had done. He extensively explored campsites used by the original Roman Army. And he related his findings to the biblical scene of the original crucifixion of Jesus. And how the Roman soldiers used vinegar to clean their private parts with a hyssop reed that they swooshed around. So, at the Crucifixion of Jesus, when a Roman soldier tried to respond to Jesus’ comment “I thirst” by pushing a hyssop reed into Jesus’ face, it was a gross insult, not a merciful response.

This is not make it or break it nuance, but it adds some color and nuance to that event 2000 years ago.

And the Bible is full of those nuances. And some of them ARE critical to understanding.
 
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Curious11 said:
Just sheer curiosity. If I were a catholic I would probably just content myself with having a bible at home (which I do and I enjoy reading it very much) and a book containing the catechism. Do you guys often memorize them?
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I would be willing to bet that nobody on the planet has memorised the entire Bible and/or Catechism!
 
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