Is the Catechism of the Catholic Church "What the Church Teaches"?

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teamjesusnumber31

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I can’t wrap my head around why we would give authority to something that isn’t infallible.
I love reading it. I just don’t know if I’m supposed to adhere to everything it says.

The Baltimore catechism is here stated by Catholic Answers to be 1) free from error 2) valid 3) and a solid book for the basics/essentials of the Faith

www.catholic.com

Is the Baltimore Catechism Still Valid?

Yes, the Baltimore Catechism is still valid. Obviously it is missing anything from the Second Vatican Council but it still contains all the essentials of the fa...
www.catholic.com www.catholic.com

Why not stick to that?

Thank you
God bless
 
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And please be simple because I literally have brain damage 😀
 
For the same reason the Baltimore Catechism replaced the Catechism of the Council of Trent - catechisms are updated every so often throughout history. And the CCC, unlike the Baltimore Catechism, was intended from the start to be a universally used Catechism for the entire Church.
 
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I don’t think that one can use the word ‘replace’ as if catechism A were so flawed that it needed catechism B (not that you meant it that way perhaps but many would think that was what was meant).

For the OP, there are many catechisms. For youth, for example, there is the YOUCAT, which might be in a clearer format. Or, indeed, there is the Baltimore catechism, there are various catechisms, which are perfectly good and useful. Many people prefer the Baltimore’s question and answer format, so why not use the catechism most helpful to you. If something comes up and you are uncertain, then you can always ask your priest to help direct you.
 
The Church does not teach everything with the same certainty. Unfortunately, the “theological notes” denoting these degrees of certainty are not used much these days and the CCC, like most popular catechisms, omit this (this is true of the Baltimore Catechism as well). One of the tasks for theologians was to figure out the degree of certainty of various doctrines. In fact, an early criticism of the Catechism was it did not provide these notes. Cardinal Ratzinger responded as follows:
The catechism must certainly avoid giving the impression that all the statements it contains have the same degree of certainty. It would be neither practical nor desirable constantly to indicate these degrees (de fide, de fide definita, sententia communis, etc.). Rather, the doctrine’s degree of certainty should be evident from the context from the way it is stated, from the doctrinal authority of the statement.
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Unfortunately, for a non-theologian like most of us, the degree of certainty is not easily “evident” for many things without going to the original sources in the footnotes, etc., which is not always possible.

But in general, we should be able to rely in good conscience on what our pastors provide to teach us, including Catechisms. If we do so in good faith and they accidentally teach us an error, we do not bear fault. If we definitely know it is opposed to the faith of the universal Church and still obstinately embrace the error, then we would bear fault:

St. Thomas Aquinas:
The simple have no faith implied in that of the learned, except in so far as the latter adhere to the Divine teaching. Hence the Apostle says (1 Corinthians 4:16): “Be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ.” Hence it is not human knowledge, but the Divine truth that is the rule of faith: and if any of the learned stray from this rule, he does not harm the faith of the simple ones, who think that the learned believe aright; unless the simple hold obstinately to their individual errors, against the faith of the universal Church, which cannot err, since Our Lord said (Luke 22:32): “I have prayed for thee,” Peter, “that thy faith fail not.”
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http://www.newadvent.org/summa/3002.htm#article6
 
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teamjesusnumber31 said:
I can’t wrap my head around why we would give authority to something that isn’t infallible.
I love reading it. I just don’t know if I’m supposed to adhere to everything it says.

The Baltimore catechism is here stated by Catholic Answers to be 1) free from error 2) valid 3) and a solid book for the basics/essentials of the Faith
Is the Baltimore Catechism Still Valid? | Catholic Answers
Why not stick to that?

Thank you
God bless
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Some of what is in a catechism pertains to dogma and other to church law. Dogma can develop without contradiction to earlier expressions and the law’s of the Church may change. There are those things which “are to be believed by divine and catholic faith” but also “a religious submission of intellect and will is to be given to any doctrine which either the Supreme Pontiff or the College of Bishops, exercising their authentic Magisterium, declare upon a matter of faith and morals, even though they do not intend to proclaim that doctrine by definitive act.”

The Baltimore Catechism series is good, but there is now the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults (USCCB, 2006).

http://ccc.usccb.org/flipbooks/uscca/files/assets/basic-html/page-1.html#

See Ad tuendem fidem:

http://www.vatican.va/content/john-...i_motu-proprio_30061998_ad-tuendam-fidem.html
 
PrayForMe said:
For the same reason the Baltimore Catechism replaced the Catechism of the Council of Trent - catechisms are updated every so often throughout history. And the CCC, unlike the Baltimore Catechism, was intended from the start to be a universally used Catechism for the entire Church.
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NONE of the Catechisms “replaced” any of the others.
 
The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” was compiled for the entire Church, by the magisterium.

The Baltimore catechism wasn’t, to my understanding compiled by Rome. It was an American initiative.

I assume the latest compilation is all Catholics can refer to the same text, regardless of location or translation.
 
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  1. The Baltimore Catechism was NOT a universal Catholic Catechism. It was written by the bishops of the United States, for use in the United States. The bishops approved of it’s writing in Baltimore, MD; which is why it’s called the Baltimore Catechism.
  • The updated version of the Baltimore Catechism #4 is the “United States Catholic Catechism for Adults,” NOT the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
  • To the best of my knowledge, the USCCB has NOT created an updated version of Baltimore Catechisms #1, #2 and #3
  1. NOW - Why the Catechism of the Catholic Church? Because there was a TON of confusion after Vatican II. During Vatican II, the Church realized that a new, universal Catechism was needed, but Paul VI never commissioned one. So after all the craziness in the 1970s, JPII realized this needed to happen.
  • The Catechism of the Catholic Church is NOT an all encompassing document. It does not contain everything. It primarily focuses on the things that people were confused about post Vatican II.
  • Personally, I highly recommend using both the Catechism of the Catholic Church & the Catechism of the Council of Trent (also called the Roman Catechism)
  1. What is the difference between the Baltimore Catechism and the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC)? The Baltimore Catechism was written as a teaching book. The CCC (like the Catechism of the Council of Trent) is a reference book. Bishops are tasked with using the CCC as a reference book to write their own local catechisms.
  • The reason the Baltimore Catechism fell out of favor is two part: (1) it contained some things that were very specific to the Latin Mass, and (2) it was written for memorization.
  • Memorization was a learning method that was very popular in education for a long time. Simply memorize answers to questions. However, many people in the education field felt that teachers used memorization too much. This is why today, (for example) less teachers use the multiplication tables in math class.
  • The modern view of education is that it’s more important to teach the underlying philosophies instead of facts.
  • Well, post Vatican II; the Church (esp in the West) had a big issue because when disciplines changed, people had a very hard time explaining & understanding why the things they knew all their lives were changing. They learned the facts without understanding why the facts were facts. So when disciplines changed, many people lost the faith because they never understood the basis of the disciplines in the first place.
  • Therefore, post Vatican II, many Catholic educators felt the Church needed to use more modern education methods because they felt the memorization method didn’t work & lead to many Baby Boomers losing their faith in the late 60s, 70s, 80s & 90s.
I pray this helps a little
 
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teamjesusnumber31 said:
Why not stick to that?
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Some people thought we needed a different style. Vatican II changed a few things, but the old catechesis remain good to use. For someone simple like me, I can understand them. I cannot understand the new one or the documents of Vatican II for that matter. Thankfully we have the old catechisms for those of us like me. At the same time, I admire people who can understand and benefit from the new ones. They are very smart, and often provide us with good insights we would miss otherwise.

Tradivox: Bringing Solid Catechisms to the Hungry Faithful

onepeterfive.com

Tradivox: Bringing Solid Catechisms to the Hungry Faithful

Editor’s note: By now, many have begun to hear about Tradivox, an international catechism restoration project under Bishop Athanasius Schneider. This is a timely and promising work…
onepeterfive.com onepeterfive.com

Tradivox, an international catechism restoration project under Bishop Athanasius Schneider
 
Very good answer. I would just attempt to add that some things (like a philosophy) don’t lend themselves well to memorization. You leave out too many critical elements and end up over-simplifying things, sometimes to the point that they almost become wrong again.

Example:
We can memorize 2 x 3 = 6. That is a hard fact with no room to change.

The sky is blue. Also a fact, but there are dynamics in play that make this statement not always true. The sky does change color based on clouds, sunlight/position, your relative location, etc. If you’re satisfied with “the sky is blue”, fine. No harm done. Just don’t argue with me at sunset when I say it’s red and purple.
 
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teamjesusnumber31 said:
I can’t wrap my head around why we would give authority to something that isn’t infallible.
I love reading it. I just don’t know if I’m supposed to adhere to everything it says.

The Baltimore catechism is here stated by Catholic Answers to be 1) free from error 2) valid 3) and a solid book for the basics/essentials of the Faith

Catholic Answers

Is the Baltimore Catechism Still Valid?​

Yes, the Baltimore Catechism is still valid. Obviou…

Why not stick to that?

Thank you
God bless
Click to expand...
The Baltimore Catechism is a local catechism only. It has never been used outside the US.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church is the universal catechism of the Church.
 
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