A listener named Randy asks Father Dave a question about the history of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. “Could you explain the Baltimore Catechism?” Randy asks. “My dad would always talk about it, but never gave an explanation of what it was. Is it still in effect, or is there a new Catechism?”
Father Dave begins by generally defining what Catechism means. “Catechism essentially means teaching or education in the faith. So a Catechism is a compilation of all the teachings of the Church for the purpose of somebody learning it. Probably the closest, more secular analogy we could use would be like a textbook,” he says. “The Baltimore Catechism was the first Catechism published in English for people to use here in North America, and it was published in 1885 [by] the bishops of the United States.”
LISTEN: What Is the Catechism?
“Why wouldn’t it be called the United States Catechism? You may recall that Baltimore was the very first diocese here in America and in North America,” Father Dave continues. “When Catholicism first came across the ocean from Europe to North America, we were kind of missionary land, meaning that there wasn’t any Church structure; there weren’t any dioceses or parishes. When we first got to that point where we’re establishing the Church and we needed a diocese, Baltimore [became] the entire diocese of all the new world.”
Father Dave notes that at this time in history, bishops, priests and theologians would hold councils in Baltimore to help establish the Church in this new land. “Obviously you need to build some Churches and some schools, but among other things, you need a textbook or a Catechism,” he says. “‘Baltimore Catechism’ is kind of a shorthand; When it was first published, it was formally called, ‘A Catechism of Christian Doctrine, Prepared and Enjoined by the Order of the Third Council of Baltimore.”
“The Baltimore Catechism was in a question-and-answer format, which goes back to the time of Saint Thomas Aquinas or all the way back to Aristotle or Socrates,” he adds. “People learned about the faith by memorizing a question and an answer, such as ‘Who is God?’ or ‘What is grace?’…They were all numbered, and people would maybe even remember some of the numbers of the questions.”
LISTEN: Understanding Church Teaching Through the Catechism With Fr. Daniel Mahan
Father Dave explains that this method of learning was popular until the mid-20th century. “When education styles and pedagogy changed in the 1960s and 1970s, we embraced different ways to learn about the faith,” he says. “In [1992], the Vatican published the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and that officially replaced any older Catechisms that were in use.” He notes that it doesn’t mean that the Baltimore Catechism or other worldwide versions were wrong, but the newest one is most complete.
“Obviously people bought that [Catechism] here in the United States, but it wasn’t a version particularly catered to, or using cultural examples from, the United States,” Father Dave says. “In 2004, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops did produce one called the ‘United States Catechism for Adults,’ and that was the first time it officially replaced the Baltimore Catechism as the ‘textbook’ here in the United States of how to pass on the faith.”
