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Article: Catechism of the Catholic Church. (book reviews)
- Article from:
- Insight on the News
- Article date:
- September 19, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 News World Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Several generations of American Roman Catholics learned the content of their faith from the Baltimore Catechism, a slim book of 499 succinct questions and answers with remote origins in the 16th-century Council of Trent. That catechism began crisply: "Who made us? God made us," and confidently went on to assert Catholic teaching on morals, the sacraments and prayer.
After Vatican Council II in the mid-sixties, many Catholics became embarrassed by the Baltimore Catechism -- its dogma was too dogmatic -- and it passed out of fashion. Did the Catholic Church no longer claim to have all the answers? Progressives said yes, preferring that questions remain questions.
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