Why teach catechism

Their third argument concerned the perception of theology and extended well beyond merely criticizing the catechism. Did not the Church making use of the magisterium, dogma and the catechism therefore undermine scientifical theological work? Was the church really supposed to forever tell people what to do?

Should it not utterly respect the decisions of the conscience of the people instead of assessing them through abstract norms? The first argument is correct. If someone in the church were to tell their children, "You need to learn the catechism by heart to have faith," one would have to say that this person is wrong. Faith must be passed on from one person to another, from heart to heart, in dialogical catechesis. But this does not mean that we cannot learn and present the content of faith in a reasonable way.

In the Church, condensed formulas of faith developed over the course of time; with their help we can contemplate, express, learn, hand on, celebrate, and live out this reality. Without fixed forms, the content of the faith would dissipate. That is why the Church attaches great importance to definite sentences, the precise wording of which was usually achieved painstakingly, so as to protect the message of Christ from misunderstandings and falsifications.

The second argument is true as well — at least, half of it is. It is not the catechism which is the "norma normans non normata" of the Church, but the Holy Bible.

It was about time that the Church helped the people to assess the riches of the Word of God, as the Council rightly demanded. But this does not therefore mean that the Church can only live referring to the Holy Scriptues as something that took place only in the past, as if God is not a living reality in our midst.

Scripture and Tradition belong together. Handing on the faith does not occur primarily through documents. In a way, you could say that the catechism is the book of the tradition of the Church.

It always refers to the Holy Bible and says nothing that is not at least implicitly contained in the Bible; but the catechism also contains the deeper insights that the Church later gained and which matured into our common and binding faith. Without catechism, we would not know what a priest is, why we meet on Sundays for Holy Mass, why we fast during Lent, why we celebrate Easter, and a thousand other facts and rules of Christian life.

To withhold the Catechism from Christians means removing them from the habitat in which a Christian can live and breathe. The third argument is utterly wrong.

The Church cannot exist without he magisterium and dogma. We think the same will happen with this catechism. What better to have implanted? And by memorizing the catechism, they are primarily memorizing Scripture. The quote I just gave is Psalm Spend some time searching and you should find a variety of catechisms out there. Two friends and I updated and revised an old catechism for use in our families and church, and it was recently published by Asbury Seedbed as Echo: A Catechism for Discipleship in the Ancient Christian Tradition.

What thoughts or questions do you have about using a catechism to teach the faith? View more posts. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Bible stories are not enough. It is also important for dads to teach their sons why an F is superior to a Mig, and to even build a model of it together if possible. It is a must to know what a "draw play" is, and why if your child does not learn from your mistakes and grows up to be a Rams fan, they too must learn to live with perennial disappointment and heartbreak, a very difficult but valuable lesson. It is important to learn how to tie a ball into a mitt to make a good pocket, to run a lawn mower properly so as to not leave streaks in the grass and to position the firewood precisely so that you get a good hot and clean fire.

But while all of this is important, it certainly pales in the light of eternity, when we realize that our children must also come to know the unspeakable love of Jesus Christ, who declared over the objections of his disciples, "let the children come unto me. Let us never forget that our children come to Christ, many times, directly through instruction received in the home. But how can Mom or Dad best instruct their children in the faith?

This can be done very effectively through regular Bible reading and catechism-practices that at one time were the distinguishing mark of a Christian home. The second emphasis of catechism centers on the role of the local church. Here the role of the pastor and elders, as well as the goal of the Sunday school program, should be to further and support those efforts at catechism ideally begun in the home. Parents should not assume that the church's role is to supply the catechetical instruction that they as parents make little or no effort to provide at home.

Too many times Christians labor under the false assumption that the church and its various youth programs, will make up for a lack of instruction in the home. Just as you cannot expect your children to do well in school without the active involvement of the parents at home after school, so too, parents cannot expect their children to grow in faith as they should apart from concerted effort to provide regular catechism in the home.

Sunday schools and youth programs are wonderful reinforcements to what the parents undertake in the home. But these can never replace the value of instructing one's children in the basics of Christian faith. Certainly we are all too busy, and this seems so difficult to do. But even a little time spent in catechism pays great dividends, and a discerning parent can find plenty of object lessons with which to illustrate the truths of the catechism from virtually every family discussion, newscast, situation comedy, or feature film.

One of the best by-products of parents taking an active role in catechizing their kids, is that they also catechize themselves in the process! In order to teach your kids and to be able to answer their questions, which are often more direct and difficult than those asked by many adults, you must learn the material for yourself. In order to teach, you have to learn! There are surprising practical ramifications that result from the practice of catechism as well. Many people who hear the White Horse Inn radio program or visit Christ Reformed Church or are suddenly intrigued by Reformation theology frequently inquire about the best way to learn Reformation theology for themselves.

There is no doubt that getting one of the Reformation catechisms, and working your way through it, is a great place to start. Too often people assume that the place to start learning theology is through tackling technical theological writing, when in fact the creeds and catechisms of the Reformation were designed to instruct novices in the faith.

Starting with the catechism and confessions is really a better way to go. There are other practical results as well.

When I first entered the ministry, I was quite surprised at how many times I heard from people how the catechism questions and answers they memorized in childhood kept coming to mind when temptation or doubt would assail them later in life.

Many were able to recount how catechism in their youth kept them from joining cults, because they knew enough doctrine to know that you must believe in the Trinity to be a Christian, or how catechism kept them from marrying people from non-Christian religions, since they knew enough biblical teaching to tell the difference. Indeed, several who were on the verge of leaving the faith altogether simply could not escape what had become such an important part of their subconscious.

The catechism questions and answers they had memorized many years before simply would not leave them when the going became difficult.

It was a part of their life history that they could not escape no matter how hard they tried. In conclusion, there is one story that wonderfully captures the importance of catechism, perhaps more than all others.

The great Princeton theologian B. Warfield, in an article defending the worth of the Westminster Shorter Catechism , recounts a wonderful story that demonstrates what he describes as the "indelible mark of the Shorter Catechism. We have the following bit of experience from a general officer of the United States Army. He was in a great western city at a time of intense excitement and violent rioting.

Use the provided Scriptures. Use what the Catechism already gives us. Most often, that means selecting a Scripture for our lesson, for it permeates every section of the Catechism. The use of Scripture offers great clarity and a clear context of what you are about to teach. It also creates a tangible starting point for an opening prayer.

Find a key point. Extract one key point from the paragraph that best matches your lesson topic, and learn it well. Share one or two supplemental ideas. If time permits, use additional teachings within the text that flow from, or support, the key point. This love implies an effective offering of oneself, after his example. CCC, Using our Catechism text from above, here are some brief notes on how to shape a short lesson, based on one paragraph from the Catechism.

Select a topic. Our topic will be how Jesus is a model of holiness for us. Use the provided Scripture. Jesus is the way. We are to follow him. He is the truth — the true path for our life.