Did you know that God has three personas? Or the Church has Seven Sacraments? Did you know why do we pray to the saints and why there is a purgatory? These questions are about Catholicism that often attacked by the protestants. The Question is… Is it important to have Catechism? Or are we just go with the flow and being a Catholic is a personal choice? The answer is Yes. It is important to have Catechism.
Because it teaches us about our Catholic Faith, and it is also our defense from the Criticism of the Protestants and other Christian sects. Let’s give an example, a chef cooks the food. But a person cannot become a chef if he didn’t know how to slice meat, vegetable and how to cook it. Or learn how to cook a certain food. If a person want’s a chef without learning how, there’s been a high possibility that he may make mistakes and worst, it will result of food poisoning or allergic reactions to the customers. Another example is a computer programmer. He cannot create a software or applications if he doesn’t know how to code. He may use a drag and drop program to create one but if there’s a problem in a program, he may not know how to fix it because he has no background knowledge about programming.
In Catechism, it teaches us how to properly worship God, how to attend the Holy Mass properly, the Eucharist is the Body of Christ that we must take and adore, about the intercession of the saints and how to pray including the Holy Rosary. A simple Catechism is enough for an ordinary faithful to learn.
Yes. Back to the times of the Apostles and their disciples, the Church fathers, they preached in every place about, Christ, His teachings and also the teachings of the Apostles with the help of the Holy Spirit which we called the Sacred Tradition. But during the old times, most of the faithful don’t know how to read and write. That is why most of the churches had paintings so the people can visualize about the Catholic Faith.
Then in 1570 A.D., Pope St. Pius V created the Roman Catechism with the help of Cardinal St. Charles Borromeo and other two cardinals. It must be learnt and preach by Holy Orders such as Bishops and Priests. Then in 1899, Pope Leo XIII recommended Catechism to all seminarians until Pope St. Pius X ordered to have Catechism to every church in the world so every faithful will know about their faith.
The Priest, Nuns and members of the Third Orders. Before the Second Vatican Council, they only teach Catechism in schools and in the Church. But now, few schools and churches taught Catechism. Mostly the Traditional Clergy and Third Orders. Though, there are people who knows Catechism but not a member of the Third Order taught the faithful, including the young ones.
Sadly, yes. In the Catechism of the Vatican II council, it teaches that other religions are part of the Catholic church such as Protestants and Pagans.
After the Vatican II Council, Catechism has been slowly removed in some churches and in schools because out of respect to the Protestants and other religions such as Muslims and Hinduism who attend schools. And this results of spreading heresies of the Protestant around the world.
Yes. BUT with a true knowledge about Catholic Faith according to the Sacred Scriptures and Sacred Tradition. Which can be found in the Roman Catechism and the Catechism of Pope St. Pius X. You cannot just teach Catechism in your own self understanding because this is the Method of the Protestants. Jesus taught the Apostles and wanted them to understand His teachings, not by their own perspective but the will of God.
So, they can learn about God, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Catholic Church, the Sacraments, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the saints and many more. Learning about the Catholic faith will help us properly how to pray, how to behave and also how to strenghten our faith. Knowledge about our faith also helps us to defend ourselves from the temptation of the world and the devil.
You can find some churches who teach Catechism including the Traditional Catholics such as SSPX, FSSP and ICKSP. You can also search from the internet, but you have to make sure that what they teach is right. The traditional Catholics have their own YouTube channels or website that provides Catholic Information such as our website.
Brethren, we may have busy schedule or other things that we offer as a sacrifice. But we must also find time to teach Catechism if we have the knowledge or have time to learn it. Learning about our Lord and Church’s teaching won’t hurt us. Instead, it provides the way to understand our faith and how to properly apply it. And as we share it including to the young, they may also understand the faith and apply it properly everywhere they are.
“The greatest kindness one can render to any man is leading him to truth.”
– Saint Augustine
