DOCTRINE
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DOCTRINE
Faerber, Groenings, etc.) have been published with
German and English texts on opposite pages. Simi-
larly, there are Polish-English, Bohemian-English,
and other editions with double text. In most Italian
schools catechism is taught chiefly in English, and
only the prayers in Italian. I'nwise as it would be to
force a change of languages in catechetical teaching,
it would be equally injudicious to artificially retard
the natural development. The slow but steady ten-
dency is towards the gradual adoption of the English
language in preaching and teaching catechism, and it
seems bvit reasonable to think that some day there
will be among the Catholics in the United States not
only unity in faith in the substance of the catechism,
but also in its external form and language.
A number of German immigrants entered Pennsyl- vania about 1700, a considerable portion of them being Catholics. In 1759 the German Catholics in Philadel- phia outnumbered those of the English tongue, and in 17S9 they opened the church of the Holy Trinity, the first exclusively national chrjch in the I'nited States. Since 1741 German Jesuits have ministered to the spiritual needs of their countrj-men, and Catholic schools have been established in the Pennsylvania settlements. It was natural that the German Jesuits should introduce the Catechism of Canisius, which for centuries had been universally used throughout Ger- many. The best known American edition of this fa- mous catechism is that printed in Philadelphia, in 1810: "Catholisclier Catechismus, worin die Catholische Lehre nach den f unf Hauptstiicken V. P. Petri Canisii, aus der Gesellschaft Jesu, erklart ^\'ird". The author or editor of this book was Adam Britt, pastor of the Holy Trinity Church, Philadelphia, who died at Cone- waga (1822) as a member of the Society of Jesus. Dur- ing several decades the Catechism of Canisius was generally used by the German Catholics in the United States. The Redemptorists came to this country in 1833 and soon had charge of flourishing German par- ishes in nearly all the more important cities. The Venerable John X. Neumann, afterwards Bishop of Philadelphia, wrote, while rector of the Redemptorist house at Pittsburg, about the year 1845, a small and a large catechism. These texts, also known as the " Re- demptorist Catechisms", had a wide circulation, whereas those written later by Father Weninger, S. J., and Father MuUer, C. SS. R., never became popular. The second half of the nineteenth century may be called the era of Deharbe's Catechism. In 1850 the " Katholischer Katechismus der Lehrbegriffe" was issued in Cincinnati, which by this time had become a centre of German Catholic population with flourishing parochial schools. Bishop Purcell declares in the ap- probation that the German catechisms previously published were not to be reprinted, but that this •' Regensburg [Ratisbon] Catechism, long in use in Germany", was to be the only one in his diocese. Al- though the name of the author was not given, it was in reality Father Deharbe's "' Large Catechism ' '. Since that time numerous editions of the different cate- chisms of Deharbe appeared with various adaptations and modifications, and for nearly fifty years Deharbe reigned supreme. This supremacy has been challenged within the last two decades. Father Muller, C. SS. R., in the preface to his catechism, severely criticized Deharbe's as a book " which it is difficult for children to learn and to understand". Father Faerber, who devoted forty years to catechetical instruction, pro- duced in 1895 a textbook which commends itself by its simplicity and clearness, although the critics, who charged it with incompleteness and a certain lack of accuracy, were not altogether wTong. Almost simul- taneously with Father Faerber's book appeared an excellent, thoroughly revised, edition of Deharbe's texts, from which many defects had been expimged. Finally, in 1900, Father Groenings, S. J., published two catechisms, a small and a large one.
Development of Catechizing after the Council of Trent.
— Mindful that the work of catechizing was more im-
portant than the issue of catechisms, the Council of
Trent decreed that "the bishops shall take care that
at least on the Lord's day and other festivals the
children in everj' parish be carefully taught the rudi-
ments of the faith and obedience to God and their
parents" (Sess. IV, De Ref,, c. iv). In 1 560 the Confra-
ternity of Christian Doctrine was founded in Rome by
a Milanese, and was approved by St. Pius V in 1571.
St. Charles Borromeo in his provincial synods laid
down excellent rules on catechizing; every Christian
was to know the Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary, the
Creed, and the Ten Commandments; confessors were
ordered to examine their penitents as to their knowl-
edge of these formularies (V Prov. Concil., 1579). He
also established schools in the villages, in addition to
increasing the number in the towns. Besides the re-
newed activity of the older orders, the Jesuits, the
Barnabites, and the Clerks Regular of Pious Schools
(Piarists), who devoted themselves to the education
of the young, took special care of the religious instruc-
tion of those entrusted to them. In this connexion
three names are especially worthy of mention: St.
Vincent de Paul, St. Francis de Sales, and M. Olier.
One of St. Francis's first acts as a bishop was to organ-
ize catechetical instruction throughout his diocese,
and he himself took his turn with his canons in this
holy work. St. Vincent founded his congregation of
Priests of the Jlission for the purpose of instructing
the poor, especially in the villages. The missionaries
were to teach the catechism twice a day during each
mission. In his own parish of Chatillon he established
the Confraternity for the Assistance of the Poor, and
one of the duties of the members was to instruct as
well as to give material aid. So, too, the Sisters of
Charity not only took care of the sick and the poor
but also taught the children. M. Olier, both in the
seminary and in the parish of Saint-Sulpice, laid
special stress on the work of catechizing. The method
which he introduced will be described in the second
part of this article. The Brothers of the Christian
Schools, founded by St. Jean-Baptiste de la Salle, de-
voted themselves especially to religious as well as
secular instruction. Finding that the verj' poor were
unable to attend school on weekdays, the saintly
founder introduced secular lessons on Sundays. This
was in 1699, nearly a century before such teaching was
given in Protestant England.
II. Practical Catechetics. — Catechizing (cate- chesis), as we have seen, is instruction which is at once religious, elementary, and oral.
Catechizing is a religious work not simply because it treats of religious subjects, but because its end or object is religious. The teacher should endeavour to influence the child's heart and will, and not be content with putting a certain amoimt of religious knowledge into its head; for, as Aristotle would say, the end of catechizing is not knowledge, but practice. Knowl- edge, indeed, there must be, and the more of it the better in this age of widespread secular education ; but the knowledge must lead to action. Both teacher and child must realize that thej- are engaged in a religious work, and not in one of the ordinary lessons of the day. It is the neglect to realize this that is responsible for the little effect produced by long and elaborate teach- ing. Religious knowledge comes to be looked upon by the child merely as a branch of other knowledge, and having as little to do with conduct as the study of vulgar fractions. "When the child is fighting its way through the temptations of the world, it will have to draw far more largely on its stock of piety than on its stock of knowledge" (Furniss, "Sunday School or Catechism?"). "The work of a teacher in the Church will be directed chiefly to this, that the faith- ful earnestly desire 'to know Jesus Christ and Him crucified', and that they be firmly convinced and with
