Basic Outline of Catechetical History

1. The oldest form of catechetical presentation

a. Public instruction delivered to adults and children indiscriminately on the occasion of the celebration of the Eucharistic liturgy

b. A myriad of devices can and should be worked out to meet the special needs of the young

2. Earliest non-canonical handbook of instruction

a. Didache or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles

b. Sixteen brief chapters; possible multiple authorship

c. Stemming from Egypt, Syria or Palestine as early as 60 or 90 possibly as late as 130 A.D.

d. No professedly dogmatic instruction; only Christian morality

e. Simple catechism-like division between the tow ways leading to life and death

3. Apollos described in the Acts (18:25)

a. Described as katechemenos—“instructed”

b. Knowledge of Christ made the term “catechesis” meaning teaching or the message taught.

4. Origen

a. Speaks of the books of Esther, Judith, Tobias, and Wisdom

b. Study of Divine things

c. From him and Tertullian we learn of the practice of infant baptism

d. Apostolic Tradition described in the year around 215

e. Homilies are our first clear indication of the presence of the catechumen at Mass

5. Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons (late second early third centuries)

a. Proof of the Apostolic Preaching

b. More apologetic the catechetical in intent

c. Intent is the instruction for Christians

6. St. Cyril

a. Simple and clear teacher

b. Starts with three catechetical talks

c. Transcends into thirteen distinct catecheses on the creed as mid-fourth century Jerusalem recited it

d. Not accounted theologically rich or complex

e. Sermons are parochial preaching of a high order

7. Gregory of Nyssa’s

a. Katecheseos logos or Great Catechetical Discourse (same period as St. Cyril)

b. Controversial or more philosophical

c. The great dogmas are expounded

d. Suited more to masters of the catechumenate than to the catechumens


8. Fifth through Eight centuries

a. Recasting of the whole concept of religious instruction

b. Nothing essential was sacrificed

c. Simplicity of approach succeeded the highly organized catechumenate days

9. John Gerson (1363-1420)

a. Chancellor of the University of Paris

b. Authored On Drawing the Little Ones to Christ

1) Considers four matters in the field of teaching

a) How needful it is to Christ and the Church that the little ones come

b) Types of scandal that can keep them off

c) The proper zeal that should mark those who lead the little ones to Christ

d) Personal apologia against his detractors as to why, despite the gap between his conduct and a child’s, he nonetheless can bring them to Christ

10. Martin Luther (late fifteenth century)

a. 1523 earliest catechetical writings, from the Bohemian Kinderfragen

b. 1526 employed the Wittenberg translation

c. 1529 first edition of his catechism

11. CCD in Europe

a. Milan Confraternity; prescribed principles and methods

b. Catechism of the Council of Trent; teachers should adapt their words to the age, background, and mental capacity of the learners

c. CCD in Rome was established in 1560

12. CCD in the United States (1902-present)

a. Baltimore Catechism

1) First edition 1885; encountered serious resistance in many classrooms

2) First movement for religious education in every classroom

b. Bishop of Kansas City, Bishop O’Hara (1930-1956)

1) National figure in the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine movement

2) 1935 by the Decree on the Better Care and Promotion of Catechetical Instruction from the Holy See, stipulated that the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine shall be set up in every parish before all other organizations

3) Ecumenical movement sparked by Vatican II originally devised by O’Hara

4) Religious Vocations Schools initiated by O’Hara

5) Catholic Rural Life Bureau