Baltimore Catechism

In response to a personal copyright taken out by Bishop John Lancaster Spalding,[4] various editions include annotations or other modifications.

In the nineteenth century, repeated efforts had been made in the United States towards an arrangement by which a uniform textbook of Christian doctrine might be used by all Catholics.

[5] As early as 1829, the bishops assembled in the First Provincial Council of Baltimore decreed: "A catechism shall be written which is better adapted to the circumstances of this Province; it shall give the Christian Doctrine as explained in Cardinal Bellarmine's Catechism (1597), and when approved by the Holy See, it shall be published for the common use of Catholics" (Decr.

The clause recommending Bellarmine's catechism as a model was added at the special request of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.

Nearly every U.S. bishop gave the new national catechism his official approbation and many schools adopted it, but it also received considerable criticism.

In 1895, only ten years after publication, the American archbishops began a process of revision, but this was abandoned due to a lack of consensus.

Between 1885 and 1941 over 100 other Catholic catechetical manuals were published in America with official imprimaturs, although none was as widely used as the "Baltimore Catechism".

[2] Soon various editions came forth with additions of word-meanings, explanatory notes, some even with different arrangements, so that soon there was a considerable diversity in the books that go by the name of Baltimore Catechism.

The original was primarily written in ten days while the revised versions took years, in a long process of review and editing.

2 present the fundamentals of the Catholic Faith in a manner suitable for sixth through ninth graders and those preparing for Confirmation.

It includes additional questions, definitions, examples, and applications that build upon the content of the original Baltimore Catechism (No.