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Show j VIEWS OF VERY REV. D KIELY Or SALT LAKE j (Salt Lake Telegram.) 5 Among other subjects discussed at a I recent meeting of the Roman Catholic archbishops in Washington was that of the preparation, of a new catechism of ! the Catholic faith for the instruction of children. ; The Rev. Alexander P. Doyle of the ' I'aulist Fathers has said that a new j catechism should be prepared. That the faith of chHdren is suffering, and I th'ir minds should be better unfolded I to a knowledge of their religion. That it would be best if prepared by Rome I itself and translated into all languages, ; a a nu ans of forming a bond of union I l"tve(n the many countries and pcr-1 pcr-1 petuatinc the faith; and that "it can-J can-J r."t he done too quickly to meet the ; r.'Hils nf the church in this country." Apparently there is not wide harmony !. ef opinion among the Catholic fath?rs of this country on the adequacy of the j I'.altimor,. catechism for instructing the '"'!:i in the fundamental truths of the j f'ith. Thr- Very Rev. Dennis Kiely, vicar of th.- d jocose of Salt Lake City, when . s-hown an a,.rount of the Washington ri tv.eeting. pave the following answers to tho ijuestions of a Telegram reporter: j 'I'o you consider the Baltimore cate-!'ism cate-!'ism sufficient for teaching the basic truths ..f the Catholic faith to chil-5 chil-5 Ci-'tiv- j "1 do. All catechisms, and there are ' a meat number of them, are sufficient 1" t-Hi-h basic truths of the Catholic faith. The I'.altimore catechism, which v-as gotten up by a committee of the l'hir,i council c,f Baltimore in 1SS4, has ; 'he approval of the whole American J';:-archy. also that of Rome." ' If Konio were to prepare a universal ( "''hisrn. translated into all the dif-' dif-' ''"t.t languages would it not be a ''"'"d of union between the different S countries and tend to perpetuate the j l.ithV 4) "' v "uM not consider it any more a bond of union than that which now exists," ex-ists," he replied. "The catechism published pub-lished in all languages is substantially the samt. To be received at all, they must have the approval of Rome or the bishops in whose dioceses they are published pub-lished or used. Since 1S84 many priests in American have attempted to improve on the Baltimore catechism. I have read many of the new publications. They were all substantially the same, and while I believe the authors thought they could improve on the old methods of communicating Catholic truths to children, I could see no improvement; on the contrary, in many instances the explanations seem to mystify simple truths that were apparent before." Father Kiely expressed himself at more length when asked: "If such catechism cat-echism were to be gotten out, should it not be by men who are experienced in imparting knowledge as well as in theology?" the-ology?" "If gotten up at all it should be prepared pre-pared by men who have experience in imparting knowledge to children. A successful teacher in any branch of knowledge must bring himself down to the' level of the pupil's mind. The catechism cate-chism as we have it contains all that tho child's mind is able to grasp. Any further development. of Catholic truth or necesasry explanation must be supplied sup-plied by the teachers. What we need, then, in my opinion, is not a new catechism, cate-chism, but a few practical, efficient and child-like teachers. "Catholic truths in the twentieth century cen-tury are not different from what they were in the eighteenth century when Bishop Allen Butler composed the simple sim-ple little catechism which has been in use for nearly 200 years. Alban Butler, born at Appletree. Kngland. in 1.11, composed the Catholic catechism wnich is remarkable for its simplicity, and on which all others published, since have been modified. It has been translated into all languages." |