"The Dutch Catechism"

K-5

This is not a Roman Catholic Catechism by any means, it is the Dutch Catechism that was found to contain errors and is not compatible with the Catholic faith. Pope Paul VI had this book reviewed by a commission of respected cardinals. They were convened to review the adequacy of several doctrinal formulations in the text. This fifty page report on errors found were sent to the Dutch bishops for correction. But instead of correctly revising the text as a response to the Vatican commission, the Dutch bishops added the fifty page report as an appendix to the Catechism. By 1969 the full Declaration of the Commission was no longer printed in the appendix but an edited version. Many people never read this appendix so may not catch all the errors. It is important to also note that The U.S. Bishop withdrew his imprimatur (permission to publish) from the American edition, and the Netherlands' Cardinal noted that the book was going to press with an unauthorized use of his original imprimatur. None of these books have a valid imprimatur. The book was banned from many Roman Catholic bookstores. ( )

933 A New Catechism: Catholic Faith for Adults, The Translation from the Dutch was made by Kevin Smyth (read __ Nov 1967) This catechism created quite a stir when it came out and I read it with much interest. Wikipedia has an article on the book and it says in part: "The catechism has five parts and one supplement, Part One reviews the mystery of existence, Part Two explains the way of Christ by first discussing other religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam, Humanism and Marxism, and, the Spirit of God in the World. A special section describes the way of Israel, in terms of God’s works, the Word of God, and Holy Scripture. Christ, the Son of Man, is the center of the third part, and his ways, the way of Christ is subject of the fourth part. The final part focuses on the end of man, and his fulfillment in meeting God." ( )

SUBJECT INDEX; SUPPLEMENT