There’s a joke, sort of, about what we Catholic kids didn’t learn in the 1980s. And the 1970s, for that matter. In the last couple of decades, some of us have tried to make up for the lack and have studied up on the Faith. What we didn’t know….
This is my list of terminology, let alone what is behind
those terms:
- Catechesis
- Doctor of the Church
- Church Founders
- Apologetics
- Deposit of Faith
- Sacred Tradition
- Apocrypha
- Sanctifying Grace
And much more.
We who came of age in the 1980s, and were “educated” in the
Faith in Catholic schools were exposed to a lot of ideas, some Scripture and
exchanges on morality, but concrete education on what the Church teaches, why
it is taught that way, and how to defend those teachings was not part of the
package. That, for many of us, had to be learned later.
Thankfully, when Pope Saint John Paul II put out his
Catechism, the understanding began to dawn, as did the idea that Church history
MUST be taught right alongside the rest so that we can understand that the
Church is on a continuum, and no matter how bad the leadership is or how many
people fall away, the Faith itself does not change.
