Religion: Catechism Crisis

Should the Virgin Mary be referred to as the Mother or the Mama of Jesus Christ? This question, while not the major issue in the controversy, was nevertheless one irritant in the latest quarrel between the Vatican and the French Roman Catholic Church. Long suspicious of French “progressive Catholicism,” the Vatican finally cracked down on a matter that seemed less dramatic than the ill-fated Red-tinged Worker Priest movement (TIME, May 13), but was perhaps even closer to rank and file French Catholics. The issue: a “progressive catechism.” which replaced the old, stodgy National Catechism throughout France last year. The new catechism tries to teach the tenets of the Catholic faith not by rote but through simple logic, slogans and cartoons.

To progressive Catholics the catchy new booklets are a means of winning children who otherwise would all too easily drift away (said one agnostic Paris mother: “It’s dynamite. If my children got hold of that, they’d all be Catholics in three months”). To conservative French Catholics and the Vatican’s Holy Office, it is a wrenching departure from tradition, alarming both by its content and the mood that produced it—so much so that the Vatican ordered it withdrawn, reportedly called on its author, Lyon-born Canon Joseph Colomb, to resign.

Drumbeat Repetition. The old National Catechism phrased its lessons in adult language, relied on drumbeat repetition to teach difficult concepts that children later might grow to understand: “Was the Blessed Virgin preserved from original sin? Yes, the Blessed Virgin was preserved from original sin. This is why we say that she was conceived without sin.” The new catechism’s verse presentation is designed for emotional appeal:

The Good God has said:

I will send you my Son.

He will tell you what you should do.

The Good God has prepared for his Son

A Mama.

A Mama without any sin.

A Mama all beautiful.

The old catechism on the Eucharist: “What is the Eucharist? The Eucharist is a sacrament which contains the actual body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ under the appearance of bread and wine.” New version:

When Jesus is on the altar In the form of bread, He invites me to receive him. My soul desires you, O Jesus.

The Catéchisme Progressif avoids complex dogma, presents simple concepts first, seeks to initiate more involved theology gradually. Many points are emphasized with cartoons, e.g., Jean, who has ignored the instructions of the auto dealer, has just overturned his car, while Jacques, who paid attention, is pictured put-putting happily by on his motor bike. Moral by analogy: “I have faith in God; I ought to obey his law.”

Gradual Truth. Conservative Catholics have argued that the new method might teach children harmful “speculative tendencies.” Protested one pamphlet: “Give the children the proper words. Later they will understand.” The Holy Office finally agreed: “There cannot be gradual teaching of the truth.”

Most French Catholics bridled at the Vatican’s action. Le Monde spoke of “an authoritarianism which the French momentarily have trouble accepting.” But the French bishops formally admitted their errors, issued a statement that, “to avoid all misunderstanding, one will not use the expression ‘progressive catechism.’ ” The Holy Office decided that withdrawal of the catechism would not be necessary, ordered insertions correcting “Formal errors,” last week sent stern Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani “to work out a lasting compromise in the vexed question of religious teaching in France.”