often seen in the street without a hat

When I was a kid, you got a tiny bit in Anglican confirmation classes, but that was it.

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What were the questions? Were the questions always in the same order, or was it mixed up sometimes?

(Sorry, more questions! And thank you for answering my first.)

Edited Date: 2009-09-22 08:22 pm (UTC)

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I think I am just about successfully reprogrammed, because I can't remember. I do remember confirmation being very recitey, though. So maybe we practised the stuff we needed for cdnfirmation (about the sacraments and stuff?) in order.

this link does not look entirely unfamiliar, though whether from confirmation or from Christian Education lessons at school I've no idea. So, basically, catechism = Godly FAQ?

I think Catholics may take a bit more seriously though.

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birdsflying remembers it from Catholic school in the late 90s, but not Anglican confirmation of the same era, so it seems you're right about more seriously.

It is all very interesting to me! I went to a county primary, then school in Qatar, then a school that refused to do collective worship, and RE was mostly "moral lessons" rather than anything approaching scripture. So all my ideas of the teaching of little Christians comes from school stories.

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You know I essentially went to school in a school story, though, right?

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YES! It is a source of endless glee, if I am ever tormented by the fact of fiction, I can remember your schooling and be conforted.

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I thought that was a Catholic thing. I remember all the Catholic girls in my secondary school having to go to and study for catechism class. Dunno how current it is now, but I can't imagine the church dropping it.

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The practice is often different from the official requirements, I thought? But I am ignorant of almost all relgious practice, so I could be wrong. And

wonderlanded says Anglican, so perhaps not all Christian traditions, but not just Catholic?

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Well, I was raised Episcopalian, which is the Anglican church in the US, but I do not recall any confirmation classes and believe me, my grandmother would have made sure my ass was in them. Even if she would have had to do so long distance.

So it may vary too in how high church the CoE or Episcopalian sect is. My gran's was very high church, we genuflected even, but at the same time was quite liberal in other things.

Now, the born again Evangelical church my mother joined in the 70s, they definitely did not have confirmation/catechism. That was considered too Catholic. In that particular church, I know that one went to Bible study class for quite some time, then had to have a one on one meeting with the pastor and affirm that one did "accept Jesus Christ as [my] personal Savior." But that was back in the 70s when they were still all nice and fuzzy warm crunchy granola Christians who didn't have a problem with the gays and the hippies; last I checked they'd gone round the bend into ultra-fundie land.

However, there are other fundamentalist and evangelical churches who do a very well established Protestant catechism, but again, it depends on the synod or sect.

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It seems to be that it is certainly no longer a definite thing, and varies as to application.

I was vaguely aware of high church differences, but I had no idea that any non-Catholic sects genuflected! Mostly I only know about genuflection from Antonia Forest and Patrick being convinced that his mother will shame him by genuflecting in the Minster.

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Yeah, so I guess the short answer to your question is: it depends!

It is strange, here in the US at least, the more high your Episcopalian church the more the practices seem to hew to the Catholic practices, seems like it should be the other way around. Growing up I do remember being referred to as "white trash Catholic" by my Catholic friends. The implication being that the schism occurred because we were all just too lazy to adhere to the strict guidelines of Catholicism; what with our birth control, &c.

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birdsflying

They were certainly doing it when I was at Catholic school ('96 - '99 - ask me how I got thrown out of RE!) but I didn't do it at all during my confirmation classes in '98 (I am actually a confirmed Anglican, a rare beast as far as I can tell, agnostic now.) and have no memory of it from church t all (High Anglican), so if it is still done, it is very much Catholic.

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Interesting, thank you!

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birdsflying

I should clarify to say that both being kicked out of RE for not knowing my Catechisms and getting confirmed were when I lived in Ireland, although my regular church going/high Anglicism was in South Africa.

And also, the nun who took RE was uber old and uber religious. I have an suspicion that she didn't hold much truck with this whole Vactican II thing that

stellanova mentioned. (unlike Sister Asonata, who gave me a confirmation present - she didn't care whether I was Protestant or what, she was just happy I was getting confirmed. Bless her.)

Edited Date: 2009-09-22 09:02 pm (UTC)

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stellanova.livejournal.com

The catechism referred to in Myles na gCopaleen is a very old-school Catholicism thing - basically a bunch of questions and answers ('Who made the world?' 'God made the world' - that sort of thing). I never encountered it in my 18 years of going to Mass and my 13 years of Catholic education but my parents' generation did. Catechism technically means the official teachings of the Church and I think the current version is more like a Profession of Faith but then, I haven't attended Mass regularly since about 1993...

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stellanova.livejournal.com

Also, in my experience the word catechism was never used in religion classes in school or at Mass. It always seemed like a very old fashioned, pre-Vatican II sort of thing.

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That's interesting to know! When I was growing up the Catholics I knew always called it catechism and catechism class. Huh.

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I thought the catechism thing was probably old fashioned, but then my stunning ignorance on the matter made it seem wise to check, and I couldn't work out which links were historical, or technically true, or actual current practice.

What's a Profession of Faith? Is that like

zoje_george's affirming that Jesus Christ is your personal saviour? (Though that's definitely not a Catholic phrase, is that right?)

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Definitely not a Catholic phrase.

That bit is basically how one becomes a "born again" Christian. I know many little old Catholic ladies who would blanch at the very idea.

Edited Date: 2009-09-22 09:08 pm (UTC)

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peeeeeeet.livejournal.com

I'm sure we papists used the phrase "Profession of Faith"; probably to refer to the creed that comes after the sermon. Canon Tangney used to trail off during his homilies and would then suddenly go "WE BELIEVE!!!" incredibly loudly which meant we all had to stand up and say how awesome God was, or at the very least that we were pretty sure he existed.

This was fifteen years ago, mind, and we are all aware of the LIGHTNING PACE at which Catholicism develops

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I think the Nicean/Nicene Creed is also known as the Profession of Faith in some circles.

Edit: Yep, Catholic.org agrees with me.

Edited Date: 2009-09-22 10:45 pm (UTC)

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whatsagirlgotta.livejournal.com

I think its one of the reasons apart from atheism that I refused to be confirmed, basically first communion = learning prayers and being made to confess, and henceforth being allowed the wafers and wine, confirmation = saying you believe, lessons and many decades of the rosary, learning a lot of stuff and getting an extra middle name.

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