B is for Baltimore Catechism

Baltimore was the first diocese established in the United States, and the Baltimore Catechism became the standard educational text for Catholic formation from the mid-1800’s all the way up to the 1960’s. Some cradle Catholics relate childhood horror stories about having to memorize large sections of the work; others lament the fact that since it stopped being used in classrooms, an entire generation of Catholics knows more about recycling than the rosary. Perhaps the most readily available version today is the red-and-black covered “New St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism,” a Q&A format resource geared toward younger people that is kitschy, pedagogical and altogether extremely helpful about questions that many new and returning Catholics are sometimes afraid to ask, and that catechists are sometimes at a loss to answer.