My Journey with the Catechism

Charles P. Poole, Jr.

Written St. Patrick’s Day 2006

                               Posted on rciaresources.com WebSite Memorial Day 2006

I have been interested in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) for many years. While the translation into English was being delayed I ordered the French edition from France. It arrived on February 2, 1993. and I read it during March of that year. Then on March 27, I paid $25 to hear a talk by Fr. Douglas K. Clark at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center in Columbia SC sponsored by the Diocesan Office of Continuing Education for Priests. Fr. Clark had translated Catéchism de L’Église Catholique into English, and was there to tell us about it. It was an exciting talk, and I had him sign my catechism as a memento. Later we found out that the translation was judged unacceptable because of some language problems, so it was cancelled, to be redone by someone else. Shortly thereafter I wrote a 1500-word article entitled Impression of the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” explaining the contents of the Catechism, and on May 13th of that year it was published under the heading Commentary in the New Catholic Miscellany.  I mentioned in the article: “The only thing I found in English was the somewhat cryptic statement “Thou shalt see thyself that all manner of thing shall be well” (#313) from Lady Julian of Norwich. Later I gave a talk to the parishioners of St. Joseph’s in Columbia on the Catechism.

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The original first edition of the Catechism appeared in French in 1992, and in English in 1994. The second edition appeared in Latin in 1997, and in English in 2000. The second edition has a much improved index, and an excellent added glossary.

The present Catechism is rather wordy in many places, and is often lacking in the short, to the point, responses characteristic of the Baltimore Catechism that many of us old-timers grew up with. In the year 2001 the idea occurred to me that it would be great to have a document which expressed the ideas now in the CCC in a Baltimore Catechism question and answer format. This would be appropriate because Pope John Paul II had stated in his 1992 Apostolic Constitution Fidei Depositum that the CCC constituted a resource “for preparing local catechisms.” A Committee consisting of Rev. Msgr. Martin Laughlin VG, Rev. J. Scott Newman JCL, Deacon Frank T. Petrusak and Deacon Billy J. Ellis was appointed to work with me on the project of preparing such a document. The manuscript was divided into 34 chapters corresponding to the doctrinal talks that we present in our RCIA program. The initial tentative title was The Charleston Catechism. We started in November 2001, and the final draft was completed in August 2002. Eventually the word ‘Charleston’ was removed from the title, and in July 2004 Acta Publications agreed to publish it if two conditions were met: 1) it had an imprimatur, and 2) the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops was agreeable. It was submitted to the Censor Librorum of the diocese that same July for examination to satisfy the first condition. Some time later I learned that the USCCB had decided to prepare their own ‘local catechism’ in question and answer format, which they called the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, so it seemed unlikely that they would approve ours. The Censor discontinued reviewing it.

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At this point let me interrupt the story of the Catechism by interjecting an account of a personal tragedy that befell my family. My wife Kathleen had a colon cancer operation on November 3, 2001, underwent a week of chemotherapy from January 14th to 15th, and an examination on February 16th 2002 found no sign of cancer. A year and a half later, on August 7th 2003 she was found to have cancer of the lymph nodes, which was becoming widespread, and chemotherapy was begun. On October 17th we celebrated our Golden Wedding Anniversary with a Mass said by Fr. Jeffrey A. Kendall at St. Joseph’s, followed by a reception in tents set up in our back yard. Everything was organized by our children. On December 1 we were told that the lymph node situation seemed to be improving, but after that matters became progressively worse, and on July 9th 2004 she was told that she had 3 to 12 months left to live. Hospice care at home began on August 14th. On October 11th Kathleen selected the pall bearers, ushers and readers for her funeral Mass. Some were our children, but most were former students that she had gotten to know during her ministry at the USC Newman Center from 1964 to 1976, laboring as the assistant to Fr. Bonaventure Brown OFM (RIP 1996). She had already written her funeral Mass brochure many months earlier. On October 23rd I finished in 1st place in the over 70 category in the Governor’s Cup 8K race, and that evening our pastor paid us a surprise visit by saying Mass in Kathleen’s room, with several family members present. Seven days later she received the Last Rites administered by our old friend Fr. Thomas X. Hofmann. She passed to her eternal reward at 4 PM on November 10th, partially conscious, with myself and several friends and family members in attendance. Her tombstone at St. Peter’s cemetery is inscribed with Cead Mile Failte, meaning a Hundred Thousand Welcomes in Gaelic, in memory of her two parents who were born in Ireland.

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During this period of Kathleen’s illness she was very interested in the Catechism project, and was thrilled when it was completed in August 2002 while she thought that she was free from cancer. We both hoped for a quick publication by the diocese, and she was very disappointed when this did not happen. She kept importuning me to try to accelerate the process. The same July 2004 that she was given 3 to 12 months to live, the president of Acta Publications told me that he was willing to publish our catechism under the two conditions mentioned above. Kathleen was overjoyed when Bishop Baker allowed me to submit the document to our Censor Librorum for review. She was determined to live long enough to see it in print, or at least assured of publication. Kathleen was very disappointed when she learned that the USCCB had decided to prepare their own "local catechism," and our project seemed headed for oblivion. We never discussed it after that, but I know that it was still on her mind. She was never granted this last longing of her life.

Almost a year later, last October 24th, I submitted a proposal to my pastor for the establishment of a parish RCIA website. On January 15th of this year he sent me a letter saying that I should establish an independent RCIA website registered in my name, so I proceeded to prepare it. It contains the 34 outlines of RCIA talks that I had presented over the years, fifteen scripture and tradition talks that I gave at the St. Joseph Adult Education program, and what is most important the entire Catechism that I had prepared four years earlier. The website rciaresources.com was established today, the feast of St. Patrick, in honor of Kathleen, who I am sure looks down from heaven with great joy seeing her dream finally come to fruition. I wish she had lived to see it. This St. Patrick’s Day has been a very satisfying emotional experience for me.

On January 22nd, 2005, her best friend Holly Gatling, president of South Carolina Citizens for Life, dedicated the Stand Up for Life March and Rally “In loving memory of Kathleen Poole who established the first March for Life in South Carolina, Jan. 22, 1974.”

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