THE UNIVERSAL CATECHISM

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 116, 10 February 1919, Page 5

THE UNIVERSAL CATECHISM

Tho great work for' the unification o! catechetical instruction throughout' the Catholic world is to be postponed for the present (says the Rome correspondent of tlie London "Tablet"). A. good deal has already been done. Father Roderick M'Keacheu, D.D., an American priest who has specialised for many.years in this branch of study and work, has been:busy at the Vatican for some time now laying foundations, collecting and co-ordinating texts of practically all existing catechisms, and generally preparing the ground. But the project which the Holy rather has in mind goes far beyond the preparation of just one common,. simple "catechism" or text. It is "catechetical teaching" that is in question? and that, when extended to cover all that can be covered by 'the term, forms as big a subject as the codification of Canon Law —in some ways bigger. The ground, then, having been prepared, it has, been thought wise to postpone for the present the carrying into action of the scheme. Many important tilings are pressing on the attention of the Holy See just now, 1 and doubtless, for a work dealing, with the teaching of the faith in every country, and fpr. which a. commission, formed of tho most learned. representatives of every country; will be required, a year or two hence will bo a more convenient time than the present, .when communicati m is still difficult and feeling is still ;k(-tn. Tho "Pall Mall Gazette-" relates that' Major SetOn (who was shot recently by, Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford), in 1912, rodo through a big bush fire in. the Strathbogio Ranges to succour a woman who had'been bitten by a.tiger snake.' His horse was suffocated by smoke and burnt to a cinder. Major Seton crawled on all-fours through the fire for. the last 500 yards, and saved tho woman's life.