A USEFUL LARGER CATECHISM

New Zealand Tablet, 25 April 1912, Page 49

A USEFUL LARGER CATECHISM

A valuable service to catechesis has been done by the Very Rev. Canon Doyle (parish priest; of Ferns, in the diocese of that name), in making available for English-speaking readers a translation and adaptation of Cardinal Goossens' Larger Catechism of Christian Doctrine for Advanced Classes in schools. Canon Doyle of Ferns is known as one of the most advanced and successful administrators in that ancient episcopal See, and his long and intimate acquaintance with catechetical works and catechetical-methods fitted him in a peculiar way to select .with ripe judgment a work best suited for the classes for which he here caters, and to alter and adapt it as to render it both suitable and attractive to children in the upper forms of schools in English-speaking lands. ; The work of translation and of adaptation has -been most excellently done, and the result is a book which is a most valuable and timely addition to our catechetical literature. The book is, in fact, about the most compact theological and moral treatise we have seen, and is not alone useful for the classes for which it is more directly intended, but also for catechetical., instructors, our secondary schools and colleges, and for the fairly educated Catholic laity. The work consists of 25 chapters, which give, in the form of question and answer, a really excellent epitome of Catholic dogma and morals. One feature of the work, which is largely due to the practised judgment of Canon Doyle, is the brief, pithy, and accurate manner in which doctrinal facts and arguments are generally nut-shelled into one-sentence answers. And these are generally couched in the form in which the pupil is most apt to understand them readily and "to retain them strongly in his memory. This Larger Catechism has the warm approval of the Bishop of Auckland, who commends it to "all interested in the training of youth. (From the publishers, Browne and Nolan,

Ltd. Nassau street, Dublin, and through all': Catholic booksellers; demy Byo., 172 pages; 6d net.)