I was recalling the old Baltimore Catechism No. 2 from my elementary school days, googled, and found the entire text attractively presented here.
It's so marvelously clear and unambiguous, you wonder why it was ever abandoned. Unless maybe because it was too clear and unambiguous. Gotta have wiggle room if you want to make everyone happy regardless of what they believe.
In 1867, Matthew Arnold wrote "Dover Beach", a haunting poem evoking the "melancholy, long, withdrawing roar" of the Sea of Faith. As a boomer who finished Catholic elementary school in 1964 and then watched my Church falter, I've found the roar all too audible. So here I wait, listening for the whispers of that Sea's invincible return.
