Spirago’s Method of Christian Doctrine: A Manual for Priests, Teachers, and Parents (Classic Reprint)

The Rev. Francis Spirago, the author of this work, is Professor of Religion at the Normal School in Trautenau, A ustria. Some time ago he published a popular explanation of the Catechism (V olkskatechismus ), which in a few years had an astonishing sale. It was translated into English under the title The Catechism Explained, and is very popular with priests and lay catechists wherever English is spoken. Last year Spirago published the Handbuch der Specialmethodic des Katholischen Religionsunterrichtes, the present work. But as he tells us in his preface, it was written nearly ten years ago, during which time he has kept revising and improving the book, giving it the benefit of ten years experience in teaching Religion. He says further, I have endeavored to apply to religious instruction the principles of modern pedagogics, which, on the whole, have produced great results in the field of education. In regard to the need of following a certain method specially adapted to the teaching of Catholic truth to children and other uninstructed persons, the author remarks: Religious instruction closely resembles the practice of medical science. We pity the man who would enter upon a course of healing diseases totally heedless of the advice of practical and able physicians and the experience of past centuries. Still more would we pity the patients falling into the hands of such a quack whose maxim is: Experiment is better than study. What applies to physicians and the care of the body likewise holds good for the teacher of religion and the care of the souls of the young.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don’t occur in the book.)

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