Book of a lifetime: A Catechism of Christian Doctrine

From The Independent archive: Wendy Perriam reveals how Church dogma honed her vocabulary... and her guilt

Katechesis, meaning instruction by word of mouth, especially through questions and answers, goes back to the beginnings of Christianity (Getty/iStock)

I still know the Catechism by heart, having learned it at the age of five. The fundamentals of Christian doctrine were instilled into our impressionable young minds, to be repeated until they were as familiar as the alphabet. Its 370 injunctions are now branded into my very bones, like letters through a stick of rock.

Katechesis, meaning instruction by word of mouth, especially through questions and answers, goes back to the beginnings of Christianity; some have even compared it with the Socratic Method. Socrates, however, who championed discussion, exploration and speculation, would turn in his grave at such blatant thought control. Speculation has no place in the Catechism, which lays down absolute truths.

However baffling the concepts – the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, three Persons in one God – they must be accepted without question. Doubts were interpreted as sinfulness, and sin was a constant scourge, since “our natural inclinations are prone to evil from our very childhood, and, if not corrected by self-denial, will... carry us to Hell”. (Injunction 344) The Catechism is very hot on Hell. Mortal sin kills the soul and cuts one off from God; even venial sin is perilous, weakening our defences against more execrable transgression.