The Catholic Truth Society has improved by leaps and bounds in recent years. When I was at Ushaw I remember a seminarian who always referred to it as the `Catholic Lies Society` because, he said, if you compared its publications before the Council with those after, the things it had assured you would never change it now sought to demonstrate were open to change. However in recent years the CTS has produced some impressive stuff: I enjoyed the Evangelium course and the schools RE syllabus, The Way, The Truth and The Life. This is a vast improvement on the Here I Am course used in most Catholic schools. It comes with the imprimatur and approval of the former archbishop of Birmingham. I had hoped when we got a former priest of Birmingham to be our bishop that he might have promoted the course but unfortunately, in his short episcopate, that didn`t happen. Some have said that The Way, The Truth and The Life is deficient for use in schools. I hope they have told the future archbishop of Westminster.
This makes it all the more sad that we will soon be losing the Catholic Truth Society shop in Newcastle. I shall miss it very much. It closes on May 8th. That leaves the Pauline Book shop at the cathedral as the only Catholic bookshop in Newcastle. It is not as accessible to the average shopper in Newcastle as the CTS site was just off Northumberland St., the main shopping street.
At least in these days of the internet there are always Southwell Books and Family Publications as well as the CTS website to provide sources of useful Catholic material.
4 comments:
I am surprised and saddened by the news of the Newcastle CTS closure, even though I have wondered for several years how it managed to keep open. It may have been accessible but it was certainly hidden away as well and situated where not everyone would feel safe on a dark day or evening. Especially since most of that area has been deserted due to the rebuilding of the Central Library. As for the only 'Catholic' bookshop in Newcastle being the Pauline shop, well, its an opinion. They do have books (or used to) about animal welfare but not one about caring for cats. (Yes, in-jokes are boring, I know)
A deceased priest of the Oratory used to say to the congregation, when the CTS, came outside to collect funds, "You are not obliged to give anything to the Catholic Truth Society - they are neither Catholic, nor do they preach the truth!"
Some mistake, surely? I have never heard of the CTS collecting outside of church. I would be surprised to have that confirmed. Is Ottaviani perhaps thinking of the SVP (who are and were Catholic, I am quite sure).
The Way, the Truth and the Life is not a perfect RE scheme, but it is much better than Here I Am.
Birmingham diocese did not make much use of it as they had just produced their own materials - Learning and Growing as the People of God.
I don't think people realise how many of the teachers in our Catholic schools are either not Catholic, or are lapsed, or have been so poorly taught themselves that they have nothing to pass on. At a school near me, the acting head teacher is not catholic, nor are most, yes, MOST, of her staff. Good people, but with no faith to pass on. The Way, Truth and Life would at least put Catholic materials into the hands of these teachers, even if they are not as full as they might be.
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