Cardinal Gibbons and the Baltimore Catechism

The Baltimore Catechism came into this world in 1884 during the Third Plenary Council of American Bishops, headed by Cardinal Gibbons. In 1869, Bishop Gibbons had gone to Rome as the youngest prelate at the First Vatican Council. In 1872 he was named bishop of Richmond, VA and on April 15, 1877 he was appointed Co-adjutor Bishop of Baltimore. Gibbons, considered by some an Americanist Liberal and all-around concilator commented that the BC contained “not a single line which might offend Protestantism.” It was published in 1891, and that first edition contained 100 questions.

BC 2: Who is God?

I tried to call you
yesterday
but pine trees interrupted with incessant
needles. Nothing
threads through those conditions,
all things being
equal. At
the borders of every
mathematical equation the
wilderness invites infinity to
answer questions what
is black and white and
perpendicular all over—God
the sons of hornets damn this aftermath.

~Son Rivers 2005