Okay, it’s a bit silly to call anything from the ACNA “old”, but what I’m referring to here is the ACNA Catechism, To Be A Christian, which was originally published in 2014, but has just been re-released in a substantially revised form.  I guess we knew at the time that the catechism wasn’t “done” yet, but a lot of folks like myself forgot that the Catechesis Taskforce was still working on it, and were very surprised when this 2020 edition came out, with the fanfare of substantial changes.

When I asked around for a summary of the changes, I was disappointed – first by the lack of clear resources on the official website, and second by just how dismissive some people were regarding an honest inquiry.  But I put my grumpiness to work and made my own outline, identifying, question by question, where the 2014 Q&A’s ended up in the 2020 edition.

Check it out!  – ACNA catechism comparison

As you will see in that document, the two catechisms are in parallel columns to show the equivalency of each Q&A.  Occasional differences in phrasing are noted, but it should be understood that many of the Q&A’s have been edited, so when the old & new are lined up here, the implication is that they are essentially equivalent, not necessarily word-for-word matches.

Some sections are substantially restructured, most especially the part Concerning the Sacraments.  Not only has it been moved from ‘The Communion of Saints’ part of the Creed to the end of the Creed, but the order that the sacraments are addressed is also rearranged.  Similarly, a number of the Law & Gospel topics, and doctrines of salvation, have been filtered out of the Decalogue and collected at the introduction and ending of that Part of the Catechism.

Also, if I’m not mistaken, the terrible alphabetized index of the 2014 edition has been replaced with a biblical-ordered index.

I know this isn’t a liturgy post, exactly, but catechesis and liturgy are the closest of relatives, so I thought it best to share this resource with you all, here.