OUR LADY'S PROMISE
FORMATION CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENCE COURSE
The course is informal in the sense that it is built around ten booklets which were written precisely as booklets rather than as course lessons. These booklets are arranged in logical sequence so that they provide a series of readings in the basic beliefs of Catholics. Numbered from One to Ten, the lessons are sent out in sets of two. Each lesson comes accompanied by a Lesson Summary and Questionnaire booklet and a test sheet, which is based on the material in the corresponding lesson.
All questionnaires are presented in the form of multiple choice questions so that the reader picks the answer (a, b, c, etc.) which he/she thinks best reflects what he/she has read in the lessons. Your answers will be put on a single sided answer sheet. The top half of the answer sheet will be for the odd numbered lesson and the lower half of the answer sheet will be for the even numbered lesson.
To get the student on his/her way, the first two lessons are sent out as soon as the student is enrolled. When the completed test sheet to Lessons One and Two is returned to us, it will be corrected and sent back to the student. In the same envelope will be included all the materials needed for the next two lessons. And so on, until the course is completed. The next set of lessons will not be mailed out until the previous lessons test sheet has been returned. There is no set time limit to complete the lessons, however, if after twelve months there is no activity the student record will be deleted from our computer system.
As enrollments are received each student is given a student number. This number will be found on the lower left side of the test sheet. Please use this number whenever you write about the course - whether it is to ask about lessons delayed in the mail, inquiries about some point of doctrine, an address change or whatever the reason. To avoid misunderstandings, it may be well to emphasize the following points:
- The purpose of the course is to provide some basic information about the Catholic faith. The course explains, it does not argue. It confines itself to the more important matters and does not pretend to be an advanced or complete course in Catholic theology. It provides a start for Catholics who wish to review Church teaching, and for non-Catholics who wish to learn something about the Catholic Church.
- The purpose of the questionnaires sent with each lesson is to aid the reader to absorb what the lesson contains. Correct answers to the questionnaire, therefore, signify only that the reader has understood what the text says. In requiring one answer rather than another, we wish only to satisfy ourselves that the reader understands what is said in the lesson. We have no intention of forcing one to say what he does not believe. One’s faith is something quite apart from the questionnaire, and we in no way intend to interfere with the reader’s conscience. (We will have occasion to repeat this as the course progresses.)
- We consider the answering of the questionnaires and the resultant interchange between the student and ourselves to be essential to the course.
- There is no charge for the course. All correspondence is confidential. No one will call.