LutheranCatechism.com today releases Small Catechism memory cards using the 1956 WELS-NPH “Gausewitz” translation.
In an article titled, “Carl Gausewitz: Church Man and Catechist,” Edward C. Fredrich says,
It would be safe to assume even without statistical evidence that 90 percent of the members in our church body [the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod] learned the rudiments of the Christian religion from the Gausewitz Catechism in either its original or revised form.
Gausewitz’s edition of the Catechism in German and English was published by Northwestern Publishing House in 1917. Gausewitz died about 10 years later. His catechism was revised and published by NPH in 1956. In these two editions, Gausewitz’s Catechism has had a very long run.
A LutheranCatechism.com reader used the contact form to send an inquiry about whether I had any plans or interest to publish Small Catechism memory cards using the “Gausewitz” catechism. That was on April 21, 2016. On the same day, I wrote to the Coordinator of Copyrights and Permissions at NPH inquiring about the copyright status and whether LutheranCatechism.com could obtain permission to use the “Gausewitz” text. Within a week, permission was granted. In this field of work, that is very fast. The text is copyrighted by NPH, by whose permission and generosity this new resource of memory cards is given freely to the world.
This free resource lets anyone print memory cards, each containing a portion of Luther’s Small Catechism, to use as a memorization aid, for teaching children, or for meditation and prayer. Simply download the free PDF file containing the cards and an instructions file from the distribution page. Then follow the instructions to print and separate the cards.
This is the ninth translation in the series of Small Catechism memory cards. Previously LutheranCatechism.com published memory cards using the following translations:
- 2010 Sola Publishing / ReClaim Resources
- 1979 NPH-WELS
- 2001 ELS
- 1992 CLBA-Faith & Fellowship
- 2004 Robert E. Smith
- 1999 Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland
- 1912 Synodical Conference
- 1921 Triglot English