In reply to Donald Collins.

Per Pastor McCain – “Printed copies of the draft will be mailed to all rostered church workers in later July. At the same time, the draft will be posted for download on The LCMS web site by anyone.” If I channeled some Martin Luther you might hear more than a little cynicism regarding monasteries e.g. “rostered church workers” versus the laity so could I suggest:
1. We conduct a survey of our churches to determine what percentage of them are still actively using the small catechism in their confirmation programs
2. We change the audience to receive the draft copies from “all rostered church workers” instead to those who are specifically and currently engaged in teaching catechism today and who are using the small catechism to do same.
3. Since the small catechism created for the father of the household to teach with could we get perhaps the Fort Wayne Seminary to lead some online focus groups of young Dads and their children (young confirmands) using web conferencing to see how well the Fathers and confirmands receive this matter. Try to include some of our African churches.
4. We consult with our Catholic Brethren who recently created their own small catechism by contacting the author of their 2011 work; “YOUCAT” -Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church -Author: Christoph Cardinal Schoenborn. Or the drafting team of their just released DOCAT, Jul 2016; (YOUCAT FOUNDATION GEMEINNUTZIGE GMBH) that explains catholic social teaching (WORLDVIEW) NOTE: We don’t have to agree on doctrine to benefit from their focus group research and editorial insights.
5. There has been a large demand by our young military troops for the small catechism so I suggest we send draft copies to our Chief of Chaplains for the USA, USN, and USAF for their input. They may desire a more ruggedized version with waterproof pages, soft covers (camo) and flexible bindings so the troops can take them to the field. Our third world churches would also benefit from same ruggedized version. BTW same is needed for their bibles. Finally, this is just one more reason a mobile phone and web-enabled catechism is imperative. Our troops are using their mobile phones to conduct combat these days so lets enable them to use their mobile phones to share their faith.