council had desired a catechism "perfect in every respect" (Acta et Decr., p. 219). Nearly every U.S. bishop gave the new national catechism his official approbation and many schools adopted it, but it also received considerable criticism. In 1895, only ten years after publication, the American archbishops began a process of revision, but this was abandoned due to a lack of consensus. Between 1885 and 1941 over 100 other Catholic catechetical manuals were published in America with official imprimaturs, although none was as widely used as the "Baltimore Cathechism". Soon various editions came forth with additions of word-meanings, explanatory notes, some even with different arrangements, so that soon there was a considerable diversity in the books that go by the name of Baltimore Catechism. The Baltimore Catechism became the standard text for Catholic education in the United States for the next four generations. Since the 1960s, many Catholic churches and schools have moved away from catechism-based education. Original volumes The standard edition was created by Fr. Januarius de Concilio during the Council and published on April 6, 1885. This catechism contained 421 questions. Then for no known reason Bishop John Lancaster Spalding deleted many of the questions, reordering some, to make an abridged version containing 208 questions. This shorter catechism he identified as "number 1." However, the questions retained their original numbering; so, for example, in Lesson First the reader finds Q1, Q2, Q3, Q6, Q9. In September 1885 Bishop Spalding registered a separate copyright under his own name for what became commonly known as Baltimore Catechism Number 1. Since the standard text was larger, people and publishers came to refer to it as Baltimore Catechism Number 2. Revised volumes Later in the twentieth century the United States bishops decided to update the Baltimore Catechism. During the process they were determined to address the handful of criticisms that scholars had raised against the original. For example, the 1885 version was primarily written by one man, Fr. de Concilio. So the revised edition involved hundreds of theologians, scholars and teachers. The original was primarily written in ten days while the revised versions took years, in a long process of review and editing. Whereas Fr. de Concilio crafted one text which he intended for use by all schoolchildren, the revised text resulted not in one catechism, but a series of texts for different ages and grades. The Episcopal committee for the Confraternity