VeriCat.org verification files provide copious references that verify the accuracy and orthodoxy of each key statement in the opensource catechesis materials they are associated with. In this way, the reputation of the author isn’t relied upon as the sole source for establishing the orthodoxy of the material and catechists (and their students) are empowered with the ability to do their own reading of pertinent Catholic documents.
VeriCat.org verification files are open to the public and an open channel exists for anyone to critique the accuracy of the verification file via “contention submission” button located on the content’s webpage (Note: Each piece of content on VeriCat.org is assigned a unique identification number and matching webpage that is printed on the material itself, e.g. LE-0319-0121 is printed on top right of the material along with a request to leave a review at VeriCat.org/LE-0319-0121 ). Contributors and VeriCat.org moderators respond to these critiques and update the verification file, or the catechesis material itself, accordingly.
For example, slide 4 bullet 3 of LE-0319-0121 may say as a matter of fact “the universe was created in 6 days” and cite Genesis in the verification file. A critique may be submitted saying “slide 4 bullet 3 of LE-0319-0121 takes Genesis literally, but paragraph 38 of Pope Pius XII’s encyclical Humani Generis shows that Genesis need not be taken literally”. After investigating, the VeriCat.org moderator will add a clarification to the verification file and possibly require LE-0319-0121 itself to provide an explanation. VeriCat.org verification files encourage dialogue and assist readers in understanding what material is “infallible church teaching that all Catholics must submit to” and what material is “speculative theology that two Catholics in good standing with the Church could hold opposite opinions on”. Without this visibility students and catechists alike often hold personal opinions as dogma and visa versa, which often instills doubt and erodes faith overtime.
Please consult our List of Acceptable Verification Sources , How to Create Verification File (Microsoft Word) instructions (the intent of which you can apply to other programs like PowerPoint, Google Docs, etc), Forum area for Verification File Questions, and Example Material for help creating verification files.
Common questions about Verification Files:
Q: This verification file seems like it will take a long time, is it really necessary?
A: Yes, for many reasons. Creating a verification file is a journey that forces Catechists and their students to steep in Church Documents that make them better people and their materials better. It serves as a barrier to people submitting every little piece of material they have ever created, whereas VeriCat wants to host only the best and most fruitful material that each Catechist has produced. If you have a real masterpiece that you can tell was God inspired and bore great fruit (rather than a vain act of your own intellect that didn’t really bear fruit, as ~50% of the founder of VeriCat’s materials have been) then you won’t mind putting in this effort to allow it to reach others (as the saying goes “The difference between an Amateur and a Professional artist is that the former shares everything they ever did while the latter only shares the top 5% of their creations with the public so the latter appears so much better.” ) Volunteers are available to help carry most of the verification file creation burden for you in the VeriCat forum. With the gravity of how harmful accidental heretical teaching can be and given this is a platform where anyone can post to, the verification file is a necessary mechanism (as a personal testimony, every year the VeriCat founder would review his materials from the prior year and discover accidental heresies and after so many years of that decided to implement the verification file process on his own materials and his ministry was blessed thereafter). Just to give more context on why we think the current requirements of Verification Files is “just right”, we once considered requiring the “doctrinal level of authority”/”class of dogma”/”theological grade of certainty”/”theological note” of each key statement to be noted in Verification Files in a style similar to that done by Ludwig Ott’s “Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma”… however that would have been an order of magnitude larger & more complicated of an effort beyond the abilities of us amateur catechists (however we hope “more advanced in their understanding of dogma” users will chime in should a case of a Sententia Probabilis statement being taken as De Fide arises to actual detriment/confusion of other VeriCat users someday).
Q: Do I have to add a citation for literally every sentence in the document?
A: No. Ideally, every single sentence would be verified by a reference. However, for the sake of saving finite resources (not least of which are the patience of the author and Vericat volunteers), prior to initial posting on Vericat.org only “key statements” are necessary to verify via references. “Key statements” is an admittedly subjective term, but the litmus test used by our Vericat volunteers who review Verification File submittals is to ask “Is this statement intuitively obviously true to me (a relatively well catechized Catholic)?” If no, then it’s a “Key statement” that requires a reference. Recall that the verification file also serves as a resource for less catechized students consuming the catechetical material to use to find specific portions of pertinent Church documents that expound upon content summarized in the catechetical materials (please see our general philosophy on the role of the catechist ), and therefore to the extent practical/prudent/expedient we try to make the verification file have references even for statements that are not “key statements”. The best way to make Verification Files is to make them in parallel with the catechesis material and to base your materials in large part on Church Documents. The second best way is to read through your already completed catechesis material and highlight every “key statement” and then go through and find a source for each key statement.
Q: What’s to prevent someone from stringing along a bunch of out of context statements from catechisms into a heretical piece of content?
A: Our VeriCat volunteers use some level of discernment to prevent such things. The verification file provides “reasonable assurance” that there are no inaccuracies or heresies within the document, however it is not an air-tight system but luckily it is just the first layer of defense. The public feedback/critique cycle is relied upon as our second layer of defense and through it we iterate towards a more perfect confidence in the trustworthiness of catechetical materials on Vericat.org. At times for especially popular or controversial content we may employ the help of a censor librorum to generate a nihil obstate and obtain a diocesan bishop’s imprimatur as the final layer of defense.
Q: This super reliable rock solid holy blog/Publisher’s book/Catholic celebrity I follow said this or that and it seems like enough assurance for me. Can I put that in the Verification File?
A: We require more substantial sources List of Acceptable Verification Sources | VeriCat.org. Blog posts, podcasts, etc are well below the level of rigor we are going for at Vericat.org. However, you can include links to such external resources within the verification file if you feel so strongly that they are great resources, but VeriCat will add the disclaimer that we are not responsible for the content of such external resources and can’t speak to the orthodoxy/accuracy of it.