# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1956_S334
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

334 PARISH EDUCATION

regarding Bible versions adopted by the Houston Convention and
embodied in the report of the Advisory Committee on Versions,
namely:

a. “That Synod reaffirm its principle that the original texts

of the Scriptures constitute the authority for its doctrine” (Pro-
ceedings, p. 576);

b. “That Synod in conformity with its previous practice refrain
from adopting any version as its official Scripture” (Proceedings,
p. 574);

c. “That new versions be used with proper caution and safe-
guards” (Proceedings, p. 574) ;
. 4, We encourage the use of new translations and paraphrases
as supplementary aids to Bible study; and be it further

Resolved, (d) That the convention express its deep appre-
ciation to this Advisory Committee for the extensive amount of
work which it has accomplished during the past triennium.

5. Report of the Advisory Committee on Religious Education
of the Mentally Retarded Child

It is believed that three per cent, or four and a half million
of our population, children and adults, are mentally retarded. If
this three per cent holds true, we have some 63,000 mentally re-
tarded persons in our own Synod. In the majority of cases the
mentally retarded are receiving little or no specialized instruction,
but in some localities, due mainly to the efforts of parents who
have such a child, an instructional program of some kind has been
developed.

Bethesda Home in Watertown, Wis., and Good Shepherd Home
of Terra Bella, Calif, offer one solution to the problem of caring
for the mentally retarded children of our church. It is, however,
neither possible nor desirable to institutionalize all persons who
fall within this classification. The purpose of this report is to
bring the readers up to date on the steps that have been taken to
help mentally retarded children and their parents wherever they
chance to be located.

Early in 1955 Synod’s Department of Social Welfare, having
been frequently asked for counsel, addressed a letter of inquiry
to 12 persons who were directly active in a Sunday school project
for the mentally retarded. The respondents expressed (1) an in-
tense interest in teaching religion to the retarded; (2) an unquali-
fied conviction that this specialized teaching was meeting a growing
need; (3) a feeling that they were quite alone in a difficult job,
and they wanted help especially in the area of teaching aids. The

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