February 16, 2005
Want to Learn More About Catholicism?
The Catholic Church offers us the truth (1 Tim 3:15) in a way we can learn and understand easily. This enables each one of us to grow spiritually as God intended. However, we have an obligation to spend time studying our faith in order to better understand it and better apply it to our lives.
To assist in this growth, I thought I would add a post recommending resources – both books and websites – that will allow you to learn more about Catholicism. I’ll break it up into various sections that speak to specific types of those interested.
Catholic resources for non-Catholics
Just want to learn more about what the Catholic Church teaches? Start with these resources (of course, you can search DeoOmnisGloria.com as well!):
- The Catholic Catechism. This is clearly the best place to start, since it is the official teachings of the Catholic Church. For $8, this book contains exactly what Catholics believe and why (includes lots of Biblical citations). And it’s fairly easy to read.
- A Biblical Defense of Catholicism. This book is especially helpful for non-Catholics since it explains in detail the Scriptural foundations of Catholic teaching. It starts with the Bible and works from there, which is what most protestants prefer.
- Scriptural Roots of Catholic Teaching. Similar to the book above, this one is slightly more theologically-oriented than the first one. Both are excellent resources.
- What Catholics Really Believe. This is a quick read that goes over exactly what Catholics believe in just 155 pages. Most non-Catholics are surprised at exactly what the Church teaches, since many of these teachings are explained incorrectly much of the time. This is a good, concise book on what we believe.
- For specific questions, take a look at Catholic Answers or ask in our Suggestion Box. Catholic Answers contains many short articles answering common questions about the Catholic faith.
Catholic resources for Catholics
Just want to know more about your faith? Again, I would start with the Catechism (being able to look up any topic and instantly know what the Church teaches is invaluable). Other suggestions:
- The Church on Earth. This is a good book that offers a higher level overview of why the Church exists, what the functions of the Church are, and why we should be members. It’s a great way to begin understanding God’s plan for us.
- The Essential Catholic Handbook. This is another book that attempts to explain what Catholics believe, but it does it in a different manner than the Catechism. It’s easily accessible and perfect for Catholics seeking a better understanding of their faith.
- Suffering: The Catholic Answer. In my experience, suffering is something that Catholics need to understand, especially as it pertains to Catholicism. This book does an excellent job of explaining the how and why of suffering.
- The Vatican website also contains the Catechism, the Code of Canon Law, the 2nd Vatican Council, and some of the Pope's books online. All are searchable and easy to read or print out. This is a perfect resource.
- The entire Catholic Encylopedia is also online for your use at no cost. It offers great information on specific doctrines, Saints, and more. Fully searchable, so information is easy to find.
More Advanced Resources for Catholics
Know the basics but looking for some more depth in your spiritual understanding? This is a list of additional books that highlight a specific area of Catholic faith – all are important for our lives:
- Theology of the Body for Beginners. Although the title suggests this is a book for novices, Christopher West presents a fairly comprehensive overview of the Pope’s Theology of the Body. In our time, Catholics need to understand this in order to understand what is happening in our society. You’ll enjoy every word.
- Splendor in the Ordinary. For most of our lives, we are living in “ordinary time” – the ho-hum reality of life. This book explains how to become holy in ordinary life with a specific focus on family life. Perfect for those looking to improve their spiritual life.
- Getting Free. The Christian life is a constant struggle to overcome sin. In this short book, Bert Ghezzi helps us to locate the sin in our lives and develop strategies to overcome temptation and avoid sin.
- The Everyday Apostle. Last, but not least, I would recommend taking a look at this book on how to become an apostle for Christ. It’s an excellent synopsis on how to share your Faith and use words, if necessary.
- Dave Armstrong, the author of A Biblical Defense of Catholicism also has a blog called Cor ad cor loquitur where he discusses apologetics with protestant evangelists. It's a another (besides this blog) way of getting involved in apologetics.
I think all of the books listed above are good references on Catholic life and I hope you take a look at the ones that interest you most.
God bless,
Jay
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Old question, your driving a train with many people you see someone on tied on the tracks you can veer off with a chance of damage to train or go ahead and kill 1 person. 2. same scenario but if you veer off and you will kill many people on the train. 3.same as 2 but 5 people tied up they are your your family what do you do. ? veer of and kill everyone on the train( 40 people on train)
Posted by: mal at February 17, 2005 12:55 AMFirst, trains cannot be veered off the tracks. Derailings, for the most part, occur when a train stricks a large object or due to a faulty rail. Generally they are setup to run on a computerized system. All that the engineer could do would be to attempt to stop the train... Which, of course, would be the right thing to do :-)
Second, how would the engineer know that all the people on the train would be killed, if by some miracle, he were able to veer the train off the tracks?
Third, why ask questions like this? Seriously, what's the point? It's so full of holes that it is safe to call such a question, for lack of better word, stupid.
In Christ,
Joe
This is addressed to anyone who can best answer it.
What is the current RC belief regardig spirits (ghost), demons and execism? Does the RC still believe in exercism? Where can I read up on it?
In Christ,
Shawn
Shawn, unfortunately I know next to nothing about exorcisms. I will, however, share what little I know.
Pope John Paul II publicly attempted an exorcism a few years ago but failed to drive out the demon (that was big news in the tabloids) though I believe it eventually went silent. Some woman was demon possessed and bellowed out in a horrifying voice which terrified everyone there.
I believe that sort of thing is more common in South America where people are tempted by the occult more frequently than by materialism and athiesm (though of course plenty of exceptions everywhere).
Pentecostals and Catholic Charismatics often bind evil spirits / demons before and during gatherings and events in order to limit any influence the spirits might otherwise have. This practice is far from irrational as many leaders and participants at major events find themselves in personal quarrels or battling private temptations of an inexplicably intense and strategically timed nature.
I believe some Protestants of the Reformed / Puritan tradition shun the miraculous as something that ended with the death of the last Apostle and dismiss the rest as lingering Catholic superstition.
As for ghosts, I believe Roman Catholicism is highly skeptical of the idea of spirits of dead people coming back to haunt the living. I do not think they have ever pronounced anything close to definitive on the matter one way or another because it is not a matter of faith and morals and so the Church does not enjoy of the privilege of infallibility.
Posted by: Broken Record at June 21, 2005 02:27 PM
