Adult Catholic Knows Nothing!

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I disagree that studying Catholicism is a torturous path…but I really love to read…a lot.

The Knights of Columbus have a wonderful free online resource called the** Luke E Hart Series - What Catholics Believe** about EVERYTHING you could ever want to know…in a very interesting, logical, organized, easy-to-read format. They have audio and print files. I used them for help with a presentation on Catholic Morality (but they explain nearly everything) Here is the link: kofc.org/un/eb/en/publications/cis/podcasts/hart/index.html

Welcome back 🙂 I will be praying for you.
 
yellowdaisy said:
Hi–

This is my first new topic that I’ve ever started, and something like my third post ever, but I read here a lot!

I was raised Catholic by a Methodist and a Catholic who didnt bleieve in/accept half the doctrine of the church.

I am now 26 years old, married, and have a 2 year old daughter who is just learning to communicate. My husband also had a somehwat lacking religious upbringing, although we are both confirmed Catholics.

We know nothing about our faith! NOTHING! We know there are holy days, but we cant name them. We attend mass regularly, but know nothing about how or why anything is said or done. I dont know what a novena is. I just learned how to pray the rosary during lent of this year, and I still have to bring a book with me when I do it that shows me what all the mysteries are and whatnot.

My daughter will be starting pre-school next year, and our hope is to send her to a Catholic school so that she wont have to flounder as we are floundering right now. I really feel like God is jumpstarting me to learn what I should have known already! I spoke to a priest about it in our last parish (we moved this year), and he pretty much said theres not much available to me by way of ministries, except maybe to audit RCIA. Does anybody have any ideas about how I can learn more about my own religion?

I just bought “Catholocism for Dummies”, which I figured was a good start 😉 DH and I are reading it together in the evenings, and we keep finding interesting surprises about the history of the church. I hated college, but I’d love to take a course in Catholocism!

I believe the basic principles about salvation, as taught by the church. I know I’m not a Protestant,b ecuase we once tried Protestant churches and it never felt like home to me-- we’re definately Catholic-- we’re just trying to figure out what that entails 🙂
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Listen to CA radio (via radio or internet) and watch EWTN, if you can. Pick up a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and look through the index at things you wonder about. Some people prefer the format of the Compendium of the Catechism. Look at them each in a Catholic bookstore and see which feels right for you.

Oh, and I agree with many of the previous posters, esp. with listening to Fr. Corapi’s CDs.
 
Both the Catechism and the Compendium are available online at the Vatican website. It is easy to cut-n-paste from those to a Word document. I prefer the paper versions, but free is a good price.

More importantly, though, the Church documents in the footnotes are also available online. Then those documents cite other Church documents, also posted online. It’s great, there is no end to it! But, OK, maybe you’re a ways from that. But do know that there is a whole treasure to be found in the footnotes. I have had a hard time searching the Vatican site for the documents (since there are so many other documents discussing the originals that come up), but if you put the full name of the document in an internet search engine, usually the Vatican posting will come up in the top ten answers.

I’m also fond of the little tracts that Catholic Answers has posted online. If you look at the top of this webpage, you’ll see we’re on the “forum” tab. Go to the “faith” tab, and you will find a heap of those little gems! Very well-written and to-the-point.
 
wanner47 said:
You’re thinking of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Catholicism” - which, IMO, was written by complete idiots. :rolleyes: It’s trash.
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thats the book I meant to say. I got rid of it once I was done.
 
Thank you all so much! I spent about three horus yesterday just reading the forums and processed a TON of information! Keep it coming :):grouphug:
 
You mentioned that in your confirmation class you never craked open a bible… Scripture Catholic is a great website that has all of the tenants of the faith explained, and the scripture to back it up. Someone also mentioned the Baltimore Catechism. I would specificially recommend The New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism second edition. Though it is written for younger childeren, it is very indepth and explains things thoroughly. Also, is there a Catholic book store in your area? The people who work at mine are very helpful in recommending books for specific topics. I would recommend going there, and explain what you need. They’ll be more than happy to help you.

Please God, may He bless you for recognizing that you need to learn more and for taking the steps to do so. It can be a headache inducing times (but only at times), and for me, I had to have a dictionary at hand when reading some things. When it becomes (and there are times it will) overwhelming, take a small break, a few big deep breaths, and jump right back in. Also, St Thomas Aquinas is the patron saint of students, so ask for his prayers, too. And of course, if you have questions, always ask them! These forums is a WONDERFUL place to get your questions answered by well informed and knowledgable Catholics.

E
 
Rats! I was in the middle of a big long post and lost it somewere in cyberspace!!

Short and sweet this time: (in my opinion of course)

My hat’s off to you for researching the Church’s teachings,…I only wish you could drag about a half a billion other “Catholics” with you on your journey.😃

RICA classes,…Church teachings taught second-hand and possibly subject to “teachers” opinion. (trust me,…I’ve got a good personal story to go with that statement).

Father John Corapi,…One of the best Catholic preachers and teachers on the planet today. You can catch him on EWTN occasionally, or you can purchase his teachings on his website. I have most of them including his Catechism series “The Teaching of Jesus Christ”. Pricey,…but well worth it.

Catechism of the Catholic Church,…impossible to go wrong there.

The Catechism of the Council of Trent,…my personal favorite.

Catholicism for Dummies,…I love this book, I’m reading it for the second time,…and I’m a (I really dislike this term),“traditional” Catholic.

EWTN has a few programs that are well worth watching. I doubt you’ll see anything non-Catholic there. Perhaps liberal, perhaps conservative,…but it should all be within the teachings of the Catechism.

May God bless you on your journey!
 
FrancisFan516 said:
RCIA classes,…Church teachings taught second-hand and possibly subject to “teachers” opinion. (trust me,…I’ve got a good personal story to go with that statement).
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I think it would be a good idea to double-check what you learn in RCIA against one or more of the sources mentioned earlier in this thread, at least until you have a good idea of how reliable the teacher is. I’m sure some RCIA programs are excellent, but some are not.

In our parish, the RCIA classes do not have much that is objectionable; in fact they don’t have much content at all. The questions the OP mentioned (how to say a rosary, how to say a novena, the meaning of what happens during the Mass) are *not *answered in our program.
 
As someone who attended a Catholic school and LOVED it, I would heartily recommend sending your daughter to one. That being said, I never learned one thing about the Catholic Church until I was in gr 12, and that was only a fluke because we got a new teacher who had ACTUALLY studied theology. Where I live the Catholic schools are private and there is no requirements to teach religion. Most of the religion teachers haven’t taken any courses in theology, and that is because they don’t have to. In fact, the fabulous religion teacher didn’t have a teaching degree even, and that is because he only taught religion which is not a certified course so he didn’t need one. So check out the religion teachers, make sure that they actually know what they’re talking about. I find that ones that teach it and don’t know what they’re talking about can do more damage than good.
 
Why do Catholics bounce on one knee? is a really good website that explains what happens at Mass. It seems to be geared towards older kids or non-Catholics attending their first Mass, but there is some pretty good explainations. There is another discussion guide on the same site that goes even more in depth. The first one, for example, in explaining the title (“Why do Catholics bounce on one knee?”) states: “When everyone takes their seat, you’ll usually see them bow, dip their knees a bit, and some even bounce a knee off the floor. This is one thing that many Catholics have no idea what they’re doing, or why they’re doing it. The basic idea is that you bow to the altar, and genuflect (touch your right knee to the floor) to the tabernacle. The tabernacle is a locked box where the Body of Christ is kept for adoration, and in reserve to give to the sick that can’t attend Mass.”

I hope this helps, and again, I’m very glad that you are taking the time to learn more about the Church and all that it entails!

E
 
Hello there!

FrancisFan513 had an excellent post on resources. I would also like to mention you can read the Bible also. The Cateschism can be read on-line as well as the entire Bible. There are many sites to Google.

Best Wishes and may the Mercy of Our Lord jesus Christ drown you and your family!

God Bless!
 
I own wonderful book called This Is The Faith: A Complete Explanation of the Catholic Faith, author Canon Francis Ripley and is available from Tan Books and Publishers.

The explanations are very clear and concise, and I find it a very good resource.

Of course, the others posting have given excellent recommendations, I just didn’t see this one.
 
yellowdaisy said:
We know nothing about our faith! NOTHING!
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some starting points:
  • search for Father Corapi (DVDs and CDs that are awesome)
  • Baltimore Catechism (download FREE from gutenberg)
  • Catechism of the Catholic Faith (a bit dense in certain areas, i use it more like an encyclopedia)
  • Catholic Answers Live (learned a lot here)
  • Jeff Cavins bible studies (particularly Bible Timeline)
  • EWTN (on TV or online)
  • Catholic Answers Forums, Ask an Apologist (you don’t need to ask a question, just read other people’s)
  • most importantly, the BIBLE 🙂
yellowdaisy said:
We know there are holy days, but we cant name them. We attend mass regularly, but know nothing about how or why anything is said or done. I dont know what a novena is. I just learned how to pray the rosary during lent of this year, and I still have to bring a book with me when I do it that shows me what all the mysteries are and whatnot.
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don’t worry too much about not knowing something / anything. the Catholic Faith is intellectually the deepest, richest faith on the planet, and would take LIFETIMES to learn all of it (if that is even possible). my advice is to start with the basics (like the sacraments), and then later focus on things that interest you. pray a little each day, read a little each day, go to confession often (once a month?), go to Mass.

most of all, SMILE AND BE HAPPY because God loves you and wants you to get to heaven :):)🙂
 
I hope the number of excellent replies here will not make you feel so overwhelmed that you can’t even start. I want to add even more, but I don’t want you to feel even more overwhelmed, so I will say first, start where you are. Start with whichever suggestion is most appealing, or easiest to start with. Expect that you will work harder later, but get some momentum going first.

Consider what you are doing to be a literally a lifetime’s work. In fact I expect that the more you learn, the more you will want to learn. Congratulations! Learning new things is always exciting, and I almost envy you that you will learn fresh and new many things that I have begun to take for granted. Enjoy!

In addition to the many Catholic authors who have been recommended, I would like to recommend a non-Catholic author who has been more help to my Catholicism than any Catholic author I have read. Read anything by C.S.Lewis, especially Mere Christianity, Screwtape Letters, Great Divorce, The Problem of Pain and the Narnia series. A point that he makes repeatedly is that Christians have a great deal in common.
 
Yellowdaisy,

Congratulations. I am coming back to the Church after a long absence and have forgotten much and much of what I do remember is pre-Vatican II and in Latin. In addition to the advice given, I read one book that was very helpful, The Essential Catholic Handbook. It has good explainations and uses Biblical and Catacistical citings to reference them.

As a bit of advice, I got many books from my public library as I am cheap and read a lot. If a book is good (I loved Chatholisism For Dummies) and I want a copy for me, I buy it afterwards but I always try before I buy.
 
mkingdomlvr said:
I own wonderful book called This Is The Faith: A Complete Explanation of the Catholic Faith, author Canon Francis Ripley and is available from Tan Books and Publishers.

The explanations are very clear and concise, and I find it a very good resource.

Of course, the others posting have given excellent recommendations, I just didn’t see this one.
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\

And it is the best one. 👍
http://www.olrl.org/mm5/mivapics/books/faith.jpg

It was written before the VII reforms, so it is not biased in any way. Just a solid foundation in which to build Faith.

11.00 shipped olrl.org/mm5/merchant.mvc?
 
I happened across a book called My Catholic Faith, by Louis LaRavoire Morrow, STD.

It’s an illustrated catechism, with 2-page chapters for a couple of hundred topics on Catholicism. It’s very readable; in fact, you can browse through it and pick a topic at a time, if you like. Kids, adolescents, young adults, and even more mature audiences will learn a lot.

It was originally written in 1936, and is a little dated, even corny in spots, but an absolute trove of information. Used copies are available online, plus I understand there’s a reprint of the 1965 edition currently available. (My copy is the 1961 edition.)
 
I_Believe said:
\

And it is the best one. 👍
http://www.olrl.org/mm5/mivapics/books/faith.jpg

It was written before the VII reforms, so it is not biased in any way. Just a solid foundation in which to build Faith.

11.00 shipped olrl.org/mm5/merchant.mvc?
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I just pulled that book out the other night to read again. I find it a great refresher when I’m feeling a little lost. My Catholic experience since I’ve moved has been a bit lacking to say the least and I’m hoping this will help.
 
What a Catholic should know about “Holy Day’s”

First what are they?

Holy Day’s celebrate days of very high signifiance in the “Church Year” which too is twelve months, but has a different starting and ending date.

As Catholics in Obedience to Mt. 19:16 we are required to obey all of the Commandments.

The Third Commandment is “To Keep Holy the Sabbath Day.” It is a “Grave Moral” obligation. which means to knowingly and willingly not do so would be a “Mortal sin.”
1 Jn.5: 6. {Amortal sin as the name implies is a sin, which we amy think of as saying NO! to God," that is sooooo SERIOUS that it has the ability to seperate us from our personal relationship with Christ. Shouls one die with unrepented and unconfessed Mortal sin(s) on ones sould, they would be in grave danger and risking Eternity in Hell. Jn.20: 23-24.

Bodies of Bishops, in the USA, the USCCB, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as in other countries ahs the ability, authority and power, to change these "Holy Days’ which are date specific to Sunday’s in some cases to make compliance
easier.

Catholic holy Day’s of Obligation

The following is a list of the dates of the Holy Days of Obligation in the United States for 2009, as well as the dates of moveable feasts (holy days whose dates change from year to year). Please note that only those days that have “Holy Day of Obligation” listed beneath their entries are Holy Days of Obligation; all others are moveable feasts.

 Mary, Mother of God (Thursday, January 1, 2009)
Holy Day of Obligation
 Ash Wednesday (Wednesday, February 25, 2009)
 Palm Sunday (Sunday, April 5, 2009)
 Holy Thursday (Thursday, April 9, 2009)
 Good Friday (Friday, April 10, 2009)
 Holy Saturday (Saturday, April 11, 2009)
 Easter (Sunday, April 12, 2009)
 Divine Mercy Sunday (Sunday, April 19, 2009)
 Ascension (Thursday, May 21, 2009)
Holy Day of Obligation (transferred to Sunday, May 24, 2009 in most dioceses of the United States; for more details, see When Is Ascension 2009?)
 Pentecost (Sunday, May 31, 2009)
 Trinity Sunday (Sunday, June 7, 2009)
 Corpus Christi (Thursday, June 11, 2009; transferred to Sunday, June 14, 2009)
 Assumption of Mary (Saturday, August 15, 2009)
Holy Day of Obligation (abrogated because it falls on a Saturday)
 All Saints Day (Sunday, November 1, 2009)
Holy Day of Obligation
 Christ the King (Sunday, November 22, 2009)
 First Sunday of Advent (Sunday, November 29, 2009)
Complete Advent schedule
 Immaculate Conception (Tuesday, December 8, 2009)
Holy Day of Obligation
 Christmas (Friday, December 25, 2009)
Holy Day of Obligation

Love and prayers,
Pat
 
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