Book recommendations

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mkipp

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I am new to the faith and begin RCIA this fall. I have been reading over the Catechism book. Yet, I wanted to see if I could get any other recommendations for books about the faith. I am still very confused about what I can and cannot do at church and what all the rituals mean. God Bless.
 
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Well, there are lots of great books out there. I’m a cradle Catholic, so I don’t know specifically (from your point of view) what would be “best” to read, but I have heard wonderful things about Scott Hahn’s books. I am about to read one of them myself: Reasons to Believe: How to Understand, Explain, and Defend the Catholic Faith. I don’t know if that would be the best one for you to start with, but take a look at his website and see what “jumps out” at you. Hahn converted after years and years of being a Protestant minister and is now one of the leading Catholic apologists in this country. Here’s his website: scotthahn.com/

I’m sure others will have lots of great suggestions for you as you begin your journey home. Praying for you now, that you will be surrounded by supportive and wise people on your journey and that God will bless you immeasurably through the sacraments once you’re received into His church. :crossrc: :hug1:

PS - you might want to check out the Spirituality section (current and old threads) – I’ve seen many people post in there regarding starting RCIA, etc. 👍
 
Welcome to the faith!

The ritual and the “do and don’t do” of the Mass can be a bit to get used to. When I began attending the Latin Rite after being in the Ukrainian-Byzantine Rite, I had a bit to get used to as well!

Depending on how much reading you like to do…I really recommend Pope Benedict’s books, especially “Feast of Faith” and “The Eucharist, the Heart of Life” and “The Spirit of the Liturgy” they all were written when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, and they’re all excellent for really understanding everything.

The GIRM (General Instruction of the the Roman Missal) is also fantastic, though it is an instruction book, so the writing is a little dryer (but not terribly). It tells you what to do where in the Mass, it also tells you what the priest should be doing.

There are also the documents from Vatican II on the Liturgy, which are very helpful.

A fun book, to help with understanding the attitude behind the ritual, is The Catholic Passion by David Scott.

I hope this helps!
Pax et Bonum,
Mashynka
 
There is a book called Why Do Catholics Do That? that I found helpful. In addition, I really gained a lot of insight reading Rome Sweet Home by Scott Hahn and I’ve also heard good things about Catholicism For Dummies.

Also, what I’ve been doing (I’m new to the Church as well, and will be starting RCIA next month) is whenever I don’t understand something, I either ask a question, or try and find information online. Recently I’ve been curious about prayer candles and also Advent and Lenten candles/wreaths so I’ve been trying to figure out what it all means by doing some online research.
 
Catholic Christianity: A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs Based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft.

It’s an easy read, and it covers all the topics of the Catechism, only not as in depth. I used it as a starting point before tackling the CCC.

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Catholicism for Dummies is a good intro, written by good faithful authors!

Someone else also mentioned “Why Do Catholics Do That”. That is a good book, it is short and hits a few high points.

The Compendium to the Catechism is a great intro/companion to the Catechism.

DO NOT get the “Complete Idiots Guide to Catholicism”, it is not faithful to the teachings of the Church.
 
The best primer on Catholicism in my opinion is Alan Schreck’s “Catholic and Christian” - “An Explanation Of Commonly Misunderstood Catholic Beliefs.” I’ve read it 4 times.

John
 
mkipp said:
I am new to the faith and begin RCIA this fall. I have been reading over the Catechism book. Yet, I wanted to see if I could get any other recommendations for books about the faith. I am still very confused about what I can and cannot do at church and what all the rituals mean. God Bless.
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I have no specific book recommendations to make. I just wanted to encourage you to persevere. Your post reminds me (a cradle Catholic) just how daunting initiation into the Faith might seem, especially if you read the Catechism.

I encourage you to go to Mass frequently, pray, and most of all, try not to feel anxious if you don’t understand what to do when. It takes practice, and the Lord is patient!
 
Might also grab “The How-To Book of the Mass” it goes into good detail about our Worship services.

I would recommend any of Scott Hahn’s books, they give good explanations with Biblical information to back things up. “Hail Holy Queen” has a lot of good information about our Blessed Mother.

I would also second the “Born Fundamentalist Born Again Catholic” book.

Finally I would also suggest some of Christopher West’s books like “Theology of the Body for Beginners” and the “Good News about Sex and Marriage.” Some people have big hang ups about Catholic Theology in these matters, Christ explains them in amazing clarity.

Finally… Welcome Home 🙂 Former Presbyterian (raised Baptist) who finished his “swim” this past Easter.

Sincerely,
Joe
 
And for what you can or cannot do at Mass - you can do anything that the rest of the congregation is doing, except recieve our Lord in Holy Communion (yet).

To cross yourself with the Holy Water when you enter the Church, this is a reminder of you Baptism.

To cross yourself at any point during the Mass is a prayer (it reminds us of the Mystery of the Trinity and the Mystery of Faith).

When you see Catholics genuflect (kneel on one knee) or bow when they enter/leave the pew, that is a sign of reverence for Jesus in the Tabernacle.

Most Parishes have a Missalette - a book of some sort, and sometimes it has extra pages in the hymnal, this will have the order of the Mass as well as the “instructions” for the proper gestures.

Many prayers for you!!
 
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