Books explaining the faith to lukewarm Catholics?

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I hope someone on CAF can give me some good advice.

An old friend of mine is going to be in town in a week or so and we have plans to meet up. He is a good guy, but last I knew he wasn’t practicing the faith. He believes in God and he considers himself a Catholic, but as far as I know he doesn’t attend Mass on a regular basis, doesn’t frequent the Sacrament of Reconciliation, doesn’t agree with several of the Church’s major social teachings (i.e. regarding homosexual relations, divorce, etc.).

Now all of this could have changed since the last time I saw him, but since he has been a rather lukewarm/“cafeteria” Catholic for as long as I’ve known him I’m working under the assumption that he hasn’t changed.

He has shown interest in learning more about the faith though. The last few times I’ve seen him we’ve had some good and candid conversations about what the Church teaches about being a disciple of Christ. I even got him to go to confession the last time I saw him (which was a little over a year ago) even though he was reluctant and hadn’t been in years. I can tell he has a desire deep down to know God better and I want to help bring that out more if I can.

Since he no longer lives nearby and we don’t get to talk often I want to make the most of the time I get to see him. With that said, I am wondering if anyone can suggest any good and concise books on the faith for me to give him as a Christmas present? I’m looking for something that will explain the basics of the faith in a clear manner and isn’t a very long book (he tends to be intimidated by long books).
 
I’d get him a book about faith journeys into Catholicism such as Surprised by Truth; Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic; Rome Sweet Home; Crossing the Tiber, etc.
 
Also check out the short book “Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth”. It’s also available for free on the web.
 
For these types of scenarios, I’ve seen a lot of recommendations for Matthew Kelly’s Rediscovering Catholicism. I haven’t read the book myself, so I cannot personally confirm or deny. But it’s supposed to be an easy intro for those who have drifted away a bit. It’s the book that CatholicsComeHome.org recommends to those fallen away Catholics (and that website itself is a good recommendation, too).

Fr. Robert Barron’s Catholicism is also a great book to show the beauty of the Catholic faith.
 
A great book that explains the Catechism well is The Faith Explained by Leo J. Trese.
 
I second this! My former parish gave out copies of “Redicovering Catholicism” a couple of years ago. It’s a great book for those who may be “luke warm”. I have given out many copies to friends who were “just going through the motions” and it has helped every single one of them to not only understand their faith better, but has helped them to embrace it as well! 😃
Joe_5859 said:
For these types of scenarios, I’ve seen a lot of recommendations for Matthew Kelly’s Rediscovering Catholicism. I haven’t read the book myself, so I cannot personally confirm or deny. But it’s supposed to be an easy intro for those who have drifted away a bit. It’s the book that CatholicsComeHome.org recommends to those fallen away Catholics (and that website itself is a good recommendation, too).

Fr. Robert Barron’s Catholicism is also a great book to show the beauty of the Catholic faith.
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Our RE director gave us (catechists) a book for a Christmas gift at our party called The 4 Signs Of A Dynamic Catholic. I’ve only just started it but it looks very promising.
 
=jtodisco;10142851]I hope someone on CAF can give me some good advice.
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An old friend of mine is going to be in town in a week or so and we have plans to meet up. He is a good guy, but last I knew he wasn’t practicing the faith. He believes in God and he considers himself a Catholic, but as far as I know he doesn’t attend Mass on a regular basis, doesn’t frequent the Sacrament of Reconciliation, doesn’t agree with several of the Church’s major social teachings (i.e. regarding homosexual relations, divorce, etc.).
Click to expand...
Now all of this could have changed since the last time I saw him, but since he has been a rather lukewarm/“cafeteria” Catholic for as long as I’ve known him I’m working under the assumption that he hasn’t changed.
Click to expand...
He has shown interest in learning more about the faith though. The last few times I’ve seen him we’ve had some good and candid conversations about what the Church teaches about being a disciple of Christ. I even got him to go to confession the last time I saw him (which was a little over a year ago) even though he was reluctant and hadn’t been in years. I can tell he has a desire deep down to know God better and I want to help bring that out more if I can.
Click to expand...
Since he no longer lives nearby and we don’t get to talk often I want to make the most of the time I get to see him. With that said, I am wondering if anyone can suggest any good and concise books on the faith for me to give him as a Christmas present? I’m looking for something that will explain the basics of the faith in a clear manner and isn’t a very long book (he tends to be intimidated by long books).
Click to expand...
One that We used in our RCIA program: “Unabashed Christianity” is excellent; an easy to read and understand and ought to be available. Queenship publishing Order #3751 $12.95

And very complete in it’s content of basic matters.

God Bless,
Pat/PJM
 
Thank you all for your suggestions. I am looking into several of the books listed. For the time being though I decided to get my friend a few CDs from Catholic Lighthouse Media that explain the faith (Why I am Catholic When I Could be Anything Else by Patrick Madrid and Church Beliefs by Jesse Romero).

I figured that listening to talks by these speakers might be something he’d be more willing to spend his time doing. At the very least it will be harder for him to make excuses about not listening to these CDs than it would be for him to claim he didn’t have time to read any books I might get him. He drives so much that he could easily pop one in while he was going somewhere. 🙂
 
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