One thing I’m involved in on a parish level is Adult Education. Sometimes it’s something formal like RCIA or Adult Confirmation or presenting a pre-packaged series like I’m doing right now (Fr. Robert Barron’s *Catholicism *series). Sometimes I’m asked to create and present a series of Bible studies or apologetics classes. Whatever I teach or get involved with, I always stress one thing to students: Whenever you take any kind of class or other situation where the Faith is going to be discussed, you should ALWAYS bring a Catholic Bible and a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. That way, when disputes rise about Church teaching (and they inevitably will), at least one person will have authoritative resources to be able to answer most questions that come up. Otherwise, it becomes a case of “The Church teaches this/No, it doesn’t” or the blind leading the blind.
To that end, I’ve been working on something of an “apologetics cheat-sheet” styled somewhat upon the popular and very helpful Bible cheat-sheets. I’ve included references to places in the Catechism that answer commonly asked or misunderstood (even by Catholics) teachings of the Church. When someone asks, “What does the Church teach about this or that?”, this can be a quick authoritative go-to source. It is also useful for answering those types of charges where anti-Catholics might say that the Church teaches something that the Church plainly does not (like Catholic believe the Pope is perfect, or we worship Mary, or we think we have to work our way into heaven, etc. etc., etc.).
Anyway, here is what I have so far (below). If you know of any other sections of the Catechism that directly address commonly asked questions or misunderstandings about the Catholic Church, please feel free to add them.
