Hey, you’re already 8 years ahead of me for where I was when I was were you are now.
:whacky:
When I was 25 years old, I realized what you’re realizing now at the age of 18.
I volunteered to be a catechism program assistant volunteer… and immediately I was now a catechist-in-training.
Talk about “to learn something, teach it!”
Okay… maybe that’s not an option for you. I mean… getting formal and informal formation as a catechist.
Um… read the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Buy your own copy, if you can. Both it and the Bible are where it’s all at.
Then, check out **EWTN’s Faith ** section:
ewtn.com/faith/index.asp
I suggest this because EWTN’s Faith section has parts for:
Teachings
ewtn.com/faith/teachings/teachframes.htm
and
**
Catholic Q&A**
ewtn.com/vexperts/conference.htm
and
Devotions - like various novenas and litanies and prayers
ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayer_saint.htm
And see the movie,
The Passion of the Christ. More than once. On the large screen before the video and DVD come out in October.
thepassionofthechrist.com/splash.htm
Paperback -
Guide to the Passion: 100 Questions About The Passion of The Christ
by Tom Allen, Marcellino D’Ambrosio, Matthew Pinto, Mark Shea, Paul Thigpen
amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/193264542X/qid=1087114183/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/002-5197551-9948818
Get that little paper-back book about 100 Questions About The Passion (the movie).
Check out what it is that we do, anyway, at Mass… and why.
Like “
Why do Catholics bounce on one knee?”
grigaitis.net/articles/guide2.html
There’s a Catechism Internet Study Group that you could jump into –
cccisg.org/
Father Jim Mifsud, SM has many of his homilies at Queen of Apostles Roman Catholic Church videotaped for the Web. He was my pastor when I lived there… and he’s still there, giving great homilies!!
Click on the photograph of him at the home page for Queen of Apostles and you’ll get Windows Media Player playing a 30-second welcome.
qofa.org/
ascentjobs.org/videoandaudio/audioandvideohomilies.html
There’s a whole ton of very good Websites out there for “things Catholic.”
Among them, I’d say that if you spent any time at all at these, then you’d be well on your way to a very solid direction in exploring our Catholic Faith:
**
www.newadvent.com ** (also known as “the Catholic encyclopedia”)
**
www.catholic.com ** (of course, that’s the premiere Catholic apologetics Website) – be sure to check out the archived one-hour long radio episodes of
Catholic Answers radio program, each with a different topic. They’ve got about 5 years of archives there… and the program runs every weekday, so they have lots from which to choose.
A **mother lode of theology ** answers at:
shc.edu/theolibrary/
I especially enjoyed delving into the **Imitation of Christ ** by Thomas a Kempis (
ccel.org/k/kempis/imitation2/htm/i.htm), one of the Catholic classics at:
shc.edu/theolibrary/spirit.htm#classics
It’s got the
Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola:
ccel.org/k/kempis/imitation/imitation-ToC.html
And **St. Augustine’s Confessions ** are classic!
ccel.org/a/augustine/confessions/confessions.html
Check out the Catechism of the Catholic Church, first…
. Being willing to ask questions about those things you aren’t sure about is a huge first step. It takes guts and courage (and little nudges from the Holy Spirit 
) and a kind audience. You’ve got the first two (and it sounds like you’re getting the third 
) and we are very willing to offer the fourth. I’ll let somebody else tackle the novena question because I don’t know what it is either. And I’d never heard of a scapular before. And I couldn’t pray the rosary to save my life before a week ago. But you keep working on it because there’s a ton of information contained out here that will answer most of your questions, and if the answer isn’t here somewhere someone will answer it kindly if you ask it. If you have your basic resources, and you are willing to read them and use them, these guys are great to help you figure out how.