Catholic Terms and Teaching

[jcjennie]

I am a cradle Catholic - both my parents were devout and very involved with our parish. We had priests as houseguests and visited cloistered nuns. I was lucky to have this upbringing and I have grown to love the Catholic Church.
However, I STILL don’t understand the various tems and phrases we use.

My questions - What are the meanings and differences of certain words like dogma, doctrine, canon, liturgy, apologetics, papal encyclicals, letters, epistles, magisterium. What exactly happened at Vatican II? I want to read Theology of the Body but where do I look? What other Vatican publications should I read?

I’m in my 30s but dont’ ever remember being taught these specifics. I do regularly read the NAB and the Catechism. Sorry about the largeness of this question!

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

I am a cradle Catholic - both my parents were devout and very involved with our parish. We had priests as houseguests and visited cloistered nuns. I was lucky to have this upbringing and I have grown to love the Catholic Church.
However, I STILL don’t understand the various tems and phrases we use.

My questions - What are the meanings and differences of certain words like dogma, doctrine, canon, liturgy, apologetics, papal encyclicals, letters, epistles, magisterium. What exactly happened at Vatican II? I want to read Theology of the Body but where do I look? What other Vatican publications should I read?

I’m in my 30s but dont’ ever remember being taught these specifics. I do regularly read the NAB and the Catechism. Sorry about the largeness of this question!

You are in an age group that received very poor catechesis. There are some very good materials out there to help fill the gap. Also a little pocket Catholic dictionary is available in paperback.

If you like to read I would suggest: The Catholic answer Book, Why do Catholics Do that?, The Privilege of being Catholic, We Believe…, Lighthouse media has reasonably priced CD’s on various topics. Look over the Catholic Answers shop at the top of this page.

If you own a Green Catechism (which every Catholic should have) it has many useful indexes in the back as well as a glossary of terms.