Essential books for me, i'm curious about catholicism?

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anendlesswaltz

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I don’t want to spend to much money, especially because i’m merely exploring its beliefs and how/why it does things different and such. Like yesterday i learned about Mary and on monday i’m going to look at the scriptural basis for confession. I’ve been praying about it a lot because it is very important to me. I do not want to just rush into it or believe it because its what i am being told. I want to pray over it and read my bible, for once, instead of simply agreeing with what i am told.

That being said…sorry for the long intro…what books should i get? Without spending a lot of money? I found two websites, www.catholiccompany.com and https://www.zieglers.com/

I intend to buy a rosary, for sure. I’ve already picked one out. What’s a finger rosary? Or a bracelet rosary?

I would buy prayer cards, but without a frame to display them on i think i will simply use a spiral i already have and write them down so i can pray them.

I have room for a few books on my bookshelf, if anyone has any to suggest. Like i remember i think shorter christian prayers was suggested to me? Is that a good one for a beginner? Something daily to follow along with would be nice, but nothing with too long entries because as a beginner i find that very intimidating…books in general would be nice. Sorry this is so long.
 
Hello! Welcome to the site, I hope you find a lot of interesting information on here.

For starters I’ll recommend the YouCat if you don’t already know it. Technically geared towards the youth, it’s a simple questions and answers catechism, that explains MANY of the important tenants and ideas of Catholicism, as well as the individual facets of the faith.

Scott Hahn is also a very good modern Catholic theologian, he’s easy on beginners. I can also highly recommend Bishop Baron and his Word on Fire apostolate. He has both a YouTube channel, a podcast and a huge number of other projects geared towards converts and other interested parties.

Either way, yes, read your Bible. It’s a very good Catholic book. 😉 But don’t forget to talk to people as well and to first and foremost to pray. Pray to our Lord, pray to our Lady if you’re comfortable with that. They WILL help you in your search

A bracelet rosary is a rosary that fits your arm, a finger rosary is usually a metal finger ring or thumb ring with ten small knobs and a cross or single larger knob to indicate the end of a decade. Like all rosaries, while they can be a beautiful enhancement of the prayer, they are primarily practical counting tools so you don’t have focus on a number, but rather your intentions and meditation of the prayer.

Finally, I’d like to personally invite you to The Coming Home Network. It’s a social media platform by converts for converts.

I wish you all the best in your journey and be assured of my prayers. 🙏
 
Thank you so much! This is such a good list to start with. I’ll check out that social media network sometime soon! I’m busy this weekend but i’ll have some time this coming week.

And yes, i’ve begun praying to Mary for intercession, i’ve been calling her the Blessed Mother or Mother Mary if i’m in a rush working and forget myself, because that’s the first title i heard her called that i understood. I’ve also been praying in general to the saints in heaven for intercession. It was amazing, being able to pray to them at work yesterday and i felt it helped so much.

That makes sense, about the rosary. I’m on the small side so perhaps a traditional rosary would be best. Or a bracelet for the pocket, too. I wonder if there’s a prayer card that would fit in a small rosary pouch for the rosary bracelet…
 
I have two recommendations. I don’t remember what religion you were raised in but if any Protestant denomination then The Case for Catholicism by Trent Horn is excellent for comparing the two and why Catholics believe what they do.

Another would be Catholicism for Dummies. Bad title but a great read and explains many of the types of questions you are asking. Look for used copies to save money or get the kindle type versions.
 
anendlesswaltz said:
I don’t want to spend to much money, especially because i’m merely exploring its beliefs and how/why it does things different and such
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I would urge you very strongly to rely on the free resources on the Internet and not pay for books.

There’s a variety of free Catholic Bibles:

Vatican website has one here
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/_INDEX.HTM (note, Psalms aren’t linked in the table of contents, long story, but you can still read them by clicking the “Next” from the preceding section)

USCCB has the Catholic Bible and also free Catholic daily readings from the Bible just as you would hear them at Mass


If you prefer the old-fashioned pre-Vatican II Bible, then the Douay-Rheims is available here:

http://www.drbo.org/

The Vatican makes the official Catechism of the Catholic Church available for free right here:

https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM

If you want to read something like Scott Hahn’s “Rome Sweet Home”, that’s not on the web for free but if you didn’t want to spend money for a cheap copy then you could likely borrow it from your local public library, or even your local Catholic parish as many of them have libraries.

If you just want to pray then there are lots of prayers on websites.

EWTN has prayers and articles on its website (the prayers are in the Practice of the Faith section):


Here’s just one of many websites with tons of traditional Catholic prayers for free:
http://www.catholictradition.org/prayers1.htm

Really, the possibilities are endless. I have like 150 Catholic web page bookmarks.
You shouldn’t need to spend any money if you have Internet.
 
Thank you so much!! I screenshot your post so i can come back and look it up. This helps a lot! Cause like if rather spend my money on stuff for the food pantry than books.
 
I know you are asking for book recommendations, but I would also like to give you a YouTube channel since it’s free :)) Father Mike from Ascension Presents has so many wonderful videos on all different topics.
 
Greetings

I will keep you in my prayers as you do your search. One resource I like to use is the Catholic Answers website www.catholic.com. They have a ton of articles about Catholic beliefs. So if you want to find out about confession, as you mentioned, you go to their site, do a search for “confession” and check the articles. They should be able to answer whatever questions you might have.

Pax
 
fredystairs said:
I will keep you in my prayers as you do your search. One resource I like to use is the Catholic Answers website www.catholic.com . They have a ton of articles about Catholic beliefs. So if you want to find out about confession, as you mentioned, you go to their site, do a search for “confession” and check the articles. They should be able to answer whatever questions you might have.

Pax
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Thank you so much!! I think i’ve stumbled upon them through google before, they were very helpful and informative. I will bookmark the site for further use! I really appreciate all the help.
 
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