How can I learn more about the faith?

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Hi everyone- today I have a question about learning more about our glorious faith! I was raised Catholic and I consider myself as deeply faithful. I was raised post-V2. Surprisingly, I have taught Catechism for about 15 years and was a Dir. of Youth Ministry for 7 years. I just want to be able to learn everything that I can about the Catholic church. DH and I thought about attending RCIA, however at all the churches in our area this is always on Thursday nights and my husband has a teaching commitment on most thursdays that he cannot get out of. it’s important for us to learn together. does anyone have a suggestion of a home type study or course that we could do that’s RCIA-similar? I have done a home study course through the KofC that was quite advanced but hard for me. we’d like to start from the basics since hubby is a convert and we both have a lot of questions. we just want to learn as much as we can! I also hope to someday enter the Lay Ministry training program for our diocese, but it is a big time commitment and we have a 4 yr old at home. and hubby has mentioned a couple of times looking into a deacon program. We just want to learn! thanks-twk:thumbsup:
 
I’m also a child of the post VII catechetical confusion. It’s way older than me, but I found the old Baltimore catechism a great introductory tool. Short, conise, simple language.

From there, read the current Compendium of the Catechism. It is more verbose than the Baltimore, but reflects the more nuanced pastoralism of the post Vatican II church. IMO, this makes things harder to understand, but more profound once you do.

The full fledged catechism is awfully hard to read straight through. Seems to beat things excessively for mere lay education purposes. But maybe I’m just dumb! 😃
 
**Maybe a less formal approach would be better for you considering all of the demands on your time?

When I was considering converting, hubby (a cradle Catholic) and I started out simply reading the same books (about some aspect of the Faith) and then discussed them. We would use any questions raised as a jumping off point for the next topic…

We covered everything from basic requirements of the Church, pro life issues, historical accounts of Jesus, conversion stories, to trying to tackle Summa Theologia, lol.

We now have a baby girl who takes up most of our time but we still fit in some learning when ever we can. With over 2000 years of history we can’t expect to ever know it all in this life…

malia**
 
The easiest way to learn for me was Catholic Answers Radio archives (download the Mp3s to disc and listen to them in your car), EWTN (go to their website and find the shows that you’d be interested in the most), and BOOKS----glorious heavenly books! Check out the shop here on Catholic Answers. Author’s to keep an eye out for would be; Karl Keating, Scott Hahn, Patrick Madrid, etc.
Keep a Catechism handy for references and your well on your way 😃
 
MCGar said:
The easiest way to learn for me was Catholic Answers Radio archives (download the Mp3s to disc and listen to them in your car), EWTN (go to their website and find the shows that you’d be interested in the most), and BOOKS----glorious heavenly books! Check out the shop here on Catholic Answers. Author’s to keep an eye out for would be; Karl Keating, Scott Hahn, Patrick Madrid, etc.
Keep a Catechism handy for references and your well on your way 😃
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I second these suggestions and also add that I would read anything printed by Scepter Books or by TAN Books. Scepter is the publisher for most of the books by St. Josemaria and I believe also puts out the excellent Navarre Bible series. TAN essentially returns really good old Catholic books to print at reasonable prices. I have yet to buy anything less-than-helpful from either!
 
twk001 said:
Hi everyone- today I have a question about learning more about our glorious faith! I was raised Catholic and I consider myself as deeply faithful. I was raised post-V2. Surprisingly, I have taught Catechism for about 15 years and was a Dir. of Youth Ministry for 7 years. I just want to be able to learn everything that I can about the Catholic church. … We just want to learn as much as we can! I also hope to someday enter the Lay Ministry training program for our diocese, but it is a big time commitment and we have a 4 yr old at home. and hubby has mentioned a couple of times looking into a deacon program. We just want to learn! thanks-twk:thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Hi I also am brought up a catholic and found that giving my self to God since He alone is “Love” and nothing else is better, I found at about 25 I needed more.
I went into a monestry on retreat and while there I asked God if He had someone who could show me how He wanted me to live. He soon showed me out of the thousands of books St Therese the little flower and I have never looked back.
Try if you wish!
God bless
 
OP has the background and is probably well qualified to facilitate a class based on the new US Adult Catholic Catechism (the red book), Our Sunday Visitor has a great study guide. you could break it down to 4 segments of 6-8 weeks, or do a 26 to 32 week seminar if you are really ambitious. No better way to learn than to teach someone else, or to facilitate their learning.

general warning that for some people there does come a time when we have to stop studying and start acting, because it is tempting to let another bible study or ministry class work as an excuse to keep us from actually serving others ourselves. this is certainly an issue I have faced, and I see some of my catechists struggling with it too.
 
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