How do you use the catechism?

[emergingfaith]

I am a recent convert. I am wondering how the Catechism fits in with our daily lives as Catholics. Is it mostly a reference? Is it something you should read from every day? Is it a book to read cover to cover? Other uses? I’d appreciate your thoughts on this.

Thank you.

 

[Nickkname]

The Catechism is a systematic presentation of the teachings of the Church. It is not infallible, but as a Catholic you are required to believe what is in it, since it is the teachings of the Church. I recommend you read it each day. It’s a great way to get to learn the Church better.

 

[PhilotheaZ]

Yes, it is a systematic presentation of the teachings of the Church, as Knickkname wrote. It would be great to read through it a little piece at a time.

But it is also a great reference book. It has a good index, so you can look up a topic if you have a question. It also has a Scriptural index, so you can look up a section of the Bible and see how it applies to Catholic teaching. And it has a glossary that defines many words used in talking about our faith.

 

[glenaitken]

the catechism of the catholic church is a bit dry, but and excellent resource! it can be hard to understand what is going on in it sometimes if you are not familiar with the structure and language used.
I suggest, if you are looking for something to read as a “crash course” or primer or refresher or what have you, try picking up the new red one entitled: united states catholic catechism for adults. the differences are that the red one (you should be able to find in almost any major bookstore) has lives ofteh saints, followup and discussion questions, it is written more along the lines of a novel or textbook, while the white catechism is written like a resource manuel. I actually use the red one for my rcia program, and it covers everything pretty well. the only fault is that while it still teaches what catholics believe, it can feel a little “watered down” at times. but it does make continual referance to the white catechism, and so you can look up anything you want to look further into.

 

[SawGodThere]

If you can read it cover to cover than power to you. I can’t do that, it gets too dry and hard to understand after a while. Mostly, I use it as a reference if I have a question on something. Also, I recommend reading it every day just to get familiar with it.

 

[bilop]

I am a recent convert. I am wondering how the Catechism fits in with our daily lives as Catholics. Is it mostly a reference? Is it something you should read from every day? Is it a book to read cover to cover? Other uses? I’d appreciate your thoughts on this.

Thank you.

I view it as a reference. It is really too dense to read through.

If you want a better study guide, try one of the Q & A Cetechisms, e.g. Baltimore or the one written by Fr. Levis of EWTN.

God Bless

 

[Genesis315]

I use it as a reference. Technically, it was designed for use by bishops from which to make more “user-friendly” catechisms but it has become popular for lay people too.

If wanted something for spiritual reading, I would prefer Holy Writ and the writings of Saints

 

[richardwy]

I am a recent convert. I am wondering how the Catechism fits in with our daily lives as Catholics. Is it mostly a reference? Is it something you should read from every day? Is it a book to read cover to cover? Other uses? I’d appreciate your thoughts on this.

Thank you.

Here’s what I have done. About the 3rd week of RCIA 3 years ago, I bought a Catechism. The big green one.

It’s now in tatters. Just bought a hard bound one. I read it with pencil in hand. Will do the same thing with the new one. I read slowly meditatively.

I can’t say enough for, or recommend heartily enough that practice. Talk about faith affirming, mind blowing, soul enriching, and what a gift for seeing greater love for and of God bloom.

Also, as some have said, I’ve used it for reference. For example, “what does the Church teach on the fall of man?” I recall doing that one. Very nice cross references.

One last note, I never found it dry or hard to understand. You’ve got to slow up. Not be in a hurry. Be hungry. The heavens open

 

[scriabin]

Believe it or not, most Catholics I know don’t care about the specifics of the Catechism. Is it to dry for them? Don’t they care about the truths the Church teaches?

I don’t know; but I read a few chapters every other day or so to deepen my understanding of the faith— while a sweet-hearted prayer partner of mine has absolutely no desire to even crack it open! We’re both daily Mass goers, Bible readers, and Perpetual Adoration fans, but she sneers at the Catechism and says, “The Catholic Church has too many rules!”

That being said, I can testify to its use as a great occasional reference.

For example, the obligatory and infamous RCIA class (which I’ve been through 3 times) is filled with good-hearted Catholics who, quite frankly, do more harm than good, theologically speaking—

**“There are no such things as angels,” **oh really? Check out paragraph 330.

"Baptism does not wash away original sin, we don’t believe that anymore," paragraph 1263 clears this up.

** “When I say “I believe in the communion of saints” in the Creed each Sunday there’s no obligation to believe in Purgatory, it’s not even mentioned,”** please read paragraph 954.

If you read the Catechism you will not be swayed or influenced by the mounds of misinformation that exists in your parish or, indeed, in these forums.

 

[pismopal]

Believe it or not, most Catholics I know don’t care about the specifics of the Catechism. Is it to dry for them? Don’t they care about the truths the Church teaches?

I don’t know; but I read a few chapters every other day or so to deepen my understanding of the faith— while a sweet-hearted prayer partner of mine has absolutely no desire to even crack it open! We’re both daily Mass goers, Bible readers, and Perpetual Adoration fans, but she sneers at the Catechism and says, “The Catholic Church has too many rules!”

That being said, I can testify to its use as a great occasional reference.

For example, the obligatory and infamous RCIA class (which I’ve been through 3 times) is filled with good-hearted Catholics who, quite frankly, do more harm than good, theologically speaking—

**“There are no such things as angels,” **oh really? Check out paragraph 330.

"Baptism does not wash away original sin, we don’t believe that anymore," paragraph 1263 clears this up.

** “When I say “I believe in the communion of saints” in the Creed each Sunday there’s no obligation to believe in Purgatory, it’s not even mentioned,”** please read paragraph 954.

If you read the Catechism you will not be swayed or influenced by the mounds of misinformation that exists in your parish or, indeed, in these forums.

Great post! It is true…you will hear Catholics spout things that simply aren’t true, about their faith and the Catechism is a wonderful “go to” book with huge numbers of supporting Bible references. I read the Catechism over a period of a couple of years before entering RCIA. When I finished it I knew that I was Catholic but many others don’t need that kind of convincing.
Your prayer partner thinks the Church “has too many rules” but I found out that the denoms don’t have enough rules but lots of Bible “interpreters”.

 

[puzzleannie]

I am a recent convert. I am wondering how the Catechism fits in with our daily lives as Catholics. Is it mostly a reference? Is it something you should read from every day? Is it a book to read cover to cover? Other uses? I’d appreciate your thoughts on this.

Thank you.

you can read it cover to cover. someone here posted a link to the Coming Home Network that has a plan for reading the entire Bible and CCC in one year

you can play around so you understand how it is laid out and how to look things up, and use it as a reference.
for any easy on-line searchable catechism, go to catholicity.com
much easier to search than what you have on the bishop’s website, where the actual CCC is – usccb.org.

you can take a class based on the catechism, using the book itself, the compendium, which has reduced the key points to a Q&A format (just finished such a course this week, 12 hrs in 3 days, which is why I am bug-eyed right now).

I teach a 36 week course using the US Catholic Catechism for Adults (big red book, which puts each CCC section in paraphrase form for easier digestion, very teachable), for RCIA, Confirmation, Catechist formation and those who just want to learn the doctrine systematically. goes into more depth than the shorter course

try your diocesan or parish websites to see what is available.

keep the CCC handy, because when you read other books about doctrine you may see footnotes that reference it, and the number refers to the paragraph, not page, in the CCC, so you can look it up.

for someone like richard who really gets into it, know about the companion volume to the CCC, which has all the references from scripture, church documents, early fathers, etc, in one spot, indispensible for the serious student of the CCC

if you buy the CCC get the big green one, much easier to hold and read, and has the complete index, scripture reference list etc.

if you are looking for something you can read in one week and hit the high points, get the compendium, read 40 pages a night.

 

[thistle]

I am a recent convert. I am wondering how the Catechism fits in with our daily lives as Catholics. Is it mostly a reference? Is it something you should read from every day? Is it a book to read cover to cover? Other uses? I’d appreciate your thoughts on this.

Thank you.

Ther CCC is pretty heavy for a cover to cover read but its a great book to refer to and as someone else said it has footnotes to the teachings referencing Scripture and other Church documents.
A Q&A version is easier to read. However as the Baltimore one is only a local Catechism for Americans I would recommend the universal one which is online at the Vatican website (see below):

vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html