Questions

[MrStain]

I came into the Church following almost the exact same path as you did. Here is a long list of books that I compiled some time ago, almost all of which I’ve read (a couple have been recommended to me). Since our experience is so similar, maybe I can help you out. Please do give me your email. You are welcome to bounce questions and struggles off of me. Here is the book list:

Most of these books are Catholic apologetics by actual Catholics, not by Protestants interpreting Catholic doctrine. I have included only one book by a Protestant that explains Catholic doctrine while yet defending Protestantism, and that is the one by Norman Geisler. His is the only decent one I have come across. Most books written by Protestants about Catholicism are either sensationalistic, like “The Woman Who Rides the Beast”, or are full of errors or poor explanations. They are not worth the paper they’re printed on. This list doesn’t include everything I’ve read, just everything I can remember. I also studied Orthodoxy, but I didn’t include those books.

List of Books About Catholicism (and anything else worth reading during such a study)

Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic, by David Currie
Catholicism and Fundamentalism, by Karl Keating (edgier than most in its criticism of Protestant doctrines but good apologetic explanations)
Pope Fiction, by Patrick Madrid (explains myths and misconceptions about the papacy)
Surprised by Truth (vol. 1, 2, 3), edited by Patrick Madrid (collection of testimonies)
A Biblical Defense of Catholicism, by Dave Armstrong
History of the Church, by Eusebius—the key for me in the whole study was this book
Didache (1st-century document)—HIGHLY recommended, no matter what your affiliation
Anything by early Christians, fathers, or doctors of the Church—I have “A Treasury of Early Christianity” that I got used at Loomes Theological Booksellers)—
My Life on the Rock, by Jeff Cavins—an internationally known author/Bible teacher
I’m Not Being Fed, by Jeff Cavins (on the Eucharist)
Any Bible study by Jeff Cavins
The Compact History of the Catholic Church—Alan Schreck
Anything else by Alan Schreck
The Rapture Trap, by Paul Thigpen (on Revelation)
Evangelical is Not Enough, by Thomas Howard
By What Authority: An Evangelical Discovers Catholic Tradition, by Mark Shea
Church History in Plain Language, by Bruce Shelley (a Protestant history but relatively unbiased, readable, and well-done)
The Catholic Verses: 95 Bible Passages That Confound Protestants, by Dave Armstrong
Orthodoxy, by G.K. Chesterton
Roman Catholics and Evangelicals: Agreements and Differences (one of the few truly respectful books on Catholicism and therefore one of the only ones worth reading by a Protestant that I’ve seen)
Anything by Scott Hahn, especially “Rome Sweet Home”
Anything by Christopher West (marriage and sexuality)
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Can Protestants and Catholics Get Together?
Denominational Reunion
Any pamphlets by Knights of Columbus
Handbook of Christian Denominations
The Way/The Truth/The Life–Carlson (Orthodoxy)
Crossing the Tiber—author?

C

What a great list! When I first read the Didache on my journey home I was amazed when I read: “You shall not procure abortion…” All I could think was Wow! The Catholics once again are teaching a consistent message that has been proclaimed since its foundation by Jesus Christ!

If it has already been mentioned I apologize, but I highly recommend the *Faith of the Early Fathers *(3 Vol Set) by William A. Jurgens. It gave me the greatest insight into what those who were closest to the Apostles believed and taught.

 

[AlegreFe]

I think many of us x-Southern Baptists have been blessed in recent years to have similar conversions. I am also fairly new to the Catholic Church (Confirmed Easter '06), and I can say that EWTN and The Journey Home played quite a role in my journey. I first stumbled across EWTN in the middle of the night one night when I was channel surfing and trying to fall back to sleep. This hard talking priest (Father Corapi) was on TV speaking with a very distinct voice and he was preaching with such conviction that it reminded me of a fire and brimstone Southern Baptist minister. I was so impressed with his message that I kept waking up in the middle of the night to try to catch this guy again. Well, before you know it I was watching Mother Angelica, Father Groeschel, etc. and it wasn’t long before there was another EWTN convert.

Thank God for EWTN!

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i85/Alegre-Fe/Emoticons/laughclap.gif I love to hear that we have more and more converts to the Catholic Faith.

Father Corapi is great!! You could watch him on;

• Mondays - 1:00pm EST/12:00pm CT
• Saturdays - 10:00pm EST/9:00pm CT
• Sundays - 1:00am EST/midnight Saturday CT
• Sundays - Teachings of Christ/Catechism - 8:00pm EST/7:00pm CT

Since you’re an EWTN regular now I’m sure you know his schedule. I put the schedule there more so for other people to see in case they’re curious.

You could also hear him on Relevant Radio EVERYDAY at 11:00am EST/10:00am CT!
Sundays he’s on at noon CT, I think… no wait, I think that’s “Light of the East” but I’m not sure now.

edit…
Okay, here’s the schedule for Relevant Radio for Father Corapi:

• 5:00 am ET/4:00 am CT Monday - Saturday
• 11:00 am ET/10:00 am CT Monday - Friday (except First Fridays)
• 1:00 pm ET/12:00 noon CT Saturday
• 11:00 am ET/10:00 am CT Sunday encore from Saturday

I have many of his talks on CD and DVD. I put them on my iPod and listen to him in the car too.

 

[AlegreFe]

I hope you don’t mind, I took your great list and put links in them.
My writing is in bold red.

Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic, by David Currie

Catholicism and Fundamentalism, by Karl Keating (edgier than most in its criticism of Protestant doctrines but good apologetic explanations)

Pope Fiction, by Patrick Madrid (explains myths and misconceptions about the papacy) Pope Fiction: The Video <-link

Surprised by Truth (vol. 1, 2, 3), edited by Patrick Madrid (collection of testimonies)

A Biblical Defense of Catholicism, by Dave Armstrong

History of the Church, by Eusebius—the key for me in the whole study was this book

Didache (1st-century document)—HIGHLY recommended, no matter what your affiliation - not sure if that’s the one you meant but it’s a good one

Anything by early Christians, fathers, or doctors of the Church—I have “A Treasury of Early Christianity” that I got used at Loomes Theological Booksellers)—
I couldn’t find that particular book
but I found this great website on the Early Church Fathers!

My Life on the Rock, by Jeff Cavins—an internationally known author/Bible teacher

I’m Not Being Fed, by Jeff Cavins (on the Eucharist)
I’m Not Being Fed audio CD - not audio book

That’s just part of your quote with links.

 

[AlegreFe]

Here’s the rest of your quote…

Any Bible study by Jeff Cavins

The Compact History of the Catholic Church—Alan Schreck
Anything else by Alan Schreck

The Rapture Trap, by Paul Thigpen (on Revelation)

Evangelical is Not Enough, by Thomas Howard

By What Authority: An Evangelical Discovers Catholic Tradition, by Mark Shea

Church History in Plain Language, by Bruce Shelley (a Protestant history but relatively unbiased, readable, and well-done)

The Catholic Verses: 95 Bible Passages That Confound Protestants, by Dave Armstrong

Orthodoxy, by G.K. Chesterton

Roman Catholics and Evangelicals: Agreements and Differences (one of the few truly respectful books on Catholicism and therefore one of the only ones worth reading by a Protestant that I’ve seen)

Anything by Scott Hahn, especially “Rome Sweet Home”

Anything by Christopher West (marriage and sexuality)

Catechism of the Catholic Church I like this hardcover smaller version of the CCC
You could also read the CCC online

Can Protestants and Catholics Get Together?

Denominational Reunion <-couldn’t find it

Any pamphlets by Knights of Columbus (<-possibly not online)
but found this → Columbia online magazine

Handbook of Christian Denominations <-I don’t know if this is the same because I didn’t find one that had “Christian” in the title.

The Way/The Truth/The Life–Carlson (Orthodoxy)<-didn’t find that one but found this one:
Catholic Christianity: A Guide to the Way- the Truth- & the Life

Crossing the Tiber—author? Stephen Ray

There you go! No need to thank me… thank God!

 

[MrStain]

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i85/Alegre-Fe/Emoticons/laughclap.gif I love to hear that we have more and more converts to the Catholic Faith…

I have many of his talks on CD and DVD. I put them on my iPod and listen to him in the car too.

My wife, kids, and I all took a trip up to Philadelphia just to listen to him speak for two days in person. What an awesome experience! He has been give such a great gift to preach the gospel and he does it with such conviction. His cut right through the BS approach to delivering his message is perfect and I think it works well with Catholic men. I certainly wouldn’t call him a nancy-boy

 

[AlegreFe]

I like this bible because it’s the New American Bible but it also has pages inserted into it to explain many of the Catholic teachings;
The NEW Catholic Answer Bible
I have this one ^ and I love it!

This particular NABible has the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Special Bible Study Sections, Words of Christ in Red and more.
I have this one ^ too and I love it!

For a guide on reading the Catholic bible (or any) here’s a good book:
The How-To Book of the Bible
It teaches you to actually PRAY and Meditate with the Scriptures.

If you ever go to a Mass and want to understand it better here’s a good book for that:
Celebrating the Mass

You mentioned Saints. Here is a Dictionary of Patron Saints Names.

Here is Day by Day With the Catechism with minute meditations for every day.

Here are some smaller booklets for you;
Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth
Scripture Alone?
Eucharist - The Church’s Treasure

Here are some Pamphlets from “Our Sunday Visitor.”

I think this with cherirose’s post might be a wee bit too much for you… a bit overwhelming?
But you never know if someone else might spot something that could possibly spark their interest.

 

[AlegreFe]

My wife, kids, and I all took a trip up to Philadelphia just to listen to him speak for two days in person. What an awesome experience! He has been give such a great gift to preach the gospel and he does it with such conviction. His cut right through the BS approach to delivering his message is perfect and I think it works well with Catholic men. I certainly wouldn’t call him a nancy-boy

My husband loves this priest and wants to hear him every chance he gets. It’s unfortunate that he stays in a hotel during the week for work (until we move) where there’s no EWTN channel. When he comes home for the weekend the first thing he does is turn EWTN on and waits for Father Corapi. He even passed on Father’s Testimony CD to some guys at his work and they liked him too. They’re not practicing Catholics and some are not any religion. But this sparked their interest and my husband can’t stop talking about his faith and Father Corapi. http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i85/Alegre-Fe/Emoticons/Laughing.gif

 

[AlegreFe]

MrStain or anyone who’s curious or interested, Father Corapi is on right now on EWTN!!
Click to watch right now! Midnight central time.

 

[Mommyof02green]

I have read through Catholicsm for Dummies and I didn’t notice anything out of place. Here is a link to take a look at. It’s easy to read and follow, it also covers a lot of territory.

Yes Catholicism for Dummies is a Good Book! Fr. Trigilio and Fr. Brighenti, the priest that wrote the book, have their own TV show on EWTN (It’s based on the book). Which can also be helpful. The show is called Crash course in Catholicsm to learn more go to www.ewtn.com

Also this might be helpful it’s a FREE home based study of the Catholic Faith: amm.org/chss/chss.htm

Also any of the materials or books at these web pages may be helpful:
(some are free some are not)
ewtnreligiouscatalogue.com/
shop.catholic.com/cgi-local/SoftCart.exe/online-store/scstore/shophome.html?E+scstore
biblechristiansociety.com/
salvationhistory.com/
chnetwork.org/

 

[Montalban]

Don’t forget ‘limbo’

 

[AlegreFe]

Don’t forget ‘limbo’

What about limbo?

Closing the doors of limbo

Here is a thread from CAForums about limbo. It’s from 2005.

 

[valient_Lucy]

Hello. I’m new on these forums and had a few questions. First I will give a a little background of my upbringing and the such.

I was born into a Protestant family and my grandfather was a Pastor of a Southern Baptist Church. I was raised in the Church and in a school my grandfather founded, and grew up never really interested or aware of Catholicism. I thought they were weird people and I was raised with a bias against them. All of my years in pre-school to high school I have attended a private Protestant Christian school. And recently I have began studying Church History in my Bible class. This sparked my interest in Catholicism.

For the past few months I have been reading and looking into Catholicism, and after Christmas I plan on buying a few books that will help my curiousity out. I had never been or even thought about going to a Catholic Mass, but this year I went to one with a friend. I’ve gone to about four and really like it a lot.

Some questions I have are about Mary, Purgatory, Indulgences, Saints, Prayers to Saints, Transubstantiation, and the Apocrypha. I have bought a Catechism of the Catholic Church, but it is very difficult to read. Therefore I plan on buying a few books that will help me get a better understanding of the basics before I read something of that nature. Any recommendations of books would be appreciated. And if you would like to help me in this “quest” for the True Church I will give you my e-mail so I can ask you questions away from the forums.

Thanks,

God Bless and Peace be with you!

Welcome to the forum! You’re in the right place, and God bless you on your journey.

 

[UndecidedOne]

Thank you for the recommendations of books. I have read the library information as some of you have suggested, and that has helped out a lot. Hopefully after Christmas I will have enough money to invest in some books to start out with. I have compiled a nice little list of books that all of you have suggested, and am excited to start reading and studying. Again thank you for everything and may God bless you all. Hopefully now that I’m on my Christmas break I can get on here more often and ask questions.

Peace be with you!

 

[Montalban]

What about limbo?

There’s many here who object to the change

 

[AlegreFe]

There’s many here who object to the change

It’s not a change. Limbo is not even in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

It’s not as if the Church would make a change on Purgatory. Why? Because Purgatory is an objective Truth that cannot be changed and therefore never will be changed as far as the teachings of the Church are concerned.

But Limbo was never really “taught” by the Church as being an objective truth.

 

[MrStain]

MrStain or anyone who’s curious or interested, Father Corapi is on right now on EWTN!!
Click to watch right now! Midnight central time.

Thanks AlegrFe! I was actually out late last night with my neighbors playing some friendly games and having a few drinks. All harmless fun, but when I was a Baptist and one of my other neighbors was our Baptist youth pastor I had to be careful that I did not run into him after a few beers. Any kind or any tiny amount of alcohol consumption was frowned upon by the Baptists. Another reason I was meant to be Catholic When I got home my wife informed me that I missed another great Father Corapi episode and I think she hinted (in the loving way spouses do:tsktsk: ) that I good use a good lesson on confessions after a night out with the neighbors.

 

[Montalban]

It’s not a change. Limbo is not even in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

It doesn’t matter. It was ‘permitted’ to believe in it.

It’s not as if the Church would make a change on Purgatory. Why? Because Purgatory is an objective Truth that cannot be changed and therefore never will be changed as far as the teachings of the Church are concerned.

But Limbo was never really “taught” by the Church as being an objective truth.

Where did all the unbaptised babies go?

 

[cherirose]

To my earlier list of books worth reading when studying the three branches of the Christian Church (especially Catholicism), I should add “The Mass of the Early Christians,” by Mike Aquilina. I am just finishing it, now, and think it is a necessary addition to that list. Thanks to those who added links and other helpful comments. Someone mentioned that they couldn’t find Carlson’s books on Orthodoxy. I should have mentioned that these are three separate books: “The Way,” “The Truth,” and “The Life.” They are the only volumes on Orthodox apologetics that I know of. I would like to know of more, if anyone has information about any. It is important to understand what the Orthodox believe in my opinion. They are our brothers and sisters, too. Besides that, studying their doctrine helps strengthen Catholic doctrine in some ways; not because Orthodoxy is so terrible in comparison, but BECAUSE there are so many similarities between the two that they diminish the credibility of Protestantism in a heartbeat.

 

[kellie]

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i85/Alegre-Fe/Emoticons/laughclap.gif I love to hear that we have more and more converts to the Catholic Faith.

Father Corapi is great!! You could watch him on;

• Mondays - 1:00pm EST/12:00pm CT
• Saturdays - 10:00pm EST/9:00pm CT
• Sundays - 1:00am EST/midnight Saturday CT
• Sundays - Teachings of Christ/Catechism - 8:00pm EST/7:00pm CT

Since you’re an EWTN regular now I’m sure you know his schedule. I put the schedule there more so for other people to see in case they’re curious.

You could also hear him on Relevant Radio EVERYDAY at 11:00am EST/10:00am CT!
Sundays he’s on at noon CT, I think… no wait, I think that’s “Light of the East” but I’m not sure now.

edit…
Okay, here’s the schedule for Relevant Radio for Father Corapi:

• 5:00 am ET/4:00 am CT Monday - Saturday
• 11:00 am ET/10:00 am CT Monday - Friday (except First Fridays)
• 1:00 pm ET/12:00 noon CT Saturday
• 11:00 am ET/10:00 am CT Sunday encore from Saturday
  I have many of his talks on CD and DVD. I put them on my iPod and listen to him in the car too.

Hi Sandy,

What is CT ??

I would like to watch EWTN some time, as I see it mentioned a lot here, but I have to work out what time it is in Australia when the shows you mention are aired.

 

[Mommyof02green]

Hi Sandy,

What is CT ??
I would like to watch EWTN some time, as I see it mentioned a lot here, but I have to work out what time it is in Australia when the shows you mention are aired.

CT= Central Time

If it’s 9:00 AM in New York; then it’s 8:00 AM in Chicago.

New York is ET (Eastern Time)
Chicago is CT (Central Time)

EWTN can be watch via Web here: ewtn.com/audiovideo/index.asp

Here is the program schedule: ewtn.com/tv/grids.asp?satellite=DOM&month=12&day=17&year=2006

The program guide will allow you to change the time zones to
Central Time; Mountain Time; Alaska Time; Hawaii Time.

Eastern Time is always listened on the program.

I don’t know what time it would be in Austrilia…
However with this info you might be able to figure it out.