The best place to start learning the Catholic Faith

  • Thread starter Thread starter The_Magdalene
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
T

The_Magdalene

Guest
I have been a Catholic for all of my life but have come to realise that I need a more comprehensive and deeper understanding of the Catholic Faith. I have a number of resources such as (The Douay-Rheim’s Bible, many traditional spiritual works of the Saints such as St. Teresa of Avila and St. Augustine along with a bookshelf of pious books written by the Saints. I spend much of my time on YouTube, however, I am finding that these are mostly short snippets of information and don’t really enrich my learning nor does it allow me to gain a lot of knowledge due to the nature of the website platform (short videos and changing from one topic to another).

Should I begin with the Bible? The Catechism of the Catholic Church? and then progress to the spiritual works of the Saints?

Thank you and God bless
 
Begin with humility. Emptying yourself. Considering yourself as nothing before God. Realizing that you cannot know God the way you want but the way He wants to reveal Himself to you. Then allow God’s spirit lead you. You will know where to begin and how to progress.
 
Thank you so much. I like this answer. its very important to be humble. Having a humble heart is more important than having knowledge without a humble heart. It also doesn’t help that I have an “all or nothing” approach which is why I cannot get started. This can certainly be a pride issue.
 
I guess I would suggest where to start is: think of a few big questions you have, find the answers to those in the Catechism, or by googling online “Catholic response/answer to…” and then let yourself fall down the rabbit hole!

I started your same journey about 10 years ago, I can’t remember the exact order lol but this is what it sort of looked like:
A book called Catholicism for dummies, didn’t read it all the way through but just picked through it, wasn’t bad, but you could probably skip.
A tract called The Mass Explained by Fr Larry Richards
Picking through the Catechism, especially to find answers to the most “difficult” questions
Went to confession A LOT
Watched a lot of YouTube videos from Bishop (then Father) Robert Barron
Read a few books, one about Bl. Miguel Pro, one about Bl. Pier Georgio Frasatti, probably a few others like the Lamb’s Supper by Scott Hahn, which was a GAME CHANGER for my understanding of the Mass
Read the gospels, at least a chapter a day, over and over for at least a year, maybe more.
Building from there I watched the Catholicism series by Fr Robert Barron, something called the Bible Timeline for Youth by Ascension Presents, and a series on the Theology of the Body (these were parts of a Young Adult group I joined)
On and on, I have a ton of books that I’ve started and stopped, not a very consistent reader, but now my go-to for information is Podcasts! Again, Bishop Barron has two very well done podcasts every week, a longer interviewy one and a shorter one with his weekly sermons, there is Catholic Stuff You Should Know, Pints with Aquinas (which is also a book, but haven’t read it).

Tying to respond to answers on this forum teaches me a lot, because I like researching through the Catechism, the Code of Canon Law, the Catholic Encyclopedia, the Summa, I like reading that technical stuff more than biographies of saints lol, but never stop praying! ”If I have all knowlege But have not love, it is worthless”
 
Last edited:
The_Magdalene said:
I spend much of my time on YouTube, however, I am finding that these are mostly short snippets of information and don’t really enrich my learning nor does it allow me to gain a lot of knowledge due to the nature of the website platform (short videos and changing from one topic to another).
Click to expand...
The other problem with Youtube is that just anyone can post content to it. That’s fine when the topic is funny pet videos, but if you’re using it as a source for information on religion you need to really vet the source.
 
The Cathechism of the Catholic Church is probably the best book describing the Catholic Faith, with all practical rules and basic theological doctrines laid out in an orderly fashion.
The problem, however, is that it’s completely unreadable to the average person. At least that’s my experience as an average person.

I think the Cathechism of Trent is a bit easier to read, although it doesn’t cover as much material as the CCC. The Cathechism of St. Pius X is easier still, and is a short read too, which makes it a good place to start.

For spirituality, the Bible is certainly the best book to read. I would also recommend Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton, which does a great job of explaining the Christian mindset, and The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis, which lays out some common pitfalls we tend to fall into as we’re getting into the Faith.
The two latter are short reads, in case you feel overwhelmed by so many titles.
 
When I first became Catholic 12 years ago (almost 13 now) I read through the entire Catechism while going through RCIA and I felt it really helped me better understand what being Catholic is. Since coming into the Church I have coordinated our bible studies (since I love the scripture, which is how I found my way to the Catholic Church).

I recommend reading the Catechism and Joining a Catholic Bible Study (if you Parish doesn’t have one, maybe you could lead it).

Below is my website which has a Bible Study I created on Mark (it’s almost done because I am creating it as we participate in it, we only have a couple chapters left to finish and I tie in Catholic Teaching and Tradition in it too). One of my studies is on Day 6 and the other on Day 33.

Check out the study and if you like it you are welcome to use it with others, or if you want to join us at our Parish you can PM me and I can give you the link to Join our Zoom Bible Studies (we will continue to have them online until things get back to normal, currently we can’t have our Bible studies face-to-face because of the Shelter-In-Place). My bible study is Free, I made it and anyone is welcome to use it.

 
Last edited:
The Catechism, Compendium of the Catechism, Baltimore Catechism, and Youcat.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top