What is the best book for a beginning Catholic?

[br4ndon21]

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

I’ll be the first to say it. The CCC (Catechism of the Catholic Church) The Bible is a good starting book as well.

 

[KendraDZ1902]

I’ll be the first to say it. The CCC (Catechism of the Catholic Church) The Bible is a good starting book as well.

Yep, that’s the books I started with.

 

[therese14]

I may suggest the Diary of St Faustina (PDF)

Saints Books

 

[UpUpAndAway]

In my opinion, there is no single “best” book. My three recommendations are the Catechism and a **Catholic **Bible, plus Catholicism for Dummies by Rev. John Trigilio, Jr., PhD, ThD and Rev. Kenneth Brighenti, PhD.

 

[Techno2000]

themostholyrosary.com/mystical-city.htm

 

[tawny]

I’ll be the first to say it. The CCC (Catechism of the Catholic Church) The Bible is a good starting book as well.

 

[josh987654321]

I believe the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and the New Testament (New Testament is made up of the Gospels and other books which are all part of the Holy Bible) are always the best place to start if you haven’t already read them all yet.

New Testament - RSV
biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+1&version=RSV

God Bless

Thank you for reading
Josh

 

[Johann_du_Toit]

Catholicism for Dummies by John Trigilio and Kenneth Brighenti. I used it. It explains Catholic doctrine in simple easy to understand language and has a Nihil Obstat and Imprampitur from the Church.

That and all the books the posters above recommended.

 

[CarmelJerome]

I may suggest the Diary of St Faustina (PDF)

Saints Books

I found the diary incredibly confusing when I read it a few years after my conversion. Apparitions and locations are far too difficult theological terrain for new Catholics to handle. Plus the imagination at that point of spiritual development is all too easily inflamed by these things, which St. Faustina herself had to be instructed not to fear.

 

[CarmelJerome]

I highly recommend G.K. Chesterton ’ s book ‘The Well and the Shallows’ which contains some of his best essays, especially ‘My Six Conversions’ and ‘The Last Turn’ which are still timely.

 

[rcuk]

Catholicism for Dummies
Handbook of Catholic Apologetics
‘Catholicism’ book and/or DVD series by Fr. Robert Barron.

Welcome Home! There is so, so, so much to read and watch. I recommend watching and listening to Catholic radio which will fill in many gaps.

 

[Used2beSherryG]

For a beginner, Rome Sweet Rome by Scott Hahn or what must I do to be saved by Marcus Grodi. Not too technical, but full of the beauty of the Catholic Church and it’s teachings. Welcome home to the Catholic church.

 

[Mark86]

Beside the Catechism…

“Life is Worth Living” by the archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

“Abandonment to Divine Providence” by Fr. Jean-Pierre de Caussade

 

[Peebo]

Start attending RCIA…there you’ll find all the information and literature needed to begin your journey

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

For a beginner, Rome Sweet Rome by Scott Hahn or what must I do to be saved by Marcus Grodi. Not too technical, but full of the beauty of the Catholic Church and it’s teachings. Welcome home to the Catholic church.

Yes, Rome Sweet Home was a good book and you are right, it was not too technical. Hahn’s later stuff is pretty deep but this book was very informative and easy to follow.

Catholicism for Dummies has been a good reference as well.

 

[Techno2000]

dailycatholic.org/bridget.htm

 

[Estevao]

I’d recommend “Apologetics and Catholic Doctrine” by Michael Sheehan. Unfortunately it is just out of print, but if you can get a copy it’s great for learning the faith. This is the textbook that taught the faith to hundreds of thousands of high school students during the glory years of Catholicism in America, 1920s-1950s.

One I’d recommend that is in print is “A Tour of the Summa” by Paul J. Glenn, which is a summary of the Summa Theologiae by Thomas Aquinas that summarizes every article of the Summa but fits it in 400 pages instead of the 4000 pages of the original. It’s still in print you can find it on amazon, but someone put it online here (with a fair amount of typos however):

catholictheology.info/

If you want to look at more than one catechism than the current universal one, Jimmy Akin put up 5 catechisms here:

cin.org/users/james/ebooks/master/master2.htm

 

[Joe_5859]

Some of you are pretty ambitious with your recommendations for beginner Catholics.

Honestly, it depends on the person. I think the Catechism is fantastic, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it as the first book to put in the hand of all beginning Catholics. If the person was fairly intellectually astute and/or very motivated to learn, I might recommend it as a starting point. Otherwise, I might start with something more manageable such as the YouCat, the Compendium of the Catechism, Fr. Barron’s Catholicism, or Catholicism for Dummies.

It also depends on where the person is at in their spiritual journey. If they still have a lot of basic questions, I might suggest something like Peter Kreeft’s “Yes or No?”

The main thing is to find something that will appeal to the person and won’t overwhelm them. We don’t want the beginning Catholic to remain paralyzed in fear behind the starting gate.

 

[QuasiCatholic]

• Catholicism for Dummies
• Rome Sweet Home
• The How-To Guide to the Mass

I would not start with the Catechism unless you once harbored dreams of attending law school. I have a master’s degree in a reading/writing heavy field and I found reading that to be an unbearable slog. (For what it’s worth, my RCIA instructor recommended not trying to read the Bible cover to cover for the same reason.) She gave me a Catholic Youth Bible that had suggested reading lists on different topics in the appendix section.