Catechism of the Catholic Church

Do you want to know what the Catholic Church believes and why? This is the book for you! I would recommend it if for no other reason than the Scriptural Index at the back of this book. Only this full and unabridged version (with the Green cover) has that feature, and it is invaluable! But there is so much more!This is NOT like the Baltimore edition that it replaced. The Baltimore gives the essential elements of our beliefs in understandable form, and that is a beautiful thing. This edition takes one as deeply as desired into the why's of our belief. It references the saints, the Doctors of the Church, and all of the papal writings.I have and use the paperback version, but both my wife and I also use the Kindle versions of the RSV-CE and the CCC. These are inexpensive, can be used on your PC, Android, I-stuff, and Amazon's Kindle Readers. We are android users, and the Kindle software is wonderful! These electronic editions add wonderful capability to any study of Scripture. They are searchable (word occurrence) for individual words or phrases. You may take notes in them and leave bookmarks. The references to other parts of Scripture or CCC are hot links...just click and you're there (and going back to your original place is easy)!My recommendation? Just get it! You will love it!As for me, if I could only have 2 books for an exile to any place on earth, I would take the RSV-CE2 AND this Catechism of the Catholic Church! I would have spiritual and intellectual fodder for the rest of my life!

There are a number of different Catechisms that are in print. To name a few, Father John A. Hardon gave us The Catholic Catechism: A Contemporary Catechism of the Teachings of the Catholic Church and The Question & Answer Catholic Catechism. Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl authored the Teaching of Christ and later The Gift of Faith: A Question and Answer Catechism Version of the Teaching of Christ. Better known as the Roman Catechism (Resources for catechetical teachers), there is the less known version of The Catechism of the Council of Trent.Each of these has its unique format. However, examining the Roman Catechism, one finds it is divided into four parts which correspond to the divisions followed by the Church since early Christian times:1. Catholic belief presented in an explanation of the twelve articles of the Apostles' Creed.2. The seven sacraments are explained at length, instituted by Christ as a means for the living of the demands of faith.3. The Ten Commandments in a New Testament setting showing how Christ brought the Old Law to perfection.4. After a detailed treatise on prayer: its nature, its necessity, and the practice of prayer in general, including an exposition of the seven petitions of the Lord's Prayer.If we look at the new Catechism of the Catholic Church, it corresponds to the format of the Roman Catechism, having four main divisions:1. The Profession of Faith2. The Celebration of the Christian Mystery (and the Sacraments)3. Life in Christ4. Christian PrayerSo, we can say that the new Catechism in many ways is really nothing more than an update of the Roman Catechism and the teachings and practices that Church has clung to throughout the centuries from early Christian times. This gives much credibility to the permanence, and uninterrupted nature of the Church's beliefs, doctrine, and the Christian Life espoused for 2000 years. We could call the Catechism of the Catholic Church a "Defender of the Faith" for what it does.

The Kindle version of this edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is a great buy. This edition has always been more expensive than other editions because it provides more. It has a glossary in the back and this edition provides cross references in the appendix to scripture verses, Saints writings and Council documents. For example if you want to see where a particular Bible verse is referenced in the Catechism, you go to the appendix and look for the verse and it shows where in the Catechism it is used. Great for scripture studies. Now with the the Kindle version of this edition of the Catechism all these references are hyperlinked so you can just click and go to the cross references. Great for providing insights on the meaning of Bible verses. It sure makes studying the Christian faith a lot easier. I teach adult religious classes and appreciate having this edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on a kindle instead of carrying a large book around. This Kindle version of the Catechism is an invaluable tool to have. It is worth every penny and more!

This is my very favorite version of the Catholic catechism a must have in any library

This is not a compliment! Almost all homes will have a Bible someplace but it is seldom read. The same is not true for The Catechism of the Catholic Church. Far too many Catholic homes do not even have a copy of The Catechism, much less have read it. This is a large book and is a reference tool rather than a book one would read cover to cover in maybe a week or a little more.Catholics who are leaving the Catholic Church almost always, if not always have no useable understanding of their faith. They do not understand their faith and they most certainly cannot defend their faith. This is a spiritual tragedy. The purpose of The Catechism is to give anyone interested access to what the Church teaches. The answer are here and they are written in a style that does not take prior theological accumen to understand.This book is very seriously need in everyone's hands who wants to understand official teaching of the Church rather than the pet idea of an angry theologian with an axe to grind about a teaching that he or she does not "like."I believe that it was the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen who once said something like: of all the former Catholics who left the Church, none of them really understood the faith that they should have been practicing.