Customer Reviews

The Essential Catholic Handbook: A Summary of Beliefs, Practices, and Prayers (Essential (Liguori))

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is very informative and easy to read! I am a baptized Catholic who never received further sacraments, and I wanted to join RCIA. This book gave me all the knowledge I needed to start my journey. The first section gives you the basic background and beliefs of Catholicism. The second part gives you the everyday knowledge of Catholics, prayers, rosarys, saints, the order of mass. The third part is a glossary of sorts that gives the layperson definitions of Catholic terms. Altogether, this was a fantastic book. My personal copy is worn out, and has been passed from person to person in my RCIA group!

As an Evangelical all of my life and a former Bob Jones University student, I knew nothing about Catholicism except what I was told by Evangelical pastors--and that usually was negative, well always. When I found that the Evangelical way of life was not meeting my spiritual needs, I began to search for another way. After a serious suicide attempt, I knew that I needed a faith that would sustain me through much more than what the Evangelical churches had provided. I had lost my daughter and there was not as much as a card from my church of over 2500. I needed ot know that God loved me and I wasn't finding that in my church.

In my search I read Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic--an excellent book which lead to believe that the Catholic Church is really the true Church of Christ. I had many questions about terminolgy and why Catholics did this or that in a service. This book answered many of those questions. It also helped to dispell many of the negativities that I was lead to believe in the Evangelical churches. It seemed to talk about everything. The prayers, the Saints, the Holy Days, the Rosary, and has a wonderful dictionary in the back that has been very useful to me in reading other books.

I am glad that I purchased this book and recommend to everyone. It is a wonderful handbook to the new and the old Catholic.

This book would be useful for all Catholics, as well as curious non-Catholics.

The first section, "Beliefs", is especially helpful for those who are lapsed or agnostic. It explains why we are Catholic: how we gain from our relationship with God, Jesus, and the Church. The dictionary section is very useful for looking up terms (what's the difference between a "papal bull" and an "encyclical"?), and it also doubles as a basic catechism. There's a collection of prayers, as well as many other useful features.

The book does include a few questionable statements here and there, particularly regarding our relationship with non-Catholics. (For instance, it's misleading to sum up the Vatican II document "Nostra Aetate" as saying that non-Christian religions are "valid paths to the divine".) But then, it's hard to find any book that's a totally reliable guide, apart from the Bible and the Catechism.

All in all, I thoroughly recommend it! My thanks and congratulations to the unnamed author(s). (Although Amazon shows Cardinal O'Connor as the author, in fact he only wrote the foreword.)

This book is very handy to have around as a quick reference. Precepts, commandments, overview of Vatican II documents, common prayers, the sacraments, it's all there. Need to know how to prepare for a sick call? Check out page 56!

The Dictionary of Essential Catholic Terms section is like a mini-Catholic encyclopedia: from "abba" to "zuchetta," with references to scripture and the catechism when necessary.

Ok -- a zuchetta is the little beanie worn by bishops and prelates. White for the Pope, red for a cardinal, purple for a bishop, etc. Dates from the 13th century. See it's a great book!

I enjoyed this book and found it's section on beliefs especially informative. I did however, find the book hard at times to understand and felt that some things could have been explained more in depth. I find it hard to find what exactly I'm looking for if I have a question. I do recommend that if you are Catholic, or thinking about going through RCIA, that you purchase this book. It is good, but it wasn't exactly what I was looking for. I found what I was wanting in "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Catholicism". It described little tidbits that some books must think too basic level to include. It also explained things in a more understandable way. For prayers, I higly recommend "A Prayer Book for Catholic Families", it is fanstastic. I did not like "The Essential Catholic Handbook's" prayer section. It did not include alot of the ones that I was looking for, and some of those included were different than the way I learned them.

I received this book as a gift when I converted to the Church and I can't even express how helpful it was. It has definitions of Church terms, basic prayers, and a lot more to help someone still learning the faith. I would imagine this would be equally helpful to a cradle Catholic who has perhaps forgotten (or never learned) some of the foundations of their beliefs.

The Essential Catholic Handbook is an excellent starter book for all of those unfamiliar with the Catholic church and/or catholic doctrine. The premise of catholic theology is presented in a very simple and brief format. Then it is followed up with an excellent description of each of the seven sacraments. Included in this book is a lovely catholic prayer guide and an immensely useful dictionary of catholic terms. Finally, this book is made even more useful by being extensively referenced to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

My only complaint about this book is that in one place, where catholic obligations are covered, it is said that parents are obligated to have their children attend parochial school. That is untrue. Parents are required to provide education, academic and religious, to their children, but in whatever form they choose.

Because this is a beginners book, long time catholics may find little useful. A fresh copy of the catechism would probably suit them better. Teachers of religious education will find much usefulness in this volume. Certainly this work will do much to dispel the many myths about the official teaching of the church that are prevalent both outside of the church and within our own religious ed. programs. I urge RCIA directors to give or at least suggest this book to all in your program.

Some reviewers have complained that this book is too conservative. It should be pointed out that there is not really such a thing as being conservative or not. The church has it's beliefs and teachings. There is a set of proscriptions about how the faithful should live their lives. Because someone does not agree with them does not change anything. Failing to abide the teachings of the church does not create something called liberal or new catholicism. It simply means that you are failing to behave as a catholic in accordance with the teachings of the church.

I own other Essential Handbooks (Lenten, Mary) and they are all great! I found this one interesting in its portrayal of how to be Catholic, even though I grew up Catholic! The book's version is quite warm and fuzzy, stressing helping others and so forth. Growing up in Catholic schools, I lived being Catholic but I never read a book about how to be Catholic. A lot of the things in the glossary and explained in the book I knew about to a degree from hearing them somewhere as a child, without knowing their full meaning or the reasoning behind the practice. I found the book very uplifting, and a good reminder for adults on what's important in life: the simplicity of being a good person.

This book is a good introduction for Catholics seeking to rediscover their faith as well as for those of other faiths seeking to obtain a basic understanding of Catholicism. The Essential Catholic Handbook is appropriately designed from a pastoral, rather than from an academic perspective enabling readers to quickly comprehend the beliefs, practices and prayers of the Church.

For those brought up in the faith, the book is also a good refresher on the "why's" of Catholicism. It is not a catechism, but it provides the fundamentals and, as such, can be a stepping stone to more systematic study.

This book isn't terribly helpful if you already own the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC). It doesn't provide any elaboration on common issues (above that provided by the CCC) - and its answers are generally short and uninformative...

If you have no other guide books to Catholicism, fine - otherwise skip this one.