The Essential Catholic Handbook: A Summary of Beliefs, Practices, and Prayers (Redemptorist Pastoral Publication) (Paperback)

~ Redemptorist Pastoral (Author), John O'Connor (Foreword) "From the time you learned to talk, you asked questions-which reveals something absolutely basic about you: the fact that you have a questioning intellect..." (more)
Key Phrases: religious institute, sanctifying grace, Jesus Christ, Dogmatic Constitution, Saint Paul (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

An invaluable reference for those who want a topical summary of "what it means to be Catholic".

Product Details

• Paperback: 290 pages
• Publisher: Liguori Publications; Rev&Expand edition (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892439106
• ISBN-13: 978-0892439102
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #240,416 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

82 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very imformative and enlightening!, November 6, 1999

By A Customer

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!

75 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent reference and introduction, May 25, 2000

By A Customer

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.)

59 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Valuable Information, August 5, 2001

By A Customer

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.