LIST OF CATHOLIC
RESOURCES
LOCAL CATHOLIC SHOPS AND
CENTERS
Pauline Books & Media
1025 King Street, Alexandria,
VA
The Newman Store (Catholic University's Bookstore)
3025 Fourth St NE, Washington,
DC 20017
The Paschal Lamb
11214 Lee Highway, Fairfax,
VA
The Catholic Shop
13939 Metrotech Drive, Chantilly,
VA
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
400 Michigan Ave, N.E., Washington,
D.C.
SOME GOOD PERIODICALS
The Catholic World Report
The National Catholic Register
Vatican Today
Arlington Catholic Herald
Magnificat (contains
the Mass readings, reflections and prayers for each day)
First Things (an ecumenical
scholarly journal)
Touchstone (an ecumenical Christian
magazine in the spirit of C.S. Lewis)
TELEVISION AND RADIO STATIONS
Eternal Work Television Network
– Channel 161 in Fairfax County, Channel 267 in Falls Church
and Channel 291 in Arlington County
Radio Station 1160 AM, run
by the Guadalupe Radio Network and affiliated with EWTN
SOME HELPFUL INTERNET SITES
arlingtondiocese.org (the website
for this diocese)
usccb.org (the website of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)
vatican.va (the Vatican's
website; contains virtually all of the official Vatican documents)
ewtn.com (the website of the
Eternal Word Television Network)
newadvent.org (lists numerous
resources and documents)
zenit.org (an international
news service)
masstimes.org (gives locations
of churches, Mass and confessions schedules throughout the US and in
many places around the world)
SOME GENERAL COMMENTARIES
ON THE FAITH
Heretics, Orthodoxy
and The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton
The Spirit of Catholicism
by Fr. Karl Adam
Mere Christianity,
Miracles and other works by C.S. Lewis (Lewis was Anglican, but
the book explains Christianity in general very well; his works cover
a wide expanse of literature and are generally very accessible and helpful)
The Life of Christ and
Life if Worth Living by Archbishop Fulton Sheen
SOME HISTORIES OF THE FAITH
History of Christendom
series by Warren Carroll
The
Church Throughout the Ages by John Vidmar
How the Catholic Church
Built Western Civilization by Thomas Woods
Butler's Lives of the
Saints (in a one volume or four volume form)
SOME WORKS FOR LEARNING
MORE ABOUT THE FAITH
The Catechism of the Catholic
Church
The Catechism
For Adults by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (the
universal catechism explained in language and examples for Americans)
Youth Catechism for the
Catholic Church (YouCat) (endorsed by Pope Benedict XVI, this international
catechism explains the faith in terms appealing to youth and young adults)
The
Revised Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism (the Baltimore Catechism
was the classic catechism in the United States, first published in 1885;
the current edition was published in 1995, just after the universal
Catechism of the Catholic Church)
Summa
Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas (requires some background; Fr.
Edward Gratsch's Aquinas' Summa is a good introduction)
Faith of Our Fathers
by James Cardinal Gibbons
Theology of the Body
a series of talks by Pope John Paul II and Theology of the Body Explained
by Christopher West (helps explain Catholic moral theology in the context
of truth and love as expressed through the body)
Theology and Sanity
and Theology for Beginners by Frank Sheed
Catholicism and Fundamentalism
by Karl Keating
Catholic Christianity
by Peter Kreeft
The Faith Explained
by Leo Trese
Straight Answers Vols.
I and II by Fr. William Saunders
Biblical commentaries by Scott
Hahn
Works on Chastity and Marriage
by Jason Everett
SOME CLASSICS OF SPIRITUALITY
The
Rule of St. Benedict
The Confessions by St.
Augustine
On the Love of God by
St. Bernard of Clarivoux
The Cloud of Unknowing
by an unknown author of the fourteenth century
The Imitation of Christ
by Thomas a Kempis
The Way of Perfection
and The Interior Castle by St. Theresa of Avila
Spiritual Exercises
by St. Ignatius of Loyola
The
Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales
Abandonment to Divine Providence
by Fr. Jean-Pierre de Causadde
The Story of Her Soul
by St. Therese of Liseaux
This Tremendous Lover
by Fr. Eugene Boylan
Spiritual Theology and
Christian Spirituality in the Catholic Tradition by Fr. Jordan Aumann
A Primer
on Prayer, Deep Conversion, Deep Prayer and other works
by Fr. Thomas Dubay
Heaven in Our Hands,
I Will be With You Always and other works by by Fr. Benedict Groeschel
SOME GOOD WORKS OF FICTION
AND OTHER LITERATURE
The Book of Virtues
and The Moral Compass, edited by William Bennet (good stories,
essays, and poems about the virtues for all ages.)
The works of G.K. Chesterton,
e.g., the Father Brown mystery series (short stories featuring one Father
Brown, who brings out aspects of the faith as he solves crime), The
Man Who Was Thursday, and The Dumb Ox (a biography of St.
Thomas Aquinas.)
The Chronicles of Narnia,
The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce and The Space
Trilogy by C.S. Lewis (Although The Chronicles of Narnia
are styled as children's literature, the messages are profound at
all ages and grow with one's intellect; the other two works are fiction
literature told from different standpoints about the growth, or destruction,
of the human soul. )
The Lord of the Rings
trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkein (On this point popular opinion is correct:
Tolkein is a master of fiction at the level of Homer, Ovid, Dante, and
Charles Dickens. And, although these books are not written as allegory
or overtly for the sake of teaching, they plainly demonstrate Christian
morals, such as the infinite value of each person, a mystical sense
of life, the importance of honor, a strong notion of Providence, and
the fact that good ends do not justify evil means.)
The historical novels of Louis
De Wohl, such as Citadel of God (about St. Benedict), The
Quiet Light (about St. Thomas Aquinas) and Lay Siege to Heaven
(about St. Catherine of Siena). He wrote novels about the saints
in the genre of historical fiction. They describe real saints,
such as St. Longinus, St. Helen, St. Benedict, St. Augustine, St. Francis
of Assisi, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Catherine of Siena and St. Ignatius
of Loyola, and cover the known events of their lives. But, in
order to present a compelling narrative, they include scenes and conversations
for which there is no historical record; and, it must be admitted, sometimes
they rearrange historical events in order to make the plot work better.
Despite the liberties with history that Louis de Wohl takes, he captures
the essence of each saint's life and spirituality and gives a vivid
presentation of their lives.
A Philadelphia Catholic in King James' Court by Marin de Porres Kennedy (a new form of apologetics fiction)