An Introduction and a Few Questions

[Elizabeth]

Hello! I sincerely hope I'm posting on the right board; I'm terribly sorry if not!

My name is Elizabeth, and I'm considering converting to Catholicism. 

I grew up (sort of?) Christian, but the whole situation was quite complex and I've since fallen away. 

However, for reasons I'm not quite sure of, I'm feeling more and more attracted to Christianity, specifically Anglicanism and Catholicism. I thought this forum was one of the best places to inquire about Catholicism specifically.

I was wondering if anyone has book or article recommendations that might give me a push in the right direction? I'm doing some digging around myself too, of course. 

Thank you so much in advance for your kindness and help! 

[Jack4]

Hello, welcome to the family! 

I don't know what aspects of Catholicism you find difficult, but for now, I will suggest two books :

Mere Christianity, CS Lewis 

Interior peace, Fr Phillipe

[Era Might]

"The Life You Save May Be Your Own" by Paul Elie. It's a really good biography of four Catholic writers, Walker Percy, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, and Flannery O'Connor. Three of them were converts. Dorothy Day went on to found the Catholic Worker, Merton became a well-known Trappist monk.

[Luigi]

The Catechism of the Catholic Church. It's not going to be a fascinating read, but if you want to find out what the Church teaches... and I find that once I start, I keep flipping to related topics, but I do find that sort of thing fascinating. 

Here it is in flip-book format: 

http://ccc.usccb.org/flipbooks/catechism/index.html

Edited July 2, 2017 by Luigi

[Guest]

Hi there Elizabeth and welcome to Phatmass!  You are in the right place for sure!

On these pages with the Pham Phamily (we sometimes tend to call ourselves) we sometimes can argue and hash things over almost to abandon with each other over a certain topic, some for and some against - and just like any family anywhere we love each other anyway for all our disagreements we can have at times.  Do indeed ask all the questions you wish if you would like to do so.  I know that every effort will be made to answer/guide you in the right direction.  We are not bound to obey anything on Catholicism by Catholics at any level - except what The Church teaches on Faith and Morals and that is summarised in The Catholic Catechism.  Writings approved by The Church in some way are simply a fuller or more comprehensive commentary on what is contained in Faith and Morals.  Writings/texts etc. by any other person, including non Catholics, can sometimes do the same.

Amongst other good suggestions, Luigi made a good and important one i.e. for spot on information on what Catholics actually do believe (Faith and Morals), nothing is more comprehensive nor surpasses the Catholic Catechism via Luigi's link (with search bar) - plus of course always and forever, Scripture.  And where Catholicism is concerned -  as The Catholic Church interprets Scripture. 

Big welcome again!  And God's richest blessings on your journey of discernment.............really looking forward to catching up with you now and then on these pages.

The founder and administrator of Phatmass is dUSt (his chosen user name).

[Seven77]

Rediscover Catholicism, and Rediscover Jesus by Matthew Kelly… these are great, simple to understand and straightforward introductions to Jesus, Christianity, and Catholicism.

And there's the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church which is a quick Q&A distillation of the bigger catechism––of course, the bigger one is an Irreplaceable must-have reference.

Edited July 2, 2017 by Seven77