Journeys Home (48 page)
Authors: Marcus Grodi
Tags: #Catholics -- Biography; Coming Home Network International; Conversion, #Catholics -- Biography, #Coming Home Network International, #Conversion
He proceeded to yell at me within the confessional for not knowing
what to do. I left and felt so mortified I couldn't attend Mass.
Instead I went to a quiet area and pleaded with the Lord: "Is
this what You have called me to? Why this? Where are You in the
midst of this Church?"
You see, I knew the Church of the books. I knew the Church by
reading the saints and Church Fathers. But now I was discovering
the Church as it is today.
Then God in His mercy reminded me of the reasons I had converted.
I had not converted to make me feel better, but for issues of
truth. I remembered the Eucharist and the truth of John 6. I knew
there was work to be done, and I had hoped to help.
Please know that since then I have met and worked with many incredible
men and women of God in the Catholic Church, people who sincerely
desire Him and yearn to bring Him into the lives of others. The
Church doesn't teach "prochoice," although some Catholics choose
to believe it. The Church doesn't teach the use of contraception,
although some Catholics choose to do so. The Church doesn't teach
being apathetic towards one's faith, although many Catholics are.
As in many Protestant traditions, the people don't always do or
follow what their Church believes or teaches. As Blessed John
Paul II was constantly challenging Catholics, we need to open
our hearts and minds to Christ.
Biff describes Protestants and Catholics in terms of weight lifting,
an analogy that has been helpful to me. He said that the Protestants
have a dumbbell and are using that dumbbell for all it's worth.
They are using it hours on end, once or twice a day. And they
are showing results. This "dumbbell" is the Bible.
Catholics have a full weight facility with machines, weight benches,
the full regimen! And while some are showing growth, many are
taking their weight facility and training for granted.
Now would it be better to make Catholics limit themselves to a
dumbbell? No, because it might still remain on the rack. It would
be better to take the Protestant working the dumbbell and give
him a whole workout facility. The Catholic Church is where the
fullness of the faith resides. This is where the abundant life
is to be found, whether some people take advantage of it or not.
Let truth be your search. If you let truth be your guide, I believe
you will one day be Catholic. And I will be there to welcome you
home. You may not know this yet ... but you will.
May the grace of God, the love of Christ, and the fellowship of
the Holy Spirit be with you now and forever, Amen!
Jason Shanks is a cofounder of Catholic Youth Summer Camp, Inc.,
a summer high adventure camp for junior high and high school students.
He also serves as the Cabinet Secretary and Secretariat Leader
for Evangelization and Parish Life for the Diocese of Toledo,
Ohio. Jason received a Masters in Theology from the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, with a concentration in Evangelization. He
also earned a Masters in Nonprofit Administration from the Mendoza
College of Business at the University of Notre Dame. Jason and
his wife, Melissa, have two children, Nora and Xavier.
THE CATHOLIC FAITH: FUNDAMENTALS
THE CATHOLIC FAITH: SELECTED OFFICIAL CHURCH DOCUMENTS
THE CATHOLIC FAITH: SURVEYS OF CHURCH TEACHINGS
CHURCH FATHERS (SELECTIONS OF TEXTS)
CHURCH HISTORY (WRITTEN BY CATHOLIC HISTORIANS)
SACRAMENTALS, CUSTOMS, AND TRADITIONS
THE SCRIPTURES AND SCRIPTURE STUDIES
SPIRITUALITIES IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
The following list of books is provided to help those on the journey
understand more clearly the various teachings, practices, and
history of the Catholic Church. The sad reality is that too few
Protestants have actually read books written by Catholics about
the Catholic Church. They have relied too often on books written
by people who have only seen the Church from the outside or who
have left the Church sometimes with great bitterness and anger.
This is in no way a comprehensive list. Rather it represents our
personal choices of books that we and others in the Coming Home
Network International have found particularly helpful. The two
main criteria for these choices were: (1) faithfulness to the
historic magisterial teachings of the Catholic Church, and (2)
ease of understanding.
Armstrong, Dave.
A Biblical Defense of Catholicism.
Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute, 2003. Dave Armstrong focuses on those issues about which Catholics and Protestants disagree the most: the role of the Bible as a rule of faith, whether we are justified by faith alone, whether doctrine develops, what the Eucharist really is, veneration of Mary and prayer to the saints, the existence of purgatory, the role of penance in salvation, and the nature and infallibility of the papacy.
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The Catholic Verses.
Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute, 2004. Armstrong here explains ninety-five key Bible passages that challenge those who would use Scripture to criticize the Church and her doctrines.
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The One-Minute Apologist.
Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute, 2007. Dave Armstrong has assembled more than sixty of the claims and arguments that Protestants of all stripes most frequently level against the Church. Drawing on a lifetime of Scripture study, history, and the works of Catholic and Protestant theologians, he delivers the essential Catholic replies to
each claim, packaged for you in a compact and uniquely usable format.
Armstrong, Dave, and Paul Thigpen.
The New Catholic Answer Bible,
rev. NAB ed. Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 2011. This Catholic apologetics Bible (Revised New American Bible version) features eighty-eight inserts by Armstrong and Thigpen that answer the most common questions about Catholic faith and practice, drawing from Scripture, Tradition, and the
Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Chesterton, G. K.
The Everlasting Man.
San Francisco: Ignatius, 1993. Considered by many to be Chesterton's greatest masterpiece, this is his whole view of world history as informed by the Incarnation. Beginning with the origin of man and the various religious attitudes throughout history, Chesterton shows how the fulfillment of all human desires takes place in the person of Christ and in Christ's Church.
Flaherty, Regis.
Catholic Customs.
Ann Arbor, Michigan: Servant, 2002. Sacraments and sacramentals. Feast days and fasts. Rosaries, novenas, stations of the cross. These and many other traditional practices of the Catholic faithful receive a fresh look in this book.
Hahn, Scott and Leon Suprenant, eds.
Catholic for a Reason: Scripture and the Mystery of the Family of God
. Steubenville, Ohio: Emmaus Road, 1998. Scott co-edited this collection of essays by his wife, Kimberly; several of his former students; and himself. Topics include the Eucharist, Mary, purgatory, justification, and more. Each is presented in the context of scriptural exegesis and through the paradigm of the Church as God's covenant family.
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Catholic for a Reason II: Scripture and the Mystery
of the Mother of God.
Steubenville, Ohio: Emmaus Road, 2000. A follow-up to the previous volume explaining the scriptural basis for the Church's teaching on Mary.
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Catholic for a Reason III: Scripture and the Mystery of the Mass.
Steubenville, Ohio: Emmaus Road, 2004. A follow-up to the previous two volumes exploring the inexhaustible beauty and mystery of the Mass. Each chapter lends unique insight into topics such as "The Mass and the Synoptic Gospels, "The Eucharist in the Apostolic Church," and "The Mass and Evangelization."
Hahn, Scott, and Regis J. Flaherty, eds.
Catholic for a Reason IV: Scripture and the Mystery of Marriage and Family Life.
Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Road, 2007. Explores the scriptural basis for the Catholic understanding of marriage. Scott and Kimberly Hahn, Mike Aquilina, and ten other popular Catholic authors present, along with their spouses, solid biblical testimony to the joys, struggles, and sanctity found in the Sacrament of Marriage.
Jaki, Stanley.
Newman to Converts.
Pinckney, MI: Real View Books, 2001. A unique collection and study of the instructions Blessed John Henry Newman gave in letters to potential converts. Newman's emphasis on such "conservative" notions as the obviousness of the four Notes of the Church -- a Church which, in his eyes, was the one true fold of salvation -- should prove uncomfortable to today's proponents of dubious innovations in Catholic ecclesiology.
Kresta, Al.
Why Do Catholics Genuflect?
Cincinnati: Servant, 2001. Mary and the other saints, the Eucharist and the confessional, popes and purgatory, mortal sin and holy water. Are you puzzled by all this Catholic stuff? This book answers in clear, concise terms many of the most common questions asked about the Catholic faith.
Longenecker, Dwight.
Challenging Catholics: A Catholic-Evangelical Dialogue
. London: Paternoster, 2001. This book helps Catholics and Protestants understand each other better and provides a good starting point in discussing the Catholic faith with Evangelical Christians.
Challenging Catholics
complements the work which has gone on in official talks between representatives of these two Christian traditions.
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More Christianity.
Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 2002. The title is an obvious pun on C. S. Lewis's famous book,
Mere Christianity.
The theme is that the Catholic faith is fuller and richer than other Christian traditions. Why have "mere Christianity" when you can have "more Christianity"?
Keating, Karl.
Catholicism and Fundamentalism.
San Francisco: Ignatius, 1988. This book, which effectively refutes the common fundamentalist misconceptions of and attacks on the Catholic Church, has served as the initial stepping stone for many modern converts.
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What Catholics Really Believe.
San Francisco: Ignatius, 1992. Here are fifty-two answers to common misconceptions about the Catholic faith that are held by many Catholics as well as Protestants. Drawing upon Scripture and Catholic Sacred Tradition, Keating not only shows the logical errors in these positions but clearly spells out Catholic teaching and explains the rationale behind frequently misunderstood doctrines and practices.
Michuta, Gary.
Why Catholic Bibles Are Bigger: The Untold Story of the Lost Books of the Protestant Bible.
Port Huron, MI: Grotto Press, 2007. Why do Catholic Bibles have more books in their Old Testaments than Protestant and Jewish Bibles? Did the Catholic Church add books to Scripture, or did Protestants remove them? What was the Bible of the earliest Christians? In this fascinating book, Gary Michuta traces the path of the Deuterocanon (called by Protestants the "Apocrypha") from its pre-Christian roots through the Protestant Reformation to the nineteenth century. Many commonly held myths are exposed while uncovering little-known and surprising facts about these "lost books" of the Protestant Bible.
Nevins, Albert J.
Answering a Fundamentalist.
Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 1990. Each of the sixteen chapters focuses on dispelling common fundamentalist misunderstandings about the Catholic faith through logic and reasoning rooted in Scripture and Apostolic Tradition.
Salza, John.
The Biblical Basis for Purgatory
. Charlotte, NC: TAN, 2009. Salza offers the definitive scriptural explanation of this distinctively Catholic doctrine. Building on the teachings of Christ and St. Paul, he shows how the existence of a process of temporal punishment after death is not only a logical extension of what we know about the reality of sin and God's justice, but also a supreme expression of God's love and mercy.
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The Biblical Basis for the Catholic Faith.
Huntington,
IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 2005. Many non-Catholic Christians insist that much of what Catholics believe has no foundation in Scripture. In a non-confrontational manner, the author quotes only from the Bible to explain the fundamental doctrines of the Catholic Church. Chapter after chapter focuses on doctrinal "hot spots," including
sola scriptura,
Sacred Tradition, papal infallibility, the seven sacraments, Mary and the saints, justification, salvation, and purgatory.
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The Biblical Basis for the Eucharist.
Huntington, IN:
Our Sunday Visitor, 2008. For nearly 2,000 years the Catholic Church has been celebrating the Eucharist as the source and summit of the Christian faith. Yet doctrines about the Eucharist continue to separate Catholics and Protestants today. Salza demonstrates how, without question, the Eucharist, as the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, is deeply rooted in biblical history. Extensively footnoted, yet filled with the passion of a courtroom drama, this book outlines the Eucharist and the Mass in fascinating detail.
