Where can I find a basic overview of the Church online?

**Holly3278** · #1 Jul 30, '12, 10:51 pm

Hey everyone. I am looking for a basic overview of the Church and Her beliefs online. I am wanting this because I know a person who is interested in learning about Catholicism and I think it would be a good idea to start him off with a basic overview of the Church.

bzkoss236 · #2 Jul 30, '12, 11:35 pm

I may be biased, but Catholic Answers is a great place to start. Their search feature with loads of quick questions, tracts, articles, and podcasts make it a great source of information. Each source they have has references to relevant Church documents, Bible passages, and the Catechism (which in turn references Church documents from early church fathers and Bible passages).

You can also just check out the Catechism, but I find the explanations on Catholic Answers much easier to understand.

sllhouette · #3 Jul 31, '12, 6:50 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by bzkoss236

I may be biased, but Catholic Answers is a great place to start. Their search feature with loads of quick questions, tracts, articles, and podcasts make it a great source of information. Each source they have has references to relevant Church documents, Bible passages, and the Catechism (which in turn references Church documents from early church fathers and Bible passages).

You can also just check out the Catechism, but I find the explanations on Catholic Answers much easier to understand.

While the articles and podcasts, etc... are all good, I must emphasize that I would not start with the forums!

bzkoss236 · #4 Jul 31, '12, 10:07 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by sllhouette

While the articles and podcasts, etc... are all good, I must emphasize that I would not start with the forums!

Agreed, with the exception of the Ask an Apologist forum.

Bl Pope Pius IX · #5 Jul 31, '12, 12:26 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holly3278

Hey everyone. I am looking for a basic overview of the Church and Her beliefs online. I am wanting this because I know a person who is interested in learning about Catholicism and I think it would be a good idea to start him off with a basic overview of the Church.

I think HERE is a great place to start, I'd say.

cessnawag · #6 Jul 31, '12, 4:22 am

Catechism of the Catholic church. Its all in there with an easy to understand table of contents.

R_C · #7 Jul 31, '12, 6:43 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by cessnawag

Catechism of the Catholic church. Its all in there with an easy to understand table of contents.

The most basic overview of the Church and its teachings that can be found online is without any doubt this one.

Quote:

The Compendium, which I now present to the Universal Church, is a faithful and sure synthesis of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It contains, in concise form, all the essential and fundamental elements of the Church’s faith, thus constituting, as my Predecessor had wished, a kind of vademecum which allows believers and non-believers alike to behold the entire panorama of the Catholic faith.
Benedictus PP. XVI

Then of course, the full Catechism.

sllhouette · #8 Jul 31, '12, 6:48 am

As far as pure facts goes, the bible and the Catechism are the places to start. But in truth, the faith is a very personal faith. I wouldn't start with spouting facts, but rather with getting to know that particular person and their particular needs. A book is great, but what we most often need is a living example of the faith.

The best place to start is with the liturgy. Understand what we are doing at mass and everything else falls into place.

Another good topic is the sacraments.

If he is looking for some books that might explain the faith well, I would point you to Scott Hahn.

**Joe 5859** · #9 Aug 3, '12, 6:56 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holly3278

Hey everyone. I am looking for a basic overview of the Church and Her beliefs online. I am wanting this because I know a person who is interested in learning about Catholicism and I think it would be a good idea to start him off with a basic overview of the Church.

I would really recommend pointing them to CatholicsComeHome.org. Their website and their whole apostolate is really designed towards reaching out with the basic message of the Church.

The Catechsim and the Compendium are great resources (obviously). But they can be really difficult to navigate for a newbie (especially on the Vatican website). A site like CatholicsComeHome has a more user-friendly interface. Of course, once your friend gets a littler further on the journey and maybe has some more questions, then it would be a great time to introduce them to the Catechism and Compendium.

animalis · #10 Aug 3, '12, 1:29 pm

http://www.familycatechism.com/#0010...wrence_Lovasik

Here you find a good synthesis of the faith, if you consider the easy access of the cross references.