Knowledge of The Faith

The Vatican’s website is home to a tremendous amount of information about the universal church, including biographies and writings of all of the popes, the teachings of the current pope, Leo XVI, and a link to the documents of the First and Second Vatican Councils. There are also links to the various Vatican websites, including the one for the various Vatican Museums, including the Sistine Chapel.

The website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops offers, among other things, Catholic news, a calendar of and links to the daily Mass readings, movie and other media reviews and statements by the US Bishops on various topics. The site also includes a link to the full text of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the New American Bible (Revised Edition). You can also find an online version of the Bishops’ Catechism for Adults on this site.

New Advent, a site maintained by Catholic layman Kevin Knight, contains current news items and commentaries, letters, speeches and books from the earliest Christians, and an online version of the Knox Bible. The site also contains an online edition of the original Catholic Encyclopedia, published in 1913. (The current revised edition of the New Catholic Encyclopedia was published in 2003 jointly by the Catholic University of America and the Gale group and is not available online.)

There are a number of resources you can access regarding the Bible. Bible in a Year is a podcast offered by Ascension Press and featuring Fr. Mike Schmitz. Over the course of a year, Fr. Mike reads the entire Bible and offers commentary, reflection and prayers specific to the Scripture section he reads. Felix Just, SJ, has prepared an exhaustive reference guide for the writings of the Bible’s New Testament. The Bible Project is a Christian, though non-Catholic, excellent source of audio and visual information about the Bible. (Please note that the Guides to the Books of the Old Testament do not include guides to those books that are accepted in the Catholic canon of Old Testament writings but not accepted in the Protestant canons.)

Franciscan Media is a non-profit ministry of the Franciscan friars. On this site you will find reliable information about the Catholic faith, including features such as Saint of the Day and News and Commentary.

Busted Halo, produced by the Paulist Fathers, is an online magazine for seekers whose homepage says it all: “Faith Shared Joyfully”. One of its helpful features is the Daily Jolt with its associated Microchallenge.