FORMED — Catholicism on Demand — is now available through the Augustine Institute for parishioners of Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Joseph  Mission. Videos and audio books are in Spanish & English. Sign in with your email address to watch at  https://watch.formed.org/browse.

For more information about the Catholic Faith

If you haven’t yet read the “I’m New” page, be sure to do so. Also see What are Sacraments? and the page on Prayer.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church can be found online:
•    At at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website as a .pdf file.
•    At the Knights of Columbus website as searchable text.
•    Or you can purchase the book from most booksellers. Get the Second Edition (year 2000 or later) to get the added Glossary and Index.

The Bible
You want to have a good Catholic Bible, and keep it open in your home so it is read daily. In the early centuries of Christianity, the Catholic Church determined which books or manuscripts were inspired by the Holy Spirit and thus appropriate for reading in the Liturgy at Mass. These were collected together and called the Bible, or the “canon” of the Bible. Later traditions (Jewish and others outside the Church) made changes to this list of books, or eliminated portions, or changed some in their own translation. But the Catholic Church has maintained the same Biblical canon since ancient times. 

The “Old Testament” are the books from before the time of Jesus Christ (early First Century), and speak of how God worked in the Hebrew and Jewish people before Christ came. The “New Testament” was written concerning Jesus, His Apostles, and the Church.

These are the main Catholic Bibles in English in use today:
•    Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition (used by the Vatican for documents translated into English). 
•    This version is also used in The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, The New Testament, with Introduction, Commentary, and Notes by Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch, which is a very helpful study resource for understanding the Bible. The Old Testament of this Study Bible is not yet completed but individual Old Testament books are available for purchase.
•    New American Bible, Revised Edition (used in the Liturgy in the United States, with some modifications). It is online at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website.
There are other Catholic Bibles available, but these are the main ones in use today.

An excellent study aid to the Old Testament is A Catholic Introduction to the Bible, The Old Testament (Volume 1), by John Bergsma and Brant Pitre. Hopefully a Volume 2 for The New Testament will be forthcoming.

And let them remember that prayer should accompany the reading of Sacred Scripture, so that God and man may talk together; for “we speak to Him when we pray; we hear Him when we read the divine saying.”
(Vatican II: Dei Verbum, 25, quoting St. Ambrose.)

For More Learning Opportunities in the Parish:
    Religious Education for Children and Youth
    Adult Catechesis Classes
        – including the RCIA instruction classes for those inquiring about the Catholic Faith
    Evangelization Opportunities for Adults and Youth

For More About Our Parish generally:
    About Us
    Contact/Find Us
    How to Donate
    Parish Life – for everything else going on in the Parish
    Parish Updates and What’s New