Catholicism For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Content: Machine generated contents note: About This Book --
Conventions Used in This Book --
Foolish Assumptions --
How This Book Is Organized --
pt. I What Do Catholics Believe? --
pt. II Celebrating the Mysteries of Faith --
pt. III Living a Saintly Life --
pt. IV Praying and Using Devotions --
pt. V The Part of Tens --
pt. VI Appendixes --
Icons Used in This Book --
Where to Go from Here --
pt. I What Do Catholics Believe? --
ch. 1 What It Means to Be Catholic --
What Exactly Is Catholicism Anyway? --
Knowing What the Catholic Church Teaches --
Grasping the basic beliefs --
Respecting the role of the Church and Its leaders --
Worshipping as a Catholic: The Holy Mass --
Bringing body and soul into the mix --
Participating inside and out --
Behaving Like a Catholic --
Following the general ground rules --
Avoiding sin --
Heeding the Church's stance on tough issues --
Praying as a Catholic: Showing Your Devotion --
Praying and using devotions. Contents note continued: Realizing the importance of Mary and the saints --
Following traditions --
ch. 2 Having Faith in God's Revealed Word --
How Do You Know If You Have Faith? --
Having Faith in Revelation --
Faith in the written word: The Bible --
Faith in the spoken word: Sacred Tradition --
Backing Up Your Faith with Reason: Summa Theologica --
Through motion --
Through causality --
Through necessity --
Through gradation --
Through governance --
ch. 3 In the Beginning: Catholic Teachings on Creation and Original Sin --
Making Something out of Nothing --
Breathing Life into the World: Creationism or Evolution? --
Angels and Devils: Following God or Lucifer --
Infused knowledge, eternal decisions --
The angels' test and the devil's choice --
Witnessing the Original Sin --
Tempting our first parents --
Losing gifts --
Wounding our nature --
Being redeemed by God's grace --
Facing the four last things --
Anticipating What's to Come: Moving toward the End of Creation. Contents note continued: The Second Coming --
Resurrection of the dead --
General judgment --
The end of the world --
ch. 4 Believing in Jesus --
Understanding Jesus, the God-Man --
The human nature of Jesus --
The divine nature of Jesus --
The Savior of our sins
 the Redeemer of the world --
The obedient Son of God --
The Gospel Truth: Examining Four Written Records of Jesus --
Catholic beliefs about the Gospel --
How the Gospels came to be --
Comparing Gospels --
Dealing with Heresy and Some Other $10 Words --
Gnosticism and Docetism --
Arianism --
Nestorianism --
Monophysitism --
ch. 5 Defining "The Church" and What Membership Means --
Establishing a Foundation: Built on Rock --
Seeing the Church as the Body of Christ and Communion of Saints --
Understanding the Four Marks of the Church --
Fulfilling Its Mission --
The priestly office: Sanctifying through the sacraments --
The prophetic office: Teaching through the Magisterium. Contents note continued: The kingly office: Shepherding and governing through the hierarchy --
Membership Has Its Benefits --
ch. 6 Who's Who in the Catholic Church --
Getting to Know the Pope --
How the pope gets his job --
Is he really infallible? --
Now that's job security --
Where the pope hangs his hat --
Who's Next in the Ecclesiastical Scheme of Things --
Cardinals --
Bishops and archbishops --
The vicar general --
The parish priest --
Deacons --
Monks and nuns, brothers and sisters --
pt. II Celebrating the Mysteries of Faith --
ch. 7 Body and Soul: Worshipping Catholic Style --
Getting Your Body and Soul into the Act --
Understanding Some Symbols and Gestures --
The sign of the cross --
The genuflection --
The crucifix --
Holy water --
Sensing God --
Through sight --
Through touch --
Through smell --
Through sound --
Through taste --
ch. 8 Entering the Church: Baptism, Communion, and Confirmation --
Come On In ---
The Water's Fine --
Becoming Christ's kith and kin. Contents note continued: Washing away original sin --
Baptizing with water --
Receiving the sacrament of Baptism in other ways --
The Holy Eucharist --
Understanding the consecrated host --
Discovering who can receive Holy Communion --
Partaking of First Holy Communion --
Coming of Age: Confirmation --
ch. 9 The Sacraments of Service and Healing --
The Sacraments of Service and Community --
Marriage ---
Catholic style --
Holy Orders --
The Sacraments of Mercy and Healing --
Penance --
Anointing of the Sick --
ch. 10 Celebrating the Catholic Mass --
What Exactly Is the Mass? --
Honoring the Sabbath publicly --
Participating fully --
Uniting past, present, and future --
The Two Parts of the Mass --
Beginning the Mass --
Acknowledging sin (Penitential Act) --
Gloria --
Opening Prayer (Collect) --
The Liturgy of the Word --
The Liturgy of the Eucharist --
Vatican II and the Celebration of Mass --
Allowing worship in vernacular languages --
Other changes resulting from Vatican II. Contents note continued: Checking out the Roman Missal, Third Edition --
Understanding the Latin roots --
Seeing why change was necessary --
Knowing what it means for you in the pew --
Adjusting the Mass for the Occasion --
Weekday and Sunday --
Holy days of obligation --
Simple and solemn celebrations --
Spiritual Seasons of the Year --
Christ Our Light: The first half of the liturgical year --
Christ Our Life: The second half of the liturgical year --
pt. III Living a Saintly Life --
ch. 11 Obeying the Rules: Catholic Law --
Following the Eternal Law of God --
The divine positive law --
The natural moral law --
The human positive law --
Playing by the Church's Rules --
Attending Mass on all Sundays and holy days of obligation --
Receiving the Holy Eucharist during Easter season --
Confessing your sins at least once a year --
Fasting and abstaining on appointed days --
Contributing to the support of the Church --
Observing Church marriage laws. Contents note continued: Supporting Missionary Work of the Church --
ch. 12 Loving and Honoring: The Ten Commandments --
Demonstrating Love for God --
I. Honor God --
II. Honor God's name --
III. Honor God's day --
Loving Your Neighbor --
IV. Honor your parents --
V. Honor human life --
VI and IX Honor human sexuality --
VII and X Honor the property of others --
VIII. Honor the truth --
Coming Out Even Steven --
ch. 13 Being Good When Sinning Is So Easy --
Cultivating Good Habits --
Prudence: Knowing what, when, and how --
Justice: Treating others fairly --
Temperance: Moderating pleasure --
Fortitude: Doing what's right come hell or high water --
The Seven Deadly Sins --
Pride goeth before the fall --
Envying what others have or enjoy --
Lusting after fruit that's forbidden --
Anger to the point of seeking revenge --
Gluttony: Too much food or firewater --
Greed: The desire for more and more --
Sloth: Lazy as a lotus-eater. Contents note continued: ch. 14 Standing Firm: The Church's Stance on Some Sticky Issues --
Celibacy and the Male Priesthood --
Flying solo for life --
No-woman's-land --
Matters of Life and Death --
Abortion --
Euthanasia --
The death penalty --
The Just War Doctrine --
Planning Your Family Naturally --
The moral argument against artificial contraception --
The natural alternative to contraception --
What if you can't conceive naturally? --
Defending Traditional Family Life --
pt. IV Praying and Using Devotions --
ch. 15 Growing in the Faith --
Having a Personal Relationship with God through Prayer --
Practicing the four types of prayer --
Getting to know spontaneous and formal prayer --
Praying in Private and in a Community --
Taking personal time with God: Private prayer --
Joining others for communal prayer --
Saying the Lord's Prayer --
Taking It to the Next Level: The Stages of Spiritual Growth --
Purgative: Practicing self-denial and sacrifice. Contents note continued: Illuminative: Distinguishing good from evil --
Unitive: Connecting with God --
ch. 16 Showing Your Love for God --
Going Beyond Your Basic Duty --
Knowing when and where to pray devotions --
Separating devotions from Mass --
Running the Gamut of Devotions --
Praying novenas to the saints --
Loving litanies --
Looking at statues and icons --
Making pilgrimages --
Going on a retreat --
Wearing sacred gear --
Praying the Rosary --
Saying the Divine Mercy Chaplet --
The Way of the Cross --
ch. 17 Expressing Affection for Mary --
No, Catholics Don't Worship Mary --
What Catholics Believe about Mary --
She's the Mother of God --
She's the Mother of the Church --
She's the Mother of the Mystical Body of Christ --
She was conceived through Immaculate Conception --
She went to heaven, body and soul --
Her never-ending virginity --
Up Close and Personal with Mary --
May crowning --
First Saturdays --
Marian shrines and apparitions. Contents note continued: ch. 18 Honoring the Catholic Saints --
Having a Place in the Hearts of Catholics --
Honoring God's Good Friends --
It's All about Intercession --
Recognizing a Saint --
Looking at the process to becoming a saint --
Going through the investigations for sainthood --
Experiencing the beatification and canonization Mass --
A Saint for Every Day of the Year --
Discovering the Communion of Saints --
Saints in heaven --
Believers on earth --
Souls in purgatory --
ch. 19 Practicing Catholic Traditions --
Adoring the Blessed Sacrament --
Participating in Benediction --
Adoring at church during Perpetual Adoration or the 40-hour devotion --
Representing Life's Journey: Other Religious Processions --
Meatless Fridays --
The tradition of abstaining --
Substituting Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy for abstinence --
Using Sacramentals --
Signifying death with ashes --
Commemorating with blessed palms --
Receiving the blessing of throats --
Exorcising demons. Contents note continued: Tolling bells --
Celebrating Year-Round --
Feast of the Epiphany --
Feast of Candlemas --
St. Patrick's Day --
St. Joseph's Day --
Marian Feasts in May --
Feast of St. Anthony of Padua --
Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux --
Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe --
pt. V The Part of Tens --
ch. 20 Ten Famous Catholics --
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) --
Blessed Pope John Paul II (1920-2005) --
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (1895-1979) --
Mother Angelica (1923) --
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) --
Alfred E. Smith (1873-1944) --
Father Edward Flanagan (1886-1948) --
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973) --
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) --
Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) --
ch. 21 Ten (Plus One) Popular Catholic Saints --
St. Peter (Died around A.D. 64) --
St. Jude (Died during the first century A.D.) --
St. Benedict (480-circa 543) --
St. Dominic de Guzman (1170-1221) --
St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) --
St. Anthony of Padua (1195-1231). Contents note continued: St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) --
St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) --
St. Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879) --
St. Therese of Lisleux (1873-1897) --
St. Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1968) --
ch. 22 Ten Popular Catholic Places --
Rome --
The Basilica de Guadalupe --
San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy --
The Basilica of Czestochowa, Poland --
The Basilica of Lourdes, France --
Fatima, Portugal --
The Cathedral of Notre Dame --
The National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception --
The Minor Basilica of Saint Anne de Beaupre --
The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament --
pt. VI Appendixes --
Appendix A A Brief History of Catholicism --
Ancient Times (A.D. 33-741) --
Non-Christian Rome (A.D. 33-312) --
Christian Rome (A.D. 313-475) --
Barbarian invasions and the fall of Rome (A.D. 476-570) --
Pope St. Gregory the Great to Charles Martel (590-741) --
The Middle Ages (A.D. 800-1500) --
Christendom: One big, mighty kingdom --
The Golden Age --
The downward spiral. Contents note continued: The Reformation to the Modern Era (1517-Today) --
The growing need for reform --
The reformers --
The Catholic Church's response: The Counter Reformation --
The Age of Reason --
The Age of Revolution --
The Modern Era --
Appendix B Popular Catholic Prayers --
Latin Rite (Western Catholic) Prayers --
Our Father (Pater Noster) --
Hail Mary (Ave Maria) --
Glory Be --
Salve Regina --
Memorare --
Act of Contrition --
Prayer to Guardian Angel --
Grace Before/After Meals --
Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel --
Act of Faith --
Act of Hope --
Act of Love (Charity) --
Byzantine and Eastern Catholic Prayers --
Prayer before meals --
Prayer after meals --
Prayer of the Publican --
Prayer of St. Ephraim of Syria --
Prayer to St. Maron.