Catechism of the Catholic Church Collection (8 vols.)

Any study of Catholicism must begin with the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Officially promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1997, it is the first “universal” Catholic catechism since the Reformation, and only the second in history. It is an epochal work that expresses the tenets of the Catholic faith consistent with their articulation at the Second Vatican Council, while remaining in organic unity with the tradition of the Church, drawing in abundance on the sources of Sacred Scripture, the Fathers of the Church, the liturgy, and magisterial authority. If one wants to know what the Catholic Church teaches, the Catechism, as John Paul II stated, is the “sure norm.”

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church Collection, thousands of the Catechism’s citations come alive, linking to the original documents. The collection gets you behind the Catechism’s summary of the faith and into the primary sources themselves. It includes the most important texts the Catechism cites, and so lets you see not only what the contemporary Church teaches, but what it bases this teaching on. You can use the Catechism as a type of commentary on the other texts in the collection—for example, you can quickly find every instance of the Catechism’s citing a certain Bible verse or document of Vatican II. The collection includes the Lectionary of the Catholic Church, so the Catechism becomes an automatic companion to the daily readings.

With the Catechism of the Catholic Church Collection, the Catechism is transformed from a summary of Catholicism into a gateway to the Catholic faith.