WELCOME to the website of   Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in     Petawawa, Ontario, Canada. We are a Roman Catholic Parish under the leadership and guidance of Most Rev. Michael Mulhall, Bishop of Pembroke.         www.pembrokediocese.com

The Mission of Our Lady of Sorrows Parish is to Proclaim the Good News to all the world and to Baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

HOW TO LEARN THE CATHOLIC FAITH

Unlike some other Christian faiths, the Catholic faith is inundated with books. Besides the Bible, there's the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Catechism of the Council of Trent, the documents of Vatican II, the writings of the popes and a plethora of writings from the doctors of the church, the saints and others. With thousands upon thousands of pages, what should one do who wants to learn the basic tenets of the Catholic faith?
 
Things You'll Need:
Bible (NRSV-Catholic Edition)
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church
Catechism of the Catholic Church  http://www.vatican.va/
Documents of Vatican II
 
Step 1
Read the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This book is 200-page summary of the 600-page Catechism of the Catholic Church. Written in a Q&A format, it's easy to read and understand. The questions build on each other and after a careful reading you'll have a solid grasp of basic Catholic doctrine.
 
Step 2
Read the documents of Vatican II. The most important moment in the Catholic Church in the past 500 years was the Second Vatican Council, simply known as Vatican II. Reading Vatican II will eliminate a lot of confusion in the Church that has prevailed the past 40 years.
The Second Vatican Council promulgated 16 documents. You do not need to read all 16; rather, you need to focus on the five most important documents:

1. The Dogmatic Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy
            (Sacroscantum Concilium)
2. The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church
             (Lumen Gentium)
3. The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation
             (Dei Verbum)
4. The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern
             World (Gaudium et Spes)
5. Declaration on Religious Freedom
             (Dignitatis Humanae)
 
Step 3
Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church.The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), which was promulgated in 1992, is the standard of Catholic doctrine today. It is, as Pope John Paul II said, the "normative teaching of the Church."
  
Step 4
Read the Catholic Bible. There are several Catholic Bibles being published today: the New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition (NRSV-CE); the New American Bible (NAB); and the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) are considered the best. All three of these versions contain all 66 books you find in a Protestant Bible as well as the seven Deuterocanonical Books you find only in Catholic Bibles.
 
Why read the Bible last? Because the only way to understand the Bible as the Catholic Church understands it is to read it within the living tradition of the Church.

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      Loyola Press 3-Minute Retreat 

                          

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