Religion High School
Introduction to Catholicism
Chief Truths of the Faith
Originally published in 1928, the current edition published by TAN Books is a complete reproduction of the 1934 edition. The 1990 editor added some footnotes to bring the series more "up-to-date." This is a highly recommended series — it is the recommended high school religion text for Kolbe Academy, Mother of Divine Grace and Seton Home Study. I have not worked my way through an entire book from this series yet, but I found it to be an excellent reference resource, especially before the Catechism of the Catholic Church was released. It makes an excellent reference because it is laid out in a very practical manner. It is possible to study a single chapter in the middle of the book in order to more fully understand a particular topic, such as the Catholic Church's teaching on Evolution (ch. VI, Bk. 1 The Origin of the Human Race) which did not change with Vatican II or Our Holy Father's recent (and highly misunderstood and misquoted) statement on Evolution. Because of this practical format, parents may find this series very useful in learning about a particular concept more fully in order to teach it to their younger children. The series is extensively illustrated.
The full series of Fr. Laux's "A Course in Religion" includes the following titles:
- Chief Truths of the Faith (Book I)
- Mass and the Sacraments (Book II)
- Catholic Morality (Book III), and
- Catholic Apologetics (Book IV)
For those interested in using this as a high school religion series, Laura Berquist has syllabi for this series, which include quizzes and answer keys and are available from Emmanuel Books. Seton Home Study offers, even for those not signed up with their entire program, a course using this text. This service includes telephone consultation, test correcting, grading, etc.
Our Quest for Happiness
I was introduced to the series as a high school freshman. I enjoyed the text very much at that time (even though I was working with a photocopy). I was equally impressed with the Sophomore text when I taught with it nearly ten years later.
The first book, Our Goal and Our Guides, focuses on understanding our goal in life – attaining Heaven – and spiritual and doctrinal issues that are related to that goal (such as the roles of faith and reason, the liturgical year, the Blessed Trinity, the Fall, and Salvation through Christ).
The second book, Through Christ Our Lord, studies the life of Our Lord in great detail - covering the Old Testament time of waiting for Christ, the basic events of Christ's life, a detailed study of Christ's Death and Resurrection, the Eucharist and the Mass, the Sacraments and following Christ today.
The Ark and the Dove (Book Three) covers the Catholic Church and the Holy Spirit.
Towards the Eternal Commencement is designed especially to prepare graduating seniors as they go out into the world. It covers Our Lady; considerations about death and the afterlife (best reflected upon earlier in life!); vocations; those commandments, virtues and teachings important for "building a better world" and a segment on Apologetics.
Surprised by Truth
These are relatively short (usually about 20 or 30 pages each) autobiographical essays from Catholic converts. The stories cover a numer of converts who are becoming well-known for their vibrant Catholic ministries of various sorts, and so you may have heard the names Marcus Grodi, James Akin, Steve Wood, Tim Staples and Dave Armstrong before). Because of the variety of authors, the reading levels and vocabulary used vary greatly - some are simple and succinct and others more complex - but all are compelling in their own way; all help to shed more light on what it means to be a Catholic and why the Catholic Church is so different from other beliefs. Although primarily intended for adults, the book would make excellent apologetics reading for high schoolers because it provides a wealth of information and "holy ammunition" in intellectual battles with non-Catholics.
Surprised by Truth 2
The sequel to Surprised by Truth provides even more stories of how the grace of God, the witness of others and important conversations about the truth, brought these men and women back to the fullness of the Cahtolic faith.