The Catholic Faith Handbook for Youth

by Brian Singer-Towns, Janet Claussen, Clare Vanbrandwijk

Introduces teens to Catholic beliefs, art, culture, and history as expressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discussing Church teachings on social issues of today and providing ideas for putting faith into action.

Genres: Catholic, Reference, Faith, Nonfiction, Textbooks, Inspirational, Theology

464 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2003

Reviews

[Ruthie Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good handbook for anyone who is either learning the Catholic faith or as a refresher. While The Catholic Faith Handbook: For Youth is definitely designed for the youth, it can be enjoyed by anyone. This book explains specific aspects of Catholicism such as the creed and the sacraments, and it touches on many issues that affect everyone: social justice, morality, and even respecting material goods (including the earth).

Part A: The Creed.

Part B: Liturgy and Sacraments.

Part C: Christian Morality. One thing that I found very interesting from this section is under "Respecting Life." Of course, we know the commandment, "You shall not kill," but this section includes the concept of health as a way to respect life and follow this commandment. When we abuse our bodies through poor nutrition, neglect, bad habits, and recklessness to the degree that our health becomes endangered, we are killing ourselves. It's easy to consider only murder when we hear this commandment and think that we're okay with this one because we haven't killed anyone. Interesting.

Part D: Christian Prayer. This section touches on the many different types of prayer in addition to the Rosary. For example, it covers prayers of thanksgiving, praise, meditation, and the different challenges of prayer--very insightful as well as helpful for anyone who struggles with developing and/or maintaining a prayer life!

Catholic Quick Facts (beliefs, practicies, prayers, symbols, saints, etc.)

This book is laid out in a manner that is easy to read and pleasing to the eye.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of the Catholic faith. I personally am not Catholic, but I was interested and found this informative.

[Erin Mashak]

good book

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read when my daughter was studying for her Confirmation. Entertaining, but dry. Took a force of will to finish it because it covered history and faith foundations first (interesting), and the rest of the book dragged on.

[Zachary · Rating 1 out of 5]

Far too fluffy, dreamy-eyed, and bland; in short, this book is representative of many of the things that are wrong with current religious education programs. I don't recommend it for confirmation classes.

[Tom Willis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid Youth Catechism for Catholics. Follows the structure of the big CCC. I haven't noticed any doctrinal errors or deficiencies. I also haven't spent time with the YouCat, so I'm not comparing it with that.

[1catholicsalmon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book. It is written for Catholic youths, but I certainly found it explicit and detailed enough for initial questions about the Faith.