The Christian Faith: A Mini-Catechism for Catholics

by Stephen Wang

This booklet presents the Christian faith in a series of 73 concise articles. Each article expresses, in a nutshell, the core ideas about a wide range of topics as they are found in the Catholic tradition. The aim is to give food for thought, clear and accurate explanations and so to provide a mini-catechism of the most important elements of the Christian faith. While the richness and beauty of faith cannot be expressed in mere words, the right words can encourage us to explore it more deeply.

88 pages, Paperback

About the author

Fr Stephen Wang is a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Westminster, London. He is Dean of Studies at Allen Hall seminary, where he also teaches philosophy and theology. His latest book is Aquinas and Sartre: On Freedom, Personal Identity, and the Possibility of Happiness, published by Catholic University of America Press.

Reviews

[Steven R. McEvoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the last few years I have read over 200 books from the Catholic Truth Society. Every time I finish one, I find 2 or three more that I want to read. There are so many great series, and excellent authors. And everything I have read by Father Stephen Wang has been excellent. And I still have a few of his volumes on my ‘to be read’ list. I have read several books that are part of the CTS Devotions and Prayer Series. I have read many in the CTS Biographies and also Saints of the Isles Series, and the Great Saints Series. But back to this volume. The description states:

“This booklet presents the Christian faith in a series of 73 concise articles. Each article expresses, in a nutshell, the core ideas about a wide range of topics as they are found in the Catholic tradition. The aim is to give food for thought, clear and accurate explanations and so to provide a mini-catechism of the most important elements of the Christian faith. While the richness and beauty of faith cannot be expressed in mere words, the right words can encourage us to explore it more deeply.”

The book is promoted as an introduction to Christianity, to help grow in understanding the Catholic Faith, and as a resource for RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults). And the chapters in the volume are:

Introduction
Part 1: The Meaning of Faith
God
Revelation
Faith
Knowledge
Theology
Part 2: The Christian Story
The Apostles’ Creed
The Most Holy Trinity
The angels
The Devil and the reality of evil
Human beings
Original sin
The Jewish people
The Incarnation
The life of Christ
The sacrifice of the cross
The Resurrection
Redemption
The Holy Spirit
The gifts of the Holy Spirit
Part 3: Church, Tradition, Bible
The Church
Tradition
The Bible
The Apostles
The Papacy
Infallibility
The unity of the Church
Non-Christians
Part 4: Sacraments of Initiation and Healing
Grace
The liturgy
The sacraments
Baptism
Confirmation
The Eucharist
Forgiveness
The Sacrament of Penance
The Anointing of the Sick
Part 5: Sacraments and the Christian Vocations
Vocation
The laity
Marriage
Consecrated life
Single life
Ordination to the diaconate
Ordination to the priesthood
Ordination to the episcopate
Part 6: The Vocation to Love
The universal call to holiness
Love
Freedom and conscience
Morality
Natural law
The Ten Commandments
The Beatitudes
Love your neighbour
Life and death
The social teaching of the Church
Love for the poor
Evangelisation
Martyrdom
Part 7: The Spiritual Life
Christian prayer
The Our Father
Other key prayers
Daily prayer
Intercession
Contemplation
Devotions
The Rosary
Part 8: The Last Things
Death
Judgement, heaven, purgatory, hell
Hope
Eternal life
The saints on earth
The saints in heaven
The Blessed Virgin Mary
Two Marian prayers

Father Wang in the introduction informs us that:

“This booklet presents the Christian faith in a series of short articles. Each article expresses, in a nutshell, the core ideas about each topic as they are found in the Catholic tradition. The aim is to give food for thought, and to provide a mini-catechism of the most important elements of the Christian faith.”

He also informs us that:

“I have tried to squeeze as much as possible into each article, in just two or three hundred words, and to make them more or less self-contained. As a consequence, some of the explanations are quite dense, some may appear simplistic, and now and then there is some repetition. If you want to open up any of these tightly packed articles, or to go deeper, you can look up a particular subject in the index of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.”

He then informs us that the articles were then use for a series of talks at Newman House. The information has been tried and tested. It is presented in clear and concise fashion. Some of the chapters are only a few short paragraphs and some are a few pages. For example the section on the Beatitudes has one paragraph and then the quoted text from the bible, that paragraph is:

“The Beatitudes are at the heart of Jesus’s moral teaching, pointing the way to true holiness and true happiness for his disciples, and indeed for all. They can be found in Chapter 5 of Matthew’s Gospel:”

And it has an excellent index at the end making it perfect for quick lookups, or for reference and study. This is a volume that could be easily returned to many times. And the reader would benefit from it each time. The style and pace of the articles makes it such that you can read from beginning to end, or jump around topics. But no matter how you choose to read it you would be blessed by the reading.

Another great read from father Stephen Wang and the Catholic Truth Society.

Read reviews of other books by from the Catholic Truth Society on my blog Book Reviews and More.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2021 Catholic Reading Plan!

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good refresher for a non-Catholic!