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The Catholic Way: Faith for Living Today

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Overview

In The Catholic Way, Bishop Donald Wuerl, bishop of Pittsburgh and chairman of the U.S. Bishops' Committee on Education, has offered up an accessible, easy-to-use blueprint to the Catholic Church's most recent catechism, a detailed summary of Catholic thought compiled by a commission of church cardinals and bishops in 1992.What will you find when you open the Catechism of the Catholic church Basically, you will find what Jesus Christ came to teach and what the Church, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit over twenty centuries, has nurtured, applied, and articulated -- the Catholic faith.Wuerl's guide makes for an excellent companion piece when consulting the catechism's vast array of church positions and its sometimes intimidating language. The Catholic Way is a teaching guide that expands on portions of the catechism with valuable insights, discussions, and reflections

Editorial Reviews

Anyone who wants to know the Catholic Church's position on just about any topic can easily find it by consulting the church's new catechism, a superbly organized and accessible compendium first published in 1992. For those intimidated by the catechism's language or overwhelmed by its sheer size, several guides have been produced, the latest of which is this easy-to-use companion volume, written by the bishop of Pittsburgh and chairman of the U.S. Bishops' Committee on Education. Although not intended as a substitute for the catechism itself, Wuerl's book provides a fitting introduction to the more detailed summary of Catholic thought, which was produced by a commission of church cardinals and bishops. Wuerl is an excellent teacher who has expanded on portions of the catechism's teachings in 83 chapters, each of them brief and followed by questions for discussion or reflection. He deals with the catechism itself, the place of Scripture, the sacraments, the commandments, moral conscience, natural moral law and prayer. Non-Catholics may be especially interested in his explanations of the church teachings that still separate Catholics and Protestants (namely Mary, the pope and the saints). Progressive Catholics will be happy to see that chapters on social justice issues and racism in America have been included, and traditionalists will be pleased that Wuerl chose to deal with such current concerns as the Catholic belief in the "real presence" and the teaching authority of the pope and bishops. (Sept.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information. -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

Author Information

Bio of Donald W. Wuerl

Bishop Donald W. Wuerl was installed as the 11th bishop of Pittsburgh on February 12, 1988, where he is spiritual leader of some 800,000 Catholics in 215 parishes throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania. In addition to his responsibilities as shepherd of the Catholic Church in the six counties that comprise the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Bishop Wuerl is involved in a wide range of community, ecumenical and interfaith activities, joining with civic and business leaders in educational and community-service initiatives. These include the Christian Leaders Fellowship and its many ecumenical enterprises, the Extra Mile Education Foundation which is responsible for a number of inner-city parochial schools, the Urban League of Pittsburgh and the United Way of Allegheny County To many Bishop Wuerl is known from the television program The Teaching of Christ broadcast on CBS, the Christian Associates cable channel, and through its national syndication. His best-selling adult catechism of the same name, now in its 27th year of publication, has been translated into more than 10 languages and is used throughout the world. His most recent publication, The Catholic Way, was published by Doubleday in September 2001. Bishop Wuerl serves on numerous national and international bodies, is chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops editorial oversight board for the National Adult Catechism, USCCB Committee on Catechesis and past chair of the conference's Committee on Education. He is active on a number of boards including The Catholic University of America and the North American College in Rome. He is chairman of the board of The National Catholic Bioethics Center and the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center Intercultural Forum. He has a unique relationship to Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, as Distinguished Service Professor.

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Additional Info

Imprint

Doubleday

Filesize

1.42 MB

Number of Pages

384

eBook ISBN

9780385506427

Excerpt from: The Catholic Way by Donald W. Wuerl

MOST OF THE MATERIAL in this volume is work I was privileged to do over the past seven years as a series of articles for Columbia magazine. Each article dealt with some particular aspect of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. A helpful source is the fourth edition of The Teaching of Christ, edited by Father Ronald Lawler, O.F.M.Cap., Thomas Comerford Lawler, and myself.

Putting together this book, The Catholic Way, has involved editing the Columbia articles and adding new material. But the goal is the same as in those earlier articles: to help unfold the richness of the Catholic faith, found so wonderfully summarized in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Part of the challenge is to present in a popular form the teaching contained in what Pope John Paul II called "a compendium of all Catholic doctrine regarding both faith and morals." He reminded us that the Catechism of the Catholic Church is not intended to replace all other catechisms; rather, "it is meant to encourage and assist in the writing of new local catechisms, which take into account various situations and cultures, while carefully preserving the unity of faith and fidelity to catholic doctrine" (Fidei Depositum).

My hope in preparing this book is that, both for myself and for those who read it, faith in Jesus will be renewed and strengthened. As disciples, we would once again stir up that flame of conversion that turns us to Christ and keeps us focused on him as the center of our lives.

Each chapter, while part of a far larger presentation, has the advantage of giving the reader a short section -- built around one issue -- to read as time allows. It also provides the reader the opportunity to pick a theme or particular subject for review. But this style of presentation necessarily carries with it a certain amount of repetition. All of the Church's rich teaching on faith and morals cannot be completely separated into neat subjects. Some overlap is helpful and even necessary.

In his apostolic exhortation The Church in America, Pope John Paul II reminded us that all conversion is a turning from what would lead us away from Christ and a turning back to him. The New Testament uses the word metanoia, which means a change in mentality. Today, we would probably be more comfortable speaking of a change in attitude or vision. In either case, the intention is the same -- to change our way of thinking and acting so that our lives are centered on Christ.