Catholic Company Book Review - The Essential Catholic Survival Guide

“Being Catholic isn’t easy.” (from the back cover)

Many people don’t understand our Catholic faith – including many Catholics (I’ll admit to being one of them at times). Some people, in an effort to learn & understand Catholics better, will question various aspects of our faith. Others will flat out attack Catholics for their beliefs & customs. How does one respond when faced with these questions or attacks?

The staff of Catholic Answers have written many tracts over the years. They have taken seventy of their best ones and put them into one book – The Essential Catholic Survival Guide. These tracts cover many of the questions & misconceptions about our Catholic faith, including the Church & the Papacy, Mary & the Saints, Sacraments…just to name a few.

I like the way this book is organized. Each tract is clearly stated in the Table of Contents, so you can go right to the tract you need. They address the common questions that one not familiar with the Catholic Church may ask, responses to those questions, & have scriptural references to back up the answers. One of the tracts towards the back is a list of books great for enhancing your Catholic faith or for someone who wants to know more. It is broken down by topic (apologetics, scripture, church documents, Jesus, church history, etc.) They also include sections of common Catholic prayers and scripture references for the various topics.

I am not a confrontational person, partially due to the fact that I usually don’t have a quick response or information to back up what I might say. (Also, because I just don’t like to debate or argue.) Therefore, I think The Essential Catholic Survival Guide is a good reference for my family to have on hand. We don’t get questioned often, but if & when we do, I know right where to go for a response. Each tract goes into great depth, more than most of our encounters would call for. I found that I could pick out the simplest response, then if needed, have this reference to go to for more detail.

(This review was written as part of the Catholic book Reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on The Essential Catholic Survival Guide.)