Religion High School

Many people are familiar with Dr. Ray Guarendi - psychologist, father of 10 and expert on family discipline. You may not know that he has a number of apologetics materials available as well.

Dr. Ray, a revert to the Catholic Church after 10 years in Protestantism, explains, in an engaging and often humorous way, the big things that brought him back. There is a particular emphasis on the need for a religious "system" to be logically and morally consistent. He touches on the Early Church, the Eucharist, Contraception, the problem with personal interpretations of Scripture and much more.

This talk was filmed at a men's conference and might be particularly nice for busy homeschool dads who often don't have time to keep up with the spiritual reading and study that goes on at home during the day. Our entire family enjoyed this talk and I'm sure we'll return to it many times.

Watch a sample portion here
Also, there's a study guide available online.

The DVD also includes his classic talk (half-hour in length) "Catholic Dads Aren't Wimps" - an insightful look at the importance of discipline within the family and some very practical tips for making this happen. This is an abbreviated version of his 95 minute "comedy stand-up routine on parenting" titled "You're a Better Parent Than You think" (also produced by Nineveh's Crossing).

If you want to go to sleep, don't read Young Faces of Holiness by Ann Ball. The stories are absolutely fascinating. The thirty-five stories include young people from all walks of life and countries of the world who are either Blessed, Venerable, or candidates for canonization.

In a world that feeds the imagination of children to think only of themselves, this book is a refreshing anecdote to the me-ism of our modern culture. Ann Ball does a marvelous job of showing the spiritual development of these young saints. They too struggled with their faults. At the same time, they are a source of hope, because they chose to suffer or even die for Christ. We need to be reminded over and over again to strive to achieve the Divine Smile in the midst of crosses and suffering. Many of them did nothing extraordinary in terms of the world. They wanted to love God to the best of their ability. For example, although Annie Zelikova lay dying in terrible pain from tuberculosis, she was known for her constant smile. She said, "I must smile to my last breath." Another young candidate for sanctity, Gerard Raymond, wrote, "Help me, O Jesus, to love You more and more."

After reading just one or two stories, we are forced to make an examination of conscience and ask ourselves, "If they can conquer their faults, then surely I can conquer mine and strive to achieve the same attitude as these children." Although no reading level is suggested, the average 4th grader could probably read it. Since most children's comprehension level is far beyond their reading level, this book would also make an ideal read aloud to younger children. For many young children seeing pictures of these children will be an eye-opening experience. Other young people their own age tried to be holy.

Because a few of the children experienced violent deaths, you may wish to skip those stories for young children. Both Maria Goretti and Blessed Antonia Mesina were brutally murdered and died defending their purity because of their love of Christ.

Note from the Webmaster: I would like to suggest that this book is ideally suited to pre-teens and teenagers (approximately 6th grade and up) who will be able to reflect on the heroism of these children under difficult circumstances (and sometimes extreme suffering) and be inspired to apply some measure of that heroism to their own lives.

When I first considered converting from a "mere Christianity" form of Protestantism to the Catholic faith, I had several issues to deal with. I believed that "Scripture alone" was the rule of faith. I thought that the Catholic Church had added several non-Biblical doctrines throughout the years -- for example, praying to Mary and the saints and the existence of Purgatory. Though I knew that Jesus had given the apostles and particularly Simon Peter the power to bind and loose sins and to heal the sick, I couldn't see how Catholics could consider priests, bishops and the Pope to have inherited these powers. I was scandalized by evil people and actions in the Church's history (some real evils and some that were exaggerated).

I vividly remember my surprise and increasing respect for the Church as my husband and I read and discussed a Catholic apologetics book in which these questions were specifically dealt with from a Scriptural and historical perspective. Once I could see intellectually that Catholic doctrines were not just pious accretions and institutionalized hypocrisy, my road to conversion became a lot more direct.

Beginning Apologetics is written to help Catholics dialogue with sincere Protestants like I was, and to help them convey a Catholic perspective on these major issues using support from the Bible, from the writings of the Church Fathers and with the help of logical reasoning from common ground. The book is a simple 8 1/2 by 11 format, inexpensively paper bound, but has a lot of substance packed into its 40 pages. Its tone is reasonable and unconfrontational "Apologetics fulfills the command of St. Peter: Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence..(1 Peter 3:15-16)".

It begins with an introductory section on method: how to be an effective, charitable apologist for our Faith, and how to read and mark your Bible. The body of the book is laid out topic by topic. The Eucharist, the role and origin of the Bible, and the primacy of the Pope have first priority, because it is from these central points that most of the central divisions of Christendom proceed. For instance, if a Catholic can convince a Protestant that Jesus in John 6 meant His words about His Body and Blood to be taken literally -- which indeed is the plain sense of what He said -- that in itself is a huge stumbling block removed, because that is a doctrine held only by the Catholic and Orthodox Church. If he can further convince the Protestant that "Scripture alone" is not a Scripturally supported doctrine, and thus contradicts itself, then he has significantly narrowed the separation between the Catholic and the devout and sincere Protestant.

The book goes on to address other questions and misconceptions that a sincere Bible-believing Christian may have about the Catholic Faith. Do Catholics really "worship" Mary? (the answer is no, and our reasons for "venerating" or honoring her are carefully supported from Scripture). Isn't it "necromancy" to pray to the saints in heaven? (again no, and again reasons are laid out proceeding from doctrines that Catholics and Protestants have in common). The manual closes with some briefer questions and answers like "Why do Catholics baptize infants?" and gives a list of recommended resources for further reading and study. Among these are the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and Karl Keating's Catholicism and Fundamentalism which is the apologetics book that first helped me to consider conversion seriously.

This book is one of the resources used by Mother of Divine Grace School for high school religion. It could be profitably read by anyone from 6th or 7th grade up to adulthood. It is a handy reference tool because it lays out the basic issues so simply and concisely, and because it puts the Scriptural references and key terminology in bold font so they are easily located. The book is #1 in a series that now includes 7 books.

See below for a separately sold Study Guide for this book.

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 - this 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.

For those interested in using this as a high school religion series, Laura Berquist has syllabi for this series, which includes quizzes and answer keyes and is 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.