Finding Catholic Answers

With respect to what the Church teaches and/or requires of the faithful to whom do I turn?

You can buy these books or go to the Vatican's website (http://www.vatican.va/) to find

• The Catechism and
  
• the Compendium to the Catechism

You can also find the following resources at Vatican's website

• the Pope's Wednesday audiences
• the Papal Encyclicals
• the declarations of the Roman Curia

Another fantastic source is http://newadvent.org, where you can find

• the 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia,
• the Summa Theologia of St. Thomas Aquinas
• many writings of the early fathers

If you want to see the actual authoritative documents behind the Church's teaching this is a great resource:

• Denzinger's Enchiridion Symbolorum "Sources of Catholic Dogma"

Denzinger's Enchiridion Symbolorum ( Handbook of Creeds) is a collection of numerous Church statements on matters of faith and morals, from Popes, councils and congregations. It is a very good resource for quickly finding out church teaching on a matter of faith and morals, by reading primary sources. The Echiridion Symbolorum is the most popular of the four Echiridions (Enchiridia?) published by Herder. The other three are:

• Enchiridion Patristicum by M.J. Rouet De Journel SJ
• [/u]Enchiridion Asceticum[/u] by M.J. Rouet De Journel SJ
• Enchiridion Fontium Historiae Ecclesiasticae Antiquae by Conradus Kirch