R.I. Text-Books
(Note: As far as can be ascertained, all non-original materials provided on this Web site are outwith copyright. Any information to the contrary would be gratefully received. Please also note that CatholicSchool.org.uk is not responsible for the content of sites linked to from this or any other of its pages.)
Religious Instruction (R.I.) classes traditionally cover four specific subject areas:
The texts below presume knowledge of a traditional Catholic primary schooling. Central to such schooling is the “Penny Catechism”.
Students' Catholic Doctrine, by Rev. Charles Hart, B.A (1st edition, 1916, with alterations). This is an expanding commentary on the “Penny Catechism” aimed at secondary school pupils.
(Bearing in mind that there may be transcription errors in this online copy, this work was given the Nihil Obstat by Edward Mahoney, S.T.D. (Censor Deputatus), and the Imprimatur by E. Morrogh Bernard Vic. Cap., Westminster, November 21, 1953.)
From the Preface to the 1954 edition (by Leo Hart):
“It is to be hoped that . . . the Students' Catholic Doctrine will continue to provide a sound and useful text-book in our Catholic Schools and Colleges, as it has done for well-nigh forty years”.
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(Note: Apologetics is the science concerned with the defence of the Catholic religion.)
Apologetics and Catholic Doctrine, by Archbishop Michael Sheehan (new edition, 2001, revised by Father Peter Joseph).
From the back cover:
“Apologetics and Catholic Doctrine. . . was a classic high school text in several countries for over forty years. . . . Its outstanding clarity, persuasiveness and comprehensiveness are totally unique. No popular textbook in English published since its last appearance in 1962 has repeated Sheehan's successful presentation of the Faith”.
This book may be purchased from Amazon:
(UK)
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The Persecution of the Catholic Church in the Third Reich: Facts and Documents (1940; Part II, Chapters I and IV).
From the Translator's Foreword:
“This book. . . is an exhaustive and orderly presentation of the evidence, a sober record of fact which never for a moment leaves the final verdict in doubt. That verdict is that the word “persecution” is applicable in its most exact sense to the treatment meted out by the National Socialists to the Catholic Church in Germany”.
A reprint of the entire book may be purchased from Amazon:
(UK)
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Cobbett's History of the Protestant Reformation, revised by Francis Aidan Gasquet, D.D., O.S.B. (1896).
(Note: “Reformation” is the term used by Protestants to describe the sixteenth-century Protestant Revolt.)
From the Preface:
“When the letters, in which form [William Cobbett's] history first appeared, were written, it required great courage and determination to undertake so unpopular a task as that of attacking the establishment of Protestantism. . . . Proposals for Catholic emancipation were then much discussed, and it was in “the heat of the contest and cry against the Catholics” that Cobbett boldly stepped forth and called the Reformation “a devastation,” and proclaimed “the Protestant religion to have been established by gibbets, racks, and ripping knives”.
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The Externals of the Catholic Church – Her Government, Ceremonies, Festivals, Sacramentals, and Devotions, by Rev. John F. Sullivan (3rd edition, 1918, USA).
(Bearing in mind that there may be transcription errors in this online copy, this work was given the Nihil Obstat by Arthur J. Scanlan, S.T.D. (Censor Librorum), and the Imprimatur by John Cardinal Farley, D.D. (Archbishop of New York), New York, March 27, 1918.)
From the Preface:
“Our Catholic liturgy is a grand and harmonious manifestation of man's homage to God. Its words and ceremonies and devotions are the growth of centuries. The essentials of our Church's worship have been embellished with a wealth of ritual observance, of which each detail is symbolic of the purpose for which that worship is offered. The explanation of these manifold practices is the object of this work”.
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