Without going into too many details about my life, I feel it's essential to offer a disclaimer or temper your expectations. To put it plainly and to quote Saint Patrick, "I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers." I'm not a theologian or a scholar, but just a cradle Catholic who fell away from the faith in my teens got swept into worldly things, partied too hard, and committed no shortage of sins. Luckily, during the COVID-19 lockdowns, I started reading Catholic literature to better understand the faith I had fallen away from, only to be ignited with a yearning for the truth.

My purpose here is to synthesize and compile the various tools and resources I am using to help me deepen my understanding of the faith. I hope to make this a journey we take together; if you find anything in error, or if you have any suggestions, please feel free to reach out.

Laying A Foundation

We must first begin our journey by adopting useful habits, approaching learning in an efficient way, and understanding the tools we have at our disposal. Here is a brief collection of the various things I have found useful in my own studies. I will say, that a community that I have found that will help in almost every category on here is the Catholic Diocese of Discord, which is the largest Catholic Discord server full of knowledgable people engaging in all aspects of the faith.

It's hard to know where to start, and what order things should be read in. I have a horrible time staying motivated on one book, so I usually work through a couple in parallel, usually one more dense manualist work and a lighter high-level work. I find having these two types lets me switch based on my attention span at a given moment. I find reading the dense work in the morning while my mind is fresh, and then reading the lighter work in the evening when I'm winding down and mentally fatigued works well.

I'll organize this into a few sections describing my methodology and approach to learning, followed by a brain dump of resources I have found useful.

Prayer

Prayer is the most important thing we can do. It is the foundation of our relationship with God. We must pray before we read, and we must pray after we read. We must pray for understanding, and we must pray for wisdom. We must pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us in our studies. We must pray for the intercession of the saints, especially St. Thomas Aquinas, to help us understand the truths of our faith. To plug the Discord again, there are people daily who volunteer to pray throughout the day together. My prayer usually consists of the Divine Office and Lectio Divina, but you should experiment to find what works best for you.

Catechism

The basic approach I've taken (synthesized from the various sources linked at the end) is to first read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, specifically the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church or the Baltimore Catechism. This will fill any gaps you may have in your understanding of the faith. Along with this, I have utilized the Anki flashcard system to help me work through the material. There is specifically a community card set for the Baltimore Catechism, which is a great resource. There are mobile applications for this, so you can work on it while you have downtime when you're out and about.

Philosophy

It is recommended to have a firm grasp of philosophy to better prepare to understand theology. I have been working through A Brief Text-book of Logic and Mental Philosophy, which is a great introduction to philosophy and logic and is the recommended on-ramp from the Catholic Diocese of Discord.

In tandem I have been following along with the Institute of Catholic Culture's Philosophy 101 course which dives into the works of Plato, starting with his Five Dialogues and then moving on to The Republic.

I also plan to follow Plato with some works by Aristotle. Which is what the curriculum of the Institute of Catholic Culture's Philosophy 102 course is based on before it moved into St Thomas Aquinas.

Theology

At the moment, I can't say I am confidently prepared to dive deep into Theology though I have begun to tread a little into the waters. I've recently finished Theology for Beginners by Frank Sheed, which is a great introduction to the faith. I've also picked up A Shorter Summa by Peter Kreeft, which is a condensed version of St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica, and his other work Practical Theology is on my radar as well.

The Traditional Thomist, a YouTuber, has also been releasing videos in a course called "Traditional Catholic Ascetical and Mystical Theology" which is working through the manual The Spiritual Life: A Treatise on Ascetical and Mystical Theology by Fr. Adolphe Tanquerey. I've been following along with these videos as well.

Summary

In summary, the approach I'm following is very fluid. Always be sure to look up things you do not understand, the idea is to leave no gaps in your knowledge. Ignoring things will only lead to trouble later. As someone who was always a terrible student, take my word for it.

I am moving through each section, but the basic idea is to start with the Catechism, then move into Philosophy, and then into Theology. I have also been working on my prayer life, which is the most important part of this whole process.

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Resources