Reading to Grow

One major way to grow in your Catholic faith is to read, ponder, and discuss articles by faithful Catholic authors. If you know where to look, you can find an abundance of these articles online. 

Below are just a few suggestions of websites to visit for some good Catholic reading that will help you cultivate your faith.

* The National Catholic Register is an online newspaper run by EWTN. Here you'll find articles addressing world and national news as well as blogs by authors like Mark Shea, Jimmy Akin, Simcha Fisher, Jennifer Fulwiler, and Matthew Archibold.

* Crisis Magazine bills itself as “A Voice for the Faithful Catholic Laity.” With sections on politics, the Church , art and culture, Catholic living, books and reading, and models of faithful Catholic living, Crisis provides a wide range of articles to make us think seriously about how we live our faith in the modern world.

* The Integrated Catholic Life also provides plenty of articles for study and reflection. This website focuses on spirituality and Catholic life. It contains a strong apologetics page, Scriptural meditations, Catholic quotations, sections geared specifically toward men, women, and young adults, and several interesting blogs (including one focused on fantasy literature).

* Catholic Culture provides helpful Catholic commentaries on world and national news as well as useful information about each day of the liturgical year. The site's Resource Center contains a Catholic Library and Dictionary, documents from the Fathers of the Church, a searchable Catechism, several interesting ebooks, and the writings of Father William Most (complete with full courses and books).

* The Catholic channel on the Patheos website offers Catholic news as well as blogs from Father Dwight Longenecker, Sister Theresa Aletheia Noble, and Elizabeth Scalia.

* The Catholic Education Resource Center collects a wide range of pieces on controversial topics, culture, history, art, music, education, health, science, faith and life, prayer, marriage and family, religion, philosophy, and more. There are many thought-provoking articles from authors like Peter Kreeft, Tim Staples, and Father Robert Barron.

* The Imaginative Conservative, while not explicitly Catholic, contains a marvelous selection of articles about imagination, literature, culture, education, and politics. These articles tend to be longer and more scholarly, but they are well worth the extra effort.

These websites add new material daily, so there is always plenty to choose from. Try to start out by reading a couple articles a week, and don't forget to say a prayer before you begin, asking God to open your heart and your mind to what He wants to teach you. You'll learn a lot about about your Catholic faith, which will grow stronger in the process.

Happy reading!