Catholic Essentials

The FIRST Handbook of Faith written to the U.S. Bishops Curriculum Framework!

Catholic Essentials: An Overview of the Faith is a handbook of information, prayer, and practice about Jesus, the Holy Trinity, the Catholic Church, the Sacraments, and ways those who believe in Jesus live out their faith. Organized around the US Bishops' high school curriculum framework, this book is an essential resource to accompany a full study of the Catholic faith.

Catholic Essentials provides an overview and synthesis of the six required courses and the elective options of a high school theology curriculum, making it the perfect companion for the students' four years of high school. It also works as a primary text for an introductory or review course. It is well suited for use as the main catechetical resource in a parish youth ministry or religious education program, as it conforms to the new parish adaptation of the framework.

Features to enhance students' knowledge of Jesus:

• Review Questions to help summarize each main section
• Write or Discuss prompts offer ways to reflect on material and apply it to the students' lives
• Vocabulary terms are defined in the Glossary of Selected Terms
• Jesus: Friend and Savior feature includes practical applications for furthering study, including activities, questions and answers apologetic in nature, and a prayer.

Catholic Essentials comes in three cool and holy colors! Green―the color of creation and the renewal of life, Blue―Mary's color, or Gold―the color of kings, Jesus Christ!

(© 2009) This text has been found in conformity with the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Michael Amodei is executive editor and curriculum development manager at Ave Maria Press, where he writes and edits Catholic high school religion textbooks. He is the author of Reaching for Heaven: 14 Spiritual Goals as You Grow Older, Send Out Your Spirit, Catholic Essentials, The Ave Guide to the Scriptural Rosary, and The Ave Guide to Eucharistic Adoration. Amodei has also acquired a number of spirituality books for Ave Maria Press, including A Teen’s Game Plan for Life by Lou Holtz, Holy Goals for Body and Soul by Bishop Thomas John Paprocki, and Expect More! by Muffet McGraw.

Amodei earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California, where he also earned a master’s degree in religious education. He previously served as director of religious education and as a youth minister at St. Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica, California. He also taught math, religion, and gym and coached Catholic Youth Organization sports at St. Monica Elementary School.

He is leader of the Ave Maria Press Chapter of Catholic Relief Services, a member of the Association of Catholic Publishers, and a third degree in the Knights of Columbus. Amodei has been a youth sports coach for more than forty years and is the field supervisor for home football games at the University of Notre Dame.

Amodei lives with his family in South Bend, Indiana.