Review: What Catholics Really Believe

Note: This is a preliminary review and will be polished up and added to after we're finished watching the entire series. I wanted to provide some basic info right now because this excellent series will be airing on EWTN beginning June 4th.

What Catholics Really Believe with Dr. Ray Guarendi and Rev. Kevin Fete
2002/2006, Nineveh's Crossing, 13 - 1/2 hour episodes on DVD, Catholic

This is a DVD apologetics series produced in 13 half-hour segments. Dr. Ray Guarendi and Rev. Kevin Fete discuss major issues of Catholic belief which are often misunderstood by Protestants and others - with an emphasis on support for Catholic belief from Scripture and from the Early Church Fathers. It's a lively discussion (Dr. Ray often breaks into "devil's advocate" mode!) with substantial but very accessible content. Basic topics covered are the following: Jesus, the Bible, Scripture and Tradition, Eucharist (2 episodes), Baptism, Morality, Confession, Mary (2 episodes), St. Peter, Papacy and Purgatory.

This is a quality production with numerous quotes from the discussion shown on the screen (makes it a lot easier to follow!).

My older children have really enjoyed watching the series. We just watched and discussed two episodes with the teen catechism discussion group that I lead. They found it informative and engaging - definitely the sort of thing that makes you want to dig deeper and learn even more. It's quite a good starting point for studying and discussing different topics relating to apologetics for both teens and adults. It could also be used as a "spine" to tie together a substantial religion course that included readings from Scripture and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

A detailed study guide is available for free online.

Click here to watch a segment of this series online.

Reviewed by Alicia Van Hecke (5-31-07)
Available from Adoremus Books