• Catholic resources on the internet

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Online Resources

This page provides Catholic Internet resources for study and research. The Bishop O’Rourke Library does not maintain these sites, nor are we responsible for their content. We do, however, encourage you to notify the librarian of broken or outdated links at library@sjcnc.org. 

Apologetics

Catholic Answers.  Concise yet thorough tracts offer explanation and defense of various aspects of the Catholic faith. Organized by subject at 

Catholics United for the Faith “Faith Facts”.  Articles on a variety of aspects of the Catholic faith, covering a broad range of topics. Includes a category of specifically apologetic articles as well as several categories of valuable informative articles. 

Bishops and Episcopacy

The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church.  Current and historical information about its bishops and dioceses. The site currently covers North, Central and South America, Oceania, Africa, Asia, and Europe. 

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Alphabetical Listing of Statements & Speeches.

Catholic Conference of Illinois.  Catholic perspective from the Illinois bishops on issues affecting the state, especially proposed legislature and government initiatives. 

Church Fathers

Biographies and selected writings of the Church Fathers.  On the New Advent website. 

Extensive Collection of the Writings of the Church Fathers.  Online version of 3 multi-volume series of the Church Fathers' writings: Ante-Nicene Fathers, and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series I and series II. Searchable or browse by volume, part of the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. 

Fathers Know Best.  Apologectical tracts by Catholic Answers showing aspects of the faith present in the writings of the Church fathers by topic.  

 E-books

Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas.  Complete English text on the New Advent website. 

Favorite Catholic Classics.  From Catholicfirst.com. 

Collection of ebooks from Catholictreasury.info

Christian Catholic Ethereal Library.  A resource through Calvin College, the site contains the works of many great Catholic writers.

Readings for Philosophers and Catholics.  A collection of online books and texts relevant to Catholic philosophy. Maintained by the Jacques Maritain Center of the University of Notre Dame. 

Newman Reader: Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman.  A large collection of Newman's books and other writings online. 

G. K. Chesterton's Works on the Web.  Etexts of a wide variety of Chesterton's non-fiction, fiction, essays, and poems available online. 

Ecumenical Councils

Capsule Summaries of Each of the Ecumenical Councils.  From New Advent. 

Index to Ecumenical Councils Materials in EWTN’s Document Library.  Includes documents and canons from a variety of councils and a downloadable zip file of the 16 documents of Vatican II. 

Documents of the Second Vatican Council.  On the Vatican website. 

General Resources

Catholic Encyclopedia (1913).  From New Advent.

EWTN Library .  Extensive online collection of Papal Documents, Works by the Church Fathers, texts from Ecumenical councils. Also includes recent articles by Catholic authors on various topics. Search or browse by topic.

EWTYN Audio Library.  Also, find archived audio programs (including appearances by current and former SJCNC staff such as Dr. Howell and Msgr. Swetland) through their audio library.

Life Issues

American Life League.  Includes articles explaining pro-life issues, commentary and response to life issues in the news, and ways to become actively involved in the pro-life movement. 

Feminists for Life. A great resource with historical information, and information (testimonies, etc) about how abortion affects women.

Priests for Life.  Links to various resources, ministries, and links to articles and TV/radio broadcasts related to the pro-life movement. 

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Pro-Life Activities.  Includes statements, articles, and fact sheets on a wide variety of pro-life topics (click "Issues" on the left side of the screen for a list of topics). 

Do No Harm: The Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics.  Variety of materials on stem cell research, including fact sheets and recent articles. 

Elliot Institute.  Collection of research and articles on post-abortion issues and healing. See especially the links on the left side of the page to Research, Articles, and Politics. 

Illini Collegians for Life.  Website with pro-life resources created by the Illini Collegians for Life student group at the University of Illinois.

Liturgy and Eucharist

Church Music Association of America Online Resources.  Sacred music resources, including articles, church documents and full-text pdfs of early 20th century chant, sacred music, and liturgy texts. 

The Catholic Liturgical Library.  Collection of documents and resources on the Catholic liturgy. 

The Real Presence Association.  Collection of resources on all aspects of the Eucharist. 

 Roman Missal, Third Edition.  The United States Council of Catholic Bishops provides information and resources related to the new revision of the Missale Romanum, which will go into effect on November 27, 2011, the First Sunday of Advent.

Music for the Roman Missal.  Music notation for the new mass translations.

Corpus Christi Watershed.  Contains lots of links and information about liturgical music.

Magazines and Journals

Columbia.  Publication of the Knights of Columbus

Envoy.  Catholic apologetics and evangelization magazine geared toward young adults. Print publication is suspended, but full back issues are available at: 

Laywitness.  The flagship publication of Catholics United for the Faith

This Rock.  Catholic Answers' apologetics and evangelization magazine

News and Newspapers

Zenit Catholic News Service.  International Catholic News Service. 

Catholic News Agency.

National Catholic Register weekly newspaper.

The Catholic Post.  Newspaper of the Diocese of Peoria. 

Catholic New World.  Newspaper of the Diocese of Chicago. 

St. Louis Review.  Weekly Newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. 

The Tablet.  International Catholic Weekly (British). Selected current and archived articles freely available. 

L'Oservatore Romano.  The newspaper that covers the Vatican.

Papal Writings

The Vatican Webpage on Pope Benedict XVI.  Includes significant speeches and writings of his pontificate. 

Information on Pope John Paul II.  Including a biography, annotated list of his major writings, and Canonizations and Beatifications during his pontificate provided by the USCCB. 

Encyclicals of John Paul II.  Read online or download from the Vatican website. 

Links to the Writings of the Recent Popes.  (Since Leo XIII, 1878) on the Vatican website. 

Links to Papal Encyclicals and Bulls.  From 1226 to present at Papal Encyclicals Online. 

Scripture and Catechism

Douay-Rheims Bible Online.

Latin Vulgate Bible.

New American Bible.  On the Vatican website.

Bible Geocoding.  Google Earth with an overlay of every identifiable place in the Bible. Searchable by book of the Bible, but does not include the Deutero-canonical books.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia Online (1919).  Contains a wide range of entries explaining the people, places, customs of the Bible.

Catechism of the Catholic Church.  On the Vatican website.

Social Justice

Catholic Social Teaching, Office for Social Justice of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.  Major social justice documents online.

The Catholic Worker Movement.  Includes an extensive searchable library of writings by Dorothy Day.

Other Resources

Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.  Includes a new introduction to the guidelines for Catholic voters, approved by the USCCB in September 2011.

Catholic Education Resource Center. An online library containing the latest articles on Catholic faith and culture.

MassTimes.org.  Enter a city or zip code, and results will list churches in the area along with their mass times and a link to their website. 

Diocese of Peoria.  Information about our diocese including news and events.

Pray Catholic.  A site for sharing prayer requests.

Pray More Novenas.  A blog created by one of our own at St John's, it contains a growing collection of texts for several novena prayers and includes a Novena Reminder application.

CatholiCity.  Site provides free Catholic CDs and novels and links to many great Catholic news articles and other excellent resources.

Divine Office.org.  Contains the prayers for the liturgy of hours for every day, and includes many other resources including podcasts, video streams, and music.

IllinisFOCUS.  For Catholic Illini, this is a great resource.  You can sign up for information about a Bible study, see the upcoming FOCUS events, and watch funny videos created by our FOCUS missionaries.

Broken or Outdated Link?  Please contact the librarian at library@sjcnc.org  
Updated January 5, 2011