All Things Catholic: A Guide from A to Z Book Review

First off, the title does not disappoint! This book truly covers a ton of Catholic topics from A to Z. From Abortion to Canon Law to Kerygma (which is why you need the book!) to Natural Law to Peace to Sin to Zeal, the author covers it all. Each topic is addressed in a bite sized manner, highlighting the important aspects of the particular topic and including additional reading for more in depth study.

I might be somewhat of a fangirl of the author, Shaun McAfee, owning 8 of his last 10 books, but that really just highlights the quality of the writing and information found within the pages. In yet another success, All Things Catholic is an obvious labor of love, boasting more than 260 topics, almost 100 endnotes, and further resources for more reading. The labor of consolidating all the writings the Church houses on numerous topics, highlighting the most important aspects, and then making it a coherent nugget is impressive. This is not a hastily written book and it will become a well-used resource in the home of every Catholic who receives it.

The book is perfect to place on a coffee table or bookshelf for easy access. The cover is beautifully one and not in your face or flashy. Each page is well organized and contains full color sacred art or other image. There are also “Catholic Tips” scattered throughout, which address misconceptions, why the topic is still relevant, and much more.

Though I do think you could read this book cover to cover—and learn SO. MANY. THINGS. —I also believe the book is a great resource. As a parent and godparent, I am so grateful to have this on hand to refer to when I get those random faith questions. For example, a few months ago, my oldest asked me about the Vatican. What was it and why does the Pope live there, and embarrassingly enough, I was like it’s a beautiful church built over where St. Peter was buried and since he was the first pope, boom! Pope lives at the Vatican.

Now, that isn’t the worst answer I could have come up with, but when I opened this book, the first topic I looked up was ‘Vatican.’ The details are fascinating and would have been helpful a few months ago, but better late than never! Turns out the Vatican was built on land where the Roman emperors Caligula and Nero built circuses for huge chariot races. There’s more, but that fact alone would have made the Church come more to life for my inquisitive first born.

Overall, This book is a comprehensive MUST HAVE for every Catholic regardless of vocation or age. Not only is it beautiful (glossy pages, thoughtfully formatted, color images) but it contains what clearly must have been years and years of research by the author thoughtfully consolidated into a perfect sound bite size answer. Most topics end with additional resources so the reader can take a deep dive into that particular subject. 

Not only is this a great, reliable resource for parents to refer back to when answering their children’s questions, it would also be a great resource for any theology student, any person interested in apologetics, any employee of the Church, grandma, and maybe Pope Francis himself (I kid on that part, but you get my point). The price point on the amount of information included is quite literally a steal of a deal. Bottom line: I will be gifting this to everyone I know.