Announcing a new blog for Catholic users of Logos

Hi Harbey

This is the best thing I have read on the forums in a long time.

I hope Logos hire you as a consultant. They have someone listed as in charge of Catholic Resources, I don't know what they have been doing the last few years!

Promising start and it will only be good if we can band together. It may help if we as a large (I hope) group help Logos improve our resources.

John

Sure it's slowly getting a little better. Without wishing to offend anyone it's kind of depressing having relatively little of essential material in the base packages.

My 3 main gripes

1. Catechism

2. Decent commentary

3. NJB only available to North Americans. 

I have requested/been interested in the Jerome Biblical Commentary, the new one published around 1990. I have the old one that used to be sold with Logos, but that's been outdated for quite some time, there is so much new material, new discourses etc. in the latest version.

Dan Pritchett said:

Talk about amazing timing... today was the first day on the job for our brand-new, full-time Catholic Product Manager Andrew Jones!

Andrew is just getting his office set up, but should be dropping by this thread soon to introduce himself directly. I had lunch with Andrew today and can tell you that you have a serious, scholarly, and passionate advocate for the Catholic market in him. I won't steal any more of his thunder, I just wanted you to know we are really getting serious about the Catholic market now!

This is excellent news, thanks Dan!

As a Protestant [;)] I'm also wanting the CCC in logos and If I'm not mistaken...something like "all of the councils" in Logos format...not sure if I stated that correctly or not.

OK, I'm not formally Catholic, but at least I'm awake this time of the day, so I'll give it a try:  [:)]

Robert Pavich said:

I see that the CCC IS available in PDF format...and now that PBB's are in beta...is anyone going to create the CCC in PBB format?

It may be available for free on the web, but presumably it's still under copyright, so unless that "anyone" gets permission from the copyright holders (original Latin text + English translation), he could only do it for his own use.

Robert Pavich said:

is the CCC the "hand book" for how to answer basic everyday questions such as "contraception" and such? In other words...what document tells a Catholic what they need to know about everyday matters....

I'd say that, yes, that sounds like a pretty decent description of what the CCC is. However:

a) in spite of its size it's fairly short on concrete moral issues like contraception, so if you want more you'd have to look for something more specialized. But it's a good starting point.

b) it's certainly authoritative, but it's a teaching tool, not in itself an infallible statement. It can (and presumably will) be added to, revised and eventually replaced. So if by

Robert Pavich said:

I'm trying to get a handle on the hierarchy of documents.

you mean "is it the most authoritative document?", then, no, that would be the Bible, the Creeds, the decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, and the (extremely few) infallible declarations of popes (all of which are, of course, frequently quoted in the Catechism). But if you mean "is it the best place to go to first, the best place to get an overview of what the present day Catholic Church believes and teaches?" then I'd generally say yes.

Disclaimer: this is a "Swedish" answer. I'm not American, and I don't know exactly how the CCC is used in America. There are places where lay people mainly read simple expositions of the CCC instead of the CCC itself, and there seem to be bishops, even in highly literate countries, that encourage that. 

Hello everyone! My name is Andrew Jones and I'm the new Catholic Products Manager here at Logos. Deacon Santiago, thanks for getting a Catholic users' blog up and running-- and on the very day before my start here, providential I should say. My ambition is to serve the Church by bringing the power of Logos software more fully into the service of her mission, and am very excited about working with all my fellow Catholics out there toward that end. Logos is serious about providing our Catholic users with the works they need. We are actively acquiring new titles, including many of those obviously lacking, such as the Catechism and the papal encyclicals, and are planning Catholic oriented packages. This is going to be great! Please keep the suggestions and comments coming and tell your friends: Logos is on the Catholic scene! Ad majorem Dei gloriam!

Robert Pavich said:

is the CCC the "hand book" for how to answer basic everyday questions such as "contraception" and such? In other words...what document tells a Catholic what they need to know about everyday matters....

Specific answers to these questions requires taking a current issue and tying it to fundamental moral and ethical teachings to come up with an answer. Those fundamental teachings are in the CCC.  To get specific answers that tie to those readings, an Apologetics book may be more helpful. Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Peter Kreeft (in Logos) as an example,may be some help.

As an example of this distinction and without getting into specifics to violate forum guidelines, the Catholic teaching on contraception comes from scripture that teaches God's gift of creation, love and unity of man and woman, what "gift" is in a love relationship, primacy of God's will, and dignity of human life.  These principles are contained in the CCC and tied to scripture, papal encyclicals, and council documents.  How to tie them together is more likely an apologetics issue, or a more advanced papal/council teaching (like "Theology of the Body" by Pope John Paul II).  The rationale is, if one really studies and discerns the moral and ethical principals and teachings that the Catholic Church believes came from God, then with reasonable prayer and discernment they will apply the principles in their own life properly; whether they contemplate taking grandma off the respirator, using in-vitro fertilization, or going off to war.  So many situations demanding a discerning moral or ethical principal to decide on a course of action, it would be impossible to handle them all.

There are also books that further hash this out in principles that build on the CCC. The Catholic Church/bishops (forget which group) have published books on Catholic Social teaching, and Catholic Moral and Ethical teaching.  The Social Teaching book for example would be a good one to help someone understand what God and the Bible has to say about someone who hoards their property and is unwilling to help those who are disadvantaged, in a simplistic example. Principles like "An intrinsically evil act is never justified no matter how good the end result is" and "An intrinsically evil act that is an unintended consequence of a good act performed for a good end is acceptable" are explained.  Yet all of these tie back to scripture, encyclicals, councils, through teachings in the CCC.

As a note, these principles of social teaching, fundamentally based out of love and the dignity and rights of all human beings, are the basis for Catholic Church teaching on social issues that many erroneously take to be a political stance, which is incorrect.  The Principle of subsidiarity is the basis of some of the objections to the US health care policy (federal government making decisions that lower groups, communities and states, are more qualified to make); Solidarity, our commitment to the Common good, is a reason that decisions should not just be made on the basis of whether they are of benefit to an individual or group without regard to society's benefit.  In other words, if everything was only done with regard to the benefit to a person or group the laws would largely be chaotic and special interest-oriented, and many disadvantaged groups would suffer.  All based on principles in the CCC.

I am not around my (paper) bookshelf so I can't cite the exact names of these books, but I can if someone is interested once I come back from out of town. 

Dominick Sela said:

The Catholic Church/bishops (forget which group) have published books on Catholic Social teaching, and Catholic Moral and Ethical teaching.

This would be the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church issued by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Another worthy title to be added to our Logos Library.

I just purchased Logos on Friday and so far I'm impressed with its functionality.  I too share the concern that there is a lack of Catholic material...  What would be grand is the ability to import into the software....The CCC, PBC documents, and encyclicals are all available for free on the Internet.  Maybe there is a way and I've just not figured it out yet.........

I just "followed" your blog, great work.  Converted two years ago and I just scratching the surface of its enormous teachings.....

One more things, has anyone purchased Collegeville Catholic Reference Library: Full Edition, Version 3?  Any good? 

Also, I see Vatican II documents, but not all of the working documents.  Need to purchase for school, but would like to have online in Logos if possible.

Take Care!

- Michael