New American Bible Translation (copyright 1970-1991)

Also contains seven full-color multipage inserts.

This Bible offers a creative and colorful format to help encourage teens to read the real text of the Bible. It is a real, complete Bible with inserts tucked in between the text. The full-color, glossy inserts run from eight to sixteen pages in length (a total of sixty pages). These inserts highlight and discuss important topics of the faith while continually encouraging the reader to do further study within the Bible itself (with lots of specific Bible references to help facilitate that). The text of these inserts is meaty, but easy to understand. The layout is attractive and contemporary, combining images of Christ and the Saints with photos of modern teens. You can see that the author has aimed at appealing to the best in teens by helping them make sense out of the Catholic faith.

The introductory insert offers some tips for getting started and a table of contents for the insert sections.

The first insert, "God; How do I know God exists?", explores the topic of basic Christian belief through scripture, tradition and reason (logic). This segment also explores the topics of: "Who is God?", "What is the Trinity?", "One God?", Consequences of the existence of God, "Why do people suffer?", and "Made in God's image."

The second insert, "Jesus" covers questions and the basic facts about the Life of Christ. This segment grapples with the following topics: "Who is Jesus?", "Can I trust the gospels?", "What did Jesus do?", "What's a miracle?", "Mary, Mother of God", "Jesus died for my sins. What does that mean?", "Jesus was a great teacher. Can't I just believe that?", "The Resurrection", "If Jesus is Lord, then...", and "When will Jesus come again - and how?"

The third insert is on the Church. This covers "What is the Church?", What does Jesus have to do with the Church?", "How can the Church be holy when it has sinners in it?", "What is the Church for?", "The Sacraments: Meeting Jesus", "Can People who aren't Catholic be saved?", "If Jesus is present in the Church, then..." the basics of what it means to be a Caholic (attending Mass, receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation, etc.)

The fourth insert covers the topic of prayer, including "What is prayer?", "Great Moments in Prayer", "Different forms of prayer", "Learning to Pray", "Doesn't God already know how I feel?", "What should I feel when I pray?", "Why pray to saints?", "Does God answer prayers?", "I should trust prayers that have helped others draw closer to God."

The fifth section is entitled "You". This segment very cleverly handles topics involving: the Sancity of Life, Vocations, the Sanctity of Marriage, the Commandments and Beatitudes, Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy, and more.

The final section, "The Map" outlines the guidelines the Church gives us to follow Christ and keep his laws. It covers the Commandments, the Virtues, Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Fruits of the Holy Spirit, "Wrong Turns", the Four Last Things and prayers, including the Stations of the Cross and directions for saying the Rosary.

This book offers a very creative concept for encouraging teens who wouldn't ordinarily be drawn toward reading the Bible into picking it up and at the same time delving deeper into their Catholic faith. The one real downside is the translation. Although the New American Bible translation is commonly used at Mass throughout the United States (and it is not overtly evil!), it is reputed to have subtle inaccuracies that can distort or confuse the meaning of certain passages. However, as Catholic Answers succinctly put it, "So, which Bible is the best? Perhaps the best answer is this: The one you'll read." Keeping that in mind, I think this Bible would make an excellent Confirmation present for teenagers in your life - particularly those who have very little experience with the Bible and/or their faith in general. Homeschool students may also enjoy using this book to explore the Bible on their own. My own 11 year old daughter is eager to get her hands on my copy as soon as this review is complete. :) It would be best if this isn't the only translation studied, but it doesn't seem like a bad place to start.

The cover of the book says it all. Fully attentive to the children before him, he is ready to assist them in the best way possible through his prayers, and in this case, his answers to their questions about life and faith. The person is Pope Benedict XVI and the book is Questions and Answers. If you could ask the Holy Father any question, what would you ask him? At various meetings with Pope Benedict XVI from his election in 2005 until 2007, groups of children, young people, and priests asked him a wide range of questions from his memories of his First Communion to what can priests do to reach out to young people. Questions and Answers is a compilation of these intriguing questions and thought-provoking answers during these encounters. One of my favorite responses is his answer to why we should go to confession often. “. . . it is helpful to confess with a certain regularity. It is true: Our sins are always the same, but we clean our homes, our rooms, at least once a week, even if the dirt is always the same; in order to live in cleanliness, in order to start again. Otherwise, the dirt might not be seen, but it builds up. Something similar can be said about the soul, for me myself: If I never go to confession, my soul is neglected and, in the end, I am always pleased with myself and no longer understand that I must always work hard to improve, that I must make progress. And this cleansing of the soul that Jesus gives us in the Sacrament of Confession helps us to make our consciences more alert, more open, and hence, it also helps us to mature spiritually and as human persons.” There are many questions that apply to life and faith. “What good does it do for our everyday life to go to Holy Mass and receive Communion? What is Eucharistic Adoration? Help us to talk to the mothers of all the boys and girls who attend catechism classes and are often distracted? Why should not women also have a hand in governing the Church? How is it possible to hope when reality negates every dream of happiness, every project of life?" If you have been hesitant to read one of his other books because you were afraid he would be theologically or philosophically above your head, this books was written for you. Because these answers were addressed to a live audience, the question and answers are easy to understand. What is quite evident throughout the book is why Pope Benedict XVI was chosen by the Holy Spirit to guide the Church. His love of Christ and his mission zeal for humanity permeates all his answers. In answer to the question by a young person who struggles with reading and understanding the Bible, Pope Benedict XVI says, “It must first of all be said that one must not read Sacred Scripture as one reads any kind of historical book, such as, for example, Homer, Ovid, or Horace; it is necessary truly to read it as the Word of God—that is, entering into a conversation with God.” He is fully aware of the great problems of our time and the Church. Yet, his answers express his hope and love for us all. In answer to a question about proclaiming the Gospel to non-Christian immigrants, he says, “The first point is that the reason for our hope must be ever present within us. We must be people who live faith and think faith, people with an inner knowledge of it. So it is that faith becomes reason within us, it becomes reasonable.” His answer is much more detailed, so you’ll have to read the book to find out the rest. I assumed that some of the questions would be of interest to only children, youth, or priests; rather, I was surprised to learn that many of them applied to us all. As a member of the Body of Christ, they do apply to me and how I live my life. For example, some of the questions express concern for reaching out to young people, I too, need to live my life in such a way that I can reach out to young people. Easy to read and understand, uplifting, yet fully aware of the many problems facing the Church and the world, Questions and Answers is an inspiring as well as challenging read, challenging, because these questions and responses challenge me to live my life more fully as a Christian. Animated and candid, Questions and Answers offers a fresh, personable, and inspiring look at Pope Benedict XVI and the hope that is our Catholic faith.

I can hardly say enough good things about this fun and thought-provoking game (which a good friend gave to my son for his birthday a few days ago). Each of the 50 playing cards presents a puzzle scenario which you set up on the gameboard with the train pieces. The object is to move the pieces around until you can get the red locomotive off the board. The puzzle scenarios gradually increase in difficulty, but all of them are fun and challenging (even for parents!). Our family has already enjoyed many hours with this puzzle and, given the large number of puzzle scenarios, the variety of challenge levels and the keen interest to a broad range of ages, I'm sure we'll be enjoying and learning from it for a long time to come. Our children as young as six were able to play the game.

Although there are a number of pieces, they are big enough to not get lost too easily or be terribly dangerous for little ones (although I wouldn't trust those in the choking-range with the pieces). We punched holes in the card deck and keep them together with a binder ring. My only complaint is that the colors of the playing pieces didn't match the colors on the playing cards very well.