OCIA Supplemental Information

List of items to memorize:

5) The Act Of Contrition

6) The 7 Sacraments

7) A List for the Examination of Conscience

Session 3: An Introduction to Scripture

How do I start reading the Bible?

That’s a great question! And there are a number of different methods to start. One of the best ways is to look ahead at the readings for Mass and pray through the readings before attending Mass that day. Catholics will often purchase a book called a “Missalette” to help them do precisely that. You can also find them on the USCCB (that’s the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) website here. Their website also has a nice video commentary for each day’s readings at the top of the page. (By the way, yes, we have readings for every day of the year, not just Sundays, because we celebrater Mass almost every day of the year (the only exception to that is Good Friday, but more on that later)).

There are a number of other great resources to help you begin your journey through the Bible. As of October, 2025, members of our community just completed a wonderful introductory Bible study called the Great Adventure, and we would be happy to help you begin another such Bible study, especially once you have completed your OCIA journey. There are also a number of reading plans to help you read the entire Bible in a year, such as this one from CHResources, or, if you prefer to listen, especially if you tend to find yourself on the road a lot, there is also the Bible in a Year Podcast with Fr. Mike Schmitz, who will not only read the passages to you, but will also offer some pretty fine explanations.

Where in the Bible do I go to pray for certain things?

I am going to have to work on this one! Until I can find or put together a resource that might aid, I can recommend this website (even if it perhaps a little more technical and wider in scope than what was asked in class)

What version of the Bible should I get?

The two versions I recommend most are the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE; copies of this translation are on their way for members of the ‘25-’26 OCIA class) and New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). I have not heard any major concerns about the St. Joseph edition by Catholic Book Publishing, which enjoys some very fine printings at a good price. If you do not mind a more old-English approach, the Douay-Rheims Bible is also very fine.

There are many other translations done by non-Catholic Christians, such as the NIV, the ESV, and of course the King James Version, which are fine to read, but I strongly encourage you to read them alongside one of the Bibles translations I recommend above.

There are other translations which simply should not be picked up at all. This is not a list of forbidden books (we actually don’t do that anymore), but we should never be afraid to call out falsehood, and there are translations whose authors come from a dubious doctrinal tradition (such as the New World Version from the Jehovah’s Witnesses) or are simply too far removed from the original text, such as the Passion Translation.