Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith (Second Edition)
By Bishop Robert Barron
Word on Fire | September 8, 2025
Hardcover | 320 Pages | 6” x 9”
If you are not automatically redirected, please click the button below to get Bishop Robert Barron's CATHOLICISM book.
If you are not automatically redirected, please click the button below to get Bishop Robert Barron's CATHOLICISM book.
Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith (Second Edition)
By Bishop Robert Barron
Word on Fire | September 8, 2025
Hardcover | 320 Pages | 6” x 9”
About Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith
“Salve, porta,” declares the ancient Marian antiphon Ave Regina Caelorum. “Hail, Gate of Heaven.” This is just one of the countless titles lavished on Mary, the Mother of Jesus, throughout two thousand years of Catholic tradition: she is the New Eve, the Ark of the Covenant, the Seat of Wisdom, the Morning Star, the Mystical Rose—the list goes on and on.
But is all of this emphasis on Mary unbiblical or unnecessary? What is Marian devotion all about?
Gate of Heaven: Reflections on the Mother of God offers readers of all backgrounds—Catholic, non-Catholic, and even non-Christian—a meditative summation of the Church’s love for Mary. This unique collection features passages from Scripture, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and various saints and spiritual masters; a rich treasury of prayers, poems, and hymns; and a foreword and poetry from Sally Read, the author of The Mary Pages: An Atheist’s Journey to the Mother of God. Structured around the four Marian dogmas, four Marian antiphons, and four key roles of Mary revealed in Scripture—Daughter of Zion, Mother of Jesus, Mother of the Church, and Queen of Heaven—these pages invite us into the Church’s loving gaze, one that always looks through Mary to Christ, and through the gate to the heaven it contained.
What is Catholicism? A two-thousand-year-old living tradition? A worldview? A way of life? A relationship? A mystery? In Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith (Second Edition), Bishop Robert Barron explores all these questions and more, seeking to capture the body, heart, and mind of the Catholic faith.
Starting from the foundation of Jesus Christ’s Incarnation, life, and teaching, Bishop Barron moves through the defining elements of Catholicism—from sacraments, worship, and prayer, to Mary, the apostles, and saints, to grace, salvation, heaven, and hell. Using his distinct and dynamic grasp of art, literature, architecture, personal stories, Scripture, theology, philosophy, and history, he presents the Church to the world with clarity and beauty.
Paired with his award-winning film series of the same title, Catholicism is an intimate journey into “the Catholic thing” in all its depth and wonder. Included in this new second edition, you’ll find:
- A new preface from Bishop Barron
- Beautiful full-color images of sacred art and stunning cathedrals
- A comprehensive bibliography
- Expanded notes from Bishop Barron
- A Scripture index
- A revised subject index
Rich, inspiring, and accessible, Catholicism brings the faith to life for a new generation, uniting the Church’s ancient heritage with its enduring relevance for the modern world.
Here’s What People Are Saying . . .
“Bishop Robert Barron’s Catholicism takes a path less traveled in leading us to explore the faith through stories, biographies, and images. In these pages, we meet the ‘Word made flesh’ not only in theological formulations but also in saints and poets, cathedrals and chants, priests and prophets. What makes Catholicism so compelling are the ways in which Bishop Barron shows how the Incarnation goes on in the true, the good, and the beautiful.”
– Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, Archbishop of New York
“Clarity, intelligence, passion, and elegance—these are the marks of a writer in top form, and Bishop Barron brings all these gifts to bear in this extraordinary reflection on the Catholic faith. If you read one book this year on what Catholics believe and why, this is the book to read—and to share with others.”
– Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap., Archbishop Emeritus of Philadelphia
“Catholicism is one of the most significant efforts ever to advance what Pope John Paul II called ‘the New Evangelization.’”
– George Weigel, author of Witness to Hope and The End and the Beginning
“Bishop Robert Barron is a brilliant academic, a popular writer, a seeker, and a seer. In Catholicism, he illuminates truths that have the power to set us free. It will be a benchmark book for years to come.”
– Michael Leach, author of Why Stay Catholic?
“When Bishop Barron is talking, I can’t stop listening. Whatever he writes, I can’t put down unfinished. He loves the people he addresses. He writes about what matters to us. To read him is to be loved in word after word. In these pages, heart speaks to heart.”
– Mike Aquilina, coauthor of The Mass: The Glory, the Mystery, the Tradition
“Bishop Robert Barron’s great gift is to wed intellectual depth with clarity and vividness of expression. His Catholicism is a superb exploration of the Catholic vision that seamlessly unites theological reflection and masterpieces of architecture and art. The story he tells comes truly alive in his portraits of concrete men and women who, in every age, have lived the journey of faith to the full.”
– Robert P. Imbelli, associate professor emeritus of theology, Boston College, and author of Christ Brings All Newness
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bishop Robert Barron is the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries and the host of CATHOLICISM, a groundbreaking, award-winning documentary about the Catholic faith. On July 21, 2015, Pope Francis announced his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and on June 2, 2022, he appointed Bishop Barron the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester (Minnesota). Ordained in 1986 in the Archdiocese of Chicago, Bishop Barron received a master’s degree in philosophy from The Catholic University of America in 1982 and a doctorate in sacred theology from the Institut Catholique de Paris in 1992.
Contents
Preface to the Second Edition
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Catholic Thing
1. Amazed and Afraid: The Revelation of God Become Man
2. Happy Are We: The Teachings of Jesus
3. That Than Which Nothing Greater Can Be Thought: The Ineffable Mystery of God
4. Our Tainted Nature’s Solitary Boast: Mary, the Mother of God
5. The Indispensable Men: Peter, Paul, and the Missionary Adventure
6. A Body Both Suffering and Glorious: The Mystical Union of Christ and the Church
7. Word Made Flesh, True Bread of Heaven: The Mystery of the Church’s Sacrament and Worship
8. A Vast Company of Witnesses: The Communion of Saints
9. The Fire of His Love: Prayer and the Life of the Spirit
10. World Without End: The Last Things
A Coda: It’s All About God
Notes
Bibliography
Scripture Index
Subject Index
Contents
Preface to the Second Edition
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Catholic Thing
1. Amazed and Afraid: The Revelation of God Become Man
2. Happy Are We: The Teachings of Jesus
3. That Than Which Nothing Greater Can Be Thought: The Ineffable Mystery of God
4. Our Tainted Nature’s Solitary Boast: Mary, the Mother of God
5. The Indispensable Men: Peter, Paul, and the Missionary Adventure
6. A Body Both Suffering and Glorious: The Mystical Union of Christ and the Church
7. Word Made Flesh, True Bread of Heaven: The Mystery of the Church’s Sacrament and Worship
8. A Vast Company of Witnesses: The Communion of Saints
9. The Fire of His Love: Prayer and the Life of the Spirit
10. World Without End: The Last Things
A Coda: It’s All About God
Notes
Bibliography
Scripture Index
Subject Index
