Official Church Teachings

Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario

The Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario is the association of the Catholic bishops in the Province of Ontario in the service of Catholics of Ontario. By its very nature, the ACBO is a forum where the Bishops of Ontario reflect together and collaborate on projects to proclaim, celebrate and live the Good News of Jesus Christ in our province. It is an instrument of the collegiality that binds Bishops with each other under the leadership of the Bishop of Rome in a common purpose, a common mission, a common faith. The ACBO is one of  four regional assemblies of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, which is located in Ottawa. The CCCB is the national association of all Catholic bishops of Canada. – from the website.

ACBO Education Page on Fully Alive and Growing in Faith, Growing in Christ

Institute for Catholic Education

The Ontario Institute for Catholic Education is an arm of the ACBO. It brings together, works with, and assists organizations that share responsibility for English Catholic education in their efforts to promote and maintain publicly-funded Catholic schools animated by the Gospel and reflecting the tenets of the Catholic faith.


Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops is the national assembly of the Bishops of Canada. It was founded in 1943 and officially recognized by the Holy See in 1948. After the Second Vatican Council (1962–65), it became part of a worldwide network of Episcopal Conferences, established in 1965, as an integral part of the life of the universal Church.

The Office for Evangelization and Catechesis supports and implements the mandate of the Episcopal Commission for Evangelization and Catechesis. Priority is given to the identification and development of resources in the areas of catechesis for adults, children, and youth within parishes and families. The office seeks to support the formation of those involved in catechetical leadership by researching and communicating trends and innovative strategies in evangelization and catechesis.

CCCB Publications


Other national and regional federations of Bishops’ conferences:


Catechism Of The Catholic Church

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) is the official summary of Church Teachings written in 1992 and slightly amended in 1997.  A non-approved plain language version is also available. A version designed for youth, YouCat is only available in print.


General Directory for Catechesis

If the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us what the Catholic Church teaches, the General Directory for Catechesis tells us how we should teach. It is the basis for national or regional programs.


The Code of Canon Law

Canon Law is a code of ecclesiastical laws governing the Catholic Church. In the Latin or Western Church, the governing code is the 1983 Code of Canon Law, a revision of the 1917 Code of Canon Law. A separate but parallel Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, issued in 1990, governs the Eastern Catholic churches. That document was the first comprehensive code of church law governing all Eastern Catholic churches. – USCCB


Compendium of the Social Teachings of the Catholic Church

“I am pleased to present the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, which, according to the request received from the Holy Father, has been drawn up in order to give a concise but complete overview of the Church’s social teaching.” – from the presentation of the document.

Encyclicals and other official Church teachings on Social Justice


Papal Encyclicals Online

Your guide to online Papal and other official documents of the Catholic Church. Although not an official site, it has an extensive catalogue of Papal documents

Documents Of Vatican II

Vatican: The Holy See


Non-official resources for exploring Official Catholic Teachings

The Theology Library from Spring Hill College provides an extensive list of web links on various topics in theology and religious education.

A comprehensive archive of popular summaries on various Catholic teachings are found in the Catholic Update archive. These have the imprimatur of a Catholic Bishop. American Catholic also publish Scripture from Scratch (Archived) which looks at topics arising out of the Bible.

Felix Just SJ Catholic Resources for Bible, Liturgy, Art, and Theology

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