Where can you quickly find answers about what the Catholic Church teaches?

Years ago, I was at a bonfire party with some University of Dallas alumni when the conversation turned to an obscure element of Church teaching.

“Go get the Catechism,” someone said, and those being the days before we had internet on our phones, the host went inside his house and literally brought out a copy of the Catechism.

“You know it’s not a real party until we have to pull out the Catechism,” he said.

Whether or not pulling out the Catechism constitutes a real party is questionable, but it certainly is the case that sometimes you just need a fast and handy way to figure out what the Church actually teaches about a specific issue. That’s where the apps below come in.

These 3 apps provide a super quick and convenient format to check what the Catholic Church has to say about all kinds of issues. Add them to your phone now, and you’ll be ready for your next “real party” (at least if you’re with other Catholic nerds ... er, I mean, intellectuals!).

This free app collects, categorizes and stores the Church’s official moral teachings in one place.

“Searching through the Catechism of the Catholic Church can be a time-consuming process, and the app can save people countless hours doing research on their own,” said Catholic Cases creator Ryan Bilodeau.

This app gives you speedy access to the Second Edition English Translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, hosted by St. Charles Borromeo Church online. 

You can use the app to search for the paragraph or topics you are looking for.

Laudate is the most popular and most comprehensive free Catholic app, and among its many (many!) offerings is a Catechism of Catholic Church section with the ability to bookmark and share.