Catholic books, carefully made.

JMJ Books publishes faithful editions of the Church's classic texts, along with other books and resources for Catholic homes, parishes and classrooms. Our first is the Baltimore Catechism No. 1, with a picture for every question.

See the Baltimore Catechism
Cover of Baltimore Catechism No. 1, Illustrated for Children: the Virgin Mary holds the Christ Child while three children kneel and pray before them, above a deep red panel with the title in gold capitals.

Why did God make you?

God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.

Question 6, Baltimore Catechism No. 1 (1885)

American Catholic children learned the faith from this catechism for generations. Our edition keeps every one of its 206 answers word for word and adds a simple line drawing for each, ready for a child to color.

Look inside the book
Lesson 1, Why did God make us? Six illustrated panels, beginning with question 1, Who made the world?, which shows God reaching toward a small globe among the stars.
A page from Lesson 1

The books

Faithful editions of the Church's classic texts, and other books and resources for teaching and living the Catholic faith.

Baltimore Catechism No. 1

Illustrated for Children

All 206 questions and answers of the 1885 Baltimore Catechism No. 1, word for word, each with its own line drawing, plus the traditional prayers.

Third Plenary Council of Baltimore 70 pages Coming soon

Line drawing for question 1, Who made the world?: God, bearded and smiling, reaches toward a small globe among the stars.
Line drawing for question 15, Where is God?: the earth in sunlight, surrounded by clouds, mountains, a house and the sea.
Line drawing for question 238, What is the Holy Eucharist?: a chalice and host on an altar between two candles, beneath a cross.

Free coloring pages

Ten printable pages from the catechism's illustrations: Creation, the angels, the Holy Eucharist and more. Good for a Sunday afternoon or the last ten minutes of class.

Why J.M.J.?

Catholic schoolchildren once wrote three letters at the top of every page of their work: J.M.J., for Jesus, Mary and Joseph. It offered the work to the Holy Family before it was begun. We named the press for that habit, and we try to make books worthy of it.

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