The excess of information available today means that recourse to
reliable sources is necessary in order to check facts or to
understand the wider context. Happily, it is becoming easier for
the interested layman or parish office to create a small yet
wide-ranging reference library without incurring prohibitive
expense. For example, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and
perhaps the new Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine (Our Sunday
Visitor) would belong in such a collection. The three reference
works reviewed here are of the kind that might be considered by
interested laymen, parish librarians, catechists, university
students, or seminarians. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian
Church first appeared in 1957, edited by the late F.L. Cross,
and a second edition came out in 1974. This third edition is the
best of the lot, and is as fine a reference work as is available
anywhere. As a dictionary it will not furnish enough material
for a term paper on Christianity in Indonesia or for a homily on
the Fall of ma