Who makes Cato, and how we check it

Cato is made by a small Catholic team. We build it because we wanted a way to learn the faith that fits into an ordinary day: five minutes of something true, every day, until it becomes a habit. The app is free to download, and the main course stays free.

Where the content comes from

Doctrine. The lessons follow the Catechism of the Catholic Church. When a lesson teaches what the Church believes, the Catechism is the reference it is written from and checked against, and where the Catechism is careful about a question, the lesson tries to be just as careful.

Scripture. The Bible reader and the daily readings in English use the World English Bible, Catholic Edition (WEB-CE), a modern translation in the public domain that includes every book of the Catholic canon. It is not a translation approved for use in the liturgy; the readings in Cato are for prayer and study, and at Mass the Church reads from her own approved lectionary.

The daily readings. Which readings belong to which day follows the Roman calendar and the lectionary used in the United States, the same cycle your parish follows (Sunday Years A, B, and C; weekday Years I and II).

Prayers. The prayer book holds the Church's traditional prayers in texts that are in the public domain, or in our own translations of the Latin originals, with a note on where each one comes from.

Saints. The saints' lives are short summaries of the historical record, and their prayers and sayings are their own words or the Church's long-standing tradition about them.

How we check it

• Lessons are written from the Catechism, and whole courses are audited against it again after they ship: for accuracy, and for the order ideas are taught in, so no lesson leans on a word that hasn't been explained yet.
• Questions are checked so that the right answer isn't given away by where it sits or by being the longest option.
• Spanish and Portuguese are translated for meaning and then read again in that language, not just converted word for word.

We are not a substitute for a parish. Cato is a place to learn and to pray a little every day; for the sacraments, for spiritual direction, and for the questions an app can't carry, go to your parish. From inside the app you can find catechesis at a parish near you.

Found a mistake?

Please tell us. Email support@thecatoapp.com with the lesson, prayer, or page, what it says, and what you think it should say (a Catechism paragraph number helps). We read every message, fix what is wrong, and update the content for everyone, usually without anyone needing to update the app.

More

Try a lesson in your browser at thecatoapp.com/learn, read today's Mass readings, or meet the saints. For anything else, the support page has the common questions.