Book Review

During my conversion on my way into the Catholic Church it included a period of time during my initial fervor when I only listened to Christian music. I had some silly justifications for this, but I don’t regret this phase as I found some good bands* that I enjoy to this day. During this time I became aware of a band called Scarecrow and Tinmen which I enjoyed as the lead singer Chris Padgett has a kind of voice I enjoy that would have suited him well if he was in a Progressive Rock band. Listening one day to Joanne Benkovic’s radio show I was surprised to hear Chris Padgett on the show as he described not only his conversion to the Catholic Church, but fellow band members also. A Rather interesting story as the band came into contact with the Catholic faith while touring and occasionally playing Catholic venues. Christ Padgett now has a solo career and I still enjoys his music.

I mention this because he has written a new book called Wholly Mary: Mother of God which I received for review.  So do we need another book on Mary by an ex-Protestant? Well I say the more the Mary.  This is a medium size book that talks more about Mary than attempting to be purely an apologetic source, though there is apologetics material contained within.  It is written with a light touch of humor and is quite accessible in regards to understanding the points Chris makes.

I also liked the fact that in writing about Mary he really makes the book about her pretty and does not intrude his own conversion story and coming to have a devotion to Mary out of it.  There is certainly plenty of room for books that do that, but I liked the approach. That being said I certainly would like to see a book on his conversion story. The part of the book I really enjoyed was his section on the Family Rosary and general tips regarding starting the process and the difficulties sometimes involved.

This is a nice general introduction to devotion to Mary that covers most of the important topics up to and including the Church’s teaching about Marian apparitions.

*When it comes to Christian music I invoke Sturgeon’s Law. SF Writer Theodore Sturgeon law regarded the fact that 90% of SF is crud, but also that 90% of everything is crud.

This week I have completed nine years of blogging and so I can say that I have some perspective on the growth of the so-called Catholic “New Media.”  Nine years ago I could pretty much read every post in the Catholic blogosphere during a short lunch.  Catholic audio on the internet was extremely limited and podcasting was still a couple more years into the future.  The growth of new media for Catholics has been quite an interesting thing to watch.

Bearing that in mind I was quite happy to review the new book by blogger Brandon Vogt The Church and New Media: Blogging Converts, Online Activists, and Bishops Who Tweet. This book is mostly a collection of essays on topics related to Catholic media by well known names within Catholic media. Each writer provides their expertise and perspective. Within these essays are other factoids providing related sources and other information. Brandon Vogt provides both the introduction and conclusion. The book has been positively endorsed by a who’s who of Catholics in America like Archbishop Dolan, Cardinal O’Malley, Cardinal Wuerl, Archbishop Chaput, Mike Aqulina, Amy Welborn, and on and on. Well let me add my own name to that list of positive endorsements.

I found this to be a very good read that included things to chew on and other thoughts that agreed with my own experiences. The book starts out with Fr. Barron who like many accidentally entered into new media first by making his excellent homilies available on his site and then later podcasting them. Later he started to release short commentary addressing the issues of the day on YouTube and interacting with the YouTube commenters – not exactly a tame world. As you would expect Fr. Barron provides intelligent comments on his experience. Jennifer Fulwiler writes her conversion story from atheism from the perspective of interacting with Christians on her site. Like myself Jennifer Fulwiler was always an atheist from childhood on who had assumed that Christianity was simply a myth. Actually dialoging with Christians and have her assumptions overturned helped her to see the truth. While many complain about the atmosphere of commenting on blogs, her experience was largely positive.

I can’t really do an essay by essay review since it would be longer than the book. But I need to at least list some of the other people who contributed. Marcel LeJeune, Mark Shea, Taylor Marshall, Fr. Longenecker, Scot Landry, Jeff Geerling, Matt Warner, Lisa M. Hendey, Thomas Peters & Shawn Carney. Almost all our people I have read and interacted with over the years and in some cases have met. I found Thomas Peters thoughts the closest to my own and extremely well said. I especially liked his focus on the foundation laid by prayer. But there was so much said by all of them I found spot on. For anybody looking into Catholic media this book is much more than just an introduction.

When it comes down to it the new media is like all media in that it is a form of communication. For Catholics this communication is simply to spread the Gospel and while living the Gospel ourselves to help others to do the same. Catholic media and Catholic new media is effective when it spreads the good news and helps others to fully live their faith. I have certainly seen many examples of this over the years concerning conversion and how Catholic media helped to open a person up to the fulness of the faith. The Vatican has lagged behind when it came to new media, but the Vatican doesn’t need to do everything and us everyday Catholics can step in to take up the slack as our abilities direct.

The only real complaint I had about this book is that it was a little too much blogger-centric. Yes a funny complaint coming from a blogger, but I am also a great promoter of Catholic podcasts. While Fr. Barron podcasts, he is not really a podcaster since only his homilies are podcasted and he doesn’t engage his audience directly via podcasting. Lisa Henley though does have experience podcasting, but it isn’t her main role. To be fair the book certainly does address podcasting throughout the book, but I would have liked to have seen a chapter from someone who was a weekly podcaster. This book would have been perfect with a chapter from somebody like Fr. Roderick of SQPN, Greg & Jennifer Willits, the crew of the Catholic Underground, or really the perspective from any of the many very good Catholic podcasts.

One final thought is that I bet Brandon Vogt wishes that the Pope had used an iPad to make his first tweet and launch the new Vatican news site before this book was published. That episode would have fit right into his theme.

Here is a book that is an interesting juxtaposition. A Rock Star who has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame writes a new biography. In it there are pictures of this star along with pictures of him with people such as Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, and Scott Hahn. Yes Scott Hahn. I figure this is the first Rock and Roll autobiography co-authored by a patristic scholar – that is Mike Aqulina.

Many though will have picked up by now that this is a new book by Dion DiMucci who is just most simply known as Dion. The book is “Dion: The Wanderer Talks Truth.”

I was already aware that Dion was a revert as I had seen him on EWTN before and have heard parts of his conversion story on EWTN Radio. This book though much more in depth in regards to his life and his conversion to the Church.

His story begins with his life as a youth that besides performing music at a young age included being a gang member in the Bronx. There are some very interesting stories told here of this part of his life – especially his interactions with a Father Percione a man who was very much a shepherd of his parish. While Dion did not follow much of the advice of this priest, his talks with him on subjects such as virtue remained with him throughout his life and provided markers for him on his later path to conversion. I really enjoyed his descriptions of this priest and how active he was in his neighborhood.

He describes his entrance professionally into the music business and his meteoric rise where he soon became a teenage millionaire. His path parallels so many stories which include sudden fame and the path of increasing drug intake. We think of the Sixties as the start of the Drug, Sex, and Rock n’ Roll era – but the Fifties has it’s share of the same problems. In this book he does not dwell on those aspects of his life other than how they affected him on a personal level and especially his lack of a spiritual life. There are though plenty of stories about this time that he recounts especially the famous episode of the coin flip and the subsequent crash that killed Buddy Holly, The Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. He sets the record straight on some aspects of this story along with his disagreement concerning the famous line America Pie about the day the music died.

This biography is interesting on several levels. First you have a good story about a musical career and the musical changes he has gone through in that career. Most importantly you have a spiritual biography that takes you from the days of a non-religious family and his later movement towards faith and the spiritual landmarks along the way. The acts of grace that allowed him to leave behind drugs and alcohol and to move first to Protestantism and then later to the Catholic Church. I really enjoyed the style of the book in that it was often quite humorous and his being able to laugh at himself contributed to that. The book is not pretentious in any way. Another important thread in the book is first his pursuit of a girl in the Bronx who later became his wife and has stayed his wife.

I found it to be quite a good read.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Dion — The Wanderer Talks Truth. They are also a great source for a Catechism of the Catholic Church or a Catholic Bible.

When you get a book to review there is always a bit of a hesitancy. What goes through your mind is “What if it is really bad.” A new book An Imperfect Miracle and found it quite enjoyable.

The story takes on the subject of all those sightings of images of the Virgin Mary. There have certainly been a rash of them that apparently are quite ridiculous and so the media has paid them some attention mostly as a subject of ridicule. Miraculous images are nothing new in the Church and of course there are some very good examples of very plausible ones such as Our Lady of Guadalupe. This interest provides the subtext of the plot.

The story centers around a young boy Nathan Gray from a broken family who lives with his mother. A rather intelligent child with a large imagination that on the surface seems to be an escape from the past of an abusive father. His dog Chewy might be man’s best friend, but he is an imaginative man’s best friend on the order of Harvey. One day this young man sees something that defies explanation and is on the order of the miraculous and then he soon discovers an image of Mary on a cement wall that seems more than just a random water stain.

The story is told through his eyes as he discovers more about Mary and the people involved in promoting what was becoming a new shrine. He has intellectual curiosity and even though he and his mother belong to a local Protestant Church he does not see anything incongruent with what he is learning. He also develops a friendship with one of the people in the local Catholic church in his small town along with the Catholic priest and also one of the pastors of the church he attends.

The novel involves the tensions of this boy with an active imagination reporting this miraculous image and then the coming crowds to see this image and the towns involvement in seeing this as an opportunity to bring more money into the coffers as the image is on public land. Further plot elements introduce some danger and further mysteries on a more material level.

I really enjoyed the telling of the story and the boy’s reactions to the multiple events that developed. There were a couple of plot points that seemed to be of a more implausible nature, but they didn’t ruin the story for me. This book is also not written as Catholic apologetics disguised as novel and can easily be recommended to a wide audience as a good novel that takes faith seriously on both the Catholic and Protestant divides.

Catholic Mass For Dummies is the latest book from Rev. John Trigilio Jr along with ev. Kenneth Brighenti, Rev. Monsignor James Cafone. They have done other books in the Dummies series such as the excellent Catholicism for Dummies and Saints For Dummies

It is surprising how nice a format the Dummies books are for teaching the Catholic faith. The formatting of the books seem to make them more accessible and the way fonts, titling, notes, and other things are implemented makes reading them some more comfier while still giving solid knowledge. I found the formatting of the YOUCAT to be engaging as our these specific Dummies books.

This book on the Mass is much more thorough than a lot of introductory books to the Mass have been. Just packed for of information and I discovered many things I had not been aware of before. One thing I really liked it that it was not inclusive to the Latin Rite of the Church and the various rites of the Eastern Catholic Churches were covered throughout the book. Plus not only was the Ordinary Form of the Mass was covered in the Latin Rite, but attention was also given to the Extraordinary Form of the Mass.

Lots of details and tidbits of information were given on the Mass from the liturgy, to architecture, vestments, etc. Really quite a thorough overview. The book is also written in a straight-ahead style that is devoid of any commentary by the authors. For example the chapter on architecture covered modern churches such as the L.A. Cathedral without making remarks that I am confident the authors held about this architectural style.

This book would be at the top of my list to give to converts and people going through R.C.I.A. A lot of information is covered giving you the scope of the Church that is truly universal without having a book the size of a Russian novel.

The only real caveat I had was that I wish there were drawings or graphics accompanying the section on liturgical vestments. Though,in the section on liturgical vestments for the Eastern Catholic Churches I discovered that they really do have the coolest names not only for vestments but other aspects of Divine Worship. The only error I noticed was on the Creed which they said was said Every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation, that is true except for Easter.

A Biblical Walk Through the Mass: Understanding What We Say and Do In The Liturgy is a new book by Edward Sri that does dual duty as both an overview of the Mass and a introduction to new English translation of the Mass.

There are a lot of books on the Mass and most of them concentrate of the Liturgy of the Eucharist or focus on the mass via some lens.  This book is more general in that it goes through each part of the Mass and gives a solid overview and touching on theology in a way that will open the Mass to more people.  While doing this it touches on how the new translation effects the Mass and explains why the new translation is better and exactly how it more descriptive of the spiritual realities going on at Mass.

I found it to be a good read in that it helped me focus better on different parts of the Mass and give more meaning to parts of the liturgy I had not concentrated as much on before.  The audience for this book I judge to be fairly wide and an exception introduction to the Mass for teens and above. Perfect for RCIA and others forms of formation.

The review book I received came with a short booklet that answers questions on the new translation and provides a nice cheat sheet of changes.

We’ve been waiting for the TTOE the Theological Theory of Everything that can explain both religious belief and Apple fanboyism.

In a recently screened BBC documentary, UK neuroscientists suggested that the brains of Apple devotees are stimulated by Apple imagery in the same way that the brains of religious people are stimulated by religious imagery.

…According to the neuroscientists, the scan revealed that there were marked differences in Brooks’ reactions to the different products. Previously, the scientists had studied the brains of those of religious faith, and they found that, as Riley puts it: “The Apple products are triggering the same bits of [Brooks’] brain as religious imagery triggers in a person of faith.”

“This suggests that the big tech brands have harnessed, or exploit, the brain areas that have evolved to process religion,” one of the scientists says. A meeting with the Bishop of Buckingham, who reads the Bible using his Apple iPad, appeared to back up this assertion. He pointed out how the Apple store in, for example, Covent Garden has a lot of religious imagery built into it, with its stone floors, abundance of arches, and little altars (on which the products are displayed). And of course, the documentary doesn’t fail to give Steve Jobs a mention, calling him “the Messiah”. [Source]

This explains everything. When I was an atheist I was a Windows user and an Apple hater. When I came to have faith in God the dendrites in my neurons were redirected enabling faith and subsequent susceptibility to Apple fanboyism.

Actually stories of this type just numb me with blasts of stupidity and craptastic assumptions. Materialistic reductionism of this type reminds me of the John Cleese video where he poses as a professor pointing at different parts of the brains and saying things like “This part of the brain is where the belief in .. comes from” and finally pointing again to and saying “This is the part of the brain where we get the idea that this part of the brain.

MRI Scan shows the triggering of the same bits of brain as religious subjects thus Apple is a religion. Wonder what bits of brain causes you to come to that stupid conclusion.

For a long time one of the few popular resources on the truth about contraception has been Dr. Janet Smith’s talk “Contraception, why not.” Now we can add another resource to that arsenal. “Sex au Naturel: What It Is and Why It’s Good for Your Marriage” by Patrick Coffin is thorough review of the subject for the popular audience.

I really like this book in that it totally told the truth about contraception, but not in manner that will make people who might being using contraception or had themselves sterilized simply stop reading. The book is filled is many short chapters that help the reader by providing the proper background so that they can understand the theological distinctions required. So for example a review on the natural law is given.

Also given is the modern historical context related to how contraception came to be accepted in modern times and the role that Anglicanism provided in putting that crack in the dam that made the constant teaching of Christianity through the time of the Protestant reformer to now to run aside from the truth. The groundwork for wide acceptance of the pill was mainly laid in the 1930s, but had been building up. Pope Paul VI “Humanae Vitae” was a shock to both Catholics and the general public who had generally expected a shift by the church on this especially regarding the leaks from the group that had advised the Pope on this. The aftermath of this was quite messy especially since this was the flowering of so much dissent and bad theology. This history the book provides on this encyclical is intriguing.

One thing that makes this book so good is that Patrick Coffin was himself once a dissenter growing up in a environment in Canada that encouraged such dissent from the Canadian Bishops Conference on down. The second chapter gives a short version of his conversion story and how it was the encyclical itself “Humanae Vitae” that started his change when he took the effort to actually read it. Given this background it helps him to understand the information that others need to know to understand this teaching.

The contraceptive mindset is one that has taken on much force yet most people don’t think much about their beliefs on this subject. To my detriment I once accepted the whole culture of death philosophy regarding children. The environmental and population hysteria of the seventies led me to many errors in belief and after having one son and one daughter I had myself sterilized at a relatively young age. I even publicly joked on the subject that having one of each I had bagged the limit and I was done. Not only that I encouraged a coworker to do the same and he did. In a list of worst things I have ever done this sterilization pretty much topped the list, but it was only as I was approaching the Church did I realize the extent of my folly and the attitude that went behind it. This book addresses such sterilization’s and why they are wrong and ways for regretful Catholics to atone for this as to the possibility for some of surgical reversals or other suggestions. I certainly had not idea of the various side-effects listed in the book and the disclaimers I signed for surgery at a Naval Hospital did not mention many of them. The spiritual side-effects are much worse.

The book also goes into the subject of IVF and other aspects of what happens when you separate sex from procreation. The subject of NFP vs. Contraception is also covered quite well and this is important since so many people get hung up on these distinction which they group as one thing. I just haven’t read anything that covered the whole topic as well and from multiple angles as this book. I think it will be extremely helpful for those who have fallen into lie of contraception to understand why it is indeed a lie and for faithful Catholics who want to have some good arguments to use in speaking with others on the subject.

For those such as myself who quite appreciate Patrick Coffin’s humor as host of Catholic Answers live you will be happy to find some of his humor in this book, but it is not intrusive and more effort is made for providing solid content than into cracking jokes. An excellent read that I hope makes it into the hands of many people.

Earlier this year I reviewed Looking for the King and a new novel also from Ignatius Press Toward the Gleam: A Novel has similar elements.  They both involve a similar historical time period with some of the same historical characters.  They both involve some time of artifact that involves the main characters into an unfolding drama with increasing danger and they both have  solid spiritual and philosophical underpinnings.  Where they depart is that while I enjoyed “Looking for the King” as a good and entertaining novel I find “Toward the Gleam” to be a much better novel on every level.

The story takes place in closer to modern times and in the period  from WWI up to WWII.  The initial story involves a professor carrying some object desires to talk to the abbot of an English monastery in regards to that object.  The professor presents himself as “John Hill” which is a pseudonym he had used earlier during his investigation of this ancient artifact.  The professor is a famous historical figure and I felt rather foolish the length of time it took me to realize who the person was considering the number of clues provided.  Though I found that some reviewers like Joseph Pearce identify him in their reviews.  The professor begins to tell his story from his time in WWI, the finding of the artifact, and the drama that unfolded in connection to it.

As the professor spends more time studying the artifact he comes to realize he needs help in deciphering it and so he seeks out various experts in their fields to ask them question while avoiding revealing the existence of this artifact.  This investigation quickly leads him into the path of one of the experts who is a criminal mastermind with interests that intersect this artifact and the power that he would want to use from the civilization that produced it.  Though he only suspects what the professor has and this is enough to put them on a collision course of life and death since he will stop at nothing to get what he wants. The conversations this professor has with these experts are very interesting since they espouse the spirits of the time that produced so many “isms” in regards to moral relativism.  The conversations are crafter in such a way to advance the story and to argue philosophical ideas, but without that sock puppet feel of an author just interjecting philosophical arguments into a story.  The evil mastermind is a intricate character and a very dangerous man and a person that is more than a match for the professor.

As a historical novel many historical figures are introduced and the professor has many conversations with such characters including some he never met in real life, but it is plausible in some of the cases that he met them.  One quibble I had with the novel is that the number of these figures are only introduced by their first name so you know right away they are such since their last names are never mentioned.  Figuring who these people are is simple in some cases and harder in others depending on your knowledge of this literary history of the time and in one case the background of a saint.  One of the “what if” aspects of the book is quite spectacular and enjoyable on multiple levels.  The historical aspects are quite well done, but some of the fictional and historical elements don’t quite dovetail if you know some of the details of this professor and his literary works.  A good job is done here, but it doesn’t mesh as perfectly as a Tim Powers novel.  Tim Powers can take his imaginative plots and history and mesh them in such a way that his histories seem to explain more and be more real than the actual history.

As the plot progresses the danger increases to such a crescendo that there is plenty of tension created into how it will resolve.  I especially like how the professors family life was portrayed and the way it made his wife an important part of the novel in such an authentic way.  The craft involved in making conversations with so many historical and predominantly literary figures sound right is difficult and the author pulls it off.  There was nothing in these conversations that did not sound as if they could come off the lips of the people involved.  One thing I found odd though that since the professor was a serious Catholic as were many of the book’s figures that elements of Catholicism other than the philosophical arguments seemed to be missing from their lives.  Maybe this one done to make the novel accessible to a larger group of people, but for me it marred it a bit in what otherwise had a good degree of authenticity regarding the professor.

Overall this was a very fine novel that kept me intrigued throughout with an appreciation of the imaginative elements introduced.  There are serious spiritual and philosophical underpinnings that add to the novel especially in regards to temptation.  I listened to the 15 and half hour audiobook version of Toward the Gleam read by Kevin O’Brien.  As always Kevin has done a professional job with this multitude of character voices adding to the enjoyment of the story. The book is available by Ignatius Press as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook along with other sources.

Disclaimer: Kevin O’Brien sent me the audiobook version to review.

At first glance the new Catechism would give me 70s flashbacks and the thoughts of felt banners. I mean a youth catechism called YOUCAT with a cover that looks like it was designed in that era would not give me much confidence. The title just annoys me as the concentration seems to be on “YOU” and the last thing we need is more narcissistic considerations. Don’t judge a book by its cover or title is the operative phrase here.

There was some scandal dealing with the translation of the Italian edition of the YOUCAT and the criticism of the translation was well deserved since it suggested that contraception could be used within marriage. The english version does not have this problem as it addresses the question “May a Christian married couple regulate the number of children they have?” correctly in regards to Church teaching.

As with the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) the Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church (YOUCAT) was edited by Cardinal Christoph Schonborn. Here in the states the english version is put out by Ignatius Press which for me put me at ease about the YOUCAT.

So here are my thoughts after reading through the YOUCAT. For one this is a high quality piece of publishing. This book was meant to be read and thumbed through and referred to again and again without falling apart. The paper is also glossy and highly durable. The content follows the standard four parts of the CCC and traditional Catechisms with similar sections. It is kind of a cross between the brevity of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCCC) and the CCC. The format is a question followed by a short summation of the answer with references to the CCC. In most cases this is followed by one or more paragraphs going into slightly more detail. Normally this is limited to one short paragraph.

The layout is a major departure from previous catechisms in that it is much more aesthetically appealing. The page is split up into sections with several quotes along the left or right margins and the content using black text on a darker yellow background. This makes the page pop out and I found it to be easily readable and pleasant to look at. New to a catechism our doodles. Yes doodles, there are plenty of doodle are throughout this catechism. This are doodles of the stick figure variety that sometimes are used to amplify the text and sometimes just decorative. After reading a third of this catechism it donned on me that the doodle are on the bottom right page were intended to be used as a flipbook animation. Sure enough if you grasp the YOUCAT between your thumb and fingers and let the corner page flip by you will see an animation of the stick figure moving along the page. Now as a board certified Catholic pundit I should have all kinds of vitriolic comments about such a thing in a Catholic Catechism and be declaring anathema to all doodles! That the person responsible for  the horrible clipart and line art used in so many parish bulletins got assigned to the YOUCAT. My actual opinion is that the doodles don’t really distract from this catechism and even add some character to it. You mileage may differ and that is totally understandable.

Sample page from the YOUCAT.

Baring in mind the translation problems of the Italian version of the YOUCAT I didn’t find any really major problems with the text of the Ignatius Press version. With shorter paragraphs you don’t always get the level of detail for an answer you might want, but there are the CCC references and of course the YOUCAT is not meant to be a replacement for the CCC. The estimable Fr. Finegan had some valid questions concerning one item, but the paragraph of text after what he quoted from had more detail on the answer – though maybe not to the level he was looking for. I did not find it as problematic, but someone could come away confusing natural and artificial as the distinguishing emphasis between a contraceptive act and NFP.

Now the question is would I recommend the YOUCAT? Well I could be as blithe as saying “Different strokes for different folks. Most people aren’t like me and they see the size of the CCC to be rather daunting. Being a constant reader the size of the CCC to me was an argument in its favor. I also liked the Adult Catechism the USCCB put out, but it is only slightly smaller than the CCC. The Compendium is the shortest read with the YOUCAT being the second shortest. I am not the intended audience of the YOUCAT being a 52 year old man and I am still waiting for the Get Off My Lawn Catechism of the Catholic Church. Regardless I see the YOUCAT as viable for many youth, but with the variance of people some youths might prefer the CCC or Compendium instead. Ideally the YOUCAT should be used with the CCC where someone can read and look through various questions and dive down into the CCC for a more in-depth treatments of subject via the CCC paragraph references.

I certainly think the YOUCAT has its place and I would like to see some aspects of it in the CCC. No not the doodles, but I loved the quality paper and use of layout and colors to make it aesthetically pleasing. The selection of quotes along the margins are of a wide variety and I thought very well selected as they were correlated with the text of the section they were in. There are a lot of great quotes here where again and again I wanted to copy them down.