First, What Are You Reading? Volume 27, The All Saints/Marathon Edition

Happy Feast of All Saints!   Be sure to celebrate in style this great feast of the Church.

I'm interrupting my marathon story (here are Part 1 and Part 2) to post my monthly "what are you reading?" questions, with a focus on a book about someone who probably is a saint, as well as one book about running by a prayerful young man.

The questions, as always, are:

first, what are you reading?
what do you like best about it?
what do you like least?
what's next on your list to read?


As always, I hope you'll consider your current reads on your blog and/or sharing here in the comments or on Facebook or Twitter.  Happy reading!


First, what are you reading?

I actually read Jeff Grabosky's book Running With God Across America back in the summer, but I want to feature it now, because Jeff is a fellow LIFE Runner.  I also plan to do a Q&A with him in the future since he's agreed to do one.

I'm also in the midst of Leonie Martin:  A Difficult Life by  Marie Baudouin-Croix.

What do you like best about them?

I most enjoy Jeff Grabosky's voice and honesty in talking about his spiritual journey in Running With God Across America. 

Leonie Martin: A Difficult Life is quite moving.  I had read before in an article about Leonie that some believe that she, almost more than Therese, deserves formal recognition as a saint.  I'm not sure about that, but reading about her mental health issues and how she worked to overcome them and persist in seeking to fulfill her vocation has brought me to tears on several occasions.

What do you like least?

I am surprised at how much I enjoyed all of Running With God Across America.  I receive a lot of review copies of self-published books, and the vast majority have major issues, whether style, content or grammar/typo issues.  Jeff's book, while self-published, genuinely reads like a memoir from any major publisher.  I'm not sure if he had a great helpful editors or friends read through it, or just has a gift, or both.  He's a great writer and the story flows.

Leonie Martin was written in the French, and sometimes the translation  feels a little awkward.  It's easy to overcome, and certainly worthwhile to know more about this member of the Martin family.

What's next on your list to read?

I have a huge stack of books that are possibilities for my December column featuring good gift books.  So many great choices, but I'm on the lookout for more.  If you know of any great newer books that would also make great Christmas presents, please comment here or send me a tweet.

Meet a Reader: Lindsey Weishar

Since my October column for The Catholic Post featured books for younger readers, it seems appropriate to feature a younger member of our diocese.  I met Lindsey this summer when she was on the Totus Tuus team.  Our kids have attended this program for two years now and it is fantastic.  Thanks, Lindsey, for being willing to be featured here!

How you know me:  My parents, Julie, Joe, my sister, Rachel, and I attend St. Matthew Parish in Champaign. I am a senior in English at the University of Illinois. The most attractive part of attending the University of Illinois is St. John’s Catholic Newman Center.  I’m in my second year of living here at the Newman Center and I love it.

This past summer, I was a team member of the Totus Tuus program, a wonderful experience that involved sharing the beauty of the Catholic faith with children and teens in six parishes in the Peoria Diocese.

Why I love reading:  I love reading because it calls me to think, to pay attention to the little details of life. This is why poetry is especially attractive to me. There is just so much to notice in the life we live, and books help me notice, to place myself outside of myself, to see how other people may live and feel.

What I’m reading now:  It sometimes happens that I begin to read too many things at once. So I am in the midst of quite a few books. I recently finished Matthew Lickona’s spiritual memoir entitled Swimming With Scapulars. The honesty of the joys and struggles of Lickona’s spiritual life made the book a great read. Another book recently finished is a preparation for Marian consecration entitled 33 Days to Morning Glory. This book taught me so much about Mary. My dad and I have been in the midst of St. Augustine’s Confessions, and though the book is dense, Augustine’s emotion and profound sense of God are amazing.

My favorite books:  One of my favorites is St. Therese of Lisieux’s Story of a Soul. I really feel able to connect with Therese and her book gives me a view into the interior landscape of saint, a soul so alive with love for Jesus. Other books I greatly enjoy include C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, for its deep look into human sin and the devil’s role as the  tempter, and Charles Dickens’  A Tale of Two Cities, for its beautiful exploration of self-sacrifice for the good of another.

Youth Is Wasted on the Young?

Here is my October column that appears in this weekend's edition of The Catholic Post.  I invite your feedback here.

Like many moms, mine loved great maxims born of wisdom and long experience.  Because she had a great sense of humor, these sayings would sometimes morph, Mrs. Maloprop-style, to something like my personal favorite, “We’ll jump off that bridge when we get to it.”

One she never changed, but still intoned in her best mock-serious mother-knows-best voice: “Youth is wasted on the young.”

Now that I close in on the half-century mark, I begin to understand what that really means.

Yes, youth is wasted on the young.  All that free time!  All that energy!

I recall saying--more than once--to ungrateful, nap-resistant toddlers:  “I promise you, someday, someone will say to you, ‘why don’t you go take a nap,’ and you will say, ‘Thank you!’ instead of fighting it.”

Don’t get me wrong. I love my maturity and experience, even as I might covet what the younger me took for granted, like naps or a faster metabolism.

“Youth is wasted on the young” occurred to me as the fall books from Catholic publishers began to arrive, and with more than the usual number for teens and young adults.   I wish I could have had read these when I was 15, 25 or 35 for inspiration, for spiritual growth, or just plain fun.  So youth, don’t waste it, but take advantage of these great books, vetted not just by me but younger readers, to enjoy this fall:

*He Speaks to You by Sister Helena Burns, FSP.  Sister Helena is an expert on media literacy and Theology of the Body, a Catholic new media maven, and a great friend to the Peoria diocese, speaking here often and living in nearby Chicago.  Turns out she’s also a gifted author.

This book is a deceptively simple prayer/reflection book for young women.  Each page corresponds to a day of the year, with Scripture, reflection and action and journaling ideas.  It may sound basic, but He Speaks to You offers substantial, meaty topics in the context of consistent themes that run through an entire month.  For example, “His Will” in April, covers topics like discernment and vocation, and “In His Image” in August, focuses on body image and sexuality.

Sister Helena writes in the introduction, “The sisters and I have long talked about wanting to find a way to share ...basic principles of the interior life and how to live them in daily life.”    With the wisdom of the Daughters of St. Paul, mission accomplished.

*Be Beautiful, Be You by Lizzie Velasquez.

This is a sweet volume--all from a Catholic perspective--about loving yourself, overcoming setbacks, and recognizing what makes a person unique.  23-year-old Lizzie Velasquez was born with a rare medical syndrome, and she writes candidly about her struggles and how she has used them to grow emotionally and spiritually.

Lizzie’s stories, journal and ideas offer a much-needed antidote to our culture’s obsession with perfection and ways to overcome that.

*Fearing the Stigmata: Humorously Holy Stories of a Young Catholic’s Search for a Culturally Relevant Faith by Matt Weber.

Matt Weber is a Harvard grad and practicing Catholic--not at all a contradiction.  Fearing the Stigmata is his charmingly earnest and witty take on living as a Catholic young adult in the modern world.

I didn’t include this book simply so young men wouldn’t feel left out, but because it is a genuinely funny and spiritually edifying book.  I found myself laughing out loud at many, many vignettes in the book, from his love of the restaurant Olive Garden, to “nun volleyball,” to “the Dominic Code.”  You have to read Fearing the Stigmata to find out what those mean in the context of our Catholic faith, but you’ll thank me.

Celebrating the Year of Faith

Today starts The Year of Faith, a year Benedict XVI set aside for learning about, sharing and living out our Catholic faith.  The Holy Father celebrated a Mass this morning to open this year; here is his homily.  Many quotes jumped out at me from the homily, but let me share just one:  "Living faith opens the heart to the grace of God which frees us from pessimism."

One of the reasons the Year of Faith begins October 11 is that today, is the 50th anniversary of the first session of Vatican II.  Here, BXVI shares some of his memories from that time.  Today is also the 20th anniversary of the release of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC).

Much has been written all over the Internet and in publications about living out The Year of Faith. I'm sure you parish, like ours, has many activities and events to help people grow in faith. I write here to encourage people (myself included) to consider the ways we can be intention in this Year of Faith about learning about our faith, praying together, and sharing it with others.

What are just a few of the ways to celebrate the Year of Faith?

Last Saturday, I attended a great gathering of women (called "First Saturday) to hear a presentation on the Year of Faith.  The couple giving the presentation were a "dynamic duo," sharing with us and challenging us to live out the Year of Faith.  There was a lot of food for thought there; most helpful was an annotated version of the papal letter Porta Fidei ("the door of faith") announcing the Year of Faith and what it means for us.

*Read Porta Fidei would be a great start to the year.

*Read the Catechism in a Year.

 I just received early this morning my first e-mail from Flocknote for Read the Catechism in a Year (reading this link will explain what it's all about).  "Read the Catechism in a Year" is joint project of Matthew Warner's Flocknote (a terrific service for parishes and other groups to communicate with people via texting, e-mail and other media ways) and Jeffrey Pinyan of  Catholic Cross Reference.  Sign up for this free service is quick and easy, and it's just one e-mail a day.  There are more than 27,000 people signed up for this, so you'll be reading along with a big group.

What a great idea!  When I got the first e-mail this morning, I confess my concern at how much text there would be to read, but it's really bite-sized.

Back in the early 1990s, I actually read the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) start to finish in preparation for teaching religion to high schoolers, and I consider it a tremendous resource.

But I don't "read" it much these days, using it like a reference, either online or in one of the copies floating around our house.  I do love the YouCat (youth version of the CCC,  as I've written about previously to page through, but one of the annoying things for me is that the paragraph numbers do no correspond to the Catechism.  So having the CCC come to my in-box provides a little push and reminder to re-connect with this Church treasure.

*Participate in a Scripture Study for the Year of Faith.

Here is a women's Facebook group dedicated to reading Father Mitch Pacwa's "The Year of Faith: A Bible Study Guide for Catholics."  In addition to online discussion, open to women from all over, we will also meet locally in the Peoria, IL area once a month.  I'm sure there are many others, especially parish-based, to

*Get a plenary indulgence (or two, or many).  

Did you know there is a plenary indulgence associated with the Year of Faith?  You can read the details here, but just from a cursory read of the various ways to obtain the plenary indulgence, getting one or multiple ones is not difficult.

How do you plan to celebrate The Year of Faith?  Any great links or ideas to share?

First, What Are You Reading? Volume 26, The Little Flower Edition

Here are my "Little Flower" answers to the four questions I ask on the first of each month:
first, what are you reading?
what do you like best about it?
what do you like least?
what's next on your list to read?

As always, I hope you'll consider your current reads on your blog and/or sharing here in the comments or on Facebook.  Happy reading!

First, what are you reading?

Well, if you haven't figured out why this is called the "Little Flower" edition, it is because today is the feast of the Little Flower, St. Therese of Lisieux.  We love to celebrate this feast at our house, and soon I'll be making rose-shaped scones in this pan for the scones lovers in our house, as I do every year on this feast.

I've actually been reading a ton, but unfortunately cannot seem to get my thoughts out about these many, many books.  So for now, to get my writing juices flowing, I am going to write about previously read books about or by St. Therese that would be really worthwhile to consider on this feast.

What do you like best about them?

There are two books for younger readers that feature St. Therese not so much as a character but as inspiration.  Olivia and the Little Way by Nancy Carabio Belanger chronicles Olivia’s fifth grade year and her ups & downs, as she discovers the spirituality of the Little Flower.  Just a wonderful book.  Nancy wrote a sequel to it called Olivia's Gift, which has a subtle pro-life and modesty theme that is excellent for older girls, and that we also loved at our house.

When Olivia's Gift was first published, I got the chance to interview Nancy Carabio Belanger, and you can read that Q&A here.  Here is the link to the publisher of these great books.


As far as books about St. Therese and her family, there are many. A lovely, small picture book biography for younger readers is St. Therese of Lisieux and the Little Way of Love by Marie Baudouin-Croix, translated from the French and published by the Daughters of St. Paul.   It should be readily available at most Daughters of St. Paul stores.  When I was searching for a link to this, I see that this author has a biography of Therese's sister Leonie called Leonie Martin: A Difficult Life.  Leonie was the most troubled of all the sisters, and this book explores her psychological issues and how she overcame them.   That looks fascinating and I plan to try to track that one down to read it.

We have a volume on our shelf, The Little Flower: The Story of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus by popular mid-20th century Catholic author Mary Fabyan Windeatt, but I confess none of us have read that one.  I'd love to know if it is worthwhile.


What do you like least?

When I first read Story of a Soul, I did find it somewhat cloying.  As the Universalis  reflection for St. Therese today says, "The late 19th century was a highly sentimental period, and much of the literature about Thérèse has taken that quality and made it sweeter and sicklier still, to the point where you feel like brushing your teeth after reading every page."

But the older I get, the more I find her words much more inspiring.  It's hard to explain, but those who love The Little Flower will understand.  Just a little bit from today's Office of Readings, which is a selection of Story of a Soul: "Certainly I have found my place in the Church, and you gave me that very place, my God. In the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love."

I have a friend who loves and gave to me as a gift, I Believe in Love: A Personal Retreat Based on the Teaching of St. Thérèse of Lisieux by Charles Arminjon.  I understand it is great, but must confess I have never finished it, though I have started it several times.  Maybe this month would be a good time to finish it.

What's next on your list to read?

Really, the question here becomes, what are some recently read books to write about or neglect to write about?  Just for a very few, I've read the much-hyped novel The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker (meh); Cleaning House: A Mom’s 12-Month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement by Kay Wills Wyma (really good ideas and reflection from this book); The Year of Learning Dangerously: Adventures in Homeschooling by Quinn Cummings (so hilarious and wonderful); Wealth Watchers by Alice Wood (interesting concept about applying Weight Watchers concepts to financial health) and so many more.  Maybe I will write about them soon, maybe not, but there is always reading going on here.

What are you reading this month? Do you have a favorite St. Therese book?  Share away!

Print is Alive and Well: My CPA Midwest Wrap-Up

Last week, I had the great good fortune to attend the Catholic Press Association Midwest Regional Conference, hosted here in Peoria.  The editor of The Catholic Post, Tom Dermody, and his staff at The Catholic Post organized a terrific two-day meeting, and I for one came away with many great ideas and insights.

Regular readers of Reading Catholic will note that I usually refer to Tom as "my editor," but I started to feel strange about that, as if being "my editor" is his only job, working on polishing my monthly column for the print edition of The Catholic Post and giving me advice about writing and other things.  But however much it may surprise you (she says jokingly), he is actually really busy, whether in putting out a newspaper every two weeks, or organizing regional conferences.

That's one point of this post: to acknowledge and praise the work of print journalists in Catholic press, and share with my online comrades the amount of work that goes into print publications.  Back before there was an Internet, I worked in newspapers, magazines, and then in media relations during the high-tech days when we used to fax press releases to reporters.

Because I now work primarily online and love so much about it, I had forgotten the intense amount of effort goes into print publications, until I got the chance to be with those print journalists for several days.

My ultimate message for Catholic people active online?  Keep doing it, but at the same time be sure that you are supporting and reading print publications.  If you don't already subscribe to your diocesan newspaper, please take a moment to do so.  Here's where you can subscribe to The Catholic Post, for a start.

There are also many worthy national print publications.  Having those "strewn" around the house for kids and adults to find is a way to create a Catholic culture in your house.

One real-life example:  Several months ago, my 11-year-old was delighted to see Pysanky eggs featured on the cover of the beautifully-produced  CNEWA's magazine One,  since we enjoy doing Pysanky during Lent.   I'm not sure how she would have seen that otherwise; even though the magazine is online, I wouldn't necessarily have found it or linked it, and she's not online like we grown-ups are.  Because we give to CNEWA, we get the magazine, and it's "around" for people in our house to discover.

Now on to the CPA Midwest and some of my snaps from the two-day conference:

Here is Billy Atwell, director of Communications for the Diocese of Venice, Florida, and Penny Wiegert, editor of The Observer, newspaper of the diocese of Rockford, Illinois. Penny is a true force of Catholic media, being a past president of the national Catholic Press Association.  She was great to meet and hear from, as were so many others, from Chicago to downstate Illinois, to St. Louis, to Iowa to Indiana, Florida and Washington, D.C.

Here is Tom Dermody with Sonia Nelson, advertising manager of The Catholic Post.

The general session was "Communicating Across Today's Generations" by Dominic Perri, a consultant to the USCCB and others.  I don't have a non-blurry photo of Dominic, but his presentation was very informative about how different generations experience Church life.  What was most helpful in experiencing this firsthand was when Dominic broke us into generational groups each group we answered questions about what we wanted other generations to know about ours, what we wanted to know about other generations.

Here's a blurry photo of the baby boomers working on their answers.

Later that day I attended two great breakouts--one by Tammi Finch of a local web company, Web Tech Services on social media--I have tons of take-aways from that; and one by Bob Gilligan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois, on "When Politics and Religion Intersect." Bob's talk was both very thorough but rather depressing (sorry, Bob!), since he explains so much of the way things are going from a legislative perspective.  Ultimately, there is hope, because there are good people in Springfield and Washington, D.C. who work for Catholic values and rights.

Before dinner, Monsignor Stanley Deptula, celebrated Mass for the attendees in the St. Thomas More chapel of St. Mary's Cathedral for the convention-goers.

Monsignor Deptula shared that that day, September 20, was the anniversary of Archbishop Fulton Sheen's ordained in this very cathedral--St. Mary's Cathedral.

After the Mass and a walk through the cathedral, we boarded a Peoria Charter Coach bus, and Pat Kellogg, who is retired from the diocese, gave us a wonderful short tour of downtown Peoria and Grandview Drive on our way to a terrific dinner at a great local restaurant.  Here's a kind of dark photo of Pat "touring" us:

The next day's focus was on Archbishop Sheen, as Monsignor Deptula, executive director of the Sheen Foundation, gave a funny and incisive presentation on "Lessons from a Great Catholic Communicator" about the life of Sheen and the cause for his canonization.  Everyone took copious notes and asked many, many questions during his talk.  Afterwards, Bonnie Engstrom, a nationally prominent blogger in the Peoria diocese whose son's healing is the "alleged miracle" put forth for Sheen's beatification, spoke about her family's experience.

I was tweeting from the conference (@ReadingCatholic on Twitter) because I had my laptop there and it was easy to do so while listening to the speakers.  In fact, tweeting an event is basically a form of taking notes, and is helpful in keeping me focused on what I'm hearing.  I tweeted for the first few minutes of Bonnie's talk, but stopped.

I had read through Bonnie's story before on her blog, but had never heard her speak in person about it in detail.  It was amazing, truly so.  I just had to close up my laptop and listen to and soak up all she had to say, and so did everyone else.  Wonderful.  The story of the alleged miracle told by Bonnie is remarkable and beautiful, and should be heard widely.  If you are in the market for a speaker for a Catholic event, please consider contacting Bonnie about it.  She had a room full of experienced journalists enthralled.

Afterwards, while we all snapped photos and talked with Bonnie in front of a photo of her son James Fulton, Tom Dermody (that would be my editor Tom Dermody) said the funniest line of the day, which I did tweet eventually:

"We have to use 'alleged' before miracle, but we don't have to use alleged before 'adorable.'"

Have you been to a conference lately?  What positive experiences and insights did you come away with?

The Quotable, Venerable Fulton Sheen: On Intellect

Our intellects do not make the truth; they attain it; they discover it. 

Archbishop Fulton Sheen, Religion without God.

There are so many great quotes from Fulton Sheen that I am posting a selection here and there this month.   You can read some of the prior quotes here  and here , or you can search the "Fulton Sheen" label and all the quotes will come up.

I have some of my own quotes, but the wonderful and sadly out of print The Quotable Fulton Sheen (I reviewed it in my September column here) has a lot of great ones to share, as well.

The Quotable, Venerable Fulton Sheen: On Revolution

This is the choice before us: either try to revolutionize the world and break under it or revolutionize ourselves and remake the world.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen, Crossways.

There are so many great quotes from Fulton Sheen that I am posting a selection here and there this month.   You can read some of the prior quotes here  and here , or you can search the "Fulton Sheen" label and all the quotes will come up.

I have some of my own quotes, but the wonderful and sadly out of print The Quotable Fulton Sheen (I reviewed it in my September column here) has a lot of great ones to share, as well.

The Quotable, Venerable Fulton Sheen: On Procrastination

God has promised men pardon if they are penitent, but not if they procrastinate.

Fulton Sheen, Peace of Soul.

There are so many great quotes from Fulton Sheen that I am posting a selection here and there this month.   You can read some of the prior quotes here  and here , or you can search the "Fulton Sheen" label and all the quotes will come up.

I have some of my own quotes, but the wonderful and sadly out of print The Quotable Fulton Sheen (I reviewed it in my September column here) has a lot of great ones to share, as well.

Quotable, Venerable Fulton Sheen: On Anti-Semitism

For a Catholic, to be anti-Semitic is to be un-Catholic.

--Fulton Sheen, Love One Another. 

There are so many great quotes from Fulton Sheen that I am posting a selection here and there this month.   You can read some of the prior quotes here  and here , or you can search the "Fulton Sheen" label and all the quotes will come up.

I have some of my own quotes, but the wonderful and sadly out of print The Quotable Fulton Sheen (I reviewed it in my September column here) has a lot of great ones to share, as well.

Sheen Mass of Thanksgiving, Part 3: Wrapping Up and Keeping it Real

This is my final wrap-up post about the Mass of Thanksgiving for Fulton Sheen.  You can read Part 1 here about before the Mass (perhaps destined to be known hereafter as "the mantilla post"?), and Part 2 about the Mass itself here.

This is basically the keepin' it real edition, to explain some of the back story and to make fun of myself, share a family joke, and have an epiphany about online life and camaraderie and perspective.  I am definitely increasing the drama level here for effect, and I hope that works.  Perhaps it is only helpful to me, but I'm going to share it anyway.  Here it is:

No one tells me anything.

I'm not sure exactly how it came about, but since I'm from a big family, some of us became fond of complaining this to parents or other siblings, once we were mostly grown and away at college or starting careers.  Mom & Dad, you're going to New York to visit another sister?  Someone got into law school?  Someone has a new boyfriend?

All purpose response: "No one tells me anything!"

Fortunately this had become a family joke before most of us started having children, so we had a very strict unspoken protocol of personally talking to each sibling when a new baby was on the way.

And no other sibling could spill the beans.  This meant that to avoid awkward conversations around that time, if you had heard from a pregnant sister (or sister-in-law), you usually didn't answer the phone for a few days to be sure you weren't going to get a different sibling who might not have heard the news yet.  Which would be me because... pause for effect here... No one tells me anything!

These days my siblings and I use the expression with each other because we are all almost too busy to keep in touch.  It's also helpful to use if I am feeling left out about something with friends or those close to me, I  say that to myself, since it usually makes me laugh and realize that it's not the case, and I need to just plug on and be positive.

As perspective on what I'm going to share, keep in mind that I wasn't officially "covering" the Mass or the Sheen weekend events for The Catholic Post.  I'm a freelancer for The Post, writing my column and this blog. So I'm not in the know about every Catholic event, but I do like to sometimes write here on Reading Catholic about events from my own perspective.

So being out of the loop for me is not necessarily a bad or unusual thing--I've got my specialty here with books, and in general I like to stick to it.

My first "no ones tells me anything" moment when I found out that Lisa Hendey and a few other Catholic people I know online were coming to Peoria for the Sheen weekend.

I had another "no one tells me anything" moment after I saw late Saturday that there was some kind of reception at the Sheen Museum on Saturday night.  And there were Lisa Hendey and Alexis Walkenstein (of The Maximus Group), hanging out and having fun just a few miles away.

And what was I doing?  I was in my pjs, sprawled out with kids and dog, watching Love It or List It while also checking Facebook on my ancient iPad.  Nearby, my husband Joseph read something intelligent.  I am a morning person, so my brain shuts off around 8 p.m.  Love it or List It is just about right then.

I know this actually is exactly what I wanted to be doing then, but still... I can do that next Saturday night!  Tonight my online friends are having fun in the same area code as me.

Not only am I melancholic and insecure when it comes to online friends, but apparently I am also prone to jealousy and possessiveness.

I had one of those moments when when Brandon Vogt tweeted that he was going to see his "friend Monsignor Soseman," and I thought, hey there, Monsignor Soseman was my friend first.

As a matter of fact, Mr. Brandon Vogt, Joseph and I were friends with Monsignor Soseman when there wasn't an Internet.  We were friends with him back when you were probably still in grade school, young one!

Then I had my epiphany.

When you're feeling "no one tells me anything," remember: it's okay.  You're part of the family.

We are all part of the same Catholic online family, and I don't have to know everything, and neither do you.  If I don't know about some cool conference or some great reception (even in my own area code!), it's all good.

Just like my siblings are always my siblings, we are all family no matter what.

If you're in the Catholic online community, you're part of the tribe--there's no secret handshake or code.  (And if there is, you can just keep it to yourself, because that's not the tribe I'm talking about).  I'm part of this, and so are you, however small our impact or own little corner.

When I reach out to other Catholic in online forums like Twitter or seek guest writers or feature some great bloggers, online friendships grow and flourish.  Some day those may and have lead to real-life meetings and most won't, but we are all part of that same Catholic faith and support each other.

So if you are a Catholic blogger or Twitter person and feel left out or not in the loop when you see people posting photos or seemingly having a great time at a conference, or getting lots of comment or .....fill in your own blank here.  We all have our insecurities.  Just remember you're not alone, and I feel the same.

After my epiphany, I got out of my "no one tells me anything" mood (and my pjs) by Sunday morning when it was time for Mass.

Of course I was genuinely thrilled to see Lisa Hendey, who I haven't seen in several years.  She is just delightful and upbeat in person, as she is on her terrific Catholicmom.com, as well as her always-encouraging writing for Faith & Family Live.

Here we are with the aforementioned Brandon Vogt, whose energy and output rivals that of Sheen.

I also loved getting to meet Alexis Walkenstein of The Maximus Group, who is just as cute and endearing in person as she is online, but curses, I didn't get a photo of her.

I also got to see a lot of local friends, some that I see often and some that I don't.  Quite a few have blogs that are featured on the sidebar here, Catholic, Local and Online.  Many of them have done their own excellent blogging about the Sheen Mass.  Here are just a few of the bloggers who were there, and please let me know me if I left anyone out, and I will update here.  I am linking to their Sheen Mass post if they have one:

*Britta of "By Prayer and Petition."

*Marie of "Help Them to Heaven." 

*"I Wonder Why." 

*"Stumbling on the Way to Emmaus."

And Bonnie Engstrom of A Knotted Life.  Especially if you feel you may have had a tough day, head over to Bonnie's post about her family's experiences during the Mass. (Kind of makes me a little sheepish about those "no one tells me anything" moments).

As many know, their son James Fulton's recovery after 61 minutes not breathing after birth is what is technically called the "alleged miracle" being put forth for Sheen's beatification.

During the Mass, my husband asked me several times, "Where are Bonnie and Travis?"  I kept looking, but never did see them until after the Mass, but didn't hear about their travails with Travis' shirt and tie, nursing baby and so forth, until I read about it on Bonnie's blog.  Here's the photo I snapped of Travis and James Fulton after the Mass, Travis by this time being minus his more formal wear.

Hey! There's Tom Dermody, the editor of The Catholic Post, just behind James. I did get a photo of him after all.  Here is his CNS story about the Sheen Mass.

The Engstroms were also popular with the Catholic (and other) papparazzi. I couldn't resist getting a photo of that.

I also got to visit with the talented and energetic Brandon Vogt.  I even took a photo of him with Monsignor Soseman.

But remember,  Brandon, he was my friend first.

What's your best memory of the Sheen Mass?

Do you have an epiphany about Catholic online life to share?

What do you think about mine?

Quotable, Venerable Fulton Sheen: On Children

The first question a child asks when he comes into this world is the question: Why?  Every babe is an incipient philosopher.

--Fulton Sheen, Religion Without God

There are so many great quotes from Fulton Sheen that I plan to post a selection here and there this month.  I have some of my own quotes, but the wonderful (and sadly out of print) The Quotable Fulton Sheen (I reviewed it in my September column here) has a lot of great ones I'll be sharing, as well.

This weekend is #celebrateSheen on Twitter and elsewhere, as Peoria Catholics (and many from elsewhere) will take part in a Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Mary's Cathedral in Peoria.  Read more about the events on the Celebrate Sheen website.  I'll be at the Mass, and using the hashtag #celebrateSheen.  I don't expect to be tweeting during the Mass, but before and after, certainly!   And my thanks for the reminder to use the hashtag from the ever-excellent Julie Enzenberger, administrator of the Sheen Foundation.

Meet a Reader: Bonnie Engstrom

I'm delighted this month to feature a young mother I know in real life as a friend, an insightful writer and influential young leader in our area.  Of course, it may be obvious that we would be friends since she loves both The Hobbit and Jane Austen, but still ....  I'm grateful for Bonnie for being willing to be featured this month, when Reading Catholic is focused on all things Sheen.

  
How you know me:  Along with my personal blog, A Knotted Life (formerly "Learning to be a Newlywed"),  I am also a regular contributor to the online magazine Ignitum Today.  Also, I have been honored to serve as the Associate Director for the Behold Conference for the last three years.  My husband, Travis, and I are the parents of four small children—Lydia, Bennet, James and Teresa.  We are members of St. Luke parish in Eureka.  Our third child, James Fulton, was stillborn and came back to life after being without a pulse for sixty-one minutes.  His alleged miracle is attributed to the intercession of Venerable Fulton Sheen and was officially submitted to the Vatican for Sheen's beatification.

Why I love reading:  I love reading because it makes anything possible.  Sitting in a waiting room I can suddenly be in another country, time, or world.  By reading I can connect with another's heart, see a different perspective, grow in virtue, partake in an adventure, witness forgiveness and beauty, and know the love of my God.

What I'm reading now:  Right now I am making my way through J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and I love it.  There's something about a hobbit that is so endearing.  Also, every day I read From Head to Toe by Eric Carle about a billion times.

My favorite book: For a long time it was A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers, which is a slightly-scandalous-in-places memoir.  Recent favorites have been The Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter.  And I will always love anything written by Jane Austen.

Sheen for All Readers: September Column

Here is my column that appears in this weekend's The Catholic Post. I invite your feedback here or on Twitter or Facebook.


It’s high time to visit--or re-visit-- the writings of local son Archbishop Sheen.

A few months back, Archbishop Sheen was named “Venerable,” one more step on the path to a potential declaration of sainthood.  A Mass and other events will be held in Peoria next weekend to celebrate Sheen’s new title, as well as his life and work.  What the experts call “an alleged miracle” that happened locally (see “Meet a Reader” on this page for details), has been examined and submitted to the Vatican for approval for Sheen’s cause.

No doubt, Sheen is worth reading, discovering and sharing.

So what book should you choose if you’re new or want a good recommendation among Sheen’s prolific output?

My very first review for The Catholic Post, more than two years ago, was Sheen’s excellent autobiography, Treasure in Clay.

 I still consider it the best introduction to Sheen’s writing style and his life.  I’m grateful to my editor Tom Dermody for suggesting it as a great “first book.”

As I wrote then, Sheen “is the master of telling a great story. Treasure in Clay is full of such stories; edifying, funny and illuminating, making it an inspiration for us to do more as Catholics.”

But after Treasure in Clay, I truly hesitate.  Not because Sheen didn’t write anything else “great,” but because there’s a lot of variety from which to choose.

I’ve been part of a women’s book group this past year that has read a different Sheen book each month.   What surprises me is how varied our responses are to the different Sheen works we have read.  Some women love a certain book that others have found really hard to get through.   (True confession: I’m one of the ones who found a few hard to “get through”).

 Not every Sheen book is going to speak to every reader.

Nevertheless, I want to encourage and inspire reading Sheen, and especially for readers not to give up if the first work sampled is not a “keeper.”  So I asked some local Sheen experts for some good ideas.

Julie Enzenberger, administrator of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation, has a great theory on her two favorite Sheen books.

 “I always say if you don’t know Sheen read Treasure in Clay and if you don’t know Christ read Life of Christ,” said Enzenberger.  “Life in Christ explains every parable in the bible and why Jesus did what he did in terms everyone can understand.”

Monsignor Richard Soseman, a priest of the Peoria diocese who now works for the Vatican in Rome and is Coordinator of International Outreach for the Sheen Foundation, suggests the relatively unknown Old Errors and New Labels, a commentary on modern thought.

“It’s a hidden "gem," Monsignor Soseman reports, and says that his college students love it.

Others have recommended Three to Get Married, Sheen’s popular book on marriage.

Two other Sheen books are worth mention:

*Ignatius Press has a handsome new edition of the well-loved classic The World’s First Love:  Mary, the Mother of God.  This was a favorite in my book group, as well as mentioned by plenty of people asked for Sheen suggestions.

*Regrettably out of print, but a terrific compendium, is The Quotable Fulton Sheen:  A Topic Compilation of the Wit, Wisdom and Satire of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, edited by George J. Marlin and others.  This book makes looking up quotes from the very-quotable Sheen easy, as it is organized by subject.

An 11-Year-Old Interviews Daniel McInerny, author of the Kingdom of Patria series

No, it’s not an interview that is 11 years old.  I actually mean that my 11-year-old daughter, Giuliana, here interviews author Daniel McInerny.

Here’s how this came about:  I was having trouble keeping up with my reading and previewing books for this month’s column on great fiction.  I asked Giuliana to read the first book of The Kingdom of Patria series and she quickly finished and raved about it, and moved onto the second in the series (and also loved it). Full disclosure: after Giuliana's enthusiasm, I did also finish Stout Hearts and thoroughly enjoy its silliness.

First, a few questions from me (Nancy), then I promise to step aside so that a young reader, actually from the target Patria audience (middle-grade readers) of the books, can ask the good questions:

Nancy:  Tell Reading Catholic readers a little bit about yourself, your family, and The Kingdom of Patria series.

I am the husband of the beautiful and talented Amy McInerny and the father of three adorable and perfect (so say their grandparents) children: two teenage girls, Lucy and Rita, and a son, Francis, who is eleven. 

I grew up the last of my parents’ seven children in South Bend, Indiana, and, after graduating from the University of Notre Dame (BA English, 1986), I eventually obtained a PhD in philosophy from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. I spent some 18 years in academia, teaching and working at various universities, but just over a year ago I decided to pursue a dream long deferred of launching out on my own as a writer. That’s when I founded my children’s entertainment company, Trojan Tub Entertainment, which features my humorous Kingdom of Patria stories for middle grade readers (the first anniversary of Trojan Tub’s legal “birth” is Friday, August 3, 2012). My family and I now live in Virginia.

The Kingdom of Patria books are e-books only, and the companion, interactive Kingdom of Patria website (visit here for that) is very popular with Patria fans.  The site has free short stories (both text and audio), character blogs, and clubs for kids to join. Folks can also "Like" the Trojan Tub Entertainment Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/trojantubentertainment) and follow along on Twitter: @kingdomofpatria. There's also a book trailer for the series here on YouTube. 

Nancy:  You are a son of Ralph McInerny, the noted Notre Dame philosophy professor and leading Catholic light, and one of my heroes.  (link: I wrote a little about his autobiography here.  Do you think your writing is similar to his, and are you influenced by your father’s example as far as writing goes?

Thank you so much, Nancy, for your kind words about my father and for your appreciation of his autobiography on your blog. He is much missed. Although I have learned a lot about the craft of fiction from my father, I don’t think my style is similar to his. My children’s writing owes more to the comic stories of P.G. Wodehouse and Roald Dahl, as well as to the more whimsical portions of the Harry Potter books. One of my reviewers on Amazon compared the first book in my Patria series, Stout Hearts & Whizzing Biscuits, to the film version of Ian Fleming’ children’s novel, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I like that comparison. Rob Reiner’s film, The Princess Bride, also masterfully hits the tone I am striving for.

But about the principles of good fiction, and the discipline--and enthusiasm--required to produce it, I learned from my father a great deal. My father loved to say, “A writer is someone who writes.” Sound advice I try never to forget.

Questions from Giuliana:

Q:  How old were you when you first started to write, and what did you write about?

My first published work was the thrilling Danny and the Monsters, which I self-published around the age of six or seven with loose leaf paper and my mother’s stapler. The skin-creeping pictures of Frankenstein’s monster, Dracula, and the Werewolf, are all from my own hand. This book was quickly followed by Island at War, an epic tale which had to do, if memory serves, with an island and a war. I remember enjoying drawing the bullets flying through the air. The hero was a soldier named General Danny, who had been promoted due to his success in the previous encounter with the monsters. 

Q.  Who was your favorite author (or book) when you were a kid?

When I was very little I loved Enid Blyton’s Noddy books. In those years you also would have been hard pressed to pry a Tintin or Asterix book (what today are called “graphic novels”) out of my hands. (As I lived two years of my childhood in Italy with my family, my early book favorites are European ones.) When I was a little older, I grew to love John Fitzgerald’s The Great Brain series, probably my favorite series from childhood. There was also a series I enjoyed very much called The Happy Hollisters, written by Andrew E. Svenson under the pseudonym Jerry West. The Hollisters would have adventures and solve mysteries, and I really liked the fact that they did it all together as a family.

Interestingly, I did not read much fantasy as a child. If you can believe it--and I won’t blame you if you don’t--I never cracked open the Narnia books or The Hobbit until I was a parent reading them to my own children. I remember in an upstairs bookcase in my childhood home a big, fat paperback copy of The Lord of the Rings sitting on a lower shelf. Though my sister raved about it, I avoided it like Shelob’s lair. I found the sheer size of it, not to mention its ominous title, both attractive and forbidding. 

Q: What was your inspiration for the Patria series?

Some years ago, when my two daughters were small, I was reading Humphrey Carpenter’s biography of J.R.R. Tolkien, where Tolkien is quoted as saying something to the effect that, in imagining a new world, it was important for him (the professional linguist) to start with a name. So, for example, he began with the strange name “hobbit,” and extrapolated an entire mythological universe from there. That very night, in telling a bedtime story to my girls, I copied Tolkien, inventing the name “Twillies” for a microscopic guild of fairies who minister to their princess in various ways, by helping disentangle her hair, keeping soap bubbles out of her eyes in the bath, etc. In continuing to tell “Twillies” stories I elaborated upon the world that eventually became the Kingdom of Patria. 

At that beginning, in these family bedtime stories, Patria was a magical world, deeply indebted (I believe the more usual word is “stolen”) from the imaginations of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. But as I began to think about how to approach a written version of my Patria stories, I found myself increasingly disinterested in writing about a magical world. I suppose I was afraid of writing clichés. But I also became very much attracted to the idea of a fantastic world that, given a rather wacky take on history, is very much part of our world. That idea is at the very heart of what Patria is today. Nonetheless, it took me a long time to bring this new world of Patria into focus. Stout Hearts & Whizzing Biscuits was begun in earnest about three years ago, and only completed in the summer of 2011.

Twillies, by the way, being magical creatures, were left on the cutting room floor (as it were) in the re-imagining of Patria. But my daughters still miss them intensely. Perhaps there will be an occasion to work them into the series later on, to introduce the magical element. But at present I’m very happy exploring Patria as a tiny kingdom hidden in the midst of contemporary northern Indiana. 

Q: Is there a reason you put Thomas Jefferson in the first book?

Being that Ted Jooplystone was one of our tallest presidents, not to mention the only one with red hair, I thought it important to put him in the book. Actually, I think I originally brought Jooplystone into the mix because I was imagining Odysseus Murgatroyd (a character from Stout Hearts & Whizzing Biscuits) being part of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, which was a project of Jooplystone’s. I changed that detail, but kept the tall, red-haired president.  

Q: I thought the Gentleman’s Etiquette Class in Stoop of Mastodon Meadow (and how resigned Miching Malchio was about it) was really funny. What’s your favorite funny part of either book?

I find Mr. Stoop a lot of fun to write, and reading back the scenes when he is first encountering the Patrians, or directing his colleagues in the Midwest War-Historical Re-enactment Association, always brings a cheerful tear to my eye. The scene from Stout Hearts & Whizzing Biscuits in which Mrs. Stoop and Aunt Hazel bring the fast-food breakfast from Burger Land to the Patrian Royal Family will also cause me to giggle silently behind my closed office door. 

Q: Are you planning any more books in the series, or a different series of books?

I am most certainly planning more books in the Kingdom of Patria series. Though I am at present working on my second novel for adults, when I am finished I will turn to the next Patria novel, which at this point I am envisioning as a kind of prequel, explaining how the original refugees from the Trojan War found their way to Indiana. But I will always, I think, tell tales about Oliver, Prince Farnsworth, and Princess Rose, too. 

(Now a quick follow-up from Nancy about e-books versus physical books.)

Q. The Patria books are available only as e-books.  Do you have any plans to make them available as print books?  What in your view are the positives (or negatives) of e-book exclusive for a series like this?

In the last three years or so digital books, electronic reading devices such as Kindles, Nooks, and iPads, and the appearance of new book distribution channels such as Amazon, have combined to help introduce a series of seismic changes into the publishing industry. One of the very positive developments, to my mind, is in the area of self-publishing. Long regarded as a minor, even slightly embarrassing, aspect of the industry, self-publishing is becoming more and more a respected and established way for authors to get their work out into the world. Digital media now makes it possible for authors to to take their book and, with the help of Amazon and other outlets, make it available to a global audience literally overnight. It's an exciting phenomenon, and, given both Pope John Paul II's and Pope Benedict's call for Catholics to re-evangelize culture by making wise use of new media, it's an especially exciting time for Catholic writers with a mission. 

But with all this power comes responsibility, not least responsibility for the marketing of one's work. What one gains in immediate (and free!) distribution in self-publishing with Amazon, one loses in not having the marketing arm of an established publisher. All the burden now falls upon the author to make his or her work known to the public (in an increasingly competitive field of authors). But as even many traditionally-published authors will admit, the marketing arms of established publishers do not give the same attention and resources to all their authors, and so many traditionally-published authors find themselves having to undertake for themselves the same kinds of marketing efforts that self-published authors do. So having to hustle is not something that only self-published authors have to do. 

For me specifically, the main challenge comes with my choice of genre: middle grade children's ebooks. Self-published children's books are not (yet!) experiencing the boom that self-published adult fiction is enjoying especially in the thriller, romance, and (sad to say) erotic genres. Although there is evidence that more and more kids and parents are reading on electronic devices, it is still a nascent phenomenon when it comes to kids, especially, and when they do read digital books they are mainly still reading the established names such as J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan. But, as hockey great Wayne Gretzky said, "skate where the puck is going, not where it's been." As time goes by I believe more and more kids and families will be reading electronically, and that self-published authors will become a more and more established part of the mix. I plan to be waiting with my Kingdom of Patria series when the boom hits!

As of this time I have no plans to make print versions of my Patria books available, but it is an issue I will revisit, as folks from time to time do ask me if there are print versions of the books. If I do go in that direction, it will likely be via a publish-on-demand paperback service (so as to avoid the problem of storing books). For now, however, my Patria ebooks are available at Amazon, barnesandnoble.com, and iTunes. There's also available, from Worldwide Audiobooks, an unabridged audiobook of the first installment in the series, Stout Hearts & Whizzing Biscuits. All of these venues can be easily reached through the venue buttons on the homepage of the kingdomofpatria.com. 

Some of your readers may be interested in my first novel for adults, released this past Spring. It's a darkly comic thriller called High Concepts: A Hollywood Nightmare, which owes much of its inspiration to the early satiric novels of one of the greatest Catholic writers of the 20th century, Evelyn Waugh. High Concepts is available as an e-book at Amazon and barnesandnoble.com.

Salazar Coaches Two Athletes to Medals in London: UPDATED

I thought about making my "First, What Are You Reading?" post this month about the Olympics, since we, like most families, are watching the Olympics pretty frequently this.  But we aren't really reading any books about the Olympics.

I'm grateful that now I do have a a connection and a reason to write about the Olympics (I thought about labeling this post "my 3 degrees of separation from the Olympics").  No, it's not because Michael Phelps looks uncannily like my oldest nephew (though he does, really!).  It's because Alberto Salazar, author of the June book I reviewed for The Catholic Post, can now call himself the coach of two Olympic medal-winners, Mo Farah and Galen Rupp, who took the gold and silver medals, respectively, in yesterday 10,000 meter race.

Here's my review of Salazar's open memoir, 14 Minutes: A Running Legend's Life and Death and Life.  I asked Salazar about the Olympics in our Q&A (you can read the whole thing here), and here's what he said:

We are lucky to have some of the finest distance runners in the world as members of the Nike Oregon Project. They include Mo Farah, a citizen of Great Britain, who joined our team two years ago, and Galen Rupp, a native of Portland, Oregon, who I have been coaching for more than a decade. Besides being ideal training partners, they are also great friends. Mo and Galen will both be running the 10,000 meters at the London Olympics, where they will be competitors rather than teammates. It will be very interesting to see how that plays out. 

Well, we can all see how that played out, the joy both teammates had for each other as they placed first and second.  In particular,  I noticed that USA Today has a great article about Galen Rupp's silver medal and Salazar's long-term coaching strategy.  ESPN also reports about how Farah and Rupp worked with each other to help keep Farah (and Rupp, it turns out) paced well through the 10,000 meter race.  Here's a great photo from ESPN from just after the race:

Congratulations to Farah, Rupp and Salazar!  I'll be watching the 5,000 meter race later this week, and hope for more medals from the athletes of The Nike Oregon Project.

Update, Wednesday, August 8: Rupp and Farah both easily won places in the finals of the 5,000.  That race will be Saturday.

I also discovered today Malcolm Gladwell's fascinating (as usual) profile Alberto Salazar, "Alberto Salazar and the Art of Exhaustion," in The New Yorker.  He calls Salazar's memoir "absorbing."

De Gustibus, or Fiction for All Kinds of Tastes

Here is my August column that appears in this weekend's The Catholic Post.  I invite your feedback.

Some years back, I wrote an opinion piece for The Catholic Post about the then red-hot Twilight books, comparing them to junk food; not going to kill you, but not the bedrock of a healthy imagination.  I even offered some fun and soul-nourishing alternatives.

“You are what you read” still is my main media consumption rule, for individuals and especially for families. 

But to extend the food analogy, I’m not a paleo/vegan/low-carb/raw foods/gluten-free /this-month’s-hot-diet-fad absolutist.   You won’t hear me advocating for the non-existent Jane Austen “immersion diets” or St. Francis de Sales “detoxes.”.  Book-wise, I’m a flexitarian.

Let me explain by way of a great Latin expression, “de gustibus non disputandum est,” translating roughly as “there’s no arguing personal taste.”  Your favorite ice cream is strawberry, and mine is mint chocolate chip? De gustibus.  You’re a Bronte fan and I’m really, really not? De gustibus.  When it comes to books or food, there’s a lot of variety, and one person’s favorite might be another’s strong aversion. 

I don’t mean that anything goes—some books (and movies, etc.) really are poison, and need to be avoided by everyone.  And some people have particular sensitivities to books (like some do with certain foods) that might be especially harmful or helpful.

 Being mindful of what keeps you healthy, media-wise, is a great idea at any age.

That still leaves tons of great reading of all kinds for enjoyment and edification.   Consider fiction to be in the “nourishing treats” category—more chocolate than broccoli (not that there’s anything wrong with broccoli).    Here’s hoping some of these excellent recent releases will agree with your “gustibus.”

For adults and young adults:

Catholic Philosopher Chick Makes Her Debut by Rebecca Bratten Weiss and Regina Doman is a smart new read.  It would be best for college-age and young adults, but this middle-aged mom thoroughly enjoyed racing through this fun, fashion-y, and yes, philosophical novel.

The characters in Catholic Philosopher Chick are lovably annoying and well-drawn.  The healthy but “real” friendships between the young women feel especially true, and the plot moves along quickly.  My only dislike of this book is that a few characters smoke (occasionally).  For someone who hates smoking as I do, it seems unnecessary.

Shadows and Images: A Novel by Meriol Trevor is available in a handsome new edition by Ignatius Press.  Trevor was a prolific British author of novels for adults and children.  She’s also known for her careful biography of Blessed John Cardinal Newman, and this novel covers Newman’s time and new Catholics during that era.

I’m the kind of person who learns more about history through stories, so historical fiction is a favorite for me.  This novel brings Newman, the Catholic Church, and the Britain of that time, alive through the story of a young couple. 

Before Shadows and Images, I knew Trevor mostly as a Newman biographer and as a children’s book author, as youth publisher Bethlehem books has re-published a few of her excellent children’s novels.  Now I want to discover more of her grown-up fiction.

For the younger crowd:

*The Tripods Attack! By John McNichol, is first in the Young Chesterton Chronicles series.  This novel imagines G.K. Chesterton as a down-on-his-luck teenager, with friends fending off a Martian attack in a science fiction/Edwardian England. 

That description might sound pretty wild to those not familiar with steampunk, the fiction sub-genre that mashes Jules Verne-style fashion and “technology” with fantasy and science fiction, but it’s truly a refreshing summer read.  I know some Chesteron purists would scoff, but if GK himself wrote his The Man Who Was Thursday as a steampunk novel for teenagers, The Tripods Attack! just might be the result.

*The Kindgom of Patria series by Daniel McInerny (available only as e-books, from the usual outlets like Amazon and the excellent "Kingdom of Patria" website).  You’ll notice that I didn’t use the word “quirky” in reviewing The Tripods Attack!  That’s because I was waiting to use this adjective more perfectly to describe McInerny’s, yes, “quirky” and loveable Patria kingdom, and the children and stories that inhabit it.

I asked my 11-year-old daughter to pre-read first in the series for me.  She loved it, so I asked her to give me a mini-review.  She wrote:  “Stout Hearts and Whizzing Biscuits is a fantastical tale about a small kingdom named Patria in the middle of the USA. Warning: If you do not like absolute silliness and utter fun, this book is not for you!”

It’s obvious that she does enjoy “utter fun” in a book, and if you have a middle-grade child who likes it as well, The Kingdom of Patria would be a great choice.

Q&A on the "Broken" Series by Mandi of Catholic Newlywed

This month on Reading Catholic, I am determined to share some of the great recent resoures on human sexuality out there.  This will include blogs, podcasts, and other resources I’ve encountered as I reviewed for this month’s column on two great new books, Adam & Eve After the Pill:  Paradoxes of the Sexual Revolution by Mary Eberstadt and My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints by Dawn Eden.

Today, I’m honored to get a chance to introduce readers of Reading Catholic and The Catholic Post to Mandi, who writes a charming blog called, “Catholic Newlywed.”  Mandi began a series on her blog this year called “Broken,” that I want to share with The Catholic Post readers.  Mandi, thanks for your willingness to share, and for your great series that I hope even more people will discover.  Here's Mandi, her husband and daughter:

Q.  Tell Reading Catholic readers a little bit about yourself, your family, and how you began blogging.

I started my blog in late 2010, shortly after marrying my husband.  We had a long distance relationship, so when we married, I moved far away from my family and friends and was craving friendship with like-minded Catholic women.  Since then, we welcomed our first child, Lucia, last December and my blog is now a combination of faith, family life, keeping house, and the everyday musings of a Catholic wife and mother.

Q.  How did you get the idea for the “Broken” series?

I was in a “broken” relationship myself several years ago and continue to feel the scars it has left behind.  During the two and a half years that it lasted, I felt very alone and ashamed, without anyone to confide in.  In the time since then, I have realized that my experiences were not nearly as rare as I thought they were.  Slowly, I came to learn that many of the women I had daily contact with had been in similar damaging relationships, but we all felt isolated and alone.  “Broken” is an attempt to provide a channel for speaking out about these relationships.

Q.   What do you hope that women will take away from the “Broken” series?  

I started “Broken” in hopes that it would be a resource for women to gain knowledge, advice, and strength from others who have been in similar damaging relationships.  I believe that had I had more access to “real life” stories from other women, I would have been able to identify my relationship as abusive before it had gone too far and hopefully would have had the strength to get out early.  Discussing and reading about others’ experiences have also helped me to view mine more critically and finally heal some of those wounds.  I thought that if this has helped me, perhaps it will help other women.  My ultimate goal is that perhaps just one young woman will read these stories and be able to completely avoid damaging relationships because of them.

Q.   The series is primarily about women’s experiences.  Have you had any feedback from men, and what do you hope men reading the series will “get” from it?

This is a great question! I originally started this series for women and still tend to think of it as geared toward them; however, women are not the only victims of damaging relationships.  I recently received an email from a woman who shared that her son is in an abusive relationship.  I would love the opportunity to share stories of broken relationships from the male perspective, although I think that men are still a little more reticent about discussing those experiences (but all the more reason they need to be shared).  If there are any men that would like to write a piece, please don’t hesitate to contact me - your voice is important and I do publish pieces anonymously upon request!  


This series can benefit all men in that it gives them a window into the lives of women who have endured damaging relationships.  Since so many women will be in an abusive relationship of some kind in their lifetime, there is a high probability that a man will marry a woman who retains the scars of a past abusive relationship.  It’s important that they are able to understand and identify the scars that their loved ones carry.  Fathers also need to be aware of the kind of relationships that they need to prepare their daughters for and warn them against.  

Q.  Do you have a “favorite” or most-important to read in the series?  I read through each of the selections, and all were so important, well-written and handle tough topics sensitively.   In particular, the post titled, “He didn't really love me and want to protect me. He wanted to control me” was especially well-done.  Do you have one you consider a must-read?

I think they all discuss different important aspects of damaging relationships.  Each woman’s experience is different, so I think it is important to get as many stories as possible out there.  I’m hesitant to say that one is better than the other because each person will be affected by each one differently.  The ones that have been most healing for me based on my past experiences may not have the same meaning for someone else.  I think all the women who have shared have been extremely courageous in telling their story.

Q.  Do you see this as an ongoing series, or do you plan to wrap it up at some time in the future?

As long as there are people willing to share, I will be open to continuing the series.  I think there are many aspects that still need to be addressed.  Particularly, I would be interested in pieces from friends and family of those in damaging relationships.  I would also like pieces that are more advice-based in nature, for example, “how to identify warning signs of a damaging relationship,” or “what to do if someone you know was in an abusive relationship.”  

Q.   Is there anything else you would like to add, or wish I would have asked?

Many of the pieces that have been written so far have dealt with physical or sexual abuse; however, I envisioned the series to include all relationships that are “damaging”.  Many women (and men) have been in relationships  that have left them feeling broken even though their relationships may not meet the definition of abusive.  Relationships in which one person is constantly belittled, in which infidelity is a factor, or which left one (or both) members scarred is a broken relationship.  These stories have a place in the series as well. 


Although I have already addressed this in several questions above, I would like to add that I am always taking new pieces.  If someone reading this feel like he/she has something to contribute, even if it isn’t on a topic I’ve specific addressed interest in, please contact me at catholicnewlywed@gmail.com.

Sharing Resources--Men and Sexual Abuse

As often happens when you are focused on something, you see it everywhere.  And this was definitely the case with sexuality and a healthy, integrated life, after I reviewed for this month’s column two important books: Adam & Eve After the Pill:  Paradoxes of the Sexual Revolution by Mary Eberstadt and  My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints by Dawn Eden.  I've encountered many resources and sources of information over the past month that I plan to share with readers here.  I also hope to have a number of guest posts.

One of the podcasts I subscribe to is Focus on the Family's daily broadcast.   While I don't love every single podcast, I do find it more often than not an interesting listen.  The resource from Focus on the Family that I use most often, though, is its media review site, Plugged In Online (though strangely, I don't listen to the Plugged In podcast very often).

At the end of last month, I listened to a tremendous two-part series from Focus on the Family, "Men and Sexual Abuse: Hope for Wounded Hearts," a long interview with Dr. Dan Allendar about the long-term effects of sexual abuse on men.  It covers a lot of the same themes that Dawn Eden does in her book, My Peace I Give You.  Well worth a listen.

You can listen to the first part of the interview here.