First, What Are You Reading? New Year's Edition (Volume 29)

Well, I jumped the gun a little by doing my traditional new year's post several days back, so I'm going to re-post here as my "first, what are you reading?" since it's a survey about what were my favorite books of 2012, and resolutions for the new year.  I'd love to hear yours!

Faith at "Strewing"answered a series of book-related questions about the books she read this year, and that inspired me to come up with a quick list of questions related to books and invite you to share your favorites, too.

I want to clarify that I do always recommend all of the books that I review, and you can find them all in the book review tab up at the top of the blog.  (Note:  I need to add the last few months, but I resolve to do so as a year's end housekeeping).

So here is my 2012 Book Survey and Reading Resolutions for 2013.  Please share your answers on your own blog, or here in the comments if you are so inclined. Happy reading!

What was the most important/best book that you read this year?

I've got two here, and I reviewed them both in my July column: Adam and 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.  Must reads.

What book was most spiritually fruitful for you this year?

God Will Provide by Patricia Treece is a tremendous book.

What was the most enjoyable read this year?

Two memoirs come to mind.  Amy Welborn's Wish You Were Here and Colleen Carroll Campbell's My Sisters the Saints were both great reads.

Actually, I really enjoyed and found lots to ponder from all the memoirs I read this year, from Alberto Salazar's 14 Minutes to Chris Haw's From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart.  

What was the favorite book you read (or re-read) this year?

Re-reading (and reading out loud to my children) Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy has been a highlight.

What are your reading resolutions for the new year?

I have three:

Get more organized. Just in the last few weeks, I've started a list for review books that I add to each time books come in with the title, author and publisher.  If I get a chance to glance through it or even read it, I give it a grade and a couple of notes about the book.

I also hope to get up to speed on GoodReads or one of the other websites to help organize reading with everything I am reading, including with the kids, and books I want to share with my husband.  For many months, I kept a book log on my phone of all the books I read--usually a dozen or more a month, yay me!-- but I've gotten out of that habit and I need to do so again.  I find it so satisfying to look back at the list of all that I have read.

Get more opinions.  I really enjoy getting to host other bloggers or other people reviewing books, and I want to make that a bigger part of Reading Catholic next year.  I really hope to tap into the local Catholic community for this, and have more voices chime in on all the great books out there.

Share more in real life.  I am determined to start an in-real-life book group again, and this one will not be about Catholic books--there, I said it!  I am definitely up for the fun I had several years back with a now-defunct Jane Austen book group.  I need that kind of talk and enjoyment with fellow readers.

What about you?  What are your favorite reads from 2012, and are you making any reading resolutions for 2013?

"You Know, You Could Name Your Son After Fulton Sheen": Guest Post

Even though it is no longer September, I still have a number of stories to share from those who love Arcbishop Sheen, so this will continue as a regular feature here at Reading Catholic. 

Today's guest post is from Michelle Rebello, who lives with her husband Cliff and five children (teenagers down to 4 years old) in Peoria.  I've known Michelle for years, and readers here may know her as the person who had the inspiration for the Rosary Victory Project (and if you haven't signed up yet, please take a moment to go on over there and sign up, and don't forget the rosary is this Sunday, October 7).

Thanks, Michelle, for being willing to share your Fulton Sheen story here!

It was such a glorious celebration, that truly I thought all of heaven was looking down and rejoicing! That was what I thought of the Mass in 2008 celebrating the closing phase of Peoria's involvement in the cause for the canonization of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.

I was 9 months pregnant when I attended that Mass. at the Mass and also 9 months pregnant, with my son's Confirmation class. I had always enjoyed Archbishop Sheen's "Life is Worth Living" reruns on EWTN, but, like many my age, I was too young to fully appreciate him when he was alive. I sat amazed as I listened to Father recount Sheen's life, including many funny prophetic episodes, and was quite impressed.

"You know, you could name your child after him," I heard inside my head.  It was curious, but very clear.

 "You're right," I found myself replying, "I could. Let me see what Cliff thinks." (My husband, Cliff, watched the Mass later on EWTN and concurred that we should name our son after him.)

Three days later, Matthew John Fulton Rebello was born in Peoria, two weeks early. He could be the first person named after the Archbishop in his home diocese.  Matthew was born just three days after Sheen became a Servant of God.

Matthew was the fruit of much prayer since he was born a few days shy of my 44th birthday, after we had already had four living children and four miscarriages.  I had prayed that God would send us another child---a son--- and that perhaps this child could become a priest.

A woman known to the Archbishop had told us how Sheen used to be a support to her while she raised her five children. She remarked that we need more holy priests to help another generation of families. Sheen could be continuing his legacy! Now, under the watchful care of the Servant of God (now Venerable) Archbishop Sheen, I can't think of a better person to intercede for our child!

"Sheen is Still Relevant" : Guest Post by Emily Hurt of Theological-Librarian

In this month of celebrating all things Fulton Sheen, I’m delighted to share a guest post today from a very young blogger who admires and write about Peoria’s own Venerable Fulton Sheen.

Recent college graduate Emily Christine Hurt  writes about Fulton Sheen and other topics (including her job search) at Theological-Librarian.

I first encountered Emily’s writings on the Facebook page for the Catholic Bloggers Network.  Even though she writes about Fulton Sheen prolificially, I have to say that one of my favorite posts is when she describes an interview at the Library of Congress.  That's partly because my husband and I married at St. Peter's Church on Capitol Hill, adjacent to the Library of Congress, but also because I secretly I would love to be a librarian and find that a cool profession.

Emily, thank you for guest posting today, and sharing your love of Fulton Sheen.

About me and my blog:

I’m a 2012 graduate of Christendom College with a Bachelor’s in Theology.  I love Fulton Sheen, and if I were to ever pursue further theological studies, I would like to focus on Sheen.  I was born and raised mostly in Louisville, Kentucky, but lived in California for eight years.  I came back to the East Coast to go to Christendom College, in Front Royal, VA.  My work-study job in college was as a library page and desk attendant.  Since I loved it so much (enough to name my blog “Theological-Librarian” ),  I spent the first couple of months after college looking specifically for a library job that does not require a Master’s Degree.  Now I am now looking for any job that I can find.  I am also discerning whether graduate school is for me.

I started blogging in April/May 2011 while wrestling with the problem of suffering and our beloved History Professor’s cancer diagnosis.  For reasons still unknown to me, I felt the need to get my thoughts out to a bigger audience than just my journal.  

A lot of those earlier posts were more personal—they would only interest my friends or the Christendom College community—and frankly, I’m a little embarrassed when I look back at some of them.  Caroline Pollock, over at My Daily Diatribes also inspired me to blog and share my thoughts about something that was touching both of us. 

How I met Sheen and why I love him:

I first heard about Sheen in 2003, probably through some cassette tapes by Fr. Groeschel that my mother was listening to at the time. That Christmas, I read my first Sheen book, Life of Christ.  I was impressed by his writing style, his emphasis on the centrality of the Cross, and his unique explanation of Our Lord's words to Nicodemus, the Beatitudes, and more.

I kind of fell in love after that, and read everything I could get my hands on by Sheen: Peace of Soul, Go to Heaven, This is Rome, This is the Holy Land, These are the Sacraments, The Way to Inner Peace.  His books on the priesthood (Those Mysterious Priests and The Priest is Not His Own) gave me a strong admiration of and respect for the holy priesthood.

My sophomore year in college (Spring 2010), I had to write a History paper about someone who influenced modern history.  I first chose Jacques Maritain, for I don't know what reason (I stink at philosophy), but then got permission to write on Sheen, even though someone else in my section was also writing on him.  

In my paper, I said Sheen influenced history through: a) his anti-Communism, 2) his tele-evangelization, and 3) his missionary work with the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.  My History Professor (not the Awesome one mentioned often on my blog) told me about Thomas Reeves' biography of Sheen, America’s Bishop, which I used in my paper and read for enjoyment.

I realized how much I loved Sheen, declared my major (Theology), and determined to write my Senior Thesis on Sheen.

During the last semester of my Junior Year (Spring 2011), because of many events in the life of the college (two of our chaplains leaving due to ill-health within 3 days, and our beloved History Professor getting cancer), I began to wrestle with the problem of suffering.  I waded through pages and pages of Sheen during Summer 2011, particularly his words on the redemptive nature of suffering.  I tried to internalize those words  and to believe that this would all turn out okay.  This helped me not to ask “Why?” too much.

By August 2011, I’d narrowed down my broad topic of “something from Sheen’s writings” to: a) his Christology, 2) his views on the priesthood, specifically on the priest as a victim, 3) suffering, or 4) the Mass.  I even thought in my over-ambition about going through Sheen’s books chronologically to see how his Christology developed.

By September 2011, however, I had chosen my final topic: “Redemptive Suffering in the Theology of the Servant of God Archbishop Fulton John Sheen.”

In Chapter One, I looked at Sheen’s view of Christ as a Savior who came to suffer, and not just a moral reformer, and at his presentation of the Cross as always present in Our Lord’s Life in his masterful Life of Christ.  In Chapter Two, I looked at Sheen’s writings on the sufferings of the Mystical Body, how they resemble the sufferings of Christ, the intensity of love and hate directed toward both Christ and His Church, and how the world hates the Church because She teaches that suffering can be redemptive.  In Chapter Three, I looked at how Sheen views the Cross as the symbol of suffering, and love and the Crucifix (the cross + Christ) as the solution to the problem of suffering.

 I concluded by saying that Sheen is still relevant, because men will always have to suffer, and Sheen’s answer to the problem of suffering will always be relevant.  (This response  was partially to answer a college chaplain telling me that  Sheen was “outdated.”)

Why I write about Sheen on my Blog:

I love Fulton Sheen, I find inspiration in his writings; and reading Sheen has helped me to grow in my faith.  This past summer, I turned to my blog as a means of explaining for my own benefit and that of my friends Sheen quotations that puzzled my friends or people on the Fulton Sheen Facebook page.  I want to spread that love and explain some of his tricky statements—similar to what are known as the “hard sayings” of Our Lord—such as his argument that “We become like that which what we love,” and the assertion that “Sometimes the only way the good Lord can get into some hearts is to break them.”  This last quote is part one of a series, “God is Not the Author of Your Heartbreak,” with Part Two on Sheen’s words that God “kept a small sample of [the human heart] in heaven,” and Part Three on how love can transform our pain.

As I end all my posts on Theological-Librarian, borrowing from Archbishop Sheen:  God Love You!

Local Effort Seeks One Million to Pray the Rosary

The Mass of Thanksgiving for Archbishop Sheen was truly amazing, and I'm putting together several posts about the Mass itself, replete with photos and some fun stories.  I had hoped to have this up today, but there are too many great photos and stories right now, and I need to pare it down.

Today I'm digressing for a great cause.  

I want to share an ambitious new effort spearheaded by a small local group that has a mighty goal:  getting one million people to say the Rosary on  Sunday, October 7.

Coincidentally (providentially?), it was the inspiration of a longtime friend, Michelle Rebello, who is also a member of the women's Sheen book group featured here on the blog last week.

Here's the message from Michelle: 

We are asking you to join one million of your fellow Catholics in saying the Rosary for our country on Sunday, October 7, 2012 at 3 pm EST. (You can say it wherever you are, or can go to St. Vincent dePaul church in Peoria to pray it at 2:00pm right before the Life Chain.) We are praying for our country to return to God and His laws. 

Visit rosaryvictory.com to pledge your support and be counted. Please help spread the word through email, facebook, twitter, etc (you can  go to those at facebook.rosaryvictory.com and twitter.rosaryvictory.com) to help us reach our goal of one million people! 

Bishop Jenky has asked for people to consecrate themselves to Jesus through Mary on that day; it would be a great way to honor Our Lady and help our country to say the rosary all together on that day. 

Thank you for all of your help in spreading the word and in praying the rosary on Oct. 7th. Remember, we need people to go to the website and put their email address there and the number of people in their family that will say the rosary so that we can tally up all the pledged rosaries--to 1 million and beyond!

"Jesus Has Been Making This Journey With Me": Guest Post for Sheen September, Mary McKean

As I was writing the title for this post, it occurred to me that "Sheen September" is a good name for this month on Reading Catholic, as the focus is many things Sheen.  Today, I'm honored to share the first of  several guest posts by Sheen aficionados.  Mary McKean is the leader of  the women's Sheen Book Group of which I'm a member, and I've known her for more than a dozen years, and as you will see, she is a longtime Sheen fan.  

Mary McKean and her husband, Pete, have been married 35 years and are the parents of  eight children ages 33 to 16, and grandmother of 16 (and counting), where they are members of St. John the Baptist Parish in Bradford.  

Mary's been a parish organist for 40 years (she started as a young teen!).  

I also want to add one fact I've known for years about Mary that I find so cool: she and her husband were in the Peace Corps in Ecuador as newlyweds in 1977. 

Mary, thanks for writing this guest post and sharing your perspective on Archbishop Sheen!

As a mother and grandmother of a large family I haven't always had time to read.  Now that my children are nearly grown, there has been an awakening in me of things set aside, and dreams unfulfilled.  I have discovered the joys of pursuing in-depth study of the Bible, and of getting to know Our Lord personally.

For quite some time I have had a desire to be a participant in a Catholic Book Club.  I wanted to learn my Faith better, and to read books that had some depth.  I have searched the area many times, but have never discovered any such group.  I joined my local library's monthly book club, and while I enjoyed it, I still felt that something important was missing.

I became a member of the Marian Catechists, which is an apostolate within the Church, whose sole purpose is to share the Faith.  I decided that now was the time to do something about this desire.  I called some friends I thought might be interested in exploring the depths of our Faith, and we set a date to begin.  I asked them each to bring a book that they might be interested in reading during the year.

Imagine my surprise when nearly everyone brought a book by Archbishop Sheen, myself included!  Considering the fact that we are in Archbishop Sheen's home diocese, and that he was just declared venerable, we decided to dedicate the entire year to his books, studying a new one each month.

What a year it has been!  I have gained so much, and have learned to love and appreciate this man.  I am always so impressed by the insights he brings to each book....insights that come from wisdom, not necessarily knowledge.  How, I thought, does he penetrate into the human mind, and understand its workings when he has no background in psychology?  I concluded that there could be only one reason:  the holy hour he made before the Blessed Sacrament each and every day of his priestly life.

I think Jesus has been making this journey with me, touching my heart with His Spirit.  Each book we've read has spoken to me, and been just what I've needed at a particular moment.  When troubled with some personal trials, Sheen's book Peace of Soul brought me comfort and understanding.  After several weeks of suffering, I was reminded in St. Therese: A Treasured Love Story, of the power of the cross when offered to Our Lord for others. My love and devotion to Mary was strengthened and increased by a study of The World's First Love.  There are many other examples.

My family and I live on a farm just ten miles from the one where Fulton Sheen worked summers helping his grandparents.  I grew up listening to his tapes, and my husband spent many evenings with his grandmother watching 'Life is Worth Living' on television. My mother read Three to Get Married as a young married woman.  All of these things have made the archbishop feel especially close and approachable.  I love his sense of humor, his warmth, and love of life. He has certainly broadened and enriched my life.

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.

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.

Guest Post: “A Beautiful Life Surrounded by and Knowing Nothing but Love”

I’m humbled today to present a guest post from Teresa Lutz, a local mom, on a book I reviewed this month, Karen Edmisten’s After Miscarriage. 

Read the full article and guest post on my newer website, Reading Catholic.  Click here to go to the post on ReadingCatholic.com, and I invite you to visit and follow me there. 

Guest Post: A Pilgrim Shares Her Journeys to World Youth Day

It's just a little more than two weeks until the start of World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid, Spain.  Since this month I reviewed two books that are WYD-friendly,  I wanted to feature the WYD stories of people in the Peoria diocese.   I am delighted to be able to feature a dear friend and her WYD experiences.  Amy Dyke is wife to Craig & mom to four wonderful girls, with another baby on the way shortly.  Amy, thank you so much for taking the time in your busy schedule to guest post here and share your experiences (and some great "vintage" photos!)

By Amy Dyke

Every few years when World Youth Day is celebrated somewhere new throughout the world, I am reminded that I’ve had the blessing of attending two World Youth Days in my younger years.  My first was in Denver, Colorado, in 1993, with my parish Youth Group.   My second was in Manila, Philippines, in 1995, as part of my year of missionary work when I took a year off from college.   I’ve also had the honor of seeing John Paul II in Rome and the Czech Republic in 1997 while I studied abroad in Austria.  Yes, I was perhaps a bit of a groupie, but I must admit that after my first encounter with JPII as an 18 year old, my life absolutely changed for the better.  To be given the opportunity of literally being in the presence of holiness is something I’ve learned to never pass up.

 

Each WYD experience, both Denver and Manila, had its own unique way of speaking to my heart and turning my life, in a more powerful way, toward God.  Denver, though, was the most impacting experience for me.  I had just graduated from high school and was on my way to college.  I had no idea of what to expect, especially since our Youth Group called this adventure a pilgrimage- a completely foreign concept to me at the time.  I quickly realized that this was not an ordinary trip with friends, focused only on fun and games.  Rather, I learned firsthand that a true pilgrimage is about prayer, a deeper understanding of God and a deeper quest into my own faith journey.

The cramped sleeping quarters, simple food, and continual emphasis on prayer were necessary components for me to understand the idea of pilgrimage, but that was actually only a small part of it all.  My eyes were opened in ways I never thought possible.  It was both profound and inspiring to see other Catholic youth who possessed not even a morsel of embarrassment or hesitation in talking about spiritual things and/or their own faith journey.  I was, in turn, relieved to feel the freedom to let down my own guard and speak openly about my love for Christ and the Church.  After having experienced numerous, powerful interactions with other Catholic youth in those first few days of WYD, I remember going to sleep in the evenings, immersed in prayer, feeling absolutely blessed and thankful to be in the presence of sincere Catholics who were not just proud, but truly joyful in proclaiming their Faith.  I look back now and am confident that this simple, yet bold experience of other youth living out their Catholic Faith played a huge role in the development of my own faith life.  What an unexpected gift, especially at a time of life when the lure of the world is shouting out, ever so loudly, to college-bound young adults to abandon their Faith and embrace a hedonistic lifestyle, one of so-called freedom and happiness.

Over the course of the week, my faith life had exploded in ways I didn’t know possible.  I made rock-solid friendships – ones which I treasure and have kept alive to this day.  Yet, the highlight of World Youth Day for me was my extraordinary, albeit momentary, encounter with JPII.   He had finally arrived into Denver and I struggled to get as close as humanly possible to the path where he would slowly cruise through Mile High Stadium in his pope-mobile.  The strong anticipation I physically felt in awaiting our Holy Father came as a strange surprise to me.  My breathing became heavier, my hands were shaking and I found myself biting my bottom lip so hard, that I eventually tasted my own blood.   …It was brief, perhaps only a few seconds that I was directly in JPII’s presence, but for that very brief, faith-filled moment, the entire world stood still for this child of God.   A sense of calm came over me as his loving eyes gazed down upon me, as if he could see directly into my heart.  His joy, love and holiness literally overcame me.  I felt an overwhelming sense of security in his strong, loving eyes- eyes that were filled with unspeakable hope and joy.   I felt the presence of God, the holiness of God in a way that I had never known possible.   I was simply in awe.  As I watched him leave, I realized that I had tears literally pouring out of my eyes—tears of joy at their finest, and clearly an instinctual reaction of an indescribable experience- one of purity, joy, love and the unmistakable presence of Christ’s peace and holiness.   I’m confident that those tears -and the incredibly wet collar of my shirt- was my small little gift from God to always remember and cherish that magnificent, life-changing moment of my youth.  

I’ve read various books and articles since JPII’s passing, and they all seem to be consistent in this one area:  JPII had come into contact with hundreds of millions of the Catholic Faithful, yet when it was specifically you that was in his presence, you felt as though you were the most important person in the world, truly the only one that mattered in his eyes.  Yes, his personality was magnetic and all-encompassing, but there was something much deeper and profound about his presence that captured the hearts of the Faithful.  His sincere charism of profound Christ-like love, holiness and personalism, which he carried with him throughout his life and freely shared with all those he encountered, was one of the many tremendous gifts that he bestowed upon the Faithful—of which, I am incredibly grateful to be included.

Even though I did not realize it at the time how monumental this encounter was upon my life, it certainly is obvious now as I look back and see how God’s hand worked out the details and led me toward a life of Truth.  I was joyfully inspired by JPII’s proclamation that the youth are the future and the hope of the Church.  I was thrilled by his assertion that there is but one Truth, which is found in the very person of Jesus Christ, with our Holy Catholic Church loyally safeguarding and affirming this Truth.  I was enthusiastically being drawn into these simple, yet concrete, answers- ones for which I didn’t even realize my heart had been asking, struggling or longing.  The Truth was proclaimed in such a powerful way, with confidence and joy, in a way I had never before heard.  JPII attracted and brought souls to the Truth by speaking directly to that part of the person’s heart that was crying out for meaning, truth, hope.  His words carried authority, love, compassion, honesty.  The Holy Father was, and continues to be, the living, breathing representative of Jesus Christ on earth.  Yes, the authority and grandeur of his presence were absolutely awe-inspiring, but even more so, it was the purity and holiness of his very person that lovingly pierced the hearts of the Faithful, changing them for the better.  For me, that brief, overwhelming experience of being in the Holy Father’s presence was but a taste of what I imagine the heavenly experience will be when we are in the love and holiness of Jesus Christ Himself.   St. Augustine wisely and accurately said, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee, O Lord.”   Such great consolation these words are, especially after experiencing this loving, humble man of God, JPII.  He granted me, and so many others- through a simple glance of his strong, loving eyes- an incredibly vibrant taste of holiness, and perhaps a sincere foretaste into the pure joy of Eternal Life with our Lord Jesus Christ.  What an astounding treasure God has in store for those who love Him!

As a cradle Catholic, I unfortunately never fully realized the gift I had in my Catholic Faith.  I hadn’t taken much time to think about the Pope- or that he would ever be an important figure in my life.  Denver’s WYD, however, changed everything for me and gave me an eye-opening awareness of the importance and necessity the Holy Father is to our Holy Catholic Church and especially the amazing treasure we’ve been given with Apostolic Succession.  From our first pope, the Apostle Peter, all the way to our present day pope, Benedict XVI, all Catholic Bishops throughout the world, for the past two thousand years, can trace their lineage directly back to Christ.  What an incredible reality this is.  Jesus Christ Himself told Peter, “You are Rock and upon this Rock I will build my Church.”  These are words that should make us Catholics tremble.  With great resolve and confidence, we are led into the fullness of Truth through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, in the Chair of St. Peter.  What a feeling of both relief and joy to know that we are home, being led by the Bishop of Rome, the Vicar of Christ on earth- and exactly where our Lord wants us to be.

Blessed JPII has passed on to his eternal reward and our Church is now blessed with our good and faithful shepherd, Pope Benedict XVI.  My admiration and love overflow greatly for this holy man of God.  My heart melts when I see him shyly smile upon the adoring crowds and in the sincere way he humbly exhibits the love and holiness of God upon the Faithful.  I have great hopes of seeing him someday, perhaps even at another World Youth Day.   The reality, however, of the blessings of family life, along with baby #5 due soon, puts somewhat of a cramp in my travel habits of the past.  So for now, I cannot be Benedict’s groupie, but I will heartily rejoice with my husband and daughters in simply knowing that he is here on earth, praying with and for all of us, and boldly shepherding our Holy Catholic Church into all Truth, Beauty and Goodness.  What a treasure.