Reading Catholic

Reading Catholic and catholic

Nancy Piccione

“St. Dymphna’s Playbook” Offers Hope, Solidarity on Mental Health Struggles

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This is my column that appears in this week’s print edition of The Catholic Post.

Like most people, I am grateful to live in a time when mental health issues are discussed openly. In decades past, these topics were often minimized or stigmatized. And in some religious circles, mental health struggles could be overly spiritualized, and sometimes prayer was presented as the only solution.

At the same time, right now there is such a plethora of mental health resources and voices—especially on social media—that it’s challenging to distinguish the helpful from the less than helpful.

Sometimes, these voices—professionals or non-professionals—can pathologize nearly everything and everyone, even relatively normal struggles or relationships; they can promote a one-size-fits-all approach to all mental health issues; and they can be unreceptive or even hostile to sincere faith being a major element in a person’s integrated and well-ordered life. It can take a lot of effort to sift through the chaff for the wheat.

Tommy Tighe’s newest book: St. Dymphna’s Playbook

That’s why I am so grateful to Tommy Tighe, a licensed marriage and family therapist, for writing St. Dymphna’s Playbook: A Catholic Guide to Finding Mental and Emotional Well-Being,” and providing a much-needed Catholic perspective.

Tighe wrote St. Dymphna’s Playbook “to fill the void of Catholic conversations about mental health.”

St. Dymphna, for those who do not know her, is the saint who’s often invoked for those with mental health issues, and for their caregivers and loved ones. (Tighe’s podcast is also titled “St. Dymphna’s Playbook.”)

“God wills that everyone be saved, not just from sin and evil but also from depression, anxiety, past trauma, difficult relationships, heartbreak, addiction, and everything else that brings us pain, suffering, and separation from the love and peace God so desperately want to give us,” Tighe writes in the introduction.

St. Dymphna’s Playbook is divided into five sections: Depression, Anxiety, Trauma, Relationships, and Grief. Each section has sub-chapters that cover one aspect of the subject: for instance, “Fatigue” and “Irritability” are two of the chapters under “Depression.” “Manipulative Relationships” is one chapter in the “Relationships” section.

Each chapter has a phrase that echoes John 11:3, when Jesus’ disciples report to him about Lazarus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

So, for instance, in the Anxiety section, one chapter is titled: “Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: The One You Love is Battling Intrusive Thoughts.” And a chapter of the Depression Section is “Irritability: Lord, The One You Love is Annoyed.”

Each section includes several aspects of a mental health disorder, such as a description of what the symptoms or diagnosis actually is; practical, healthy coping skills everyone can try; a brief exploration of what our faith and the saints have to say about the experience; and a list of key points in summary.

One of my favorite features is “What the Saints Say About …” . This chapter section profiles a saint who either did or may have suffered from that condition. In the Anhedonia (lack of feeling) chapter under Depression, Tighe discusses St. Mother Teresa and her decades-long struggle with spiritual darkness. Tighe also writes beautifully about the life of Venerable Matt Talbot, an early 20th century Irishman who overcame alcoholism and who said, “It’s as hard to give up the drink as it is to raise the dead to life again.”

St. Dymphna’s Playbook is not a self-help book or a textbook, or a prescription for those struggling. It’s a worthwhile resource from a competent, Catholic source, and from a healthy Catholic perspective.

“While there are coping skills within this book for the various mental health experiences we may be going through, this book doesn’t intend to solve all our problems.” Tighe writes. “My hope is that this book provides the impetus for our Catholic Church to bring our mental health struggles out into the open without stigma and with a plan for moving forward.”

Companion reads:

Two recently-published books are excellent complementary reads with St. Dymphna’s Playbook.

Awakening at Lourdes by Christy Wilkens

In Awakening at Lourdes: How an Unanswered Prayer Healed Our Family & Restored Our Faith, Christy Wilkens writes expressively about her sixth child’s struggle with complex medical issues, her spiritual and emotional journey; and how a pilgrimage to Lourdes transformed her life.

Awakening at Lourdes is fascinating even just as a detailed account of what happens on a Lourdes pilgrimage, But more than that, it’s a profoundly personal journey of a deepening faith, and a reminder to all that “None of us is meant to endure the trials of this life alone.”

Meg Hunter-Kilmer’s Pray for Us.

Meg Hunter-Kilmer’s newest book, Pray for Us: 75 Saints Who Sinned, Suffered, and Struggled on Their Way to Holiness might be quickly described as a “grown-up” version of her excellent Saints Around the World, which she wrote mostly for younger readers.

In Pray for Us, Hunter-Kilmer writes in more detail about saints whose lives were “complicated” in various ways, but in such an engaging way that it’s easy to see how many beautiful and unconventional ways there are to be a saint and live out a life of faith.

Pray for Us includes more detail about the lives of a wide variety of saints, with sections including “Saints Who Defied Expectations,” Saints With Difficult Families,” “Saints Whose Ruined Plans Open the Way to More Beautiful Things,” “Saints Who Were Failures,” and more.

All three books provide a powerful reminder for Catholics: the knowledge that we are not alone in our struggles and sufferings.

As Tighe writes, it’s “less about having an answer for everything and more about trying to foster a Catholic community where we suffer together, unafraid to walk forward with our sisters and brothers through their valley of tears.… You are never alone. Help and hope are always out there.”

The Essential Things: “Through the Year with Jesus” Offers Lovely, Useful Resource to Growth Faith & Community

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Following is my book review column that appears in the current print edition of The Catholic Post. I welcome your comments!

Basics or Essential?

I wanted to write that Katherine Bogner’s new book is a “back to basics” approach to living out the Catholic faith, using liturgical seasons and weekly Gospel Readings as framework.


But that would underestimate the rich and multilayered resource that Bogner, a local teacher with a global reach online, has created in Through the Year with Jesus: Gospel Reflections and Readings.

“Essentials” might be a better term.

Katherine (Katie) Bogner is a multi-talented creative—she’s an artist, writer (she is a fellow member of The Catholic Post book review team), and religious catechist.

Locally, she serves as Junior High Faith Teacher at St. Philomena Parish in Peoria. But some may not know that Bogner is widely known and esteemed far beyond central Illinois.

That is because Bogner has spent the last decade creating excellent art, content, and ideas to countless teachers, catechists, and families (worldwide! that is not an exaggeration) at her website Look to Him and Be Radiant. Bogner also has a popular Instagram account (@katherine.bogner), sharing these web resources and her art.

Because of her wide influence and reach online, Emmaus Road Publishing editors reached out to Bogner to consider writing a book. Through the Year with Jesus is the fortunate result of this.

Through the Year with Jesus

The book contains seven sections—two for Ordinary time, one for the Sacred Triduum, and four for the remaining liturgical seasons: Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter.

Each section includes pages for the holy days and Sundays within that season, including weekly Gospel reflections, and at least one “Visio Divina”—a print of a classic work of sacred heart, along with a description and reflection questions.

Each Gospel reading is followed by several short elements: “Tell the Story”—describing the reading in context and incisive questions; “Live it Out,” with suggestions for incorporating the season into one’s daily life, and a “Lectio Divina” sidebar offering helpful prompts for the ancient practice of reading, meditating, praying and contemplating Scripture.

Visio Divina for Reflection and Prayer

The “Visio Divina” is one of my favorite parts of the book, offering helpful ways to engage with the Scripture art prayerfully.

So, for instance, in the season of Easter, one of the Visio Divina pages is at 17th century painting called “Landscape with Christ and His Disciples on the Road to Emmaus.” After an introduction, one question reads, “Would you want to get to your location quickly and invite Jesus to stay, or would you hope to linger and spend time together on the journey?”

Bogner’s appealing hand lettering and what she calls “liturgical doodles” appear sprinkled throughout the chapter titles, headings, and other places, lending a winsome touch. Readers of her website will be familiar with her distinctive style and appreciate the book’s similar feel.

Not just for families & classrooms

Bogner’s creative work online mainly assists families and fellow catechists and teachers for religious education and formation. But Through the Year with Jesus is even more widely relevant.

Though the book is family- and classroom-friendly, it is not family or classroom exclusive. Groups (such a small Bible study groups), individuals, and couples would also find Through the Year spiritually fruitful.

The book is easy to implement. Simply reading the Gospel, the “Tell the Story” reflection, and the “Live it Out” section, along with the Lectio Divina sidebar (perhaps while contemplating the artwork) itself would be a great preparation for Sunday Mass. Individuals can do this on their own or with a small group; classroom teachers can implement it, and families (and not just of young children, but all ages) would benefit enormously from this.

This kind of multi-faceted resource is especially important when people cannot attend Mass in person, as is common during our current time.

Catholics can derive spiritual benefit from developing the practice of reading and reflecting on the Gospel and readings ahead of Sunday’s Mass. Through the Year with Jesus makes it enjoyable, comprehensive without being overwhelming.

What’s great? The book is not pegged to a particular calendar year or cycle, so is flexible enough to allow readers to engage with it as much or as little as time allows, year after year.

Bogner’s book is a beautiful gift to everyone!

Extraordinary Times Call for Extraordinary Calm

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Following is my column that appears in the current print edition of The Catholic Post.

Years ago, in a column here, I told the story I love about St. Charles Borremeo, the16th century saint and archbishop.

The story goes that he was playing cards with two priest friends. Someone near them asked what they would do if they knew the end of the world were to happen within an hour.

One priest said, “I would run to Church to be with our Lord.” The other priest said, “I would call upon the name of the Lord.”

St. Charles Borromeo said, “I would finish this game of cards.”

A few years ago, thinking of that was a nice reminder that if one’s life is well-ordered, whatever we are doing at the moment can be the right thing.

But thinking of that story during our extraordinary times is another thing.

Right now we see our world—not end, perhaps, but change in dramatic and enduring ways.

It is normal and even healthy to have genuine worries and concerns about what the coronavirus means for our families, our health care system and our world in the coming weeks and months.

But at the same time, we all would do well to pray (on repeat) the Serenity Prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

How do we achieve—or renew—that serenity? Many saints and other holy people struggled with distractions (think St. Therese of Lisieux) or “wandering of the mind” (St. Teresa of Avila), so those of us who do so as well are in good company.

We are fortunate that in our Catholic faith offers so many opportunities to reflect on beautiful things, from mysteries of the Rosary to Scripture to holy art. But what is a way to improve our attention to the present moment so we can focus on those?

A new book, The Mindful Catholic: Finding God One Moment at a Time, (and a companion children’s picture book) used evidence-based research to improve mindfulness and attention for the reader, from a Catholic perspective.

“The Mindful Catholic,” written by Dr. Gregory Bottaro, a clinical psychologist and director of the Catholic Psych Institute, is a helpful resource that demonstrates how mindfulness practiced from a Catholic perspective can be spiritually and psychologically fruitful. That is especially helpful in these unprecedented times.

“(M)indfulness does not mean turning off the thoughts in your mind, but using them a a door to greater awareness of yourself.”

-Dr. Gregory Bottaro, The Mindful Catholic

This quote shows one of the ways that Catholic mindfulness is vastly different from Eastern-based forms of meditation. The latter often instructs people to “empty” their minds. As Catholics, “we want to fill our minds with reality,” says Bottaro.

Practicing mindfulness is what actually changes a person’s brain, so the book offers exercises at the end of each chapter for readers to use to exercises and meditations.

Practicing mindfulness is what actually changes a person’s brain, so the book offers exercises at the end of each chapter for readers to use to exercises and meditations.

Surely I am not the only person whose mind wanders during a Rosary, Mass, or another prayer. Rather than getting frustrated with this wandering or “autopilot” mode, mindfulness allows for awareness of this, and tips to practice mindfulness.

Dr. Bottaro explains often that acceptance is key to encountering mindfulness—not fighting against our thoughts but having curiosity, and gently turning our thoughts back to what we intend, such as prayers that we are.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church even addresses distraction in prayer and how that “turning back” is a key part of prayer:

“The habitual difficulty in prayer is distraction. It can affect words and their meaning in vocal prayer; it can concern, more profoundly, him to whom we are praying, in vocal prayer (liturgical or personal), meditation, and contemplative prayer. To set about hunting down distractions would be to fall into their trap, when all that is necessary is to turn back to our heart.”

–Catechism of the Catholic Church 2729

The Mindful Catholic is full of research and other information about why mindfulness—“paying attention the present moment, without judgment or criticism” is so healthy for humans, and how God made us this way. Bottaro also offers exercises to practice every day to increase a readers ability in this area.

One phrase Dr. Bottaro repeats often and encourages readers to adopt, is “Ever-present God, here with me now, help me to be here with you.”

I have found both the written book and the audio book very helpful in different aspects of practicing mindfulness, and being aware of my thoughts without fighting them, as well as staying in the present moment.

Peter Kreeft, the prolific Catholic author and philosophy professor at Boston College, wrote the foreward. In his characteristic sensible style, he endorses the book as a way to help focus on prayer. “You can’t focus on God if you can’t focus,” Kreeft writes, and he is right.

The Mindful Catholic also includes two appendices—one an exploration of how mindfulness is eminently consistent with our Catholic faith & practice, of a Novena of Surrender to the Will of God.

There is also a companion book for children. It’s called, Sitting Like a Saint: Catholic Mindfulness with Kids, and Bottaro and his wife Linda—also a psychologist— co-authored this work. The book explores mindfulness helps kids to be calm even in the midst of chaos.

What I love best about this book is it really provides easy, bite-sized meditations for families to read through and pray to help calm and . Even though we do not have any little kids any more, both teens and adults at our house have found these brief reflections both calming and meditative as a precursor to prayer, or just to be a calming interlude in our day.

A Different Kind of Conversion Story

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Following is my column that appears in the current print edition of The Catholic Post.

Nearly three years ago, 85-year-old priest Fr. Jacques Hamel was martyred by two Islamic state terrorist while he was celebrating daily Mass at the parish in Normandy, France, where he lived as a retired priest. I vividly recall how moved I was by the accounts of him, and his witness to the faith. Like many Catholics wondered if I could have done the same.

Shortly after Fr. Hamel’s martyrdom, new stories shared that Wall Street Journal reporter Sohrab Ahmari, a secular Iranian-American, announced on Twitter his conversion to Catholicism because of Fr. Hamel’s witness. 

Wow! I remember thinking. How amazing that an old priest’s martyrdom could inspire a Muslim-born Iranian to convert.

The true story of Ahmari’s conversion (and the tweet—which he deleted soon deleted after it went viral because of how it was misreported) is far more compelling.

From Fire by Water: My Journey to the Catholic Faith is Ahmari’s spiritual memoir of what really happened, from his. and far more interesting than I, and many others, initially thought.

As Ahmari writes in the preface,

“Catholicism was the destination I reached after a long, circuitous spiritual path. That path cut across my Muslim background and Iranian heritage, to be sure, and then in turn shaped its course. But it wasn’t as if I had been praying to Allah one day and the next day accepted Christ as my savior. My Internet cheer squad craved precisely this simplistic narrative, which Twitter, with its tendency to flatten human experience into readily digestible memes, supplied.”

“(M)y becoming Catholic had something to do with being Iranian- and Muslim-born but that it was ultimately a response to the universal call of grace.”

This book is fascinating because Ahmari’s story is so different than the typical American conversion story. But even though the biographical details are unusual, his story shares elements that are shared in most, if not all, conversion stories. 

Chief among these is an attraction to the good, the beautiful, and the virtuous, that helped him accept a universal standard of good and evil.  That gradually drew him towards God and living a life of faith.

He was raised in Iran by non-religious and inattentive parents, and his sharp communications skills made him seem older and wiser than he was.  And this lack of virtue development didn’t help him become better. As he writes, ““I wanted to be “good.” But I came to associate being good with wowing adults.”

After he and his mother emigrated to the United States when he was a teenager, his high intelligence allowed him to “coast” through high school and even college, without learning critical thinking skills, and helped him easily conform to the worst of the prevailing secular culture. 

He participated in the Marxist movement in college, only giving it up when he realized that while the principles seemed sound, it was a movement of not the working class as it proclaimed, and that “the full-time socialist life was possible only for the children of the upper-middle class.”

One of the chief themes of From Fire by Water is the idea that it’s not just good enough to be intellectually brilliant and insightful. One must also have and practice virtue. In short, you can’t just be smart. You have to be good, too.

This is most illustrated in the story of Ahmari’s fellow co-worker when they were together in the Teach for America program. (Teach for America is a program that enlists recent college grads to teach for several years in schools in low-income rural & urban communities.)

This co-worker worked long hours and was a tough but fair teacher. A the same time, and unlike his fellow teachers, he refused out of principle to advance kids who were not doing well enough. Instead, this teacher spent extra time with them and held them to his high standards. This did not endear him to others, but caused him to be out of favor with his higher-ups and even his fellow teachers. 

As Ahmari met and encountered people who practiced the virtues even in hard circumstances (eventually, learning of Fr. Hamel’s heroic virtue in martyrdom), he recognized his own lack of good character, and tried with limited success to remedy that. 

This search for integrity led him to spend time in a Catholic church in Manhattan, where he encountered Jesus in the Eucharist. Like many, he experienced powerfully God’s presence. After a long time, and even after more twists and turns, Ahmari converted to Catholicism in London.

Back in the day when blogs were much more popular, I followed many blogs of Catholic moms. And we moms struggled mightily to name our blogs, and rename when necessary. Mine was the name of a Rich Mullins song, probably dating me, but I don’t care.

One mom I followed named her blog “Heaven, not Harvard.”

For some reason this always bothered me. I thought, “But why can’t you have both?” Because of course you can (and recently I reviewed a book on that very premise, “How I Stayed Catholic at Harvard,” by a recent Harvard graduate who found a way to live our her faith in a robust wa.).

Reading From Fire by Water helped me to remember that high intelligence and a strong faith are not mutually exclusive, and can be a powerful combination.

The book also helped to confirm the importance of trying our best, with God’s grace, to live lives of virtue. We never know how we might be affecting the people around us, or the seeds we are planting by our consistency in doing the right thing, especially when it’s difficult.

Most of all, From Fire by Water helped me to reflect on the ways that everyone’s faith journey is just that—a journey. We lifelong Catholics may not have the dramatic conversion odyssey of a Sohrab Ahmari, but our faith, and our relationship with Christ and His Church, changes through the years. 

8 Things I’ve Learned in 8 Years of Reviewing Catholic Books {My column @TheCatholicPost}

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Following is my column that appears in the current print edition of The Catholic Post. This will be my last regular column for The Catholic Post, but I may be filling in occasionally.

This marks my final regular monthly column reviewing books for The Catholic Post. After more than eight years, hundreds of books reviewed, and nearly 100 columns and “Reader” profiles, I’ll be stepping away from writing book reviews to pursue other projects.

To be honest, I’m uneasy about what this change in status will mean for my spiritual life & prayer life.

Searching out and reading good Catholic books has become normal these past eight years. I’ve spent hours in adoration reading potential good books—an excellent way to discern whether a book is review-worthy. And because my husband Joseph has been the first reader of my columns, his feedback and our discussions as I fine-tune my thoughts have strengthened our spiritual friendship in marriage.

I’ve heard from many readers over the years about books that have helped or edified them, but truthfully, I am the one who has been most enriched by writing about Catholic books. I will always be grateful for this opportunity and my years here, and the careful editing and guidance of Tom Dermody, the editor of The Catholic Post.

Here are some of the “takeaways” that I’ve learned. I hope you will remember them, too:

  1. Catholic memoirs and spiritual biographies are an excellent genre for the reader’s spiritual growth & learning.

Memoirs, including spiritual biographies, can be very inconsistent in quality. While I’m not a fan of much modern memoir types, I have found numerous good examples in Catholic books old and new. I’ve written about ones as varied as the first book I ever reviewed, Venerable Fulton Sheen’s classic Treasure in Clay. Other great spiritual memoirs include He Leadeth Me by Fr. Walter Ciszek, The Fourth Cup by Scott Hahn, and The Ear of the Heart: An Actress’ Journey from Hollywood to Holy Vows by Mother Dolores Hart.

2. Not all “Catholic” books are written by Catholics, or from Catholic publishers.

One of the most discussion-worthy books I’ve read in recent years is Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, which explores the area of death and dying, including wisdom from medieval monks, and what that means in today’s culture. In addition, books like Michael Pollan’s Cooked offer incarnational perspective on the goodness of creation.

3. Catholic authors are good for different audiences.

As I’ve written before, very few books are good for every Catholic reader, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something for everyone among Catholic books.

To consider two audiences:

For kids and teens, there is everything from saint biography books like Ablaze, & Radiate by Colleen Swaim, saint-inspired fiction like the charming, Olivia and the Little Way by Nancy Carabio Belanger, and practical works such as Your College Faith: Own It! and How I Stayed Catholic at Harvard.

For moms, there are a range of books, and newer ones released almost every year, on motherhood and balance, from pregnancy and early childhood in “Made for This” to parenting for your child’s personality in books like “The Temperament God Gave Your Kids.”

4. Praise God, the saints come in all types, sizes, and spiritualities.

I’m not going to name names, but certain saints inspire in me not devotion, but gratitude that God made all kind of people capable of becoming saints. A friend is fond of saying that the spiritual life is “individual as a fingerprint.” Readers can easily find a saint, spirituality to suit, though I have found it spiritually edifying to stretch outside my comfort zone when it comes to reading about the saints.

Some of my favorite books about saints and spiritualities include How to Pray the Dominican Way: Ten Postures, Prayers and Practices that Lead Us to God by Angelo Stagnaro, Introduction to the Devout Life  by St. Francis de Sales, and My Sisters the Saints by Colleen Carroll Campbell.

5. Healing can begin with reading books.

Some of my most popular reviews have been books about sensitive topics, especially ones relating to mental health and sexuality. Such books include Dawn Eden’s My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints and Remembering God’s Mercy, both about healing memory; Gay and Catholic by Eve Tushnet; Surviving Depression: A Catholic Approach by Sister Kathryn Hermes; and the powerful Hurting in the Church: A Way Forward for Wounded Catholics by Fr. Thomas Berg.

6. You can be intellectual and Catholic.

This shouldn’t be surprising, considering that the Catholic Church gave us the scientific method, the university system, and innumerable discoveries. But in today’s culture of “cool,” the prevailing belief is that Catholicism, or any deeply held faith, is at odds with reason and “reality.” Nothing could be further from the truth.

Consider Would You Baptize an Extra-Terrestrial by Vatican astronomers Brother Guy Consolmagno and Fr. Paul Mueller; The Loser Letters by Mary Eberstadt; The Case for Jesus by Brad Pitre; and any of the books by Fr. Robert Barron or Fr. Robert Spitzer.

7. Our Catholic faith is a precious gift that we should want to share and celebrate with everyone.

Forming Intentional Disciples: The Path to Knowing and Following Jesus by Sherry Weddell is a book that gets to the heart of evangelization, both within and outside of parishes. It talks about the vital importance of helping people have a deep personal relationship with Jesus, and what that means for the life of a parish or the Church at large.

8. Media literacy and critical thinking are must-have skills.

Developing the ability to discern wisely what one is reading, watching, or hearing, is more important than ever. Books like The Read-Aloud Family by Sarah MacKenzie and The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age provide not just families, but anyone, with tools and ideas for strengthening one’s critical skills in this area.

That is eight, but I have one more takeaway, since I like to “over-deliver:”

9. Reading is subservient to the goal of our faith: love.

St. Paul puts it perfectly 1 Corinthians 13:1: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging symbol.”

Timeless Toys, Timeless Faith {My July column @TheCatholicPost }

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Following is my column that appears in the current print edition of The Catholic Post.

The author and apologist C.S. Lewis is famous for saying that “a children’s story which is enjoyed only by children is a bad children’s story. The good ones last.”

That is definitely true of books, including the children’s books written by Lewis, chiefly the enduring Chronicles of Narnia series. But it’s also true of anything for children.

The things that last can be handed down lovingly from generation to generation— Legos (also known as “brick toys”), favorite movies (original Lord of the Rings movies, I’m looking at you), music, even favorite foods, are enjoyable for all ages, not just kids.

That’s why a new book that cleverly explains Catholic theology and Scripture stories entirely in Legos is both brilliant and entertaining. It’s also completely appropriate for everyone from very young kids to grandparents.

The Catechism of the Seven Sacraments is a passion project undertaken by Kevin and Mary O’Neill and their seven children. The O’Neills found themselves less than satisfied with the Lego-brick illustrated books related to religious topics that have been published over the years from a wide range of sources. But rather than just stay annoyed, they decided to jump in as a family and do something about it.

The introduction to The Catechism of the Seven Sacraments explains it perfectly: “As Catholics, we read the Bible in 3-D. This is because our faith comes alive through Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.” The book combines “those same 3-D biblical teachings with fun 3-D images to help teach the beauty of the faith in a simple way.”

The Catechism of the Seven Sacraments follows a discussion between the book’s two Lego “narrators,” Fulton and Cynthia, who discuss in great detail—often with help from priests and others—the Catholic faith through the lens of the seven Sacraments, beginning with the Eucharist. The book’s underlying message is based on Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s teaching of “Theology of the Covenant,” a framework for interpreting Scripture centered on Christ throughout the entire Scripture, both Old & New.

The book is organized in a graphic novel format, with clever and marvelously staged photographs of scenes from the Bible and Catholic sacramental life. I find myself with more than a little awe for the time and patience that went into this effort.

The details of many of the photo illustrations are so charming, it’s hard to pick favorites. The book of Genesis, from the 7 “days” of creation in Genesis 1 to Noah & the Ark, are wonderful, as are the illustrations of baptisms from St. John the Baptist baptizing Jesus to modern celebration of the Sacrament.

More than just a family undertaking, the book is handsomely and sturdily published by StoryTel Press, a newly created division of StoryTel Foundation. StoryTel is a non-profit media foundation “on a mission to inspire people to restore the Sacred.” Until discovering the ONeills and their project to “Lego-illustrate” Catholic concepts, StoryTel chiefly worked in video.  (Incidentally, the “book trailer” video for this book is amazing. You can watch it here).

The end of the book helpfully includes a glossary from Fr. John Hardon’s “Modern Catholic Dictionary.,” with explanations of Christian terms related to sacraments—everything from Abram/Abraham to vow.

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Another recent book for families, and the ways that they relate to each other, is Tuned In: The Power of Pressing Pause and Listening by Art & Laraine Bennett.

The Bennetts are the authors of the popular “Temperament” books, such as The Temperament God Gave You, and The Temperament God Gave Your Kids.

In Tuned In, the Bennetts argue for the vital importance of listening. Each chapter covers a different part of listening—the most important thing, listening to: others, your heart, criticism, wisdom, God, and listening “to accompany” (to be present for others in their joys and sorrows).

I found the chapter on “listening to criticism” extremely thought-provoking and helpful in its suggestions, from practical applications in listening to, giving, and receiving constructive criticism.

In general, I consider myself to be a decent listener, but if I’m honest I realize that I also love to talk, perhaps conflicting with my desire to be a good listener. This book helps me realize ways I can truly listen to those around me, especially those I love most.