Reading Catholic

Reading Catholic and catholic

Nancy Piccione

Cardinal Newman, Patron Saint of Catholic Novelists…and Readers, too?

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I didn’t realize until I stumbled upon this Catholic Fiction website that Blessed John Henry Newman was considered the patron saint of Catholic novelists. I love this!  Perhaps he could also be the patron saint of Catholic fiction readers.  The site is run by a publishing house I had not encountered before–Idyllis Press, “publishing the catholic imagination.”

Newman is adopted as patron of Catholic novelists because he himself wrote two novels.  I have not read either of them, but I have seen in various places that they are well-done.

Incidentally, this site is chock full of interesting information and a book list of “Catholic fiction.”  Here is an explanation of “what constitutes Catholic fiction.”  I note the list includes all of my favorite author Jane Austen’s full-length novels, and the site includes tons of reviews of Catholic fiction and commentary.

Check it out!

A Great Read: New Feature at the Catholic Post Book Group

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I’ve been wanting for some time to highlight great reads, of all types of books.  Initially, I had intended to do this to highlight great fiction, especially those that are more family-friendly, but may have been missed by busy families.  I know that both for the voracious readers and the reluctant readers, there’s a need for fiction that will delight and inspire and just be great fun.  So primarily we’ll be highlighting fiction, especially those intended for kids, but enjoyed by all.  I think it was C.S. Lewis who said that any book worth reading when you are 10 is worth reading as an adult.  I heartily endorse that!

I would love to feature students from the diocese of Peoria who can even write about their favorite books, and I’ve started reaching out to solicit some of these reviews.  So plan to look for guest reviewers in the coming months.  And if you would like to contribute a review, please contact me through the comments or by sending an email to nmpiccione at me dot com.

Even though I plan to feature classic and great fiction, I also keep learning of terrific books that are new, and I want to highlight these.

One new book I read almost immediately upon receiving was How to Get to “I Do”: A Dating Guide for Catholic Women,  by Amy Bonaccorso.    Wow, what a great book!  I’m preparing a review and I hope to do an author Q&A in the near future.  Watch for it.

My dear husband has not commented on seeing this provocatively titled book around the my laptop, on the living room coffee table, and elsewhere in the house, either showing he is not paying attention or feels extremely secure–ha!  Actually, I am happily married for many years, but I found this book a fascinating and mature look at Catholic dating in these days.   Can’t wait to talk about it here and more with the author.

Thoughts on the Beatification of Cardinal Newman

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I didn’t have much chance to be online over the last few days, and little time to write, but I was a bit overwhelmed by all the live blogging and tons of people able to comment and post about the Holy Father’s visit to England and Scotland.  At our house, it was very hectic, though we did have a chance to watch (during meals, of course, breaking a “food rule” as we discussed last month) some of the events.

Here are some of my thoughts on the visit:

*We set our DVR to tape all the events airing live on EWTN.  I am so grateful for the network and all its programming, especially here, because we could watch them when we were able, instead of when they were aired live on the Internet.  Much as I love EWTN, I wasn’t thrilled with a lot of the political nature of the commentary, and was so glad when the focus was on the actual events.  We were watching with kids, and purposely avoiding a lot of the secular media coverage because it was so negative.  I much preferred when the commentary did focus on the “back story” of what we were seeing.  Fr. Roderick Strange shared with me that he was a commentator on the BBC for the events, and I would have enjoyed seeing his commentary.

*Did anyone else think that the welcome Benedict XVI received after the Mass at Westminster Cathedral was really cool?  You could just feel the emotion from the young people gathered outside.  I’ve been trying to find a clip online of the engaging young man from the East London parish who greeted him so enthusiastically on behalf of the youth, and his short speech.  What I did find is a  nice, if short, video clip of the Holy Father being given a “rockstar” welcome outside Westminster Cathedral.

*I guess this might be politically incorrect or culturally insensitive (wink), but who does music as well as the English?  I really don’t have a singing voice, but I found myself wanting to sing along to all the songs (wishing for a songbook, and having my family grateful I didn’t have one), and just being swept away by the beauty of it.  Much of the music was based on prayers or poems written by Newman.  The prayer vigil in Hyde Park was especially beautiful. One highlight was a 14-year-old boy who sang parts of “The Dream of Gerontius,” a poem by Newman famously set to music by Edward Elgar.  Benedict XVI came out again after the prayer service, almost for a curtain call, to thank the conductor of the music for the prayer vigil, and my husband remarked he was glad he could do so.

*I managed, just in the course of a busy weekend, to avoid virtually all mass media coverage of the Pope’s visit.  It wasn’t really by design, even though one of my sisters had emailed me last week to warn of how annoying and mean the coverage was.  I just didn’t get a chance to watch the news or listen to the radio.

Any thoughts on the beatification of Cardinal Newman?  Highlights or lowlights in your view?

Newman on Converting the Heart More than the Mind

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“I say plainly I do not want to be converted by a smart syllogism; if I am asked to convert others by it, I say plainly I do not care to overcome their reason without touching their hearts.”  -Blessed John Henry Newman.

As I mentioned before, Newman 101 author Roderick Strange shared a few great quotes from Newman tht are so interesting and cause for discussion that I took them out of my interview with him to highlight individually.
Recently, I’ve had conversations with friends about the nature and goal of apologetics and its role in conversion.  The quote that keeps coming up is the one from St. Francis of Assisi, “Preach the Gospel at all times; use words if necessary.”  But I think this quote from Newman is also appropriate.

Some weeks back (a lifetime ago in the blogosphere)  there has been a lot of chatter/discussion about the author Anne Rice, a recent re-vert to the Catholic faith, who announced she was leaving the Catholic Church.  I found out about it when a friend posted on his Facebook, “Now that’s  a shock.”  But I had to say that I was shocked to see her leave.   Several years ago, I had read her spiritual autobiography, Called Out of Darkness and found her spiritual journey fascinating as well as beautifully written.

At one point in her story–I think she was in college–Rice went to a priest for counsel about her doubts, and when he discovered that she had been raised in a very Catholic family (daily Mass-going, etc.) he told her, “Anne, you won’t ever be truly happy outside the Catholic Church.” And she left the encounter “no longer Catholic” if I remember correctly. And yet, I wonder if she would say that in a sense, the priest was right, but the words were given too harshly or at the wrong time for her to hear it.  It took many decades for her to re-commit herself to her Catholic faith.  And it was clear from the book that she was, as the priest predicted, only happiest and most fulfilled in the Catholic Church.  She writes in Called Out of Darkness of reading theologians from Benedict XVI to Thomas Aquinas to many others, and growing in her knowledge and in the spiritual life.

So that’s why I found her announcement that she was leaving the Catholic faith so sad.  What I found even more shocking all the blog posts and people trying to, essentially “talk her” back into the faith, to convert her with a “smart syllogism.”   It seems so obvious to me that those kinds of approaches would not help.  Newman now blessed, himself a great arguer and intellectual, perhaps could be called upon to help touch the heart of Anne Rice.

Live Streaming of Pope Benedict XVI’s Visit to England

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I’ve got EWTN set up to tape when the Holy Father says Mass and has other official visits in the UK this week for the beatification of Cardinal Newman.

I found that the official site for the visit has live streaming of the Holy Father’s visit.  Check it out!
I think this link is the best way to get to the live streaming.  As I am writing this they are showing crowd shots of people gathering for the Mass to be held shortly in Bellahouston Park in Glasgow, Scotland.   I’m not sure if it’s me or the video, but it’s either preternaturally quiet with all those people, or they don’t have the sound turned up.  I do hear a lot of nature noise, though, so I wonder…
Are you watching any of the events or planning to?

Another "Quotable Quote" from John Cardinal Newman

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“The planting of Christ’s cross in the heart is sharp and trying; but the stately tree rears itself aloft, and has fair branches and rich fruit, and is good to look upon.”  

–John Cardinal Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons (quoted at end of “Witness to Holiness” in Newman 101.


When I interviewed Roderick Strange about Newman 101,  (and if you haven’t read the interview yet, take a moment to visit this link–it’s a great interview)I asked him to share a favorite quote or prayer of Cardinal Newman, and he graciously shared quite a few.  So I plan to share some over the next few blog posts.

The above quote is from Newman’s Parochial and Plain Sermons and quoted in Newman 101 in the chapter, “Witness to Holiness,” about the death of Newman.