Reading Catholic

Reading Catholic and catholic

Book Reviews

Meet a Reader: Teresa Oltman {@TheCatholicPost}

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me

How you know me: I am a homeschooling mother of five children, ages 15 years to 10 months old. My husband Joel and I live the country life just outside of Geneseo. We are members of St. John the Baptist parish in Rapids City, where Joel and I teach 2nd-year confirmation class. I am a hairstylist by trade and worked in the salon for eight years before having our fourth child. I come from a family of Carmelites on my mother’s side. I’m the oldest child of Kyle and Paula Hernstrom, and I have lived in the Quad Cities Area my whole life.

Why I love reading: In all honesty, it is a chore for me to read. Unlike my 11-year-old son, who doesn’t know what to do with himself if he doesn’t have a book in hand, I never read outside of what was necessary until I was about 20 years old. Oddly enough, it was reading that brought me back to the Faith. We did not have the Internet for the first few years of our married life, so books became my way to learn more about the Catholic Faith. I started with Sacred Scriptures, chiefly the Gospels. From then on, I have always had a desire to read about the history of our faith and any reading that might aid in spiritual growth. I now enjoy reading now but only if it is spiritually edifying.

What I’m reading now: Outside of the kids’ school history lessons and stories, I do not have much time for reading outside of the Daily Mass Readings, devotionals, articles, and emails.



But now that it is October (the month of my namesake, Teresa of Avila), I have pulled out my copy of Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila, along with Mornings with Saint Thérèse by Patricia Treece, and Therese’s Story of a Soul.

My favorite book: St. Augustine’s Confessions was one of the first spiritual books that I dove into, and it remains one of my favorites.

I love anything written by C.S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, Dietrich (or Alice) Von Hildebrand, our dear St. John Paul II, or the Early Church Fathers. But I’d have to say that the book I’ve read most often and therefore my favorite would have to be The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis.

Two New Books Integrate Faith with Positive Psychology {My October column @TheCatholicPost }

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Following is my October column that appears on this month’s book page of the print edition of The Catholic Post.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a big fan of happiness—not just being happy, but the science and research (especially through books) into what makes people happy. To paraphrase the country song, I was into happiness books before happiness books were cool.

There’s a mini-industry of books about the science of happiness, and what makes people happier. Researchers have explored this topic extensively, such as Martin Seligman’s Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being and other books on learned optimism and positive psychology, or Sonja Lyubomirsky’s The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want, about many things that work scientifically to improve a person’s happiness. Gretchen Rubin’s best-selling book, The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun and other books share in Rubin’s entertaining way, her average person’s ways to practice happiness.

I’ve taken away great resources and ideas from these authors. That’s especially since one of the regular findings of such research is that people who have a robust faith life have a higher contentment level. The connection, routine, and virtues promoted by religious faith promote a happier, healthy psyche. I think that is no surprise since God made us for relationship and for doing the good, and that happiness is a natural and supernatural byproduct of that.

But sometimes I feel uneasy with these books for two reasons: one, a wry guilt that I am not “happier,’ and two, a sense that focusing on happiness alone is not helpful spiritually. Perhaps that’s because the fullest, spiritual meaning of happiness is not fully covered in these books. That is remedied in two new books.

These Catholic authors close the gap between the practical science of what makes people happy, to the religious perspective on what it means to be truly happy, and how living out faith makes a person happy in the best sense of the word.


First, prolific author and Catholic intellectual Fr. Robert Spitzer,S.J., PhD., has written a great new called Finding True Happiness: Satisfying Our Restless Hearts (Happiness, Suffering, and Transcendence). He brings not just a Catholic vision to the field, but a truly philosophical approach to why humans seek happiness, the stages of happiness, and how we can achieve lasting and real happiness at the highest level, rather than just the superficial “now” happiness.”

I thought that Fr. Spitzer’s book would be dry theological or philosophical information, but delving into it reveals that it is truly full of practical advice and good, detailed, information on how to achieve a lasting happiness at a higher level.

There’s so much good in this book about the proper pursuit of true happiness for a sincere Christian; recommendations about prayer; the importance of discerning spirits; Jesuit spirituality.; and so much about true happiness. What I love learning, again and again, is the rich spiritual and intellectual tradition of the Catholic Church, its theologians and saints, that points us towards happiness now and in the future.

It’s not a breezy read. But Finding True Happiness is genuinely worthwhile, and promotes the fullest vision of happiness and what it means in the context of how we were made by God.

A Catholic book more similar to the positive psychology books is The Gospel of Happiness: Rediscover Your Faith Through Spiritual Practice and Positive Psychology by Christopher Kaczor.

Kaczor, a philosophy professor at Loyola Marymount University, writes from a personal and an educational perspective about happiness, and how our faith practice and belief promotes true happiness. He explores the positive psychology movement, the growing body of research that shows certain practices and mindsets contribute to human flourishing, and how faith fits so well into it.

Like Fr. Spitzer, Kaczor, concludes that the happiness and positive psychology research is not at odds with our faith, but rather complements it and helps us understand how our faith works to make us happy

For instance, Kaczor applies the PERMA acronym of positive focus organized by researcher Martin Seligman, to faith practices. PERMA relates to five areas that are most conducive to happiness: positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and achievement. Kaczor shows how each of these is woven into the fabric of a robust faith life, and so contributes to happiness.

The intersection between prayer and positive affect is especially stressed in this book. Kaczor talks about prayer practices that foster happiness, such as Ignatian examen, prayers such as a litany-like prayer called the “loving kindness prayer,” in which a person praying contemplate kindness and goodness towards all in their life meet, and the rhythm of the liturgical year.

Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) Christianity is not just a putting off of happiness for a future goal, but true happiness in this life. We are made for joy and abundance, and these two great new books offer a roadmap for people of faith to increase true happiness in this life and the life to come.

Meet a Reader: Fr. Adam Stimpson {@TheCatholicPost}

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Fr. Stimpson Reading

How you know me:  I grew up in Rock Island, IL, attending St. Mary’s Parish, and I am a ’98 Alleman High School graduate.  As a seminarian for the diocese from 2004-2009, I spent summers serving at the Cathedral, St. Philomena’s Parish in Peoria and Holy Trinity Parish in Bloomington. 

After ordination, I served for three years at the La Salle Catholic Parishes, and presently, I reside at St. Philomena’s Parish in Peoria while I am the chaplain of Peoria Notre Dame High School.  Those of you who are avid Catholic readers may also be familiar with my cousin, Emily Stimpson, who is an author, blogger, and speaker.

Why I love reading: I love the power of the written word.  The greatest authors are teachers, and when I settle in with a good book, I become a student.  There are so many times in my life just sitting in a room, a coffee house, or a chapel with a good book, that I have been impacted permanently by the thoughts or imagery conveyed by an author.

What I’m reading now: I am currently a candidate for a Sacred Theological Licentiate degree in the New Evangelization, a high school teacher, and a daily homilist.  The books that I read then are usually within three categories: for study, preaching, or prayer. 

Most recently, I have finished All for Her: The Autobiography of Father Patrick Peyton, C.S.C;  Evangelizing Catholics: A Mission Manual for the New Evangelization by Scott Hahn; and In Memory of Me: A Meditation on the Roman Canon by Milton Walsh.  All of which I highly recommend.

My favorite book:  My favorite book is the one that saved my soul.  During a year of immersion in modern philosophy, somewhere between Descartes and Hegel, I began to seriously doubt whether God existed.  A dark, intellectual angst came over me as I struggled to reconcile how it is that I, a finite creature, could certainly know an infinite God. 


I then picked up Introduction to Christianity, 2nd Edition (Communio Books) by Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) and on one miraculous page of that text he dispelled my doubt.  He discussed that it is normal for believers to doubt God’s existence at times and for disbelievers to doubt God’s non-existence at times.

He led me by the hand to realize that I was trying to comprehend God in the same way that I would empirically comprehend a physical chair I was sitting in.  Oh fool!  I then began to think about the beauty of faith. Which life is the life worth living: Friedrich Nietzsche or St. Francis of Assisi?  I then stopped trying to analyze God via interior monologue and started once again to commune with God via interior dialogue. May the Incarnate Word bless you all in the good words you read.

“Vatican Prophecies” Translates Supernatural for the Modern Age {My September column @TheCatholicPost}

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Following is my September column that appears on this month’s book page of the print edition of The Catholic Post.

One of the most marvelous things about Catholicism is the interesting tension between, one on hand, the Church’s strong intellectual and scientific tradition, and, on the other hand, the frankly astonishing phenomena that are part of Catholic life even to the present day, from Eucharistic miracles, to incorruptible saints, and beyond.

But, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us, “There can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth.” (CCC 159).

Award-winning writer and journalist John Thavis reports on these unusual Catholic happenings in his latest book, The Vatican Prophecies: Investigating Supernatural Signs, Apparitions, and Miracles in the Modern Age.

The Vatican Prophecies is a thoroughly researched, engagingly written volume on how the Church handles miracles and other mystical events, confirming or debunking their veracity when they are presented.

Thavis’s first book was the well-regarded The Vatican Diaries: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Power, Personalities, and Politics at the Heart of the Catholic Church. The Vatican Diaries was a “grand tour” of Rome, the Vatican, and how he covered great and controversial stories and personalities as Vatican bureau chief for Catholic News Service. 

Thavis brings this unique and privileged outlook to The Vatican Prophecies, using his wealth of sources and skills to explain how the Catholic Church approaches supernatural occurrences, from ancient times to the present day.

The “inside baseball” elements of these stories—how an exorcism works, how a saint is made, how the Shroud is scientifically examined, how Marian apparitions are approved or not by the Vatican, and how all that has changed with the modern 24-7 news cycle— is what makes the book so absorbing.

I especially appreciate how Thavis explains these incidents and practices through individual stories and narratives.  So, for instance, in the chapter, “The Miracle Trail,” Thavis explains how the Church decides how to canonize a person a saint through confirming miracles, and discusses a few officially canonized or on-their-way to canonization saints. He focuses on two alleged miracles that have been proposed for one of my favorite Catholic heroes, Fr. Emil Kapaun, a Kansas priest who died while serving with soldiers in the Korean War.

Even if I weren’t Catholic, I’d find The Vatican Prophecies both accessible and intriguing.  Miracles, otherworldly signs, and other inexplicable happenings are not at odds with the scientific tradition.  In fact, the Church uses rigorous scientific and other methods as part of the process to determine whether something is supernatural, or has a more natural explanation.

Thavis makes these arcane processes easy to understand, and helps one to see how the Church is cautious and thorough in each case.  Even though he is describing wondrous events, he has a sensible, investigative style that doesn’t exaggerate, especially with events and sights that need no dramatization.

In “Fides et Ratio,” the 1998 encyclical on how faith and reason are not only compatible, but essential together, St. John Paul II writes, “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth – in a word, to know himself – so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.”

The Vatican Prophecies helps readers to understand how these “two wings” work together, and also how our natural curiosity and yearning for “something more” is natural and normal, and can also be fulfilled.

Promoting Vocations Within the Family {Talk Notes}

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Following are notes for my portion of the talk that my husband Joseph & I will give to the “Wake Up the World: The Joy of Consecrated Life” conference in Peoria September 19.  Surprisingly, I am recommending a lot of books (ha), and so this post helps people recall the books without having to take copious notes.  Also, for those who are not able to attend but might care to see.

Joseph & I have discussed about the division of labor for this presentation, and I’m really looking forward to what he has to say.  He’s a much more experienced speaker than I, so part of me is also hoping to get my notes down here in a slightly more “polished” way so that I will be slightly more “polished” than normal for me.

I’d love to hear your book suggestions on this topic, as well as any other ideas you have on this.  The survey I reference very briefly below (I hope to do a longer post about it when time permits) reflects many perspectives, and I was so grateful for all those voices.  If you are interested in taking the survey I reference, let me know in the comments and I will send you the link.

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Quite a few months ago, a religious sister we know well asked my husband Joseph & I to give a talk at a vocations conference.  We were honored, but also felt un-equipped to speak on the official topic, “Promoting Vocations in the Family.”  After all, we only have two teens and a tween at our house. But Sister Sarah reassured me, (and I quote), “I have full faith and confidence in you.” So I’m hanging my hat on that.

We are each going to take different elements of “promoting vocations within the family.” We heartily believe that each of our children has a vocation—it may be to the priesthood, or religious life, or marriage. Helping them understand and discover that vocation, and being open themselves and being open to their journey, is a chief goal of parenting.

Here’s what I plan to cover:

*FAMILY AFFAIR:  how forming your family in faith, as individuals and as a family, is super unique, and there’s no formula to.  Related to that is that no family is perfect, and bickering and differences are  completely normal.  At least I hope so. 🙂

*BOOKS, BOOKS, and more BOOKS.  How books, and individual stories, can help anyone, young person, adult, or others, understand a little of how someone experiences a vocation to consecrated life, and how families and faith communities can be open and supportive of those journeys, wherever they lead.

*FINALLY, the MYSTERY of VOCATION.  I’ll share some thoughts from those who live out a vocation in religious life or the priesthood, and a survey I sent out to them and how it reflects on this mystery. We’ll also reflect on how we are ALL called to VOCATION, and how that will look for each person is very different.

I hope to expand on my notes for each category in either future posts or updating the posts, but right now here are just the highlights and chiefly, book links to my prior reviews, of the books mentioned.

  1. A FAMILY AFFAIR

*forming children in the faith

*looks different for every family: “Prayer is as individual as a fingerprint.”

*what works best for your family? Is it family Rosary? Night Prayer? Mass together? Separate?

*do what works best for your family.

*don’t be afraid to abandon what doesn’t work, or no longer works in this season, or to try new things.

Scripture from Night Prayer, Saturday night:

from Deuteronomy 6:4-7

“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

2.  BOOKS, BOOKS, and more BOOKS

Yes, God!: What Ordinary Families Can Learn about Parenting from Today’s Vocation Stories by Susie Lloyd.

Here is my review. A quote from that:

“Each chapter of Yes, God! Susie Lloyd profiles one of ten priests and religious from families, large, small and in-between; broken, barely intact and robustly healthy. The book shares how each family shaped in some way each person’s vocation path, and what makes it unique.

Is there any similarity between the families, a formula that guarantees kids who grow up happy and whole, much less following a vocation? No, and that’s what makes Yes, God! so fascinating. The stories of five men and five women who followed religious vocations is fingerprint-personal to each of those featured.

Tolstoy (yes, in Anna Karenina) famously wrote that “all happy families are alike, and each unhappy family is unhappy after its own fashion.”  But as I wrote in a college paper way back, I think he got it backwards. There are myriad ways to be happy and therefore holy.

Look at the saints. Aren’t you grateful there isn’t just one kind of saint or path to holiness? Most of us would be doomed, and I am grateful to hold dear the saints who most speak to my life and spiritual gifts. Yes, God! offers that kind of variety.

At the end of each biographical sketch/chapter, Lloyd offers a reflection of “Saying Yes,” to different virtues that informed the person’s path. For instance, “saying yes to patience,” “saying yes to strength,” and her own thoughts on how this quality helped the person say yes to God’s invitation, and how readers might adopt that virtue. She offers some interesting and quirky reflections from her own family, and offers a peek into the mystery of a vocation.”


Reflections from Rome: Practical Thoughts on Faith and Family by (local author) Monsignor Richard Soseman.

Here is my review: “Tapas for the Soul.” A quote from it:

“The reflections in the book are both realistic (as fits a rural Illinois native) and intelligent (as Monsignor’s many degrees attest, including canon law and Spanish, which is why I know Monsignor won’t mind me comparing his book to tapas).

The reflections are not written to talk “down” to people, but rather build them up. He offers such a wide variety of teaching, Catholic varia about the saints or some point of doctrine, and simple wisdom that he makes it look easy.”

And here is a Q&A with Monsignor Soseman, an old friend of our family.


The Grace to Race: The Wisdom and Inspiration of the 80-Year-Old World Champion Triathlete Known as the Iron Nun by Sister Madonna Buder.

Here is my review,  and here is a Q&A with Sister Madonna.  The book is really strongest talking about how she came to know her vocation, as well as out she lived it out over the years. A quote from my review:

“Sister Madonna’s book is part fine spiritual autobiography, part triathlete war stories, and throughout, true inspiration to the rest of us to really “reach” for more in our spiritual and physical lives.

Born to a life of privilege in St. Louis, Sister Madonna Buder considers a vocation from her early years, but still dates and immerses herself in an active, happy family life. Her decision time approaches as she reflects during a summer trip to Europe:

“Once safely on the train coursing along the scenic Rhine, I began to collect my thoughts. My Irishman! Monsignor Doheny! My European adventures! The past, the present, the future! What was God really asking of me? Then, from the depths of my soul, came an interior voice, ‘Can any one man satisfy you when I alone dwell in the deepest recesses of your heart?’ The message was seeping in just as surely as the waters flowed along the banks of the Rhine. My true longing was becoming clear.”


He Leadeth Me by Fr. Walter J. Ciszek, S.J.

Here’s a review from the Lent Book Series, “A Lesson in Letting Go.”


The Ear of the Heart: An Actress’ Journey from Hollywood to Holy Vows by Mother Dolores Hart.

Here is my review (where I said she was much more interesting than another top book from that time, Lean In).  An excerpt from that review:

The Ear of the Heart offers space for pondering and reflection, no matter your age or life path, on living life fully and intentionally, on spiritual friendship, and on maturity.

Like all good spiritual autobiographies, The Ear of the Heart really takes off once the vocation begins. Struggles with early doubts, times of desolation, community struggles and more, make for fascinating reading.”


Treasure in Clay: The Autobiography of Fulton J. Sheen


A Priest Forever: The Life of Eugene Hamilton


The Miracle of Father Kapaun: Priest, Soldier and Korean War Hero


I Alone Have Escaped to Tell You: My Life and Pastimes

What other books do you recommend for learning about how vocation to religious life or the priesthood happens?

3. THE MYSTERY OF VOCATION

*my survey of several dozen: priest, religious, or lay people who had spent time in seminary or a convent, discerning a vocation.  Inspired by Susie Lloyd’s book, but more focused on how to foster an openness to vocation, whatever that means.

*questions included how supportive/surprised/ unsupportive was their family and/ or faith community, how the family can foster and support young people discerning what God wants from them, and how lay people can support those in consecrated life and priesthood. So many of the survey respondents were generous with their time and sharing their vocation stories and thoughts about this.  I hope to do a longer posts with more of their beautiful words.

*some common themes:

-prayer

-family members varied in their support, surprise (maybe parents supported, but siblings did not, or everyone surprised, except the dad)

-pursue holiness as individuals, as families

-be comfortable with religious and priests–invite into your home, visit their monasteries, etc. natural relationships

-pray for religious and priests

-recognize “the consecration of the baptized” & the universal call to holiness

-ongoing dialogue about vocation, whether religious life, priesthood, marriage

-openness to whatever God wants

-everyone in a community can be a support to vocation, not just the parents or siblings

-an active, dynamic relationship with Jesus

Meet a Reader: Dr. Kyle Johnson {@TheCatholicPost}

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How you know me: I am the Director of Music at St. Mark’s Parish in Peoria as well as the owner of Johnson Family Chiropractic in Peoria. My undergraduate degree was a B.A. in Humanities and Catholic Culture from Franciscan University of Steubenville, where I also met my wife, Wendy. She and I have since launched a fantastic career of raising six (so far) girls.

Why I love reading: I love fiction and non-fiction, but for different reasons. In our YouTube world where just a few facts suffice for someone to make an iron-clad opinion about any topic, a non-fiction book is often a refreshing deep dive into a subject. Holding a non-fiction book isn’t like glancing at a bumper sticker, but rather absorbing the author’s own years of research and curation. Fiction, on the other hand, exercises the muscles of my imagination, which is an absolute necessity in order to remain properly childish as I age.

What I’m reading now:  As usual, I’m in the middle of several books at once.


First, G. K. Chesterton’s The Everlasting Man, a classic that’s more than worth the effort.

Robert Royal’s The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century: A Comprehensive World History, an eye-opening modern history text.

Marc Goodman’s Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It, on the unintended consequences of our overly tech-connected world.

Finally, Randall Munroe’s What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, a hilarious look at hypothetical physics conundrums.

My favorite book: My three favorite authors are O. Henry, P. G. Wodehouse, and G. K. Chesterton. If I had to pick one, only one book, then it’d be Chesterton’s collected Father Brownstories, an omnibus of detective stories that are at the same time a tour de force of human insight and moral teaching.