Reading Catholic

Reading Catholic and catholic

Moms

The Miracle in Bonnie Engstrom’s Awe-Inspiring Book is (Very) Local

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

Bonnie Engstrom’s new book is literally awe-inspiring.

61 Minutes to a Miracle: Fulton Sheen and a True Story of the Impossible is part page-turning medical mystery story; part spiritual memoir, about faith, acceptance, and openness to the Holy Spirit; and part primer on the fascinating process of “saint-making” in the church.

“61 Minutes to a Miracle” is— true to its title—about Engstrom’s son James, who was born without a heartbeat and remained so for 61 minutes. Miraculously, he also did not suffer any brain damage or lasting effects from the trauma of his birth. The Engstrom family, friends, and people worldwide prayed for the intercession of Venerable Fulton Sheen, a Peoria diocese native, to heal James. Vatican approval of that miracle paved the way for Bishop Sheen’s beatification.

Full disclosure: at the time the miracle happened, I knew and had worked with Engstrom on several projects. We lived in nearby towns, so I got updates in real time as it was happening. So to read the amazing events in book form, told in Engstrom’s engaging voice, was both a bit of “deja vu” and a wonderful way to relive that incredible time.

There have been a few times when I have relatively close knowledge of something described in a book or online, and it irks me when details are changed. I understand why sometimes the narrative flow of a story means times might be conflated together or some details changed, but I still find it bothersome.

That is most certainly NOT the case for 61 Minutes to a Miracle. Everything is written exactly as it happened, as I heard about the story through Engstrom herself and many other local sources at the time. And because the events described are so amazing, it is reassuring to have minor (and of course major) details be accurate.

The honesty of the book is perhaps because, as described in 61 Minutes to a Miracle, the Engstrom family went through the process of the cause for beatification and canonization of Fulton Sheen. In those proceedings, literal truth is needed, and those interviewed in the case have to testify and swear that they are telling the truth.

But the book is not just a dry accounting of the medical facts or specific chronology. Because Engstrom writes in such a natural, candid voice, this book becomes a way for readers to join in the spiritual pilgrimage of the Engstrom family, and all those around them, as they experienced life, pregnancy, learning about saints, losing a child and then gaining him back, and just living life well.

How they managed to walk through this harrowing experience, through the grace of God, the help of their friends, family, and medical team, is the center of this book.

Probably my favorite part of 61 Minutes to a Miracle is how Engstrom likens her son James’ story with that of Lazarus from the Gospel of John. That is partially because the raising of Lazarus is replete with so many details to meditate on related to the mystery of life and death. And it may also be because I love St. Martha dearly, and her profession of faith (“You are the Christ, the Son of God”) to Jesus when he came to raise Lazarus is a particularly poignant moment in the life of Jesus.

It is also lovely that the miracle leading to Sheen’s beatification should not only occur in his home diocese, but also that Sheen, one of the most media-savvy people of his time, should intercede in a case whose prayer requests spread widely due to media. That is, specifically, social media, as Engstrom is a popular blogger and active online in Catholic spheres.

It is a kind of “virtuous circle” for Sheen to reach out to Engstrom in the healing of James, and Engstrom honors Sheen and makes him even more well known because of the miracle.

As Engstrom writes about why the miracle would have happened in their family, “It was Jesus Christ who brought James Fulton back to life. It was Christ’s death and resurrection that conquered death once and for all. I do not know why it happened this way. The only answer I can give is probably the only answer I should be concerned with: the glory of God.”

Reading 61 Minutes to a Miracle helps the reader explore the mystery of why miracles happen; how God can move in the hearts and lives of everyone; and how intercession to the saints is good for us and for our world.

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.”

What Moms Need {My May column @TheCatholicPost }

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

More than a decade ago, as a younger homeschooling mom, I became enchanted with the concept of the “Rule of Six,” coined by homeschooling mom and author Melissa Wiley.

Wiley suggested six things that every child should have access to every day: good books; imaginative play; encounters with beauty (art, music, the natural world); ideas to ponder and discuss; meaningful work; and prayer.

I remember thinking at the time that moms need all those things too, and how great it would be to try to incorporate them. But that can be so difficult in our fast-paced world, even more so for moms than for children.

In our incarnational Catholic life, we have an advantage in achieving nearly all of those areas. And two new books for moms offer ideas to ponder and discuss, in the context of prayer and the beauty of our faith.

Good Enough is Good Enough: Confessions of an Imperfect Catholic Mom by Colleen Duggan is a well-written, supportive, and realistic look at Catholic motherhood.

Duggan, a longtime writer for several Catholic websites and publications, writes about the value of self-care, the danger of judging, and the importance of an active prayer life, among other values, to mothers of all kinds, especially younger mothers.

The center of the book, is, of course, the five “confessions” in which Duggan explains each: “I don’t know how to master motherhood;” “I don’t always take care of myself as I should”; “I don’t know how to keep my kids Catholic”; I don’t like watching my children suffer,” and “I sometimes compare myself with other parents.”

What mother, or what parent, has not felt one of these “confessions,” sometimes all at once? Duggan’s relatable stories, failings (she writes, “I was never the poster woman for serenity before I had children …”), and how she works to accept herself is refreshing and encouraging for all moms. And viewing those through the lens of faith is both poignant and edifying.

For instance, the conclusion, in which Duggan describes “the theology of the donkey,” and how the humble donkey was called to do great things:

“(This) is the lesson of the donkey for me, for all of us: Jesus wants us, the loud, braying, imperfect asses we are, to go where he calls us. He wants us to carry this his load, to do the work of bringing others to him; and we can only compete this task, of course, if we abandon our “perfect” plans and the baggage that weighs us down. We must learn—just like that donkey did—to submit ourselves to him.”

Each chapter ends with a closing prayer, and a short list of discussion questions to allow for personal reflection or for group reading. These are great questions to ponder, or even if not in a formal group to read together, to discuss with fellow moms.

For new and expectant moms—and not just first-time moms—there is  Made for This: The Catholic Mom’s Guide to Birth  by Mary Haseltine.

 When I was pregnant with our first, and my husband and I were just a “teeny bit” nervous about .. oh, everything related to pregnancy and birth, especially not being able to see our baby … I had a conversation with a friend in which I actually said— and meant— the words, “I can’t wait until this baby is born so we can stop worrying.”

She very kindly, but loudly, laughed in my face, as birth marks the beginning of a lifetime of care and concern for your children. There’s a saying that to become a mother is to forever have your heart go walking around outside your body.”

When I was expecting many years ago, I had such concerns about pregnancy and birth that I read What to Expect When You’re Expecting and tried to follow all of its recommendations. Online advice was blessedly not very available, but if it had back then I’m sure I would have read tons of blog posts and mommy blogs so I’d know just what to expect and how to handle every possible thing that could happen to me or my baby.

But what I really needed was a more holistic resource, to help me cope with not just the physical changes that my body was undergoing, but the miracle that is pregnancy and motherhood, and how that changes everything about one’s life, marriage, and spirituality.

How I wish I had had a book that looked basically like Made for This.

This book, by a theologian and birth doula (non-medical helper who assists a mother during pregnancy and labor), offers so much of what my first-time fears needed to hear. It also provides a wider scope—for moms of all kinds, not just first-time parents— for understanding the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual challenges that pregnancy and motherhood entails.

Sensibly, the book is its even-handed approach to all kinds of approaches to pregnancy, labor, and birth, instead of a “one size fits all” plan of how one “must” bring a baby into the world. There is no one, specific, Catholic way to be pregnant and birth children.

Some especially good chapters in Made for This include “The Birth of a Father,” “Your Birth Team,” and the lovely “Born in Grace: Birth Stories from Catholic Moms.”

Haseltine writes in the introduction, “May you and your baby be blessed with a healthy, happy, and yes, holy birth.” “Made for This” is a book that goes a long way towards making that happen.

“Achilles Won’t Take a Bath” Charming New Picture Book by Teenage Author

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I thought my headline was both descriptive and engaging. Also, the teenager in question is my middle daughter, so you can imagine I’m very proud.

We just received her review copies in the mail today, and so she gave me permission to share it. I will take some photos of inside pages and more details of how she decided to write and illustrate it, to share on this post  later, but dinner prep awaits…

From the description of Achilles Won’t Take a Bath: 

Introduce a new generation to Homer’s Iliad in this epic inspired children’s book! Read along with Achilles and his teddy bear Patroclus as they deal with bathtime in this charming retelling. Written by a student of the classics, each illustration contains references to the Iliad – which makes this book great for adults as well! With endearing drawings, and amusing characters, this book is an excellent modern twist on an ancient tale.

Meet a Reader: Kimberly Lange

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Following is the “Meet a Reader” that appears in this month’s print edition of The Catholic Post.

 

How You Know Me:

I live on the border between Washington and Morton with Philip, my husband of 27 years, and our five children.  I am the High School Faith Formation Coordinator for Blessed Sacrament Church and am a member of the Bishop’s Commission on Women. 

Why I love Reading:

My parents were always big readers, and I grew up with a rule that I had to read for a half hour each night before bed.  However, I did not fall in love with it until I became a mom and had the responsibility of cultivating a love of reading in my own children.  Teaching each of my children how to read was also a boost for appreciating this skill that opens up so many doors.  If you can read, you can pretty much learn about anything you need, and I cannot resist living vicariously through the lives of the characters I  meet, and appreciate the lessons I learn (the easy way).  Reading enhances my everyday reality, and makes even the most mundane of days brighter. My favorite literature genre is historical fiction, but I am ALWAYS happy with a cookbook in my hands. Makes the mundane tastier, too!

What I’m reading now:

I have slowly been working through a 10-volume series of private revelation called Direction for Our Times as Given to Anne, a Lay Apostle.  While it must be understood that private revelation is not considered part of the “deposit of faith”, it can be recognized as a help to live the Catholic faith more fully in a certain period of history.  This series carries the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur which declare the book free of doctrinal or moral error and declare that ecclesiastical permission has been granted for publication.   he books are a collection of teachings and exchanges between Anne, a lay apostle from Ireland, and both Jesus and Mary (as well as various other saints in volume seven), that took place between June of 2003 and October of 2004.  Many times as I struggle through prayer at mass or during Eucharistic adoration, I wish I simply had a direct hotline to Heaven.  These books make me feel as if I do!  These recorded conversations with Jesus and Mary exude all the love, tenderness, care and concern of a groom for His bride and a mother for her children.  They are comforting, reassuring, inspirational, and educational, and bring peace to my heart.

I am also reading A Philadelphia Catholic in King James’s Court by Martin de Porres Kennedy.  It’s an emotionally charged apologetics novel that makes me not only feel good about being Catholic, but invites us to study and understand our faith so that we may joyfully share its truths with others! 

My Favorite book:


The first time I thought to myself, “This is my favorite book,” was when I read Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls in junior high English class.  This book made me laugh out loud, cry real tears, and took me through every emotion in between.   I remember being so amazed and delighted  by its power to do that. 

 

On a different note,  Henri Nouwen’s Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World ranks as a favorite because it somehow took what I knew (God loves me unconditionally) but did not yet fully believe (when I get this part of me cleaned up, God, then we can REALLY be friends) and turned it into an unquestionable reality for me (I’m His bride. Now.  As is. Trust Him).  This understanding, of course, changed my life, and I re-read this book every year, lest I forget who I am.

Meet a Reader:  Susanna Prushinski {@TheCatholicPost}

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Following is the “Meet a Reader” feature that appears on the book page of the current print issue of The Catholic Post.

How You Know Me:

I am married to Leo and we have four daughters, Genevieve, Suzann, Rebecca and Julia. We belong to St. Louis Parish in Princeton.  I teach first and second year Confirmation classes, I am part of the teaching team for Marriage Preparation Classes, and I am a notary/auditor for marriage cases for Office of the Tribunal. 

Why I Love Reading: 

I love to read in order to deepen my understanding, to ponder, to discover insights, and to be inspired in living more fully in Christ.  In my younger days, I loved to read biographies and mysteries, and I still do, it is just that now they are biographies and stories of saints and the mysteries of Christ and His Church.

What I am Reading Now: 

I just finished a “trilogy’ on St. Mother Teresa. 

First is “Come, Be My Light” by Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., which offers great insights into her spiritual life and depth of her fidelity and trust in God.  Second is “Mother Teresa of Calcutta” by Leo Maasburg, beautiful stories of what her life looked like from the external – what people encountered when they came into her presence. Third is Mother Teresa’s Secret Fire by Joseph Langford, shows how she was transformed by God.

I am also finishing Who Am I to Judge? Responding to Relativism with Logic and Love by Edward Sri and beginning The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise by Cardinal Robert Sarah.

My Favorite Book: 

I have many favorites, but I will keep it to three. I’ve drawn such great insights and inspiration from them that they gave me a new perspective.  The first is Uniformity with God’s Will, which is actually more like a treatise and is taken from a larger work of St. Alphonsus de Liguori. The second and third are authored by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI), God is Near Us; The Eucharist, The Heart of Life and The Spirit of the Liturgy.  Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is my favorite author!