Reading Catholic and catholic
Today is the Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Mary’s Cathedral. I think it should be an inspiring morning.
Here’s a quote for today. I have so many great ones, but when I came across this I thought, Yes! Now here’s another reason why Fulton Sheen is one of the patrons of this blog:
“Any book which inspires us to lead a better life is a good book.”
–Archbishop Fulton Sheen, Thoughts for Daily Living
(Sharing great songs that are inspiring, uplifting and/or are otherwise “worth a listen”)
I discovered Group1Crew earlier this year when they played at WinterJam. They were easily my favorite group who played there, and there were a lot of good musical acts there. This is a montage video of their “Live It Up.” Dare you not to dance while you hear this.
I’m delighted this month to feature a young mother I know in real life as a friend, an insightful writer and influential young leader in our area. Of course, it may be obvious that we would be friends since she loves both The Hobbit and Jane Austen, but still …. I’m grateful for Bonnie for being willing to be featured this month, when Reading Catholic is focused on all things Sheen.
How you know me: Along with my personal blog, A Knotted Life (formerly “Learning to be a Newlywed”), I am also a regular contributor to the online magazine Ignitum Today. Also, I have been honored to serve as the Associate Director for the Behold Conference for the last three years. My husband, Travis, and I are the parents of four small children—Lydia, Bennet, James and Teresa. We are members of St. Luke parish in Eureka. Our third child, James Fulton, was stillborn and came back to life after being without a pulse for sixty-one minutes. His alleged miracle is attributed to the intercession of Venerable Fulton Sheen and was officially submitted to the Vatican for Sheen’s beatification.
Why I love reading: I love reading because it makes anything possible. Sitting in a waiting room I can suddenly be in another country, time, or world. By reading I can connect with another’s heart, see a different perspective, grow in virtue, partake in an adventure, witness forgiveness and beauty, and know the love of my God.
What I’m reading now: Right now I am making my way through J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and I love it. There’s something about a hobbit that is so endearing. Also, every day I read From Head to Toe by Eric Carle about a billion times.
My favorite book: For a long time it was A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers, which is a slightly-scandalous-in-places memoir. Recent favorites have been The Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter. And I will always love anything written by Jane Austen.
Here is my column that appears in this weekend’s The Catholic Post. I invite your feedback here or on Twitter or Facebook.
It’s high time to visit–or re-visit– the writings of local son Archbishop Sheen.
A few months back, Archbishop Sheen was named “Venerable,” one more step on the path to a potential declaration of sainthood. A Mass and other events will be held in Peoria next weekend to celebrate Sheen’s new title, as well as his life and work. What the experts call “an alleged miracle” that happened locally (see “Meet a Reader” on this page for details), has been examined and submitted to the Vatican for approval for Sheen’s cause.
No doubt, Sheen is worth reading, discovering and sharing.
So what book should you choose if you’re new or want a good recommendation among Sheen’s prolific output?
My very first review for The Catholic Post, more than two years ago, was Sheen’s excellent autobiography, Treasure in Clay.
I still consider it the best introduction to Sheen’s writing style and his life. I’m grateful to my editor Tom Dermody for suggesting it as a great “first book.”
As I wrote then, Sheen “is the master of telling a great story. Treasure in Clay is full of such stories; edifying, funny and illuminating, making it an inspiration for us to do more as Catholics.”
But after Treasure in Clay, I truly hesitate. Not because Sheen didn’t write anything else “great,” but because there’s a lot of variety from which to choose.
I’ve been part of a women’s book group this past year that has read a different Sheen book each month. What surprises me is how varied our responses are to the different Sheen works we have read. Some women love a certain book that others have found really hard to get through. (True confession: I’m one of the ones who found a few hard to “get through”).
Not every Sheen book is going to speak to every reader.
Nevertheless, I want to encourage and inspire reading Sheen, and especially for readers not to give up if the first work sampled is not a “keeper.” So I asked some local Sheen experts for some good ideas.
Julie Enzenberger, administrator of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation, has a great theory on her two favorite Sheen books.
“I always say if you don’t know Sheen read Treasure in Clay and if you don’t know Christ read Life of Christ,” said Enzenberger. “Life in Christ explains every parable in the bible and why Jesus did what he did in terms everyone can understand.”
Monsignor Richard Soseman, a priest of the Peoria diocese who now works for the Vatican in Rome and is Coordinator of International Outreach for the Sheen Foundation, suggests the relatively unknown Old Errors and New Labels, a commentary on modern thought.
“It’s a hidden “gem,” Monsignor Soseman reports, and says that his college students love it.
Others have recommended Three to Get Married, Sheen’s popular book on marriage.
Two other Sheen books are worth mention:
*Ignatius Press has a handsome new edition of the well-loved classic The World’s First Love: Mary, the Mother of God. This was a favorite in my book group, as well as mentioned by plenty of people asked for Sheen suggestions.
*Regrettably out of print, but a terrific compendium, is The Quotable Fulton Sheen: A Topic Compilation of the Wit, Wisdom and Satire of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, edited by George J. Marlin and others. This book makes looking up quotes from the very-quotable Sheen easy, as it is organized by subject.
Well, I still have the badge on the blog saying that “I’ll be there!” to the Catholic New Media Conference in Dallas this week, but this year, it’s just going to have to be in spirit, or on Twitter, or something. A little more than a week ago, for far-too-long-to-explain-here reasons, I had to cancel all my reservations for my planned trip to this great conference.
Last year, when I followed along with several of the sessions that were streamed from Kansas City’s CNMC, I had determined that I would work hard to make it happen this year. The plans did get made, but now it’s not going to work out this year. Doubly sad, I was planning to see two young friends at The University of Dallas–a neice and a daughter of my best college friend. Because I won’t be in Dallas, visiting them and seeing their college home won’t happen.
I’m super disappointed about all of it, especially since at the CNMC I was going to get to see friends that I know, and meet many others that I know only online. The conference is going to coincide with both the Catholic Marketing Network and the Catholic Writers Guild. It’s going to be a great experience for those who are going to network, learn about great books, movies and other Catholic media, and just in general soak up the atmosphere. Attending a conference the first year is often a “lost” year, getting one’s bearings, etc., but I think with all the great topics and speakers and sessions, I would have gleaned a lot from attending even this first-for-me conference.
So, though I am Emily of Deep Valley sad about this (and you can read all about what that means here, in my literary pilgrimage to Betsy-Tacy land), I do hope to make the best of being at home.
The conference starts today, so if you are attending or en route, please do tweet and updating those of us at home about it. I will be following along on Twitter and Facebook. And have a great conference!
(Sharing great songs that are inspiring, uplifting and/or are otherwise “worth a listen”)
I really enjoy Popple, who play “Catholic acoustic fun.” They have a lot of great videos online. In particular, I love their “Behind the Ministry” humorous video, but I will share that another day.
Today, my main goal here is introducing their great, catchy, fun music, and I’m sure I will be sharing Popple songs often. Several of their songs were turned into videos by an 8th grade class at Catholic School in Spokane, Washington. Here is their version of “Little White Square.” Nice!