Reading Catholic

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Catholic Post

Meet a Reader: Samuel Mangieri III

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This month’s featured “Reader” is a seminarian I met when our children attended the stellar summer program Totus Tuus.  I am so grateful for the program, as well as grateful to Sam being willing to be featured here. 



How you know me:

I’m from Sacred Heart Parish in Abingdon, IL.  I attended Bradley for 3 years, and now I’m a seminarian for the diocese of Peoria studying at Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, MD.  I also served on the Peoria team this summer for Totus Tuus, a summer Catholic youth program.

Why I love reading:

Father Jonathan Steffen summed it up when he was featured as a “Reader” in The Catholic Post last year:  “Books are just wonderful places for readers to hide in for a while, and then reappear in the real world hours later with a sort of secret knowledge.”

 I find this true, especially of poetry.  Even to take 15 minutes out of a day where “I just don’t have time” to dive into a poem is so worth it.  We can emerge with an awareness of the grandeur of God that has been there the whole time, yet we had just not the time nor the eyes to see it.

What I’m reading now:

What’s Wrong With the World by G.K. Chesterton.  I’m tip-toeing through this one because he is so rich.  Even though his brilliance is way out of my league, I am taking his advice that “Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.”  Even though I know there is a lot I miss, I know that it is worth it to seek the wisdom God gave him to remind us how to get back to a healthy and sacramental worldview.  More than anything, reading Chesterton enkindles wonder.

My favorite book:

The Sanctifier by Blessed Luis Martinez.  Martinez speaks about the Lord, the devout life, and Mary so beautifully.  He also often uses metaphors and analogies that I need desperately to learn.  I think it’s accessible for anyone to pick up and read.

De Gustibus, or Fiction for All Kinds of Tastes

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Here is my August column that appears in this weekend’s The Catholic Post. I invite your feedback.


Some years back, I wrote an opinion piece for The Catholic Post about the then red-hot Twilight books, comparing them to junk food; not going to kill you, but not the bedrock of a healthy imagination. I even offered some fun and soul-nourishing alternatives.

“You are what you read” still is my main media consumption rule, for individuals and especially for families.

But to extend the food analogy, I’m not a paleo/vegan/low-carb/raw foods/gluten-free /this-month’s-hot-diet-fad absolutist. You won’t hear me advocating for the non-existent Jane Austen “immersion diets” or St. Francis de Sales “detoxes.”. Book-wise, I’m a flexitarian.

Let me explain by way of a great Latin expression, “de gustibus non disputandum est,” translating roughly as “there’s no arguing personal taste.”

Your favorite ice cream is strawberry, and mine is mint chocolate chip?

De gustibus.

You’re a Bronte fan and I’m really, really not? De gustibus.

When it comes to books or food, there’s a lot of variety, and one person’s favorite might be another’s strong aversion.

I don’t mean that anything goes—some books (and movies, etc.) really are poison, and need to be avoided by everyone. And some people have particular sensitivities to books (like some do with certain foods) that might be especially harmful or helpful.

Being mindful of what keeps you healthy, media-wise, is a great idea at any age.

That still leaves tons of great reading of all kinds for enjoyment and edification. Consider fiction to be in the “nourishing treats” category—more chocolate than broccoli (not that there’s anything wrong with broccoli). Here’s hoping some of these excellent recent releases will agree with your “gustibus.”

For adults and young adults:

Catholic Philosopher Chick Makes Her Debut by Rebecca Bratten Weiss and Regina Doman is a smart new read. It would be best for college-age and young adults, but this middle-aged mom thoroughly enjoyed racing through this fun, fashion-y, and yes, philosophical novel.

The characters in Catholic Philosopher Chick are lovably annoying and well-drawn. The healthy but “real” friendships between the young women feel especially true, and the plot moves along quickly. My only dislike of this book is that a few characters smoke (occasionally). For someone who hates smoking as I do, it seems unnecessary.

Shadows and Images: A Novel by Meriol Trevor is available in a handsome new edition by Ignatius Press. Trevor was a prolific British author of novels for adults and children. She’s also known for her careful biography of Blessed John Cardinal Newman, and this novel covers Newman’s time and new Catholics during that era.

I’m the kind of person who learns more about history through stories, so historical fiction is a favorite for me. This novel brings Newman, the Catholic Church, and the Britain of that time, alive through the story of a young couple.

Before Shadows and Images, I knew Trevor mostly as a Newman biographer and as a children’s book author, as youth publisher Bethlehem books has re-published a few of her excellent children’s novels. Now I want to discover more of her grown-up fiction.

For the younger crowd:

*The Tripods Attack! by John McNichol, is first in the Young Chesterton Chronicles series. This novel imagines G.K. Chesterton as a down-on-his-luck teenager, with friends fending off a Martian attack in a science fiction/Edwardian England.

That description might sound pretty wild to those not familiar with steampunk, the fiction sub-genre that mashes Jules Verne-style fashion and “technology” with fantasy and science fiction, but it’s truly a refreshing summer read. I know some Chesteron purists would scoff, but if GK himself wrote his The Man Who Was Thursday as a steampunk novel for teenagers, The Tripods Attack! just might be the result.

*The Kindgom of Patria series by Daniel McInerny (available only as e-books, from the usual outlets like Amazon and the excellent “Kingdom of Patria” website). You’ll notice that I didn’t use the word “quirky” in reviewing The Tripods Attack! That’s because I was waiting to use this adjective more perfectly to describe McInerny’s, yes, “quirky” and loveable Patria kingdom, and the children and stories that inhabit it.

I asked my 11-year-old daughter to pre-read first in the series for me. She loved it, so I asked her to give me a mini-review. She wrote: “Stout Hearts and Whizzing Biscuits is a fantastical tale about a small kingdom named Patria in the middle of the USA. Warning: If you do not like absolute silliness and utter fun, this book is not for you!”

It’s obvious that she does enjoy “utter fun” in a book, and if you have a middle-grade child who likes it as well, The Kingdom of Patria would be a great choice.

Meet a Reader: Peg Gardner

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“Meet a Reader” is a feature of the book page of the print Catholic Post each month, highlighting someone in the diocese of Peoria who loves reading.  This month’s reader is a mom and grandmother, who has developed a passion for sharing the faith.
How we know you:  I’ve been a member of Epiphany Catholic Church in Normal, for more than 20 years.  I’ve been active as an Extraordinary Eucharistic Minister, member of Altar and Rosary, Servants of the Shepherd, volunteer for lunchroom duty at the grade school and team lead for the cleaning of the Sanctuary. My husband Gregg and I have three children and two grandchildren.
Why I love reading:  For many years after school, I read only a smattering of books.  But some years ago, I began to crave more knowledge of our Church, and my reading was focused on the Church and her saints.  As they say when you’re courting, the more you know about someone the more readily you may fall in love with them.  All my time reading helped me to love our God and His Holy Catholic Church much more.
What I am reading now:  A recent passion of my is learning why young people lose their faith at college, and helping them stay true to the Faith.  To be aware of and be knowledgeable enough to answer these “newly educated” students and graduates, I sought the advice of our pastor, Monsignor Eric Powell. One book he suggested is The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief  by noted genome scientist Francis Collins.  So far, I love this book and feel it will give me a good base of knowledge when completed.    I’m also reading Ten Universal Principles: A Brief Philosophy of the Life Issues by Father Robert Spitzer, S.J. 
My favorite book:  I would have to say that The Story of a Soul, St. Therese of Lisieux’s autobiography, is one of my favorites, and the other is The Cure of Ars by Father Bartholomew O’Brien.  Both books have touched my heart so much, I am forever changed and will never be the same.

After the Revolution, Rotten Fruit, Discouragement–And Hope

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During my college years in the 1980s, I was a (nominal) cradle Catholic, and fairly immersed in the college culture of the time.  I was especially drawn to various trendy, or what we called back in the day “politically correct,” ideas and philosophies.

Exhibit A: I thought Gloria Steinem, who spoke at our campus, was glamorous and made terrific sense.
All joking about Gloria Steinem aside, by far the most memorable speaker was a beautiful young woman, a former porn film worker, who gave a speech  (from a feminist perspective) on the evils of pornography.
It gave me–to this day–an implacable hatred of porn as something bad for women and corrosive to society.
I’m incredibly grateful for that speaker, who opened my eyes at such an early age of the high cost of “anything goes.”  But it was awful to sit through and to hear.

Mary Eberstadt’s Adam and Eve After the Pill: Paradoxes of the Sexual Revolution reminds me of hearing that speech.  This book is not enjoyable –in fact, reading it can be downright discouraging.  But it is a must-read in understanding, “the moral core of the sexual revolution (is) the abundant evidence that its fruits have been rottenest for women and children.”

Every single essay-chapter is important and stands alone.  It’s hard to pick out a best chapter, but “The Will to Disbelieve” is crucial in setting up the notion that society at large is largely ignoring the clear results of the sexual revolution, much the same way the “the moral facts about the Cord War remained disputed at the highest intellectual levels, especially on American campuses, until about two seconds before the Berlin Wall came down.”
Perhaps the only hopeful chapter of Adam and Eve After the Pill is “‘Pedophia Chic’ Then and Now” which outlines how just a few short decades ago, pedophilia was more in vogue and even defended in the public square such as mainstream magazine articles.  Ebertstadt writes that it is “a small case of small but real moral progress that bodes a little better for the youngest and most innocent among us, even as it confirms that the sexual revolution has made the world a more dangerous place for them.”
Hope may be hard to come by when reading Adam and Eve After the Pill, but hope and peace suffuse My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints by Catholic convert Dawn Eden.

In many ways, My Peace I Give You is a personal testimonial to the rotten fruits documented in Adam and Eve After the Pill.  As a child of divorce, Eden experienced sexual abuse in various settings, then as a young adult lived promiscuously to “take control” of her sexuality.  But wholeness and true happiness remained elusive.

In Eden’s 2006 international bestseller, The Thrill of the Chaste, Eden wrote about discovering the appeal that modesty and sexual restraint offer, but had not yet come to terms with the legacy of abuse in her life.
During and after her conversion to Catholicism, Eden sees that healing from those sexual wounds is ongoing and a work of the Holy Spirit, through specific saints who provide solace on the journey.
As she writes to the many who are childhood sexual abuse victim, “I want you to know you are not alone, you are not forgotten, and you have more friends in heaven than you realize.”
My Peace I Give Youis part memoir and part meditations on what the saints can teach us about wholeness of body, mind and spirit, even in the face of searing memories and experiences.
Some of the saints in My Peace I Give You are victims of sexual abuse; some are not; but in Eden’s heartfelt and careful reflection, all have something to offer those who have undergone abuse, or those whose hearts breaks for them.
This column appears on the book page of the print Catholic Post this weekend.  It’s an interesting, I would venture to say providential, “coincidence,” that this review appears here on the feast day of St. Maria Goretti.  Eden in particular has an insightful chapter in her book My Peace I Give You on this much-known but little-understood saint.