Reading Catholic

Reading Catholic and catholic

quotes

First, What are You Reading? Volume 25

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Here are my answers to the four questions I ask on the first of each month:
first, what are you reading?
what do you like best about it?
what do you like least?
what’s next on your list to read?

As always, I hope you’ll consider your current reads on your blog and/or sharing here in the comments or on Facebook.  Happy reading!

First, what are you reading?

I enjoyed, as a lark, P.D. James’ new mystery, Death Comes to Pemberly.  Yes, it’s set at Jane Austen’s Pemberly.

I have also been on a non-fiction kick, recently finishing The Cure for Everything: Untangling Twisted Messages About Health, Fitness and Happiness.

For a read-aloud with my youngest, I am also now on The Fellowship of the Ring after finishing The Hobbit last month.

What do you like best about them?

Death Comes to Pemberly was a fun, nice read.  I have not read any P.D. James before now.  She is in her 90s and is pretty popular among mystery lovers.  I’m not a huge mystery person, but I love Jane Austen so much that I gave this a try.

The Cure for Everything is predictably quirky, being written by a Canadian professor, Timothy Caufield.  I’m not sure if I’m stereotyping Canadians, and I apologize if it’s politically incorrect to do so.  Nevertheless, the Canadian perspective just seems different enough from a US view, that I find it entertaining.

Caufield, as the blurb of the book states, “talks with experts in medicine, pharmaceuticals, health and fitness, and even tries out many of the health fads himself, in order to test their scientific validity, dispel the myths, and illuminate the path to better health.”

Could J.R.R. Tolkein be any more quotable?  I keep stopping every page or so to repeat a line as I read it aloud.   From a recent day:

“But where shall I find courage?” asked Frodo.  “That is what I chiefly need.”
“Courage is found in unlikely places,” said Gildor. “Be of good hope!  Sleep now!”

What do you like least about them?

The Cure for Everything really begs a lot of questions.  Because Caufield writes about experimenting with different ideas about health, and if they work, but since he is starting the process basically very healthy, it doesn’t really seem completely convincing, even with the studies he cites.

What’s next on your list to read?

I am in the midst of Three to Get Married by Archbishop Fulton Sheen, the next book we are reading in the women’s Sheen book group I attend (I discussed the group in my September Post column here).  It’s slow going for me right now, but I am also taking copious notes.

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.

First, What are You Reading, Volume 24: The Quotable Edition

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Here are my answers to the four questions I ask on the first of each month:

first, what are you reading?

what do you like best about it?

what do you like least?

what’s next on your list to read? 

As always, I hope you’ll consider your current reads on your blog and/or sharing here in the comments or on Facebook.  Happy reading!

First, what are you reading?  

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.  Also, Magic for Marigold, a lesser-known novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

What do you like best about them?

I’m re-reading the great Tolkein books to and with our 9-year-old son.  I’m not sure our family will be seeing the movie version of The Hobbit when it comes out at Christmastime (, but I want our family to be introduced to the real books before seeing any movie versions.   I haven’t seen the movie versions of The Lord of the Rings since they were out in the theater many years ago, when my kids were far too small to see them.  I’m not really sure if I’m ready for them to see those movies, but we are definitely becoming a more Tolkein-aware house at the moment.

The Hobbit has so many great quotes, I want to keep running for my iPhone (where I keep quotes these days) while I’m reading it aloud.  Because it’s usually downstairs “docked” for the evening, I don’t get to do so, and I want to remedy that somehow.  Maybe I’ll just have to keep a pen and index card with me.  Here’s one that I wish I could find a way to put up somewhere in our house:  

It’s the description of Elrond’s house, (also known as the Last Homely House), where the dwarves and Bilbo have their last respite before heading towards their dangerous adventures:

“His house was perfect, whether you liked food, or sleep, or work, or story-telling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all.  Evil things did not come into that valley.”

My other favorite quote would have to be the frequent times when Bilbo thinks something along the lines of “Not for the first time did Bilbo wish he were back in his tidy hobbit-hole.” 

Magic for Marigold is a sweet story about a girl being raised by an eccentric assortment of relatives, and her adventures.  My favorite quote here is at the end of an exchange between Marigold and her melancholic mother.

“’I don’t think you were a coward at all, dearest.  You were very brave to go right on when you were so afraid—and keep going on.’


‘If I could have picked my mother I’d have picked you,’ whispered Marigold.”

What do you like least about them?

The Hobbit is just great through and through; there’s everything to like and love about this classic.

Though I hate to admit it, there is a reason that Magic for Marigold is not well-known. It’s not the best of LM Montgomery’s work—it’s more an assortment of vignettes than a cohesive story.  Still, the characters are loveable and it’s a thoroughly enjoyable read.  It’s especially worthwhile for Anne of Green Gables lovers, or young people who might want a fun summer read.

What’s next on your list to read?

Our family is recently back from vacation with extended family, and I have a lot of great suggestions from my siblings of good recent reads.  I’ve got a lot of library requests in at the moment.

So, what are you reading these days?  Any books you would like to share?

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. 

Meet a Reader: Lee Hall

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You may notice that the blog (and the book page in the print Catholic Post), has something of a sports theme going this month.  I’ve reviewed Alberto Salazar’s powerful memoir, 14 Minutes: A Running Legend’s Life and Death and Life.  Also this month on the book page, and here, “Meet a Reader” features local sportscaster Lee Hall. 
Hall not just a local on-air personality (at WEEK-TV), but also a tireless champion of the St. Jude Memphis-to-Peoria Run, which over the years has raised more than $22 million for St. Jude and its Peoria affiliate.   Hall has been part of the Run for 25 years, and shows that he is not just a “reader,” but a writer, having written–as a labor of love–the recent Running for Their Lives: The St. Jude Memphis to Peoria Run.
Running for Their Livesis a thorough account all about the Run and its many personalities, interspersed with stories of patients and their families.   Hall says that the annual August 465-mile, four-day run is “part athletic endurance event, part summer camp, and part encounter group.”  It’s a lot of ground to cover, and Hall manages to share stories ranging from touching to silly about run personalities, St. Jude patients & their families who touch lives forever, some of whom go onto become longtime St. Jude runners. 
Hall’s dedication, like those of all St. Jude Runners, is heartfelt and deserves our praise and support, as Former Peoria Mayor Jim Maloof writes in his foreword to Running for Their Lives.  Maloof himself is the original St. Jude champion, since he brought the St. Jude affiliate to Peoria many years ago.
 
My thanks to Lee for being such a great “Reader” this month!
 
 
Meet a Reader:  Lee Hall
 How you know me:  
I have been Sports Director at WEEK-TV since 1988, where I started as an intern in 1984.   I’m also in the IHSA Network, where I do play-by-play and sideline reporting.
I’m a member of Blessed Sacrament Church in Morton, where my four children have all attended and played sports, so many people may have seen me in your parish gym at one time or another.
Why I love reading:
You might was as well ask why I like breathing. Reading has been a huge part of my life since I was a young boy. My Mom & Dad both grew up during the Depression and didn’t get as much education as they would have liked, so they encouraged me to read and study. They didn’t have to push too much on the reading part. I loved reading about Daniel Boone, Abraham Lincoln and other real-life heroes. Non-fiction and biographies continue to dominate my interests.
What I’m reading now:
I am currently reading a couple of sports books: Landry’s Boys: An Oral History of a Team and an Era by Peter Golenbock and Where’s Harry?: Steve Stone Remembers 25 Years with Harry Caray by Steve Stone and Barry Rozner.
Landry’s Boys is a history of the Dallas Cowboys organization. I have been a fan since the Roger Staubach days and find the behind-the-scenes fascinating.  I love Where’s Harry? because I miss Harry Caray terribly.  He made baseball games into an event.
I recently finished The Kennedy Detail: JFK’s Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence by Gerald Blaine, Lisa McCubbin and Clint Hill.  Anything Kennedy, Lincoln, or Civil War related is right up my alley.
I also read from Jesus Calling everyday. Its daily readings are Scripture-based, but written in modern English. I happened upon the book while trying to market my own book, Running for Their Lives, and it has changed my life!
My favorite books:
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin is one of my favorite books of all time. It documents how President Lincoln formed his rivals for the Republican nomination into a wartime cabinet, convincing them to put their personal interests aside for the country’s best interests. If only today’s politicians could do the same!
Another favorite is Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, chronicling the story of a college graduate from a wealthy family who turns his back on that lifestyle to live off the land.

Catholic Media Promotion Day: #silenceandword

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Yesterday and today comprised the two-day Catholic Media Promotion Day(s?).  Last year I participated and listed some of my favorite online Catholic “things” like podcasts websites and other Internet sources.

Because of that, this year organizers of Catholic Media Promotion Day recommended that participants this year take a break from social media on Wednesday, May 23, then write about it on Thursday, May 24.   The hashtag to be used is #silenceandword, as a direct quote from Benedict XVI from the Holy Father’s message for World Communications Day.

That message was really about the need to balance contemplation with action related to social media use.  As Benedict XVI writes, “Word and silence: learning to communicate is learning to listen and contemplate as well as speak.” Nice!

I saw on Lisa Hendey’s CatholicMom.com site about Catholic Media Promotion Day earlier this week, and made a mental note to stay off social networks and to write today about it.  But as it turned out, that happened to be no problem.

Yesterday was the class trip for our oldest’s 8th grade class, so I was on a bus from early morning until late at night, coordinating with the coach driver and keeping head counts of fellow parents (yes, that was one of my roles!)   I didn’t feel bad being “offline” at all.  If I had thought about it, I might have checked Facebook on my phone (I need to delete and re-install mobile Twitter, as it hasn’t worked for some months, showing how often I use that on my phone), but I truly never thought of it.

It’s interesting to reflect on that, and to choose to have a day of silence, because I find myself with more silence than noise when it comes to social networks and communications.  I can go more than a day being on the computer, and even longer for checking into Facebook or Twitter. (I use TweetDeck for Twitter feeds, and lately, my laptop is running slow so I don’t often have it up).

Strangely, I find that I have lots of time for contemplation, but not as much time for speaking or engaging.  I still have early morning hours and times of quiet when I reflect, or think of things I would like to write and accomplish as I go about the busyness of life.  But even though the contemplation bears fruit in the form of ideas, getting those writing ideas actually done has been very difficult lately, because when I’ve processed it enough to get it down, it’s time to take kids somewhere, or put in another load of laundry, or go grocery shopping, or go on a field trip or ….fill in the blank of running a household and keeping kids fed, clothed and loved.  And sometimes I get to it, and sometimes I don’t.  As an example, the only reason that this post is being finished, even after day of intending to, is that a huge branch came down from a tree on the tree lawn in front of our house.  It’s blocking the road, and a city crew is here cutting it up with chainsaws, and the rest of the family is outside watching.  (I went out to snap a few photos and say hello to the police who came, and now I’m taking advantage of the quiet to finish this).

The topic then to share about was, “What in Catholic Media has had an impact on me during the past year?”  And to be honest, I have to say my shrinking time online is something that has had the greatest impact on me.  It’s not all bad, and it’s not all good.

I am trying to tweak my schedule and time management skills so that I have more time to accomplish the writing and reading that I love, and with intentionally connecting with others online, whether family members through e-mail, Facebook friends and groups, Twitter or blogging here (as I should!)  

But overall, I’ve increasingly realized that the season of my life right now is meant to be spent as much time as I would like, or feel called to–writing, or reading (sigh!), or interacting with others online–and to be at peace with it.  There will come a time when I’ll have much more leeway in my schedule to write the Great American Novel (or whatever project I’ve got in mind then), and be much more active in whatever social media looks like in the future.  But for now, it’s a lot of analog, and that’s a good thing.

How about you?  Do you find yourself connected online more than you would like, or less?  What would you change about your online engagement?