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Confession: I do play the Florida Lottery, not excessively but just enough to dream of what I might do with several mil in my declining years, which have already begun. Our state pot, as of yesterday morning at the Publix Grocery Store casino counter, is only $23.5 million. But still, an old man needs his dreams, and mine would be spending the winnings on the establishment of a regional Catholic library, study, and resource center near my house and the Publix grocery store where I buy my lottery tickets. New homes are going up faster than ever, much to the consternation of the locals who still remember when my town was the “indoor foliage capital of the world.”
One of the true oxymorons of American Catholic life is “parish library.” True Catholic libraries are nonexistent in most parishes, let’s face it. Yes, there are “Catholic bookstores” in some of the larger parishes which, along with religious articles like rosaries and Advent wreathes, carry a line of Bibles, liturgical books, and of course The Catechist of the Catholic Church. Has anyone ever actually bought a Catechism? Or curled up before a fireplace with brandy for an evening with the Catechism? The Catechism falls into the area we learned about years ago in high school economics, Gresham’s Law, that “bad money drives good money out of circulation.” If the Catholic flagship book for adult reading is marketed as the Catechism, we will destroy the last flicker of curiosity and interest among Catholic readers. Pope John Paul II agreed. Interestingly, in his introduction to the Catechism in its U.S. original printing back in 1994, he indicates that he never intended the Catechism as a stand-alone book for cover-to-cover reading [pp. 3, 5, 6.] The pontiff speaks of it as a sourcebook for Catholic teaching texts and an outline for catechetical resources, a reference for teachers, students, etc. As literature, though, reading the Catechism is like reading Webster’s Dictionary. Both resources are correct…and that’s about it. This is not a criticism of parish bookstore vendors, or even of the Catechism, but how we misuse the book. I am puzzled that pastors and bishops, who lament the poverty of knowledge among the faithful—such as the recent survey on belief in the Real Presence in the Eucharist--have a very poor record talking up college level Catholic reading and adult learning resource material, particularly from the pulpit and the general information sources of a parish, such as bulletins and parish websites. Catholics in the “real world” are the most highly educated. Six of the nine Supreme Court justices are Catholic. What is wrong with this picture? It often starts in the parish home. The priest who is not reading classic and new religious writings—scholarly, devotional, inspirational and/or artistic—as well as keeping a finger on the pulse of contemporary culture and working such material into sermons for the faithful--will eventually give his same stock sermon every week while ignoring the matters that cry to heaven for attention. Has anyone heard a thoughtful sermon about antisemitism or the Scripture teachings about aliens in the past eight weeks? Of course, the same rule applies to any church minister working with populations of any age. Wouldn’t it be appropriate to bring Anne Frank’s diary into youth faith formation during the wave of antisemitic demonstrations in the United States? Why no imagination? Why no books? Why no lifelong faith formation? It is a long story going back many years. As early as the 1940’s American Catholicism came to be regarded as an intellectual graveyard in the international world of theological scholars. Denis W. Brogan, the Cambridge political scientist who was an expert on both modern French and American history, said in 1941 that "in no Western society is the intellectual prestige of Catholicism lower than in the country where, in such respects as wealth, numbers, and strength of organization, it is so powerful." But it was the eminent U.S Church historian Monsignor John Tracy Ellis who brought this issue into public awareness with his 1955 essay, "American Catholics and the Intellectual Life." An analysis published in America Magazine is well worth your time. In his 1955 essay, Msgr. Ellis noted that there was a proliferation of Catholic colleges and seminaries in the U.S.—at least two hundred--in which the limited number of Catholic American scholars were spread too thin, and attendance ran below capacity. The author’s own career reflects the struggle in the U.S. to obtain a first-rate Catholic college and seminary education. St. Viator's College in Bourbonnais, Illinois, was founded in 1865 by the Viatorian Order and closed in 1937. It graduated Ellis, and Fulton Sheen some years before him, but its graduation classes by the 1930’s were in the range of 15 to twenty. As a young man, the future Monsignor Ellis sought to earn a doctorate in history, but finding Catholic University’s doctoral program inferior, he sought admission to the University of Illinois, a “Big Ten” state school. Later, as a priest-historian-teacher-author, he served as an officer of the National Catholic Educators Association. In this capacity he visited many Catholic colleges and grew more despondent about their quality. It was no secret that the United States was represented by a distressingly low number of respected theological scholars during Vatican II. Interestingly, Cardinal Dolan of New York publicly observed just a few weeks ago that the U.S. bishops should reduce the number of seminaries today and focus on a few institutions of excellence. There were only 422 priestly ordinations across the country in 2022 and about 190 seminaries, which buttresses the Cardinal’s argument. But a diocesan seminary is one of the few institutions that a bishop genuinely controls anymore; downsizing is always a very bitter pill. My home diocese of Buffalo has put its seminary, Christ the King, on the market for $5 million, in the face of a $100 million diocesan bankruptcy settlement over sexual abuse. Buffalo now sends its seminarians out of the diocese for priestly education. My own career was impacted by Monsignor Ellis’s work. In 1969 I began my “major seminary study” by entering the School of Philosophy at Catholic University and graduating in 1971. [I had an A.A. degree in Classical Latin and Greek before attending CU.] But I did not continue at CU after graduating with my B.A. In the late 1960’s my religious order, along with about a dozen others in Washington, formed a consortium graduate school, the Washington Theological Coalition. The orders had pooled their best scholars, many published, to teach graduate theology and award degrees, and by the time I showed up at the door of the school in 1971 the Coalition was accredited by the State of Maryland and the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools…meaning that my master’s degree from the Coalition was accepted when I applied to Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, for a masters in counseling. There is a fine history of the Washington Theological Coalition [its name later changed to Union] which explains the struggle of small seminaries to stay open. The Coalition/Union closed in 2012. I am very jealous of dioceses that have either a seminary or a major Catholic university in their locale. Accredited colleges and seminaries must maintain first rate libraries, which hopefully would be open to non-matriculating Catholics in the area to at least sample the many various types of Catholic books and resources available, Of course, if you are a graduate of a Catholic college, I believe you can register to use the library, even to take out books, if you live close by, and you may be able to read books online from your alma mater’s holdings. I was pleasantly surprised to discover on-line that the University of Central Florida, a state school where I have taken graduate courses to update, has fifty different books by or on the Trappist monk Thomas Merton. But I recommend that if you find a book that intrigues you, buy it in paperback if possible so that you can highlight it and notate it as a permanent addition to your library. But before we get too far afield on the logistics, let’s step back and ask this question—is Catholic study necessary to save your soul? You will get an argument from some people about this. Thomas a Kempis [1380-1471] wrote in his spiritual classic, The Imitation of Christ, that “I would rather feel compunction than know how to spell it.” In his day, the great medieval philosophy of Thomas Aquinas and others had run out of steam. Critics accused the Catholic scholars of wasting their time debating “how many angels can dance on the heard of a pin?” A century after Kempis, the Catholic Council of Trent mandated the establishment of diocesan seminaries for the education of priests to restore the long history of Catholic scholarship and to improve the health and holiness of parish life. If you have read the Vatican II document Dei Verbum, or “The Word of God,” It is clear from the Church’s teaching that God’s Revelation to the world comes through the written word—the Gospels, the testimonies of the Apostolic witnesses, and the Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament. The baptismal practice of adults in the first centuries of the church included a week of intensive teaching and instruction for the newly baptized during the time Easter, instructions referred to as mystagogia, or mystery. As baptized Christians we live a full life of probing more deeply into the Word of God, the rites of worship, the prayerful wisdom and advice of the saints [and the sinners]. In short, Catholicism has been a “writing Church” for its entire existence. In the second post to follow in a week, we’ll look at how to enter the magnificent world of the printed word of our Faith—trust me, there are books out there for every taste.
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Books on Catholic life and Culture [Non-Fiction, fiction below]
About 95% of these titles I reviewed on Amazon. Remember that you can catch some excellent sales under the “used book” links in Amazon’s dashboard. Learning to Pray: A Guide for Everyone [2021] by James Martin, SJ [currently Amazon top 1%] New Seeds of Contemplation [1949] by Thomas Merton A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus [1991] by John P. Meier Doors to the Sacred: A Historical Introduction to Sacraments in the Catholic Church [2014 edition] by Joseph Martos Sin in the Sixties: Catholics and Confession 1955-1975 [2022] by Maria C. Morrow A History of Catholic Theological Ethics [2022] by James F. Keenan The Story of Christianity Volume One: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation [2010] by Justo L. Gonzalez John XXIII: Pope of the Century [2005] by Peter Hebblethwaite Why Catholics Can’t Sing [2013 revised edition] by Thomas Day Keys to the Council: Unlocking the Teaching of Vatican II [2012] by Richard R. Gaillardetz and Catharine Clifford A Family of His Own: A Life of Edwin O’Connor [2003] by Charles F. Duffy Dogs of God: Columbus, the Inquisition, and the Defeat of the Moors [2006] by James Reston, Jr. The Unquiet Englishman: A Life of Graham Greene [2021] by Richard Greene Being the Body of Christ in an Age of Management [2016] by Lyndon Shakespeare [currently Amazon top 3%] Light of Assisi: The Story of Saint Clare [2021] by Sister Margaret Carney, OSF The Truth at the Heart of the Lie: How the Catholic Church Lost Its Soul [2021] by James Carroll [currently Amazon top 2%] Longing for an Absent God: Faith and Doubt in Great American Fiction [2020] by Nick Ripatrazone Vatican I: The Council and the Making of the Ultramontane Church [2018] by John W. O’Malley Seminary: A Search [2014] by Paul Hendrickson The Age of Reform, 1250-1550: An Intellectual and Religious History of Late Medieval and Reformation Europe [1981] by Steven Ozment What Happened at Vatican II [2008] by John W. O’Malley Free and Faithful: My Life in the Catholic Church [1998] by Father Bernard Haring The Church and the Age of Reason [1648-1789] by Gerald R. Cragg Vatican Council II [1968] by Xavier Rynne [pseudo name] Medieval History: A New History [2015] by Kevin Madigan Francis of Assisi: A New Biography [2012] by Augustine Thompson The Inner Life of Priests [2012] by Gerald J. McGlone and Len Sperry The Early Church [1993] by Henry Chadwick The Resurrection of the Messiah: A Narrative Commentary on the Resurrection Accounts in the Four Gospels [2013] by Francis J. Moloney Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages [1990 edition] by R.W. Southern] Confirmation: How a Sacrament of God’s Grace Became All About Us [2013] by Timothy R. Gabrielli Trent: What Happened at the Council [2013] by John W. O’Malley Theology: The Basics 3rd Edition [2011] by Alister McGrath Vows; The Story of a Priest, a Nun, and their Son [2005] by Peter Manseau When the Sisters Said Farewell: The Transition of Leadership in Catholic Elementary Schools [2012] by S.J. Michael Caruso The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah [1983] by Charles Fensham Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics [2008] by Margaret Farley Modern Catholic Social Teaching: Commentaries and Interpretations [2017] by Kenneth R. Himes, Editor Robert Bellarmine: Saint and Scholar [1961] by James Brodrick Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics [2012] by Ross Douthat 1,2 Chronicles [1994] J.A. Thompson A History of the Jews [1988] by Paul Johnson [currently Amazon top 1%] Sacred Reading: The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina [1996] by Michael Casey The College Student’s Introduction to Christology [1996] by William P. Loewe Calvin [2009] by F. Bruce Gordon How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower [2009] by Adrian Goldsworthy Vatican Secret Diplomacy: Joseph P. Hurley and Pope Pius XII [2008] by Charles R. Gallagher 2 Kings Commentary [1986] T.R. Hobbs 1 Kings Commentary [2004] by Simon John Devries The David Story: A Translation with Commentary of 1 and 2 Samuel [2000] by Robert Alter [currently Amazon top 2%] An Introduction to Catholic Ethics [2003] by Lucien Longtin The Reformation: A History [2004] by Diarmaid MacCulloch Christian Doctrine and Modern Culture [since 1700] [1991] by Jaroslav Pelikan The Gospel of Matthew: Sacra Pagina Series [1991] by Daniel J. Harrington Jean Gerson and the Last Medieval Reformation [2005] by Brian Patrick McGuire Cure D’Ars Today: St. John Vianney [1988] by Father George Rutler Fiction by Catholic Authors about Catholic Life, Values, and Conversion [adult content] I have not reviewed every novel here but was captivated by them all. My favorite: Morte D’Urban. This colorful tale of an inept religious order in the Midwest going under for the count just before Vatican II was the best-selling novel in the U.S. in the early 1960’s. The End of the Affair [1954] by Graham Greene [currently Amazon top 1%] The Quiet American [1954] by Graham Greene [currently Amazon top 1%] After This [2007] by Alice McDermott The Cloister: A Novel [2018] by James Carroll A History of Loneliness: A Novel [2015] by John Boyne The Edge of Sadness [1961] by Edwin O’Connor The Leisure Seeker [2009] by Michael Zadoorian The Malefactors [1956] by Caroline Gordon The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse [2016] by Louise Edrich Morte D’Urban [1962] by J.F. Powers Wheat that Springeth Green [1989] by J.F. Powers Souls and Bodies [1980] by David Lodge |
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