I wrote a book review on Aleteia: In The Catholic Hipster Handbook, writer Mary Rezac has a chapter on buying from the local farmer’s markets as a way of living the principle of subsidiarity, but she doesn’t go to the extreme of starting your own organic farm. Looking back on my life, I think I might have been …
Category: Book Review
Sep 27
“Why I am Catholic?” – Bringing the Transcendentals into Apologetics
I wrote a review of “Why I am Catholic?” by Brandon Vogt for Aleteia. When I was in my teens and 20s I loved apologetics books. I loved learning all these scriptural zingers to hit Protestants with. It made me feel secure in my faith. But then something changed. I realized this form of apologetics, …
May 04
‘Amoris Laetitia’ is about accompaniment, not the divorced and remarried
I reviewed an excellent book on Crux today: When I subtitled my summary of Amoris Laetitia on the day it came out “About Every Family, Not Just Divorced and Civilly Remarried,” I knew the Communion issue was going to be the news of the day, but I didn’t expect it to still be an issue in …
Feb 22
Mercy in Stories
A few months ago I received a free book on mercy from an associate professor of religious studies at a Catholic university. I was expecting a very technical explanation of what mercy was – a theological treatise. Instead, it was a collection of personal stories. Even though the year of mercy that inspired such a …
Jun 16
Risen: a Movie Ruined by Trying to Be a Christian Movie More Than Trying to Be a Good Movie
[Spoiler alerts: I give away the plot] I don’t write movie reviews because I simply don’t watch that many movies. Several people had told me that Risen was a great movie so I found time to watch it a few days ago. I really liked the first two thirds of the movie as it really …
Jun 10
S2S: Free Catholic Student Planner Giveaway
I met the young man who invented the Catholic Planner at a media conference in Brooklyn last month. He has a new project of making a student version he calls S2S for Sinner to Saint. I think it really gets at the core of how to be Catholic as a student. It combines the practical aspects …
May 02
Clearing Our Heart for Love by Remembering God’s Mercy
Remembering God’s Mercy is one of those rare books that combines personal testimony, theological insight, sound psychology, and prayerfulness all-in-one. Along with reading, I used this book for meditation for a week or two. It’s an amazing book that has to be comprehended as by whole chapters and not by lines. When I read a …
Apr 27
Solutions for the Moral Crises of Every Day
This is a review of What’s a Person to Do?: Everyday Decisions That Matter by Mark S. Latkovic (OSV, 2013). Instead of talking about the big hot button moral issues like abortion, transgender rights, the death penalty or gay marriage, Dr Latkovic has decided to write a book with 40 questions on moral issues that a good …
Apr 25
Cleansed: Overcoming Pornography Issues with Jesus
Pornography is a huge addiction in our society: ripping way the innocence of children, stripping teens of a realistic expectation of sex, driving boyfriends and girlfriends into sex prematurely, deadening marriages, afflicting all ages, and destroying families. Marcel LeJeune has dealt with this scourge in his ministry and has written one of the most complete …
Apr 23
50 Shades of Distrust
In the past year, by selling about 70,000,000 copies, Fifty Shades of Grey became the #1 book of all time. I ask myself why? 2 unsatisfactory answers are usually given: people want to read smut, and the writing is good. Lurid literature has been around for years – Harlequin romances have been sold since the …
Jan 16
It Hurts but It Isn’t Painful (Hurt 2.0 reviewed)
When I finished Hurt 2.0, I felt disappointed. I had bought a book on youth ministry expecting at least some kind of solution, some kind of resolution. Then I read the cover again: the subtitle is Inside the World of Today’s Teenagers and that is exactly what it had provided. In the end, I would …
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