If The Giver blew your mind, it may further blow your mind to know that The Giver has sequels. As if the journey of twelve-year-old Jonas through the frightening truth about his seemingly perfect world weren’t enough, Lois Lowry has spun another tale. The Giver presented a futuristic world with no choices and an oligarchy enforcing “Sameness” to create a better world, but one with sinister secrets. There are indications, though, that Jonas’s community is not the only one. What about everyone else?
In Gathering Blue, we find out what is going on in the world beyond.
We are all called to be saints. I’ll say that again, with help from St. Bernadette and a friend’s email signature, “I must become a saint. My Jesus demands it.” Most of us aren’t actively working on that, but some must be. In my never-ending quest for good Catholic YA, I picked up The Possibilities of Sainthood, by Donna Freitas. I was delighted. There may be hope for books about Catholic teenagers with problems yet.
I am going to volunteer with Pure Fashion in Austin this coming school year! I’m not into modeling, but i am into character education and spreading the positive message of modesty, and this seems like a great way to do it. Don’t tell any of my former students, but I kind of miss working with high schoolers.
On a vaguely related note, Ive been seeing the ad for Trendy Top all the time lately, and I kind of want one. It seems like a great solution to the low-rise waistline, and it doesn’t encourage you to switch back to immodest like the Cami Secret.
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Can I please have this tote bag? We’ve already got “Baby Got Back” adapted for the Bible-lover (“Baby Got Book”), so why not for book lovers in general?
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Did you catch the USCCB’s announcement of a new online-adapted Catechism of the Catholic Church? It’s pretty sweet. I love the look, and I especially like that the footnotes and cross-references are pop-ups so they don’t take you away from the section you’re on. Who says the Church can’t get with the times (when appropriate, because some things are timeless)?
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I started a new Bible study program this week. When I was in college, I started a Bible study on salvation history. Our leader left at the end of the school year, leading me to decry (as a joke) that I’d never know how it ended. I’ve been looking for a good opportunity to join another salvation history study then, and I stumbled across The Great Adventure Quick Journey Through the Biblejust in time to register (3 days before it started). It’s at a church one town away, so my commute is super long, but I’m very excited for this study, and at least driving is a productive way to spend those thirty minutes.
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This 7QT is posted late because Sarah is visiting me, and Getting Things Done before her arrival was much more important that typing this. But now it’s Saturday morning, which sounded like a good designated computer time to me.
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I stumbled across a National Catholic Register article lamenting the transfer of the Ascension to Sunday across the U.S. I have been complaining about that since I started paying attention to it. The Pentecost Novena is still the only official one in the Church, and it starts on Thursday. Thursday is supposed to be the Ascension so it makes sense to start praying that day! It’s not even like asking people to go to Mass two days in a row (which will actually happen with the Immaculate Conception in 2012; that day never gets transferred or loses its obligation). Can we be that surprised that people don’t know what a novena is or when Church holidays are if we don’t even do them on the correct day? </end rant>
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In other NCR news, Steven Greydanus cautions against reading any reviews of Brave. I tend not to read reviews precisely because they are spoilery (and I tend not to loathe what reviewers often do). I had such a tough time with my ACNM series on the Hunger Games books because I wanted to preview each book without revealing too much, but I’d read all three before I started writing. This leads into a bigger discussion of media discernment (again! It’s important!), but I’m glad I got the warning. I knew Mandy Moore’s character was going to marry Shane West’s in A Walk to Remember, but I didn’t know she was going to die, so perhaps that’s why I still love that movie. Among other reasons.
Perhaps this is a little too close a bond between the Church and new technology! (photo by Piotr Drabik)
At Austin Catholic New Media, we strive to harness the most popular social technologies of the day to aid in the New Evangelization. In other words, since everyone and his grandma is on Facebook, can we share our Catholic lives in photos and status updates? Can we use YouTube to teach people about Catholicism? And what is all that stuff, if you don’t already know? Brandon Vogt, blogger at The Thin Veil, brings together various authors writing on this very topic in his book The Church and New Media: Blogging Converts, Online Activists, and Bishop who Tweet.
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This review was written as part of the Tiber River Reviewer Program. I received a free copy of the book in exchange for this honest review of it. For more reviews of Catholic books, visit Tiber River. To purchase Catholic products of all kinds (not just books), visit Aquinas and More Catholic Goods.
Last month, I went to see October Baby when its distribution expanded to Austin. Although I am a Christian, I do not feel automatically compelled to like Christian films. Holy people still sin; Christian films can still be terrible. I’ve never actually seen any of Sherwood Pictures’s movies (Facing the Giants, Fireproof, or Courageous), but I haven’t intentionally avoided them. I hear the acting is bad. An over-reliance on volunteers has plagued many a church endeavor.
I will admit, though, that I saw October Baby in a theater (on a Friday!) partly so that films of its nature will continue being made. It’s not that I want more material for critics to pan: I want the industry to improve. It’s hard to start making better Christian movies if you stop making them altogether. Think about how popular superhero films are right now, or how many dozens of paranormal teen romance novels you can find. When one works, more get made.
A few years ago, I went with the youth group I helped chaperone to see To Save a Life. I’m admittedly a sucker for stories about teenagers with problems, but I thought it was a good movie overall. The acting seemed okay, although it wasn’t phenomenal. The story did not end perfectly, and it was compelling and realistic without being too preachy (though not without being preachy at all, of course). I enjoyed it so much that I bought it on DVD. I knew it would be worth re-watching and contemplating. (It deserves its own review one of these days. Stay posted.)
I’m not sure that I can say quite the same about October Baby, but I definitely enjoyed it. The movie tells the story of college freshman Rachel, who collapses on stage at her first major theatrical performance. Her suddenly worsened illness is linked to her lifelong health problems, which began with her difficult birth. Eventually, Rachel’s parents reveal that they adopted her after she was born during an attempted abortion. (Many pro-lifers will recognize this as the story of Gianna Jessen.) Torn over this new facet of her identity, Rachel sets out with her best friend Jason to find her roots and figure out who she’s going to become.
Without giving away too much of the story, I found it reasonably realistic. Some of the secondary characters were either too heavy-handed with the comic relief or entirely useless, though, which annoyed me. There’s a line between a background character and a flat secondary character, and it must be respected. Having lived in the areas where the film takes place, I can attest to the general behavior of those locals, as strange as it may seem. Sometimes people really are too nice to believe. Despite those odd characterizations, the acting left me with no complaints. When I learned that Jasmine Guy and John Schneider were featured, I knew this movie would be different. Hiring recognized actors brings so much credibility to a film such as this!
One of my favorite aspects of the movie was that Rachel and Jason demonstrated a beautiful and healthy relationship. He treated her with respect and protected her without being controlling at all, and she accepted his affection without losing herself in him. She was still independent, but he helped lift her up. They had a long history that contributed toward their future, and I believed that they had a genuine and Christlike love for each other. I can’t say that about every movie pair.
October Baby is clearly a message film. Its tagline, “Every life is beautiful,” suggests a kind of hope that many people have lost these days. Whether you find hope in God or in the balancing power of “the universe,” October Baby will help remind you that there is goodness inherent within people. The future may not be dazzling, but it can still be bright.
This week, the official Top Ten Tuesday topic is “Top Ten Authors I’d Like To See On A Reality Show (and which reality show :P) OR Top Ten Authors Who Deserve Their Own TV Show – UPDATE: Now, this week is a freebie week for those who don’t want to do this topic! It wasn’t as good as an idea as I thought initially. But, feel free to do this topic still if you’d like!”
Well. I honestly prefer my authors to stay authors (unless they’re consulting on the movie adaptions of their books, which I think is preferable, cf. J.K. Rowling), so I’m going to use this free week to write about my top ten Catholic books. Somehow, I don’t think that will be coming up on TTT anytime soon (especially since, come to think of it, they’ve already done favorite genre and I chose dystopias).
Top Ten Catholic Books
The Bible: I had to. The sad reality is that most Catholics don’t actually read the Bible. This is partly because Bible reading is seen as a fundamentalist or evangelical thing (how else could they argue for sola scriptura?) and partly because every Mass includes Bible readings. I think the Catholic Church would be in a much better position if her members committed to actually reading, in context, one of the primary sources for our faith knowledge.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC): Again, I had to. This one book contains official Church teachings on everything from the Commandments to the sacraments to revelation. It is not easy to read; each paragraph takes some digesting. It is worthwhile, though, to have as a resource.
The United States Catholic Catechism for Adults (USCCA): When the CCC was published, it came with the directive that each conference of bishops (in the U.S., the USCCB) work on adapting it for use in their own countries. The result of that project was the USCCA. It is unfortunately a larger book because it is well typeset and has fun things like pictures and discussion questions. (It’s even larger than almost all my Bibles. Yikes.) My favorite feature is that each chapter begins with the story of a saint, blessed, or famous religious figure whose story relates to the topic of the chapter. I read the chapter that begins with Orestes Brownson for a class at Notre Dame just days before I walked across his grave marker (which is in the floor of Sacred Heart Parish, on the basement level of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame). I wasn’t being creepy; just going to confession. I think that’s the closest I’ve ever been to a saint’s remains!
Orthodoxy, by G.K. Chesterton: I’d read enough praise of Chesterton and enough of his pithy quotes to know that he was a very smart man and very witty. It took me a long time to actually start reading this book after I bought it, though, and even longer to finish it (six months). I loved it! He does a fantastic job of explaining that it was not so much that he found Catholicism and found sense in it, but that he found that the only thing that made sense was Catholicism. The humor didn’t hurt, either. I took notes in the margins (in pencil) at at the bottom of pages because I didn’t want to forget anything. It is dense but compelling.
Theology for Beginners by Frank J. Sheed: I just finished this one this afternoon. It was very well structured and systematic, which I appreciated. It’s not an apologetics book, so it presumes belief in all the principles it explains. It opened up things I’ve never understood in this depth before, like the Trinity and the concept of Spirit. It even referred back to earlier parts of the book, so I kept refreshing my memory. That was also helpful because this one took me a long time to read, too. (Just under four months this time—I’m improving!) It was so worth it.
Anything on the Theology of the Body: I can’t quite recommend the actual book that contains the original speeches (Man and Woman He Created Them) because I haven’t actually read it, but everything I know about the Theology of the Body has changed my life. In particular, I’ve enjoyed books and materials by Christopher West and Jason Evert.
Catholicism for Dummies: It sounds ridiculous, I know, but it was written by two priests from EWTN and has a lot of legitimate information: a brief history of the Church, a list of famous Catholics, and of course, a ton of practical information about being Catholic. Since I am me, I had to read the whole thing cover-to-cover, which (you guessed it) took me a very, very long time.
Humanae Vitae (“On Human Life”), by Pope Paul VI: This is it: the dreaded birth control encyclical. The shocker is that it’s so short! It’s only about six pages long [PDF], but it is packed with information. I am convinced that most Catholics (especially those who use artificial birth control but claim to be otherwise faithful) have never actually read this document. They might be convicted if they did. Granted, I read it after I first learned the Theology of the Body, but the simplicity and eerie predictions make this a crucial read for anyone who wants to really understand Catholic teachings on sex, marriage, and children.
I’m going to say my TOB recommendations count as the last two. I have a Catholic book review column, but not everything has been good enough to make my top ten. This just means I have to read more Catholic books to get to the cream of the crop. Oh, the agony.
Some things are difficult to talk about. There’s an adage that some things should never be discussed in mixed company: sex, politics, money, and religion. Well, I work in religion, and this is a Catholic blog, so brace yourselves. Now that the Church is ten years from the horror of the public revelation of the priestly sexual abuse scandal and just over a year from the beatification of the man who enlightened so many about the truth of human sexuality, Blessed John Paul II, I think we’re ready to talk about recovery. Realizing that you have a problem is only the first step. Fixing the problem can be the journey of a lifetime. Now that we know sexual abuse is part of our Church’s history, we need greater resources to deal with this tragedy. Dawn Eden has taken a significant step toward a solution in her brand-new book, My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints.
I work for a university parish. My pastor gave me 101 Questions and Answers on Catholic Marriage Preparation to read as I prepare to add marriage preparation to my duties at work. I’d already taken the day-long marriage packet workshop offered by the diocese, so I knew the finer points of completing the paperwork. I don’t have any experience counseling couples and am not married or a vowed religious myself, though, so I needed some supplementary training.
I found the book interesting on several points. The authors offer a wider perspective on the history of marriage preparation in the Church in the U.S. than I’ve seen anywhere else. It’s probably my age, but I hadn’t known that the six-month-plus prep period was so recently instated. I also had no idea that mixed marriages (a Catholic to a non-Catholic) couldn’t be celebrated physically in the church building before Vatican II. I am not a fan of recent innovations that the authors condone, such as the unity candle or writing your own vows. In movies and TV, the spouses who write their own vows rarely make any promises (which is what vows are); they just read love letters out loud. I will concede that they are sometimes allowed. I just don’t like them and don’t want to encourage them.
This is a good beginner-level book for anyone who is Catholic and is thinking about marriage, who isn’t Catholic and is thinking about marrying a Catholic, or who might become Catholic and wants to know why the Catholic Church makes such a big deal about marriage. The short answer: It is a big deal! It’s never too early to start preparing for the rest of your life.
I realized recently (and very awkwardly) that I read a lot about being single. I need more balance in my life, which is one of the reasons I turned to The Thrill of the Chaste for my last review. However, that was still a book about being single. In came Style, Sex, and Substance: 10 Catholic Women Consider the Things that Really Matter. Edited by Hallie Lord of Betty Beguiles (the only fashion blog I trust), the anthology consists of ten short essays by Catholic women who are active bloggers and seeking to live their faith in a Sex and the City-Planned Parenthood-Cosmo-saturated world. These ladies offer an alternative, and then alternatives to that. Their love for Jesus and the Church unites them and gives an unfailing guide to their deeply practical advice.
My name is Lindsay. I love. If you're looking for a blog about a 20-something Catholic from Maryland currently living in Austin, Texas, who loves Jesus, loves grammar, loves Harry Potter, and just plain loves, you're in the right place. (More?)
