This book actually invaded my dreams and started to dig up long lost memories of my life when I was younger and out in the battlefield of the sexual revolution. This book is very much about my own journey. Prodigal Daughters by Donna Steichen is the recounting of 17 different 'reverts' who left the Church in the tumultuous 70s (more or less) and after experiencing the discontent and despair of the post modern mindset, found peace and joy in returning to their Catholic faith, much battered and bruised, but wiser and very happy to be home again.
I was born in 1960. I graduated from 8th grade in 1972, high school in 1978 and college in 1982. I went to Catholic schools this whole time, yet a emerged with very little knowledge and understanding. My most vivid memory of religion class is listening to the Carpenters and Simon & Garfunkel. I made it through 17 years of Catholic education and never read Augustine or Aquinas. I remember being very little and reading old Vision books on the saints at home, but I also remember how the saints just disappeared from the curriculum at school. It was considered uncool to talk about them, except St. Francis of Assisi. He made the cut. The outside culture of the sexual revolution had thoroughly invaded Catholic culture and most of what I experienced was fall out from that war. It was a hugely painful and confusing time. I did many things I am now ashamed of. I was ashamed then too, but the culture that I so easily let myself be led by told me it was all good. But it wasn't. It was cheap and deceitful.
The stories recounted by these women are very well written and they do not mince words. The second story really touched me the most. I came back to the Church through Pax Christi. I was agnostic/atheist for a long period (from about the age of 12 to maybe 25). Once I started to realize I did believe in something, but wasn't sure what, I spent time studying. I looked at Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and different forms of Christianity. Slowly, very slowly, with a lot of twists and turns, I found myself back at the door of the Catholic Church. I was attracted to Pax Christi because the Gospel's social message spoke most strongly to my heart. I was and still am a peace and justice kind of gal. I read Joan Chittister and the book Original Blessing. I went to Pax Christi retreats and Call to Action conferences. However, the one thing that never rang true to me was the fact that these liberal Catholics never seemed to be as appalled by the injustice of abortion as I was. Even in my most radical, atheistic phase I never could swallow the idea that abortion was a right. I just couldn't fathom it. This made me always feel like a bit of an outsider. This was the elephant in the room wherever I went. The one that only I saw and everyone else seemed to ignore. So I could relate to Juli's testimony. Her recounting of the Erie, PA Pax Center (a place I so admired in those days!) is just chilling. Anybody who thinks the Church is being unjust to those 'nuns on the bus' is either being disingenuous, doesn't believe in the Catholic Church anyway or is sadly misinformed. These women have done so much damage. The injustice is that the Church didn't assert its authority much, much earlier.
The more I studied and began to practice Catholicism again, the more I fell in love with my precious Savior and his beautiful Bride, the Church. The more in love I was, the less I could be angry and bitter. I just couldn't get worked up over a male only priesthood. There were lots of injustices done to women throughout history, but this just didn't seem to be one of them, in my opinion. I grew more and more uncomfortable with the cafeteria Catholicism I kept encountering in the Catholic Peace movement. Slowly, I slid into a more orthodox way. I feel I am no longer left or right, I am just Catholic. Even when the sex abuse scandals broke out in the news, I could differentiate between wicked priests and bishops and what the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church taught. I could be heartbroken, enraged and disgusted with the bad apples in the system without it doing one iota of damage to my actual faith. And I knew from the experience of going to a Catholic college with a seminary attached that it was the sickness of the times that had infected the Church and made its weaker members so susceptible to perversion. It was the same illness that had infected me! And in fact does still infect our society. The cancer grows. The Church is trying to root it out now, but the rest of the society continues to be eaten away by the tumor that is the only objective belief it has: sexual autonomy as a good above all other goods. This is the only objective truth in the post modern mindset. All other truths are sacrificed before it.
Prodigal Daughters was fascinating to me because it told my own story so well.
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Orthodoxy - Book 22
The book Orthodoxy is kind of an intellectual memoir about how G. K. Chesterton, the prolific and famous English author, came to convert to Christianity. It isn't really an autobiography or a work of apologetics. Instead it his explanation of how he tried to figure life out in response to the world and the worldview he found in his culture, and how he surprisingly discovered that someone else had already come to the conclusions he did, and that happened to be the Christian church!
Chesterton is so erudite but in a sly, humble, amusing sort of way. His thoughts and observations are exacting and thorough and laid out with great care. He is an artist when it comes to explaining via the paradox. He uses paradox upon paradox and paradoxes within paradoxes. He deftly weaves these in and out, so that a small internal paradox in a sentence reflects a much larger more general paradox in a chapter. He is amazing! A friend of mine once said that reading Chesterton always felt like her brain was on a roller coaster ride! And it is true!
This was a revisit for me. I first read Orthodoxy several years ago with a study group. I never would have been able to fathom it in any respect if it hadn't been for the people in the group who were already familiar with Chesterton. I had been wanting to reread this book for about a year now, but I couldn't find my copy. I must have lent it out. Anyway, the other week I was at our local Catholic store and saw this audio version read by Dale Ahlquist. So I impulse purchased it and it has been keeping me company in the car as I drive around. Ahlquist is not a professional reader. He's got a bit of a nasal twang and his pronunciation and pacing isn't always precise. But he reads with such pleasure and with such obvious understanding of what Chesterton is trying to get across, that I soon got used to his voice. It is like listening to a good friend reading out loud to you because he is so enthusiastic about the author. Ahlquist often is half laughing from amusement and amazement as he reads.
Because Orthodoxy is such a brain twister and so dense (at least to little ole me!), it is helpful to have a study guide. My initial study guide was my study group, but for those who don't have a study group, a regular study guide will have to do! Here are two that look promising:
http://www3.nd.edu/~afreddos/courses/264/chester.htm
http://josephlgrabowski.weebly.com/orthodoxy-study-guide.html
Orthodoxy is a book that should be reread every once in a while just to keep you awake and to make sure you are using that gray matter inhabiting your skull!
My advice is: Read Orthodoxy! You will be a better person because of it!
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert - Book 21
This book is amazing! The author, Rosaria Butterfield, was a tenured professor in Literature and Gender studies (something like that!) She was a confirmed lesbian, marxist, and self-proclaimed post-modern intellectual. She was happy with her life and devoted to her cause. However, something miraculous happened that she never saw coming. While researching for a book on the Christian Right, she began to read the Bible. At the same time she met a kind, open-hearted, intelligent pastor and his wife (people who exploded her previously held conviction that all Christians were ignorant bigots) who began to dialogue with her. Over the course of two years she slowly converted until one day she realized her life had completely changed. She believed in Jesus and she now had to follow Him. This completely uprooted her. She betrayed the lesbian community, one she loved and felt safe in. She ruined her career. Her identity as a lesbian and a professor was deep and of foundational significance to her. Her conversion was a true dying to self, full of chaos, pain and fear. During these years of pain she met people who rejected and hurt her. But she also met, with providential precision, people who accepted her, guided her, loved her.
She now is the wife of a Reformed Presbyterian pastor. She did not marry until age 39, so while they dearly wanted to have children, it wasn't to be. Instead she and her husband have adopted 4 bi-racial children and they are active foster parents. And she is now a homeschooling mom! While the first part of this book is full of pain, the ending is so incredibly joyful. This is a profoundly religious book, written by a woman of great integrity and courage.
READ THIS BOOK!
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
She now is the wife of a Reformed Presbyterian pastor. She did not marry until age 39, so while they dearly wanted to have children, it wasn't to be. Instead she and her husband have adopted 4 bi-racial children and they are active foster parents. And she is now a homeschooling mom! While the first part of this book is full of pain, the ending is so incredibly joyful. This is a profoundly religious book, written by a woman of great integrity and courage.
READ THIS BOOK!
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
The Story of the Trapp Family Singers - Book 20
This is the real story of The Sound of Music and it is much more interesting and much, much more deeply religious. Maria herself tells the story beginning from when she went from the abbey as a novice to teach little sickly Maria as a private tutor until she and all the family have become American citizens living in Stowe, Vermont. In between we learn the familiar (though slightly different story from the movie) of how she and Captain von Trapp married, how they dealt with Hitler's ascendency, how they escaped to the U.S. and made their living by giving many, many concerts around the country.
The story is really remarkable. Maria von Trapp is a born story teller. The book is full of insightful remarks and humorous situations. It is also full of love for both family and God. It is really inspiring. I could barely read the last three chapters out loud to Becky and Sean. I kept choking up and tears blurred my vision. It is a very touching book. I highly, highly recommend it. It makes an excellent family read aloud for older kids.
For more book reviews go to 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
The story is really remarkable. Maria von Trapp is a born story teller. The book is full of insightful remarks and humorous situations. It is also full of love for both family and God. It is really inspiring. I could barely read the last three chapters out loud to Becky and Sean. I kept choking up and tears blurred my vision. It is a very touching book. I highly, highly recommend it. It makes an excellent family read aloud for older kids.
For more book reviews go to 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Housekeeping Plans 5/4/13
Meal plans for the week:
Last night I broke my usual no meat on Friday and roasted up a chicken that needed roasting (it had been sitting defrosted in the fridge for a couple days already). It was yummy.
Tonight I promised to make Josh spaghetti since I have not made it since his birthday a month ago.
Sunday - Rick grills - maybe just the usual hamburgers and hot dogs. We never seem to get tired of them!
Monday - I think we'll just have omelets and fruit salad
Tuesday - I bought some Trader Joe's Bulgogi (Korean BBQ). Need to come up with veggies to go with it.
Wednesday - We've had a lot of beef so far - maybe some chicken soup and home made rolls
Thursday - Kielbasa (I have some I just remembered!) along with potatoes and sauerkraut.
Friday - homemade calzones - this might be overly ambitious but I am hungry right now and that sounds delicious!
Saturday I think Becky, Sean and I will eat out. Rick and Josh are going to fly up to Boston, rent a minivan and then drive home from Boston all in one day! But it was the only way we could think of to get all of Will's stuff home from college. He is probably going to take next semester off due to complications and maybe spend it in Mexico! But he doesn't want to leave all his stuff in Boston for that long.
Lots to do today, tomorrow and Monday but then Aquinas Learning is over for the year! That means getting the house in order! Because the next week we are off to Dallas to see Hannah graduate!
Tuesday - I am going to pretend I am a cleaning lady and just try to get as much cleaning done as possible on that day - things like: vacuum and wash kitchen floor, dust everything, vacuum stairs and all of upstairs, scrub bathrooms down.
Wednesday - clean screen porch. Have Josh start mulching. Have to volunteer at Auburn.
Thursday - Josh is busy all day. Take Tillie in for bath. Clean study.
Friday - take Clover and Tillie to vet. Yard work if energy level and weather cooperate.
Last night I broke my usual no meat on Friday and roasted up a chicken that needed roasting (it had been sitting defrosted in the fridge for a couple days already). It was yummy.
Tonight I promised to make Josh spaghetti since I have not made it since his birthday a month ago.
Sunday - Rick grills - maybe just the usual hamburgers and hot dogs. We never seem to get tired of them!
Monday - I think we'll just have omelets and fruit salad
Tuesday - I bought some Trader Joe's Bulgogi (Korean BBQ). Need to come up with veggies to go with it.
Wednesday - We've had a lot of beef so far - maybe some chicken soup and home made rolls
Thursday - Kielbasa (I have some I just remembered!) along with potatoes and sauerkraut.
Friday - homemade calzones - this might be overly ambitious but I am hungry right now and that sounds delicious!
Saturday I think Becky, Sean and I will eat out. Rick and Josh are going to fly up to Boston, rent a minivan and then drive home from Boston all in one day! But it was the only way we could think of to get all of Will's stuff home from college. He is probably going to take next semester off due to complications and maybe spend it in Mexico! But he doesn't want to leave all his stuff in Boston for that long.
Lots to do today, tomorrow and Monday but then Aquinas Learning is over for the year! That means getting the house in order! Because the next week we are off to Dallas to see Hannah graduate!
Tuesday - I am going to pretend I am a cleaning lady and just try to get as much cleaning done as possible on that day - things like: vacuum and wash kitchen floor, dust everything, vacuum stairs and all of upstairs, scrub bathrooms down.
Wednesday - clean screen porch. Have Josh start mulching. Have to volunteer at Auburn.
Thursday - Josh is busy all day. Take Tillie in for bath. Clean study.
Friday - take Clover and Tillie to vet. Yard work if energy level and weather cooperate.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Faro's Daughter - Book 19
Faro's Daughter is one of my very favorite books by Georgette Heyer. I read The Reluctant Widow last week which I enjoyed but didn't think was Heyer's best, but Faro's Daughter is nearly perfect to my mind.
Debra Grantham is beautiful, twenty-five and works in a gaming house. Her aunt is of shabby nobility and has fallen on hard times; she runs a gaming house in order to make ends meet. Both Deb and her nephew Kit were left in her charge. Deb doesn't mind working in the gaming house though she knows it has lowered her reputation. She is a girl with her own mind and with great finesse she walks the fine line between falling into a life of easy virtue and playfully keeping her suitors at bay. In fact Deb has very high standards and a very loyal devotion to her aunt. Unfortunately, the bills are mounting much to her aunt's dismay.
One of those would be suitors is Lord Adrian Mablethorpe, a young gentleman not quite twenty-one and due to inherit a considerable amount of money. His mother hates the idea that he has fallen in love with a gaming house woman and sets Adrian's uncle, rich taciturn Max Ravenscar, to rescue Adrian from this woman's (Deb) grasp. Deb isn't at all like that however. She would never in a million years stoop to marrying an innocent like Adrian just for his money. Max insults her mightily by trying to bribe her away from Adrian. Deb's anger rises magnificently and thus begins a war between Max and Deb. This battle of wills leads to hysterically funny situations. The sparks fly between them as they spar, the plot twists and turns, but always plausibly, and the ending of the book is a heartily satisfying romantic and amusing one.
A very satisfying and cleverly written novel. Three cheers for Georgette Heyer!
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Debra Grantham is beautiful, twenty-five and works in a gaming house. Her aunt is of shabby nobility and has fallen on hard times; she runs a gaming house in order to make ends meet. Both Deb and her nephew Kit were left in her charge. Deb doesn't mind working in the gaming house though she knows it has lowered her reputation. She is a girl with her own mind and with great finesse she walks the fine line between falling into a life of easy virtue and playfully keeping her suitors at bay. In fact Deb has very high standards and a very loyal devotion to her aunt. Unfortunately, the bills are mounting much to her aunt's dismay.
One of those would be suitors is Lord Adrian Mablethorpe, a young gentleman not quite twenty-one and due to inherit a considerable amount of money. His mother hates the idea that he has fallen in love with a gaming house woman and sets Adrian's uncle, rich taciturn Max Ravenscar, to rescue Adrian from this woman's (Deb) grasp. Deb isn't at all like that however. She would never in a million years stoop to marrying an innocent like Adrian just for his money. Max insults her mightily by trying to bribe her away from Adrian. Deb's anger rises magnificently and thus begins a war between Max and Deb. This battle of wills leads to hysterically funny situations. The sparks fly between them as they spar, the plot twists and turns, but always plausibly, and the ending of the book is a heartily satisfying romantic and amusing one.
A very satisfying and cleverly written novel. Three cheers for Georgette Heyer!
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
What's Happening = 4/24/13
Over the weekend:
Poor Rick was in a lot of pain Friday night. Saturday afternoon I took him to the emergency room. He's got a kidney stone. Poor thing. He was all doped up on Sunday. The whole episode made me completely forget about Becky's art show on Sunday afternoon! Didn't remember until yesterday morning. Mommy fail! Anyway, Rick has been feeling much better but the darn thing still hasn't passed. He is very worried because he has to go to California all next week. Not quite sure what to do about it. He went to another doctor yesterday but that doctor didn't do anything about it nor did he learn anything more than the ER doctor or his own regular doctor has told him. Poor guy.
Monday was Aquinas Learning day as usual. Becky had written her IEW essay on Mother Teresa. I did my usual thing of spending most of Sunday prepping for it. Things went off well. The big deal is that we are preparing for our end of year showcase. We practiced reciting the Angele Dei in Latin and our little skit based on The Unexpected Party from The Hobbit. In science we had fun. Liz took the all the kids outside and she made a volcano with diet coke and mentos. Yahoo! It really blew! Quite thrilling! LOL! Monday was also Earth Day. Did you know the person who started Earth Day murdered his girlfriend and is on the lam, fighting extradition in France?????? Anyway, Sean's school decided to celebrate Earth day by not using any electricity and having most of their classes outside. The kids get to vote on stuff like that. Frankly, though, I am not sure how all that went over and Sean is not one of those kids that comes home and relates everything that happened in school that day. The conversation goes more like this: Me - Hey Seano! How was school today? Sean - (grunt). Not the most illuminating of conversations!
Tuesday, I took Sean to school, got everybody Starbucks breakfast sandwiches (there's one right across the street from his school). Becky and I did some math, mostly just doing two or three digit multiplication problems. She still needs to practice those, if she isn't forgetting to add in a number carried over, or adding one in when it doesn't belong, or messing up the columns or just doing multiplication wrong, she really, really is not paying enough attention. She just dislikes it so much she just can't bring herself to focus for more than a nanosecond. Hence lots of mistakes and tears. Math and Becky, they don't mix! Josh went to Physics and Becky went to art. I picked up Sean and did some quick grocery shopping. Rick was home and we watched some Jeeves. We'd heard about how good Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry were and they are! Very enjoyable. It was nice having Rick home even though he was so unsettled about his little condition. I made meatloaf for dinner. I had not really cooked a good dinner for several days; a lot of pizza and take out unfortunately.
Today, Wed. we go to the zoo with Sean's school. He's supposed to be practicing photography, you know trying to get good at taking pictures of animals,etc, all of which he is being very grumpy about. He's always hated field trips for some unfathomable reason of his own.
Thursday - Becky is supposed to go to work with Rick for bring your kids to work day. Hopefully that will happen but some of it depends on how Rick is feeling and also exactly what is going on at work for him. I warned Josh I wanted to do lots of weeding in the garden. They are taking over again!
Friday is to far in the future to even think about. Plus I have to rush to make a picnic lunch for everybody and then get them up. I also have to start dinner in the slow cooker. I am going to bring some of it to a new mom who had a baby a couple weeks ago. Gotta get rolling!
Poor Rick was in a lot of pain Friday night. Saturday afternoon I took him to the emergency room. He's got a kidney stone. Poor thing. He was all doped up on Sunday. The whole episode made me completely forget about Becky's art show on Sunday afternoon! Didn't remember until yesterday morning. Mommy fail! Anyway, Rick has been feeling much better but the darn thing still hasn't passed. He is very worried because he has to go to California all next week. Not quite sure what to do about it. He went to another doctor yesterday but that doctor didn't do anything about it nor did he learn anything more than the ER doctor or his own regular doctor has told him. Poor guy.
Monday was Aquinas Learning day as usual. Becky had written her IEW essay on Mother Teresa. I did my usual thing of spending most of Sunday prepping for it. Things went off well. The big deal is that we are preparing for our end of year showcase. We practiced reciting the Angele Dei in Latin and our little skit based on The Unexpected Party from The Hobbit. In science we had fun. Liz took the all the kids outside and she made a volcano with diet coke and mentos. Yahoo! It really blew! Quite thrilling! LOL! Monday was also Earth Day. Did you know the person who started Earth Day murdered his girlfriend and is on the lam, fighting extradition in France?????? Anyway, Sean's school decided to celebrate Earth day by not using any electricity and having most of their classes outside. The kids get to vote on stuff like that. Frankly, though, I am not sure how all that went over and Sean is not one of those kids that comes home and relates everything that happened in school that day. The conversation goes more like this: Me - Hey Seano! How was school today? Sean - (grunt). Not the most illuminating of conversations!
Tuesday, I took Sean to school, got everybody Starbucks breakfast sandwiches (there's one right across the street from his school). Becky and I did some math, mostly just doing two or three digit multiplication problems. She still needs to practice those, if she isn't forgetting to add in a number carried over, or adding one in when it doesn't belong, or messing up the columns or just doing multiplication wrong, she really, really is not paying enough attention. She just dislikes it so much she just can't bring herself to focus for more than a nanosecond. Hence lots of mistakes and tears. Math and Becky, they don't mix! Josh went to Physics and Becky went to art. I picked up Sean and did some quick grocery shopping. Rick was home and we watched some Jeeves. We'd heard about how good Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry were and they are! Very enjoyable. It was nice having Rick home even though he was so unsettled about his little condition. I made meatloaf for dinner. I had not really cooked a good dinner for several days; a lot of pizza and take out unfortunately.
Today, Wed. we go to the zoo with Sean's school. He's supposed to be practicing photography, you know trying to get good at taking pictures of animals,etc, all of which he is being very grumpy about. He's always hated field trips for some unfathomable reason of his own.
Thursday - Becky is supposed to go to work with Rick for bring your kids to work day. Hopefully that will happen but some of it depends on how Rick is feeling and also exactly what is going on at work for him. I warned Josh I wanted to do lots of weeding in the garden. They are taking over again!
Friday is to far in the future to even think about. Plus I have to rush to make a picnic lunch for everybody and then get them up. I also have to start dinner in the slow cooker. I am going to bring some of it to a new mom who had a baby a couple weeks ago. Gotta get rolling!
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