For the next couple of days, this blog is going to be All Books All The Time. I have so many that I have read or am reading, that I need to tell you about...so let's get rolling here.
First up is the very charming and interesting Bad Catholic's Guide to Good Living by John Zmirak and Denise Matychowiak.
Some of the material has appeared in Godspy, so you can get a taste of it, so to speak here, here and here. John also has a blog here, which actually isn't a blog, but a page with links to his articles, so you can really check him out.
The Bad Catholic's Guide to Good Living is a sharp, loving excavation of Things Catholic via a trip through the liturgical year - and recipes. Saints' lives are cheerfully and when needed, bluntly recalled, the sacraments are introduced, and the suggestion is made to celebrate Reformation Sunday by selling indulgences. (And we won't even go into that Guy Fawkes thing again).
It is cheeky, dare we say edgy, but friends...that is Roman Catholicism. This is a faith in which spiritual practices include, not just cool, relaxed silent prayer sitting on you floor cushion with your lovely garden in view and your herbal tea brewing, but also the extremes: jamming crowns of thorns on your head, physically consuming relics, putting the head of a holy woman on display, and levitating. We define edgy. We live right on the thin edge of good taste.
The Bad Catholic's Guide to Good Living expresses that holistic and mostly healthy Catholicity, where, as the authors say, the worst things in life are recycled and turned into the best. It's heartfelt, satirical, and, we can't neglect to say, accurate in its presentation of the faith. It's part of this body of Catholic literature that's growing, I'm happy to say, which books like Lickona's Swimming with Scapulars, Judge's God and Man at Georgetown Prep, Scott's Catholic Passion also represent: books that get this one important thing about Catholicism: It's all about connections. It's all about looking at God's earth and the creatures he's made, and the stuff he's inspired those creatures to make, and seeing the possibility and promise of God at work in all of it. No divisions, no dualism, just a faith that's holistic, joyous but honest and bracing in the face of suffering.
Have a look at the Bad Catholic's Guide.
Because, you know, a book that suggests celebrating Easter with Easter Bunny Fricassee has got to be worth a look, no?
