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Rediscover Catholicism (2011)

by Matthew Kelly(Favorite Author)

4.17 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0984131892 (ISBN13: 9780984131891)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Beacon Publishing

review 1: I had first heard of this book when the Pastor at my Church recommended it to all of the parishioners and then handed out free copies. He said give it a try, take the book, read the first 10 pages, and I promise you will be hooked into the book. I decided, after seeing this book on the cart of books we have in the classroom, that I would read it for my spiritual reading project. Sure enough, after just reading the prologue, I was hooked into the book. The prologue started with a story about how what if an illness was spreading throughout the world killing thousands of people and the only cure was a certain blood type, which happens to be in your son. How would you feel giving up your son so that you could save the rest of the world, and then the rest of the world doesn’t... more even pay attention to the funeral for him. The fact that your son died so that they could live. It ended by saying, perhaps maybe that’s what God is trying to say/do. I thought that was a very strong story that made me think of how I would feel or act in that situation, I really liked the connection he made with that and how God feels. It’s important that we pay attention to what God had done for us. This book answers a lot of questions you might have about Catholicism and way to help get back into the Catholic Faith. It teaches you all about how to deal with situations that people might point out to you and had a lot of great spiritual stories in it. It's a very good read and I think that anyone curious about the Catholic faith or wants to strengthen their faith should read this book. This book was directed towards mainly adults (at least I thought at first) but sure enough, I enjoyed it very much and I'm only a teen, and it appeals to all ages. After reading this book, I really wanted to share it with all my friends and family! I have a better understanding of my faith after reading this book.
review 2: The book is accessible to any reader looking for more basic information on Catholicism. The author does not dive into the nuts and bolts of Catholic dogma, but rather places a "business book" flavor on the teachings of the church. The mantra of "being-the-best-version-of-yourself" rings true, and I'm curious how often that phrase appears in the book. My eyes just began to glaze over that long string of characters with hyphens since I knew what it was. Helped to speed up the reading a bit.I got frustrated with the continued use of Antimetabole (I had to look this up, the classic example I always think of is "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country). I enjoyed the attitude of embracing change and moving the Church forward. I also grabbed to the idea of us as having the Church on rental for our time here on Earth, and being more stewardly in her care.The points against "our modern culture" were well understood, but perhaps a generational gap is the cause for my discord here. The ideas presented were to look forward, but it was, I felt, an overly strong condemnation of some of the common themes present in the 21st century. There was no room for any libertarian ideology here (not surprising), which was disappointing because there can be good things there too. Comparing "fasting" to "dieting" was a weird leap to make, and heightened that sense of "everything wrong with the modern age".I also liked the idea of a Mass Journal, since most Catholics I know barely remember anything after leaving the Church (myself included).There were small references to the author's own spiritual journey, but there seem to be some events from his young adulthood that he doesn't really share the details about. Maybe these are things he only shares with his personal Confessor (another idea I liked), or perhaps they appear in his other works. If he is willing to share these stories (and he made a big point about sharing stories, like those of the saints, to continue to grow the Church), I think it would add a lot of value. less

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