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Why Catholics Are Right (2011)

by Michael Coren(Favorite Author)

3.87 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0771023219 (ISBN13: 9780771023217)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

McClelland & Stewart

review 1: Ever since I first read G.K. Chesterton I have become interested in Catholicism. Chesterton's own book on the Catholic Church and conversion was disappointing as Chesterton seemed to base all of his arguments upon the Church's long existence rather than any other theological arguments. Michael Coren presents an excellent case for "why Catholics are right" in this book. He divides the work into several different chapters all tackling some of the major issues that have stained the Catholic Church's reputation. These include the sexual abuse scandals, the Church's actions throughout history, the Church and theology, the Church and life and lastly the Church and "other stuff" (he goes to town on Dan Brown's horrifically muddled "The Da Vinci Code").As a conservative Protestant... more, I found many of Coren's arguments plausible and even convincing. There are certainly many areas that I disagree with the Church, but on certain doctrines such as the intercession of saints I found reasonable explanations. Even within Christian circles it is fashionable to criticize the Catholic Church and this book has given me increased knowledge to defend the Church against attacks that I feel are unwarranted.There are some issues that I have with this book. For one, Coren assumes that the Catholic Church is the original church and that all ecclesiastical events that happened immediately after Jesus' death can be attributed to the Catholics. I disagree - the Church back then was simply "the Church" and it comprised all of the believers. I think the beginnings of differentiation starts with the schism between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. It seems that an Orthodox writer could just as easily claim credit for ecclesiastical rulings as the Catholics.As well, I wish Coren would have mentioned the residential schools issue, especially since he is a Canadian journalist and that has been an enormous controversy for decades. Lastly, although it would be impossible (and Coren himself acknowledges this) to write about all the Catholic doctrines, I really wish he would have mentioned two huge ones: the Apocrypha and universal salvation. The inclusion of the Apocrypha in Catholic canon separates it radically from Protestants who do not accept these sacred books and I would have liked to have heard a justification as to why they should be considered "divinely-inspired". As well, there are many Catholics who believe in universal salvation (which is one of the major reasons I could never convert to the Church of Rome) and with all the Internet hullabaloo over Rob Bell's book "Love Wins" (where he claims Catholic thinkers have held to universalist teachings) it would have been interesting for Coren to either defend or refute the universalist belief in the Catholic Church.
review 2: Reason for Reading: I love Michael Coren's TV show, I am a Catholic and the provocative title did its trick and grabbed my interest. But I would read any book by Coren on religion or politics, though I don't always agree with him on the latter.This book is unapologetically, in fact, is proudly, Catholic. Written by a Catholic to give a Catholic point of view on Catholic teachings and Catholic issues. Unfortunately, there remains one last prejudice in this world that is fine and dandy to behold and that is anti-Catholicism. Some Christians may feel that prejudice against any form of Christianity is rampant, and while that is true to a certain degree, even some non-Catholic Christians can be as vicious as anyone else in their anti-Catholic vitriol. Search the net; it won't take you long to find one of these "discussions", even in major newspaper comment sections.Michael Coren's book hits on all the major topics, and even the minor topics, that non-Catholics and the media are so upset, uninformed and plain wrong about. This is a short book so doesn't go into theological academia to prove its points but does go plenty deep enough to get at the truth. Divided into 5 parts Coren deals with the abuse scandal, historical topics, theology, life and a final chapter on "other stuff". Within these 5 topics Coren manages to not only discuss his main topic but carry on from one topic to another related one until the subject has been more than covered, leaving no blank spaces behind. The book is very thorough.This book is a must have for every practicing Catholic as it is a primer on how to defend our faith in a friendly, intelligent manner against all the uninformed and oftentimes ignorant comments made against Catholicism. The chapter on the abuse scandal which accepts the awful truth and tragedy of what actually happened and explains how it has been dealt with versus the media attacks and vendettas is worth the price of the book alone.Persons who truly want to understand what Catholicism is about will enjoy this book which will give them bite-size yet meaty information on what we Catholics really believe and why, rather than what you've heard about or think you know about our beliefs.If you are already anti-Catholic, this book will enrage you and you will hate it as it will prove all your prejudices to be wrong, thus having you believe that the book itself is at fault as you personally could, of course, never be.My only complaint is that the book has no index. Something that doesn't seem to be a given anymore where non-fiction is concerned. I know this is going to be a book I will refer to time and time again and while the book is set up easily enough to find what you are looking for an index would have come in handy.A brilliant book that no practicing Catholic should be without. Treat yourself to a copy and while your at it buy a gift copy for a friend, relative or priest. It's that good! less

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