I’ve come to know the owners, Larry and Phyllis, over the years, thanks to my employment at our parish and my own interest in stocking up my home with things Catholic.

There’s something about being able to go and touch and browse. Even I, the poster child for shopping on Amazon and avoiding retail outlets (I really do hate to shop), see the value and necessity of the service Catholic bookstores provide.

It’s a risky business. Earlier this year, the other Catholic bookstore in our metro area went out of business. It’s frustrating, if you’re a small business owner, to see how the Big Guys seem to come in and slash prices. I think it’s even more disappointing, though, when you start to see parishes ordering supplies from Amazon because of a perceived convenience or lower price.

I’ve started telling people (loudly, at times) that there are many books on Amazon — Welcome Baby Jesus, for example — that cost NO LESS than they would from your Catholic bookstore. There are behind-the-scenes reasons for this, and I don’t even know them all.

I have been, for years, trying to keep as much of my business as local as I can. It’s not easy: the local grocery doesn’t have exactly what I want sometimes, or they’re out, or the other store has a wait that just infuriates me.

Back when I worked at the local John Deere dealership, one of my bosses always said, “People buy from people.” As I’ve gotten older, and especially now that I have kids and a stricter budget, I see just how right he was.

Without customers, our local Catholic bookstores can’t stay in business. They just can’t. And that hurts all of us. The online retailers provide a service, I agree.

What if that Catholic bookstore wasn’t there? I challenge you, as you plan your Christmas shopping, to purchase at least one thing from your local Catholic retailer. Maybe you’ll spend a bit more, and maybe you’ll go out of your way. We could argue economics, but let’s not (neither of us will win).

Your Catholic retailer provides a service as real as the local pharmacy does. Here in central Ohio, Larry and Phyllis do what they do because they love their faith. They’re not out to fleece anyone, and I have seen them go out of their way to provide service that’s above and beyond. At the Catholic Marketing Network this summer, I met quite a few other Catholic store owners who do it, not for the fortune they’re not making, but because of a passion for their faith and their fellow Catholics.

Let’s show them some support. Let’s speak with our dollars this shopping season and tell them “thank you” for the long hours they work, the many products they carry, and the witness they provide in the marketplace.

UPDATE: As it turns out, we DO have a second Catholic retailer here in central Ohio, Catholica. I haven’t had a chance to visit them (they’re in Westerville), but I plan to at some point. If you’ve been there, I’d love to hear what you think!

As I read and delighted in Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith, by Fr. Robert Barron, I tried to give it a nifty one-line description. (It’s a little marketing challenge I play when my brain is awake.) I came up with a few:

• A Catholic text for the rest of us
• Theology as faith study, punctuated with pictures
• Delightfully Catholic, universally faithful
• If Catholic = universal, then this book = wonderful
• More than just another reference, here’s a book to read with your heart

It has ten chapters, and it clocks in at 279 pages. It spans the faith from the history to theology to philosophy to application. I was, above all, fascinated.

I’ve read a few popular Catholic theology books, but very few of them can stay long on my office “must reference” shelf.

When I raved about it to my pastor (I stopped just shy of suggesting that we use this, along with the Youcat, with the next class of Confirmation students), I compared Barron’s work to Scott Hahn. Another parishioner had emailed him already about Father Barron’s Catholicism project (which will be airing on one of our local channels!), so he recognized Barron’s name.

I am, admittedly, pretty excited about my faith. After reading Father Barron’s book, though, I find myself renewed and reenergized. Throughout the entire book, I was turning the page, wondering what was next.

When’s the last time a theology book kept me turning the page like a novel would? Honestly, I don’t remember. I’ve read some great books this year, but this one is up there with the best (if it’s not the best) that I’ve read.

Barron’s treatment of the faith is at once tender, factual, and intriguing. He presents it almost scientifically, but in a way that bespeaks a deep love. It reminds me of the way I hope I would speak about my husband, and that warms my heart.

Bottom line: read this book. Then buy a copy for your parish library, because without a doubt, someone else needs to read it too!

A Mary Moment Monday post

I’ve been receiving the Mary Vitamin via email for quite a while, and it’s one of the only email subscriptions I’ve kept over years. It’s also one of the only ones I actually read regularly.

Last week, there was one titled “St. Gerard,” and after I read it, I kept thinking of it. St. Gerard’s feast day was yesterday, October 16. He was special to me before my daughter was born on his feast, but now he’s special in a whole new way.

Each of my kids has been born on a Marian feast. The daughter born on October 16 had a few ties to Mary: she was born during the month of the rosary and the feasts of both Margaret Mary Alacoque and the Purity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

At least, that’s what I thought her birthday ties to Mary were. And then I read this in the Mary Vitamin:

“‘Before and after every meal,’ [St.Gerard] wrote in his resolutions, ‘I will recite three Ave Marias; when taking a drink of water, one Ave Maria; every time the clock strikes, one Ave Maria.’”

Father Edward Saint-Omer, C.SS.,R.

St. Gerard Majella (Tan Books:1999), 66.

“The Redemptorists are bound by rule to recite five decades of the Rosary, to make a visit to the Blessed Virgin and to say a certain number of Ave Marias every day. They fast, also, on the eves of Mary’s feasts and abstain from meat every Saturday in the year [Saturday being Mary's special day of the week]. Gerard was not satisfied with these marks of filial love. Still more, he recited a Gloria Patri every time he saw an image of the blessed Virgin, whenever he heard her name pronounced and at the beginning and end of every action. His devotion to the Immaculate Conception was incomparable. How often he was rapt in ecstasy before her image!”

Father Edward Saint-Omer, C.SS.,R., 

St. Gerard Majella (Tan Books:1999), 66-7.

I couldn’t help but think, after reading this, of the way this daughter often asks to hold a rosary when she’s in bed. It comforts her. She has a nest of blankies and, now, an assortment of rosaries. When I wash her sheets, I find them, and I tuck them away for when she will ask for them before bedtime.

It is no accident that she’s linked to St. Gerard (not that I ever thought it was), and now that I have read more about his devotion to Mary, I will ask him to guide me in mine and as I expose my children to Mary (especially this daughter with the special link to him).

image credit goes here

A Mary Moment Monday post

I can’t seem to keep a rosary, especially one I love. In early August, at the Catholic Marketing Network show, I found a rosary that was so great, and when I nabbed it for $10, I was pretty sure I had a new favorite rosary. The beads were smooth and small and a beautiful shade of blue, there was a medal of John Paul II, and there were Divine Mercy medals between the decades. There was even a bit of soil from Fatima. It was small and didn’t seem to tangle.

I was so excited to find it! I showed it to everyone that day, and on the drive home, I held it in my hand and prayed on it.

And then I realized: this wasn’t my rosary after all.

This happens to me a lot. I find a rosary that’s perfect, that speaks to me and seems to call me to pray on it. When I pray on it, though, I will sometimes find that someone’s on my heart. I picture my guardian angel whispering (or shouting, since I’m so thick) and encouraging me.

Other times, I find someone who just seems to need a rosary and…all I have is the rosary I dearly love.

Rosaries, it seems, are not meant for me to keep. I break ‘em in and pass ‘em along.

A few weeks ago, as I was organizing the Marian Novena of Giveaways we hosted last week at CatholicMom.com, I was emailing a gushing thanks to Melanie from Trendy Traditions for her participation, when she offered something I couldn’t believe.

She offered to make me a rosary.

My very own rosary. Made just for me.

I was so excited, but then, I’ll admit, I forgot about it.

Then, last week, she sent me an email, with a picture attached:

One of the things that led me to start making rosaries was my love for meaningful, personalized gifts. When making rosaries, I really want them to “fit” the recipient. This is easy when someone picks out their own but I love the challenge of creating for folks I don’t know well.

All this is to say, for some reason I agonized over yours. I thought about red & black since you like the Buckeyes but you also seem to embrace your femininity and inner-princess so I thought the dark colors might be too much.

Your amazing love and admiration of our Blessed Mother led me to a Mary blue for accents and I ended up using pink as the primary color. Hopefully you will enjoy it and I have attached a picture so you can take a peek. The pink beads are dyed stone and the blue are glass.

And then I opened the picture to see this:

When it came, I still found myself marveling over it. For one thing, it’s a lot larger than it looked in that picture. For another, it has a weight and a feel to it that’s just right. I can’t explain it better, except to say, wow!

Melanie is a wife and mom who does this because, as she told me in an email, it’s her “lot in life to give away rosaries.” She sells them through Trendy Traditions (which also has a Facebook page).

These are rosaries that are made to endure the curious pulling and tugging of a toddler, the dropping and shuffling of a busy mom, and the general heave-ho a rosary has to endure when it’s mine for the long haul.

From the bio Melanie submitted for CatholicMom.com:

When she rediscovered the rosary as an adult after years of spiritual wandering, Melanie became passionate about creating rosary designs that appeal to younger generations in the hope that her unique designs would assist them to keep devotion to the rosary alive. As a lover of meaningful gift giving, personalized custom rosaries are her specialties. She uses high-gauge stainless steel wire to craft her rosaries, making them unlikely to break or need repair.

I think I’ve found one of my new favorite gifts (to give and to receive), though this rosary will probably be mine for quite a while! (Until, that is, I find another Sarah who needs a rosary…)

(Though I did receive a rosary, Melanie did NOT send it to me in exchange for this post. I’m just raving about it because I love her work!)

In addition to great giveaways every day, we’re praying a novena (nine days of prayer) for our vocations.

You can enter every single day! (And I hope you’re praying along every single day too!)

If you haven’t already entered today, go enter! And then check back tomorrow and enter that giveaway! And then Wednesday! And Thursday! And Friday! (The links to each day won’t work until that day, 5 AM Pacific.)

There are great prizes by some Catholic vendors who deserve your attention and your business. I listed them in the introductory post, if you want them all in one place. If you missed any of the first few days (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday), be sure to check out the products and vendors.

And with that, I’m off to immerse myself in something else, probably related to a diaper incident or a horse nabbing.

The Church and New Media: Blogging Converts, Online Activists, and Bishops Who Tweet was one that I asked (begged?) for.

Just last week, I had a chance to experience, once again, the effects of in real life meetings that began online.

In The Church and New Media, Brandon Vogt has collected some of the hot names in Catholic new media and tapped into their wisdom. The book explores blogging and podcasting, but also social media and parish applications of all of the above. There are conversion stories that were rooted in online searches and communities that have never met in person.

It’s a fast read, but one that I’ll be revisiting. Though Brandon’s role was as editor, in the introduction and conclusion he ties things up nicely.

It’s so easy to discount this new-fangled technology, to look at it as either the obsession of gadget lovers or the downfall of civilization. It has its dangers, to be sure, but in this excellent resource, we have a great starting point a way to continue to grow.

Sharing our faith has never been easier, though living it is just as hard as it ever was.

I can’t help but wonder, after reading this book, visiting the website, and reading other reviews, what the sequel will look like…

If you more, be sure to check out my interview last week with Brandon.

If you haven’t already, check out www.churchandnewmedia.com where you can learn more about Brandon’s book, find a list of contributors and endorsements, and explore the many special resources. You can also download a free sample from the book and purchase it in paperback or eBook form.

He’s also now officially an author, and his book is GREAT. He was gracious enough to answer some questions I tossed his way, and then patient enough to bear with me when I forgot to get my act together before my trip and post it. Enjoy!

Tell us a little about what inspired you to compile The Church and New Media: Blogging Converts, Online Activists, and Bishops Who Tweet.

Well, as I looked around the world of online Catholicism, I noticed a few things.First, the institutional Church–including parishes, dioceses, and the Vatican–was barely using new media. Second, plenty of individual Catholics were doing great things through blogs, social networks, podcasting, and interactive websites. Third, a number of Catholics understand the potential of new media, but don’t know where to begin. And if they do know the basics, they don’t know how to use new media faithfully and effectively.

So the book was written in response to that landscape. It familiarizes Catholics with the “digital continent” and provides examples, tips, and advice on how to engage it.

This project must have been a huge undertaking. How did it evolve–and even surprise you–from start to finish?

Putting the book together was fairly challenging. A book with one author is difficult enough, but one with twelve contributors, a Foreword author, an Afterword author, and a couple dozen sidebars–each including quotes from experts or Church documents–was a real logistical challenge. I really should’ve thanked GMail in the Acknowledgement section for without it I would have been swamped by the hundreds of emails pertaining to the book.

I think the most surprising thing, though, was that everyone I asked to participate gave me an enthusiastic ”Yes!” The contributors are some of the best teachers, writers, and activists within the Church, and many of them are personal heroes of mine. So I was blown away by their willingness to take part.

It’s kind of like writing a letter to the Olympic Dream Team, inviting them to shoot hoops with you in your driveway, and then one day hearing them ring your doorbell asking if you’re ready.

What was your favorite part of the book?

Oh, this is a really difficult question–it’s like deciding which of your children is your favorite! I loved every chapter for different reasons and I think different audiences will each appreciate different chapters.

What part of your book do you think Mary and Jesus most enjoy or approve of?

Great question! Since Mary always points to the mission of her son–”do whatever he tells you”–and the mission of Jesus is the mission of the Church, I think the whole book would please both of them. For the whole book looks at how new media can serve this same mission: to evangelize, to form, to cultivate community, and to bring about justice.

Considering how surprising and startling both Jesus and Mary are, however, they would probably say their favorite part was the Acknowledgment section, for both are humble of heart.

What challenges do you see facing us as Catholics as New Media grows to be even more a part of how we communicate?

I think the two biggest challenges are actually opposites of each other. As in the rest of the spiritual life, the danger lies in embracing one of two extremes. For example, when it comes to sexuality, the two dangers are puritanism, a rejection of all things sexual or bodily, and indulgence, which is an overvaluing of sex and the body. Chastity is the healthy middle-ground.

With Catholics and new media, the two extremes are avoidance, which usually results from fear, and uncritical adoption, which considers new media to be God’s greatest gift to mankind. I think the wiser response is what I call “prudent engagement.” With caution and awareness of the new media’s danger, we can maximize its power while minimizing its problems.

In my Conclusion to the book I lay out twelve future trends in the Church and new media relationship–six positive and six negative– that help people approach new media with wisdom and prudence.

How do intend your book–and the accompanying website–to help readers as they use New Media?

The website, www.churchandnewmedia.com, will act as an organic extension of the book. It will enable individual Catholics, parishes, and dioceses to use new media effectively by providing extra content not found in the book. To that end we’ve got an active blog where we post relevant tips and articles, and a pretty robust Resources section that should help out a lot of people.

What projects are you working on next? Do you have anything coming as a result of this project?

In terms of new media, my big project is maintaining www.churchandnewmedia.com. The book is only the beginning of this Catholic new media conversation, one I hope we’ll see happening in more places and for many more years.

In terms of future book projects, I’m already working on another book dealing with one of the Church’s dirtiest topics:”social-justice”. Catholic social teaching was one of the most alluring things that drew me into the Church three years ago, yet I think the topic has been mostly ignored, misinterpreted, and hijacked. So I wanted to write a practical book that would illuminate Catholic social teaching through the lives of the saints. I want to show simple ways that we can live with justice and compassion by gazing on the blueprint laid out by the saints.

When, exactly did she find time to write a book?

How, exactly, does she keep smiling when she has all that, and a column deadline at Patheos, too?

Did I mention that she cooks? And that she reads a LOT? And that she is utterly nice and down-to-earth?

Today, she’s agreed to answer a few questions and share her lovely smile with us.

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I’ve been a fan of your blog, Happy Catholic, for many years, Julie, and in fact, I credit you with my own start in blogging. Tell us why you started blogging.

I went on a retreat that our parish offers, Christ Renews His Parish. I was so lit up and made so many new friends that I spent a good part of my day emailing about the things I’d read or seen that I found inspirational. About that time I began seeing this new thing called Catholic blogs mentioned.

Finally, I thought that if I put the things I found in one place that it would be simple for my friends to come there to see them. Ironically, few of those friends actually do read my blog. However, I was surprised to see that a lot of other people did. So that was fun in a new way.

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You’ve been blogging for a number of years. What keeps you going?

I have considered stopping several times. Thinking that either Happy Catholic was getting stale or that perhaps my time might be better spent in God’s service elsewhere (because, let’s face it, by now it is an actual ministry as well as my own self expression).

Every time I am really wondering if I should keep going, I get an email or comment telling about how God used the blog to touch someone. I take that as my answer and keep going. Also, it is just part of who I am by now. I think in blog posts much of the time, as you probably do also.

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Who is/are your special patron saint(s) and why?

I have several saints that I am close to. My actual patron is Martha (from the Mary and Martha story in the New Testament). I was looking over a list of saints before I was confirmed and saw that she was the patron saint of housewives. I love being at home and cooking (though not cleaning). That aside, I figured that was as good a reason as any.

Little did I know that, once again, God was being sneaky in pairing me up with the perfect “big sister” to help me get through some of my worst tendencies. I love Martha’s friendship with Jesus to the point where she’d complain about her sister to him. I love the fact that she took his correction to heart so that the next time we see both of them in a big party, Mary is center stage washing Jesus’ feet while Martha is serving in the background. I love that she had the boldness to go to Jesus asking for her brother Lazarus’s healing and then went to him and said that she knew he was the Messiah. Those are all things I would like people to be able to say about me someday.

Another close and early saint “friend” is St. Augustine. We converts have to stick together. And I really appreciate his, “Grant me chastity and continence God, but not yet.” How many times have we all have had similar requests? Maybe not about chastity, but about something.

Another is St. Teresa of Avila. I like her sassiness and straight forwardness when she steps in a mud puddle up to her knee and God tells her, “This is how I treat my friends, Teresa” and she responds, “That is why you have so few of them, Lord.” She can say that because they are such good friends and because she speaks to him person-to-person. Yet while she was traveling everywhere in frail health, founding convents, she also was one of the greatest contemplatives ever. I continually learn about prayer from her. I am not a good pray-er so I need lots of help.

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Recently, Servant Books released a book by you, Happy Catholic: Glimpses of God in Everyday Life. What’s your favorite section or quote from Happy Catholic?

That is kind of like saying which is your favorite child. They are all favorites but for different reasons (the children and the quotes!).  However, one that I come back to time and again is from Futurama. It just seemed so unlikely to me that a show like Futurama would have an entire episode about God and his way of doing things so that no one can put their finger on it. Naturally, they did it in a completely sassy way, but as we can see … I like sassy. Plus God is talking to Bender in the only language that Bender understands, that of crime. Just the way he does to us.

It also exemplifies what I think so many people miss when they dismiss pop culture entirely. God’s in that just like he’s in everything else. Anywhere someone values the truth of honest story, they’re telling us something about his nature.

Here’s the excerpt:

Jesus in the Rearview Mirror

God: Bender, being God isn’t easy. If you do too much, people get dependent on you. And if you do nothing, they lose hope. You have to use a light touch, like a safecracker or a pickpocket.

Bender: Or a guy who burns down a bar for the insurance money.

God: Yes, if he makes it look like an electrical thing. If you do things right, people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all.

Futurama

We are so often left like Moses, who asked to see God but only saw his hindquarters (see Exodus 33:23). We see evidence of God only in hindsight. Even then it can be very difficult to tell definitively that there was divine intervention unless you are the person for whom the miracle was done.

Anyone who has experienced a miracle will tell you that when God sends you a message you recognize it, even though others might not. Others are measuring by verifiable results. You are experiencing something that cannot be measured.

Miracles are love letters.

The Lover and the beloved understand. It is enough.

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What do you find is the most compelling part of your story as more people read your book and you share your story with them?

If this doesn’t sound too presumptuous, it is that I get to see a little of how the Holy Spirit works.  Honestly, I am very often humbled by what people say that God shows them when reading the book. Very little of what they have found is what I put in there, if that makes sense. They are getting messages that I didn’t specifically write. That is God at work.

In a sense, it helps make sense of the Bible for me. I look at all those different books written over the ages by so many different people and all pointing to Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit flowing under and within those words for each of us is what does the real lifting of pulling it all together for God’s work. To have a book (or blog) that is touched by even a hem of the Holy Spirit’s cloak (so to speak) is astounding and eye opening.

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You keep quite busy with your writing and podcasting. How do you balance your vocations–wife and mother–with your evangelization efforts in New Media?

First, I’d have to say that I never see anything I do as “evangelization in New Media” because that sounds so deliberate. I wind up stumbling into everything I do, simply because it is so much fun.

As I mentioned before, the blog was an outgrowth of what I was already enjoying telling friends. My podcast Forgotten Classics grew out of my desire to push people into trying books that I loved but that I couldn’t get them to read simply by writing about. Who knew that an atheist would ask me to read Genesis and comment on it as literature because it is so ingrained in Western culture?

Likewise, my participation in reviewing audiobooks for SFFaudio grew out of my desire to get free books. I became friends with Jesse and Scott at that blog and occasionally participate in their podcast, where sometimes we wind up talking about faith and Catholicism in the most unexpected ways.

Scott is also Catholic and our desire to talk together about the Truth that we saw in popular books and movies led to our podcast A Good Story is Hard to Find.

I am no saint. But when I look at the way that I’ve stumbled into these projects, yet knowing while stumbling that it is also part of God’s plan somehow, I wonder if when we look at saints like Mother Teresa and pity them for the hardships they bear … if we aren’t off base. We’re seeing it from the outside. If they are doing what their nature tells them to do, in cooperation with what God pushes them toward, then maybe it is easier to be a saint than we think.

Maybe, as Thomas Merton’s friend told him, all we have to do is to want to be a saint. Our willingness is all God needs. He will do the rest.

As for how I balance things, I have an amazingly tolerant and supportive husband. Every time I have brought up one of these projects, he practically shoves me into it. Sometimes, I have been waiting for him to say no and willy-nilly I find him buying a mixing board, converting a computer to home use, and setting me up to record.

Also, I have had to learn how to say no more often myself. I have some projects, such as our parish’s Beyond Cana marriage retreat, where I was very involved for several years and then had to back out so that I could write the book and also because they needed to grow beyond my involvement. I don’t think I could add anything else right now without giving something up. And … it must be said … I don’t love cleaning house. So I teeter at the edge between acceptable cleanliness and what would embarrass us if people dropped in. Did I mention that I have a very tolerant husband?

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What has been the greatest blessing in all of this, for you?  In all this work you do in the new evangelization, at the end of the day, what do you count as your greatest success?

God told me to start the blog when I was wondering if I should. I am positive he also wanted Happy Catholic (the book) written based on the astounding coincidences and timing that brought up the possibility of writing the book. Likewise, he has used my podcast in ways I never would have thought of.

So what is my blessing out of all this? To be his servant. I can never do it as well as I should. But to do what I love, in these communities in which he has placed me, for the one whom I love most … what could be better than that?

There are plenty more Quick Takes over at Conversion Diary, so don’t miss the fun!

This novel examines a priest’s life, and I’ll admit, I found it difficult reading. I’m not sure if it challenged me because the priest’s interior life had conflicts or if it was a result of what the conflicts were.

In the end, I enjoyed it. It’s character-driven and it made me consider the challenges of a priest’s vocation in a more ongoing way.

Dion: The Wanderer Talks Truth, by Dion Dimucci

This is a book I might have missed if it hadn’t come to me as a review copy, and what a pity for me. I wasn’t even sure who Dion DiMucci was at first, but then I heard him interviewed on The Catholics Next Door and I realized just who he was. (What’s that say about me? Well, never mind that. This is about the book, not me.)

This book is a delightful conversion story of the return to the Catholic Church of someone who had it all. Dion doesn’t hash out things he’s shared in other biographies, but rather examines how his spiritual life changed, and how that brought him back to the Catholic Church.

It might not be a book that will change your life, but it’s a worthwhile read. It’s also a slice of modern rock-and-roll history, which makes it fun.

Meet the Saints, by St. Anthony Messenger Press

I’m a sucker for a book about the saints, and this book does not disappoint. It’s easily tucked into a purse, but for its brevity, it still packs a punch. In the twelve chapters, you’ll meet 145 different saints, grouped together in ways that I didn’t expect. There were old favorites of mine, such as St. Francis of Assissi and St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, and also some that were new to me, such as St. Isaac Jogues and St. Sharbel Makhlouf.

The lessons shared in each chapter aren’t rocket science, but they made me pause and reflect. At the end of each chapter, there’s a small task associated with each saint…some of them are more achievable than others, but I liked the way it was presented and integrated.

Highly recommended. This would make a great gift or a wonderful addition to your home or parish library.

It’s still sitting on the shelf, unread by me. I still might get to it, though…someday…

I was intrigued, then, to read Disorientation – How to go to College Without Losing Your Mind. It’s philosophy, but in a debunking sort of vein. This is a collection of today’s great Catholic thinkers showing me, the common reader, what’s wrong with the popular philosophies and mindsets that pervade culture now, including more than one that I didn’t know by name.

On the one hand, you’ll read about what’s wrong with Relativism; on the other, you’ll read why Multiculturalism is, in fact, an error in thinking. Who knew that Consumerism was more than just something to avoid and that Americanism was more than having a few too many flags?

This is also a preparation for discussions that skirt with what the Catholic Church teaches or should teach. It prepares you to see the errors of logic and reason and call them what they are. For me, it put a name to some “that’s not quite right” gut feelings I’ve had, but for which I didn’t have a name.

The list of contributors is a who’s who, and the writing is just what you’d expect from this gang of excellence. It’s arranged by year—Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior—and is intended to be for college-age people. I think, though, that it’s a great book for any adult, especially if you want to understand the mindsets that are prevalent today.

What I enjoyed most was reading something that prepared me for discussions that involve these multi-syllable philosophical terms. Each essay has its own recommended reading and is written to be understood quickly.

Whether you’re a college student, a parent, or just a person like me who wants to know more, you’ll find a great resource and good education in this book.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Disorientation – How to go to College Without Losing Your Mind.