Adult Faith Formation - American Catholic Literature - Recommended Reading Lists

 Catholic Literature of the USA

The Catholic Influence on American Literature

Some Recommended Book Lists

Don’t read good books, or else you won’t have time for the great books!   (Fr Raymond Nyquist)

Sunday Sermon, June 14th -- Celebrating the Feasts of Faith (External Solemnity of the Sacred Heart)

 We celebrate this Sunday, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as an external solemnity. This feast celebrates the reality of Christ's humanity, by which the infinite, transcendent divine love is made manifest and visible through our Lord's human love.

We consider that our faith must receive concrete, visible expression -- and a major part of this is celebrating the feast days of the Church.  If we believe in the mystery of the Sacred Heart (and in the other great mysteries of our Faith), these feast days will be very important to us and we will celebrate them with great joy - not only in the church building but also in our homes.

This sermon is a strong encouragement to celebrate the feasts of faith in our home and family life!

Listen online [here]!

Adult Faith Formation, June 9th -- American Catholic Literature, Session 4 - Devout American Catholic Authors

 In this fourth session of the Catholic influence on American Literature, we consider the contributions of devoutly Catholic American authors. Looking at a number of the more well known figures like Flannery O'Connor and Walker Percy, we then consider others like Walter Miller jr, John Kennedy Toole, and Andre Dubus.

Sunday Sermon, June 7th - Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi; The Law of Prayer, The Law of Belief (Transferred Feast of Corpus Christi)

 Lex orandi legem statuit credendi - the law of prayer establishes the law of belief. While the Church established the rubrics and norms of liturgical prayer and worship based on the beliefs and doctrines she holds; for the individual Catholic, the practice of prayer and the rites of liturgical worship come before belief in the doctrines. We believe because we practice our worship in a particular way which emphasizes those doctrines.

On the Feast of Corpus Christi, we consider how the rites and rituals of the Mass (and of the Eucharistic Procession) teach us what we believe about the Eucharist.

Listen online [here]!

Adult Faith Formation, June 2nd - American Catholic Literature, Session 3 - Popular Lapsed-Catholic Authors

 In this third session, we consider the Catholic influence on two of the great American authors: F Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Fitzgerald strayed far from the Catholic faith of his youth, while Hemingway converted as an adult and remained a "bad" Catholic throughout his life. The Catholic foundation of these two authors is far too overlooked.

We also comment on Cormac McCarthy, another lapsed Catholic.