The Cathoholic

Chosen, How Christ Sent Twenty-three Surprised Converts to Replant His Vineyard

I thoroughly enjoyed Chosen: How Christ Sent Twenty-three Surprised Converts to Replant His Vineyard, a wonderful book of conversion stories--the right size to read just before bed time. Here's my review in the National Catholic Register. I was surprised to discover the book included stories by two dear friends: Vivian Dudro and Susan Bujnak who live in California.

The Road: Natural Law at the End of the World.

Cormac McCarthy's The Road is not for everyone. The post-apocalyptic world it evokes is frightening,deeply haunting, and gruesome. But the narrative also affirms the immutability of the natural law, of the divine creation of the world, and of the inseparability of truth and love. I have written about The Road. Today, the National Catholic Register just posted a great reflection on the novel, which won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize, that is worth reading. When my book club read the novel, one of our members, a high school English teacher at a Catholic boys schools, planned to assign it the following year. My sister in law, who has taught English at a Jesuit boys high school, said the students were thoroughly absorbed in the book. The Road is viewed by some literary critics as one of the best works of fiction to be published in the past fifty years.  

John Paul Ii and Wanda Poltawska: The Power of Friendship

There are many compelling transcendent elements to the life of the late pontiff, John Paul II. His friendship with Wanda Poltawska is a source of great fascination for me. A Nazi concentration camp survivor who would become a close friend of the pope, from the time he served as a pastor in Krakow. While he served as her friend, confessor and guide, her insights contributed to his philosophical and theological reflections on the dignity of women and fostering a "civilization of love."

Here's my commentary in the National Catholic Register on Wanda's memoir of her four years in the Ravensbruck concentration camp during the Second World War: ...And I Am Afraid of My Dreams.

Recently, Wanda published her correspondence over many decades with the late pope. The letters have not been translated into English yet. Some members of the Polish hierarchy were angered by her move, arguing that the letters should have first been turned over to the commission reviewing documentation related to the cause for the late pontiff's canonization. However, other Polish bishops supported the publication of the letters.

While we're on the subject of the late John Paul Ii, here's my review of another memoir--A Life with Karol: My Forty-Year Friendship with the Man Who Became Pope by another close collaborator--his one-time papal secretary, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz. According to news reports, the cardinal is among  those members of the Polish hierarchy who are not pleased about Wanda Poltawska's latest book.

Murder in Amsterdam by Ian Buruma

Ian Buruma is a very engaging and perceptive writer. You don't have to agree with the whole of his cultural analysis to enjoy reading his work.

Here's an old book review of Murder in Amsterdam published in Touchstone. It's about the roots of Islamic extremism in Europe among second-generation Muslim immigrants. Here's an another review published in First Things that I wrote while living in Japan, one of Buruma's favorite haunts. This book, The Wages of Guilt: Memories of War in Germany and Japan, compares each nation's efforts to expiate guilt--or erase the historical record--in the wake of the Second World War.

The Making of Americans by E.D. Hirsch

I've been a big fan of E.D. Hirsch for a long time, ever since I read Cultural Literacy, his breakthrough bestseller that explained the consequences of the collapse in America's transmission of cultural knowledge from our parents' generation to our's (fifty somethings, etc). I recently reviewed Hirsch's new book, The Making of Americans for The Weekly Standard. Anyone interested in school reform, or just in improving their child's capacity for embracing the vast world of knowledge gained through reading should check this out.

Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"

Here's my post from The Catholic Thing on Cormac McCarthy's The Road. My advice: don't watch the movie until you read the book.

True Compass by Edward Kennedy

The ongoing dispute -- between Bishop Tobin of Providence, RI and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, a son of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy -- over the role of abortion in the House health care bill reminds us that  Kennedy policies must be understood as an inter-generational phenomenon. In the National Catholic Register opinion page, I look at Ted Kennedy's best-seller: "True Compass" and suggest that the family's deeply partisan version of Catholicism continues to shape our understanding of the church's role in the public square.

There wasn't space in my article to add an additional insight gleaned from the memoir.  While the Kennedy family's rise to political power unleashed a kind of primitive tribal euphoria among American Catholics, it's also true that many church leaders permitted the Kennedy men to operate as if the great opportunities for social change secured through political influence trumped the individual moral obligations of church membership.

Child Care Today by Penelope Leach, Weekly Standard

Here's my latest review in the Weekly Standard: "Child Careless." I was interested in reviewing Penelope Leach's latest book, "Child Care Today: Getting It Right for Everyone," because I have had a fondness for Leach ever since I became a mother. almost twenty one years ago. At that time, when I left with my three-month old son, John, for India, I knew virtually nothing about babies. I had never earned a dime as a babysitter and had lived a typical yuppie existence in New York City. When a friend thew a baby shower for me, someone gave me a child care book by Penelope Leach, "Your Baby and Child." It became my Bible, though I took it with a grain of salt. As I recall, the best thing about the book was it's relaxed benchmarks for child development--your child will drink from a cup by the age of six...

 

In any case, Leach's latest book, Child Care Today, is concerned with helping parents evaluate child care and determine whether their child belongs in any form of group care. She's not judgmental, but she also refuses to tow the early feminist line and enthusiastically embrace child care as the ultimate solution for any working mother with very young children. In fact, she notes that medical research has determined that infants in group day care frequently experience elevated levels of hormones that occur when infants are under stress. For Leach, that's a red flag: parents need to carefully review whether they have no other options than placing very young children in group care. 

Space considerations led me to exclude that information, and also led me to drop a reference to Mary Eberstadt's "Home-Alone America," a critique of social and cultural trends in the U.S. that have harmed the physical and emotional well-being of many children. Leach doesn't engage this kind of critique, but Eberstadt's book provides an interesting counterpoint to Leach's practical, but more narrowly focused approach.

Losing Mum and Pup by Christopher Buckley: Book Review

Here's my review of Christopher Buckley's "Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir" that appeared in Inside Catholic this week. The book tells the story of the difficult year during which the author lost both his parents, William F.Buckley, Jr. and Pat Buckley. While most reviewers have focused on the juicy revelations of the elder Buckleys' misbehavior, I wanted to examine the memoir's spiritual subtext that deals with a devout, if imperfect father's struggle to transmit his Catholic faith to his agnostic son. 

The Means of Reproduction: Book Review

Here's my book review on National Review of "The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power, and the Future of the World" by Michelle Goldberg. The book addresses the larger global issue of economic development and family planning concerns, and is critical of religious leaders and pro-life activists that offer an alternative vision and solution for addressing these issues.