On Being Catholic Book

I used to say that if I became a Catholic I would have only Blessed Pope John Paul II and G.K. Chesterton to blame. Thomas Howard, it seems, is vying for a third spot on the list.

This book is so many things. It's one of those "you really have to read it" types.

Thomas Howard did not make me want to become a Catholic. That is an idea I've spun around for the last year. But Howard may have intellectually finalized the act. Though plenty of other study was (and is) required for anyone who considers the Catholic Church (or Eastern Orthodoxy), this work succinctly summarized what I have considered in Earth's last bout about the sun.

Howard talks about Mary and the saints (and calmly explains, in the face of much Protestant ire, why invocation is not spelled the same as idolatry), about Purgatory (and why it does not make Christ's work worthless, but shows its real strength), and about the Mass (and why it is so far from dull or boring). He makes compelling arguments for Catholic dogma (though by no means are they lengthy-- the book is only about 270 pages, after all) that, when taken with something like the Catechism (which I have been reading alongside it), elucidates brightly what the doctrine looks like in a real person's life.

What does it look like? The stained glass of St. Peter's can never compare.

The only bit I wish Howard would have mentioned more often is the papacy, but that always seems to be the final pill to swallow-- and so is not really appropriate for an introduction to the Catholic faith. In any case, every topic Howard touches gleams, and while he has a tendency to digress (a mite like Augustine, but briefer), the rabbit trails are always good and always lead back to that well-trodden, ancient cobblestone path.