Being Catholic Today Book

Writing about religion is never easy because the topic is abstract and the temptation to fall into jargon and sanctimonious language is always acute. It is also difficult for the professional religious person to address lay people without being condescending. A Benedictine monk from Ampleforth, Laurence McTaggart, manages to avoid all these pitfalls to present us with a modern, down to earth and crisp conversation about the difficulties and joys of the Catholic faith. McTaggart begins by laying a few doctrinal foundations before going on to consider our relationship to work, wealth, prayer, sin and confession. After considering various tricky matters of Church discipline he looks at ethical issues like sexuality, morality, genetic engineering and suicide. To all these matters he brings a light touch, weaving in illustrative events from day to day life and acknowledging the huge difficulties which the high ideals of the Catholic faith present ordinary people. He steers through the rocks and the hard places to offer a workable spiritual life for ordinary Catholics. This hardback volume is handsome, but with such a popular style McTaggart's book should be accessible to more readers in a less expensive paperback format. The book would also be improved by the inclusion of a small reading list for each chapter so readers could explore further if they wish. These criticisms don't detract from the fact that McTaggart is a down to earth apologist for the Catholic faith who writes in a fresh engaging style reminiscent of the best of CS Lewis. --Dwight LongeneckerRead More