Book Recommendations
These are books that I think are excellent resources for learning more about Catholic spirituality, theology, faith, liturgy, and music. Books that I recommend here are intended for the general reader, not specialists.
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Links to purchase books are not given; with the title, author, and publisher information provided, you should be able to find them yourself on a bookseller's website or in a Catholic bookstore.
Why Catholics Can't Sing (2013 Revised Edition) by Thomas Day
published by The Crossroad Publishing Company
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This book was originally published in 1990. At the time, it caused quite a stir in Catholic liturgy and music circles because nobody had ever published such an insightful, humorous, and biting criticism of Catholic parish Mass music before. The 2013 revision would be preferable to read because it is updated with two new final chapters that offer conclusions and advice.
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The author does not pull punches, but nor is it an unnecessarily antagonistic book. The author wants to diagnose the problems that afflict Catholic liturgical music and assembly singing (or lack of it), and he also seeks to help Catholic parish liturgical musicians do better.
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What's amazing is that even though the book was published over 34 years ago, many of the criticisms still ring true in parishes across the United States. It's as if the book had been written just recently.
Good Music, Sacred Music, and Silence by Peter Kwasniewski
published by TAN Books
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The author begins with some chapters that present objective principles and criteria for what makes music beautiful and nourishing, and he explains the effects that different styles of music have -- for better or worse -- on human emotions and on the intellect or the soul. The second part of the book is an extensive explanation about sacred music, liturgical music, music that should be sung at Mass versus what the experience at many Catholic parishes has been for the past several decades. The author's thesis is that, as the Church has taught for over a century, Gregorian chant is the style of music best suited for Catholic liturgy. The third part of the book is about the importance of silence in worship and in the Christian life.​
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A video of the author discussing his book is linked to on the "Videos" page; also provided here for convenience: click here.
From Christendom to Apostolic Mission: Pastoral Strategies for an Apostolic Age
and The Religion of the Day: Sequel to From Christendom to Apostolic Misson
published by the University of Mary
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The first book explains that the Church needs to change from a Christendom mindset to an Apostolic mindset, by which is meant that the Church must adopt different strategies for living and evangelizing than had been useful and effective in prior centuries, when Christianity formed the basis for much of Western civilization. Now, as the Christian foundations and assumptions of Western societies are being dismantled, the Church must consider the whole society to be mission territory. To read a summary of the book, click here.
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The sequel provides a detailed examination of the recently emergent secular worldview that has become the default meaning-making mindset of Western institutions and peoples, replacing the religious function that Christianity used to have. Secularism is the new religion of the day. This secular worldview is what Christians must understand and speak to and against if they are to be successful in evangelizing the culture. To read a summary of the book, click here.
Thirty Steps to Heaven by Vassilios Papavassiliou
published by Ancient Faith Publishing
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The author is a priest of the Greek Orthodox Church. This book is a popularization of an Eastern Christian spiritual classic: The Ladder of Divine Ascent. It applies the spiritual teachings in The Ladder of Divine Ascent to the contemporary lives of non-monastic Christians. Even though we do not live monastic lives, insights and wisdom from monasticism can assist us in growing in holiness because we have the same goals as monks: holiness in this life and heaven in eternal life. What monks dedicate themselves to doing in an intensified manner while living set apart from the world is what non-monastic Christians are called to do in their own states of life while living in the midst of the world, yet not being of the world. Taking to heart the advice of this book will assist us in turning away from sinful habits, away from disordered attachments to the world and to ego, so that we may grow in virtue and holiness and turn more towards God.
Rebuilt Faith: A Handbook for Skeptical Catholics by Fr. Michael White and Tom Corcoran
published by Ave Maria Press
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I expected to dislike this book but ended up liking it a lot. The authors transformed a dying Catholic parish into a popularly attended community by refashioning the parish to imitate Protestant megachurches. That's not the subject of this book, however. This book is structured as a 40-day retreat with short chapters for daily reading that lead people who are lapsed, skeptical, or loosely affiliated Catholics to greater holiness and more frequent practice of Catholic faith. It's practical, and I think it succeeds in its aim of reaching out to disaffiliated Catholics to encourage them to give Catholic faith and their local Catholic parish another look and another try.
Handing Down the Faith by Christian Smith and Amy Adamczyk
published by Oxford University Press
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The sociological research that the authors conducted on the religious lives of American teenagers prompted them to expand their research into what American parents think about religion and its importance in raising children. For a summary of what the authors learned about how parents can increase the chances of successfully handing on their religious faith to their children, click here to read an article by Christian Smith.
Back Pocket God by Melinda Lundquist Denton and Richard Flory
published by Oxford University Press
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This is the culminating, fourth book of a twenty-year study of youth and religion in the United States. It is a work in sociology, so there are lots of data and tables, but the exposition of the study's conclusions about the religious beliefs and practices of young adults is easily understandable. One overarching conclusion of the study is that a sizable number of young adults are either abandoning religion or are relegating religion to a personally curated and self-tailored lifestyle accessory that is therapeutic rather than an objective system of belief that requires adherence to a creed or that makes moral demands on how you live. Click here for an essay excerpted from the book that presents its major conclusions about how emerging adults view and practice religion.
Confession of a Catholic Worker by Larry Chapp
published by Ignatius Press
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Larry Chapp is a retired professor of theology. This book is one of the best I have read in at least five years. It could have been titled Why Catholics Can't Evangelize or Why Many People -- Including Many Catholics -- Consider the Church Irrelevant to a Meaningful Life. It's a manifesto about what ails Western culture, especially American culture, and what ails the Church in the United States. It offers a general proposal for what needs to be fixed in order to renew parish life and Church life, and by consequence save Western culture from its current death spiral into nihilism.
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The author says that it distills down to the need for the laity to stop living -- and parishes to stop facilitating -- a beige, boring, uninspiring, nondescript Catholicism that relegates Catholic faith to an optional lifestyle choice merely on the periphery of one's life, like optional "Jesus sprinkles" on secular ice cream that everyone else in the culture is also eating. Instead, pastors of the Church must encourage and enable the laity to take seriously the universal call to holiness. The author writes, "Sanctity and its pursuit is the very business of the Church, and its neglect in the West is precisely what has led to the current ecclesial malaise." Such sanctity is nothing less than imitating the self-emptying, self-sacrificing love that Christ lived.
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Click here to view a 30-minute video interview of the author about the book by his publisher's agent.
The Great Story of Israel by Bishop Robert Barron
published by Word on Fire
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This book retells in summary form the story of the people of Israel, the story of the Covenant, from the creation in Genesis to the Jews revolting against Greek occupation in 2 Maccabees, and offers theological and spiritual insights about what the Old Testament events and people mean for Christian faith and the spiritual life. Very easy reading. Can serve as an introduction to or a review of the overall narrative arc of the Old Testament.
What We Have Done, What We Have Failed to Do by Msgr. Kevin W. Irwin
published by Paulist Press
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Not just about liturgical music, this book provides an overview and assessment of how the Second Vatican Council's liturgical reforms have been implemented in Catholic parishes in the United States. Fully committed to the liturgical reform, the author identifies what has worked, what has been done well, and explains where there is still room for improvement in fulfilling the promise and potential of the liturgical reform.
Food for the Soul (Cycles A, B, and C) by Peter Kreeft
published by Word on Fire
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Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Each Lectionary Cycle
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Cycle A: December 2025 - November 2026; December 2028 - November 2029
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Cycle B: December 2023 - November 2024; December 2026 - November 2027
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Cycle C: December 2024 - November 2025; December 2027 - November 2028
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Peter Kreeft has written essays for each Sunday's set of readings, interpreting them and applying them to everyday life. The essays are spiritually insightful, witty, educational, and thought-provoking. Reading his reflections before or after attending Sunday Mass each week will make the readings and the Mass more understandable and fruitful.
Introduction to Catholicism for Adults by Rev. James Socias
published by Midwest Theological Forum
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One of the best, most comprehensive, and most readable single-volume explanations of Catholic faith that has ever been published. Easy to understand without dumbing down what Catholicism is. The book doesn't just restate or summarize Catholic teaching, it explains those teachings so that the reader understands them. Replete with references to saints, history, Church documents, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This is a one-stop-shop for understanding Catholicism better.
The Holy Mass: On Earth as It Is in Heaven by Kevin and Mary O'Neill
published by Sophia Institute Press
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Although this book is intended for children, I think adults might also enjoy it and would learn from reading it. It's a graphic novel that explains the Mass, its institution by Jesus, and Old Testament precursors of the Mass with the help of pictures of astoundingly detailed LEGO scenes. Excellent book for learning about the meaning of the Mass.
Catechism of the Seven Sacraments by Kevin and Mary O'Neill
published by Sophia Institute Press
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By the same authors as the book above and written before it, this is similarly conceived and arranged, but it's about the Church's seven sacraments.
Jesus Becoming Jesus (Volumes 1, 2, and 3) by Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM, Cap.
published by The Catholic University of America Press
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A Theological Interpretation of the Gospels
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Volume 1: The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke)
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Volume 2: The Gospel of John, Chapters 1-12
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Volume 3: The Gospel of John, Chapters 13-21
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Although intended for general readership among educated adults, these books are not light reading. Father Weinandy takes the reader through each Gospel narrative and provides theological explanations of individual stories and the larger narrative arc of how Jesus is portrayed. His thesis is that the Gospels dramatically and gradually unveil Jesus in his public ministry becoming the savior of humanity that he was sent to be; hence, Jesus becoming Jesus. These books do not dwell on unimportant or boring minutiae. Weinandy is an engaging, succinct, and clear writer, and the time spent learning from him by reading these books will give you a better, fuller, deeper grasp of the Gospels and of Jesus Christ.