Book Review: The Catholic Home

Several times, while reading The Catholic Home by Meredith Gould, I've felt like hanging up my keyboard. Why does anyone, after all, need this blog I'm writing, when they could just go and read Dr. Gould's book?

I comforted myself with the thought that Dr. Gould is Roman Catholic, and I'm Anglican, and so at the very least that allows me to offer something different, but honest and truly folks, this is a book any liturgically-minded Christian homemaker ought to read. If for no other reason than that it's so much FUN. (Did you know that there's a tradition of mountain-climbing to celebrate the Ascension? There is! And did you know you maybe ought to lay off the Easter bunnies, but take up Easter lamb decorations in their place? Really!)

In the preface to her book, Gould talks about asking around her church, to find out "how fellow parishioners reinforce their Catholic identity and practice at home." She found that there was a dearth of knowledge on that score, and asserts that though "no one seems to want the return of empty ritual . . . there does seem to be a felt longing for ways to reflect the awe, delight, and gratitude of living in and for Christ at home among today's young Catholics."

So Gould spends a delightful 205 pages (plus generous appendices and index) talking about just how to go about doing that. The first half of the book follows the church year, talking about how to celebrate everything from Advent to Ordinary Time at home. The second half (okay, more like last third) is composed of two chapters: "Daily Devotions" and "Honoring the Sacraments."

Here's a sample of her writing, from the section on Pentecost:

Medieval churchgoers were treated to the spectacle of a dove figurine, flowers, water, and flaming straw raining down from the church ceiling during Mass. No, you do not have to unseal a skylight or carve a hole in your roof. It would be dramatic enough to reclaim the tradition of hanging carved wooden doves from the ceiling above your dining table for this feast day.

The best thing about this book is that while it could have turned easily into a book of trivia, it's not one. It's chockful of obscure and interesting facts, sure enough, but Gould manages to fit all the minutiae into an overarching narration about worshipping God in an orderly manner, so that it's a book you really do want to sit down and read straight through before setting it in an easy-to-reach spot on your reference shelf.

Disclaimer here: I disagree amazingly with some of her theology. But only for the reasons that make me Protestant and not Catholic. (Nonetheless, she quotes frequently from the Catholic Catechism, and I have to say that some of those quotations make me swoon with envy over the glory of their centuries of good theologians.)


So, my conclusion on the Catholic Home by Meredith Gould: buy it! It's good!


peace of Christ to you,
Jessica




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