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The Mentor's Handbook: How to Form Boys Into Inspiring and Capable Men
Countless adults today lament the loss of our culture s young men to drugs and debauchery, to drunkenness, video games, and pornography. The cry goes up, Today s boys will never be fit to be husbands and fathers! Blaming boys is not the solution. Men are. Or, to be precise, men who help boys become the real men they are supposed to be. Real men crush evil wherever it threatens the good. They speak the truth. They love and protect the beautiful. In defeating bullies and in fighting just wars, real men ensure the safety and well-being of the innocent and vulnerable. How can we teach our boys to become real men? In these wise pages, Fr. Peter Michael Henry explains the process in detail. Using history, philosophy, psychology, sociology and sacred scripture and a large dose of age-old common sense Fr. Henry instructs every man who is a dad, grandfather, uncle, coach, teacher, or youth minister how to raise up even unruly boys into the heroic, virtuous real men our world so desperately needs.
240 pages, Paperback
Published December 19, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 9, 2022
Excellent book for men to read. Whether you hope to be a mentor or not. It was a great reflection on what it means to be a Christian man today. As a father, it gave me great insight into how to approach my young men.
October 23, 2019
Coming from an all-boys Catholic Secondary school in Toronto, The Mentor’s Handbook with its subtitle, How to Form Boys into Inspiring and Capable Men was a very attractive title for me. I in fact only started reading this title during my last months of high school and it has been a very eye-opening and insightful read.
Fr. Henry has decades of experience working with young men and therefore, was compelled to share his advice for those who serve young men. Throughout the book, Fr. Henry not only lists out statistic after statistic, but he strives to incorporate his own experiences with the young men whom he had ministered to. Some with positive endings, while some ending on a negative note. However, from what I see from this handbook is a reflection of a pastor, a mentor striving to train young men to be strong men – physically strong, mentally strong and spiritually strong.
I like how the handbook is consisted of four parts:
The Current Situation
The Mentor
The Disciple
The Process
The book does not go from fact, to fact, to fact, nor is it just a list of statistics and fixes. As evident in the organization of the handbook, Fr. Henry gives the stats, then addresses not only about how mentors should train their “disciple”, but rather prompts the mentor to look at themselves first. Then, once the mentor has in themselves the tools, then they look at things through the point of the view of the disciple. Finally, it is the application, the process. Fr. Henry presents things in baby steps.
The main thing that captivated me the most was actually closer to the end of the handbook. While the stats and facts were interesting, it was how Fr. Henry applied what he said to the story of David and King Saul’s son Jonathan. Fr. Henry talks at length about the figure of David. However, while I have read the story of David many times, I never paid much attention to the figure of Jonathan, his qualities that young men should strive to imitate. After reading The Mentor’s Handbook, whenever I re-read the story of David, it will never be the same again.
Some may say, “It’s just Catholic stuff since a priest wrote this handbook.” Well no. While Fr. Henry makes many biblical references to Jesus, David and Jonathan, this priest-mentor also mentions (right in the first page) figures such as Techumseh and his father Chiksika, Dr. Conrad Baars, Winfield Hancock… just to name a few. Flipping to the back of the book, looking through the nine-paged bibliography, while there are some Catholic titles, I can safely say that more than half of it are general, non-religious titles, articles and resources. Fr. Henry certainly did a lot of research to write this book that offer mentors a variety of lenses.
Another feature which I’ll speak about is the Appendix which contains “Guidelines for Young Men”. It seems to be a summary of what Fr. Henry is telling mentors to train their disciples. I like this list since it is concise. While the book is great, some may get lost in the facts and statistics and by the end of the book, it is just good to have this refresher.
On The Catholic Man‘s Scale
★★★★ 4/5
Overall, I found the book to be a very informative read and I recommend it for fathers, youth ministers, and especially for teachers teaching at all-boys schools. I think The Mentor’s Handbook may change the way teachers see young boys who enter their classrooms, especially in this day and age where boys face many troubles, influences of society that will affect the type of a man they will become.
Fr. Henry has decades of experience working with young men and therefore, was compelled to share his advice for those who serve young men. Throughout the book, Fr. Henry not only lists out statistic after statistic, but he strives to incorporate his own experiences with the young men whom he had ministered to. Some with positive endings, while some ending on a negative note. However, from what I see from this handbook is a reflection of a pastor, a mentor striving to train young men to be strong men – physically strong, mentally strong and spiritually strong.
I like how the handbook is consisted of four parts:
The Current Situation
The Mentor
The Disciple
The Process
The book does not go from fact, to fact, to fact, nor is it just a list of statistics and fixes. As evident in the organization of the handbook, Fr. Henry gives the stats, then addresses not only about how mentors should train their “disciple”, but rather prompts the mentor to look at themselves first. Then, once the mentor has in themselves the tools, then they look at things through the point of the view of the disciple. Finally, it is the application, the process. Fr. Henry presents things in baby steps.
The main thing that captivated me the most was actually closer to the end of the handbook. While the stats and facts were interesting, it was how Fr. Henry applied what he said to the story of David and King Saul’s son Jonathan. Fr. Henry talks at length about the figure of David. However, while I have read the story of David many times, I never paid much attention to the figure of Jonathan, his qualities that young men should strive to imitate. After reading The Mentor’s Handbook, whenever I re-read the story of David, it will never be the same again.
Some may say, “It’s just Catholic stuff since a priest wrote this handbook.” Well no. While Fr. Henry makes many biblical references to Jesus, David and Jonathan, this priest-mentor also mentions (right in the first page) figures such as Techumseh and his father Chiksika, Dr. Conrad Baars, Winfield Hancock… just to name a few. Flipping to the back of the book, looking through the nine-paged bibliography, while there are some Catholic titles, I can safely say that more than half of it are general, non-religious titles, articles and resources. Fr. Henry certainly did a lot of research to write this book that offer mentors a variety of lenses.
Another feature which I’ll speak about is the Appendix which contains “Guidelines for Young Men”. It seems to be a summary of what Fr. Henry is telling mentors to train their disciples. I like this list since it is concise. While the book is great, some may get lost in the facts and statistics and by the end of the book, it is just good to have this refresher.
On The Catholic Man‘s Scale
★★★★ 4/5
Overall, I found the book to be a very informative read and I recommend it for fathers, youth ministers, and especially for teachers teaching at all-boys schools. I think The Mentor’s Handbook may change the way teachers see young boys who enter their classrooms, especially in this day and age where boys face many troubles, influences of society that will affect the type of a man they will become.
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July 27, 20250.5/5
The author has some good points and shares some helpful information. Over half of this book is the author stating his opinion and presenting it as fact. The majority of the information is supported by his own interpretations/experiences, which is sometimes helpful and occasionally potentially hurtful. Some of the information presented is not supported by evidence and, furthermore, is not Catholic teaching.
The author has some good points and shares some helpful information. Over half of this book is the author stating his opinion and presenting it as fact. The majority of the information is supported by his own interpretations/experiences, which is sometimes helpful and occasionally potentially hurtful. Some of the information presented is not supported by evidence and, furthermore, is not Catholic teaching.
January 14, 2025
Loved this book. I learned a lot about what the process of maturing looks like. I thought he did a good job describing that when men are allowed to flourish it can lead to the flourishing of women. I don't know if everyone would agree with his ideas, but I found them enlightening.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews