The Catholic Book Club discussion

I would like to take a moment to extend a special welcome to Brennan and Bernard, who yesterday became the 1,000th and 1,001st members of the Catholic Book Club. And of course Christopher, Veronica, Laercio, Catherine, Victoria, Hieronymus and all those who have joined in the last few weeks, and indeed since we began. Thank you all. When we first started, I made it a point to welcome new members. I dropped that practice as we grew over the years, and would only welcome those who introduced themselves in the thread for that purpose. (Just now I realized how far down that has dropped and have pinned it to the top of the General Folder.) Nonetheless, every one of you is quite welcome.

And a special thank you to Theresa, Margaret, and of course and especially, Jill, who all, IIRC, followed the group over from Shelfari when it shut down and remain active.

I would like to make a special invitation to each member to introduce themselves to the group, either in a reply to this post, or in the "Introduce Yourself" thread, now pinned to the top of the General Folder. Even if you've introduced yourself before, or are very active in the CBC, there are probably hundreds, or as many as a thousand other members who know little or nothing about you. Who are you? Where are you? Why are you here? Whatever you feel like sharing.

Finally, please consider increasing your participation in the group. Your thought, your idea, your comment on a book we are reading, or on some other subject, may just be the key insight that someone else needs. That is God's work. But if we are silent, we leave nothing to be worked with. And, of course, someone else's insight may be a blessing to you.

God bless you all.

Thank you for the shout-out. Since my in-person book clubs aren't meeting these days, I appreciate this one more. I am a reader and a writer (Scripture meditations for Word Among Us magazine, features for our weekly newspaper in the diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend IN. I grew up Baptist, went to Wheaton College, Ph.D. in philosophy from Yale, gradually drawn in a more liturgical direction and became Catholic through the charismatic renewal. Husband and I have six adult children including one with a disability. We belong to the People of Praise, an ecumenical charismatic covenant community that started in 1971, in which our newest Supreme Court justice is a dear sister.

Happy to be here! Still trying to figure out how groups work on goodreads since this is my first one, but looking forward to interacting and reading some great books!

Thank you for the opportunity to introduce ourselves and to meet other CBC members. I joined this group when it first began and have been following it ever since. I am a lifelong Catholic, a retired university professor and administrator, and an author of Catholic fiction (Nocturne, Opus 1: Sea Foam) and nonfiction (Words for Cats: How to Teach Cats the Meanings of Words). My husband and I live in Delaware, and one of our daughters lives on the East Coast and the other one lives on the West Coast. I am extremely happy to be a member of this Catholic reading group.

Brennan wrote: "Happy to be here! Still trying to figure out how groups work on goodreads since this is my first one, but looking forward to interacting and reading some great books!"

Welcome, again, Brennan. We look forward to discussing the books we read with you. Feel free to look over the FAQs, which outlines how the club works.

Norene wrote: "Thank you for the opportunity to introduce ourselves and to meet other CBC members. I joined this group when it first began and have been following it ever since. I am a lifelong Catholic, a retire..."

Hi Norene, Welcome.

I've been an inactive observer in the group for a while now. I did used to be more active, but a combination of difficulty getting a hold of the books being read and not having the time to read them even if I could get them (I'm currently working towards a master's in music) have made it hard for me to participate much. Hopefully I'll be able to do so more in the future. I live in Colorado, but am in Massachusetts during the school year.

Hi John and everyone in this lovely group!

Thank you so much for this kind welcome and invitation to be active in this group. I've actually joined you two years ago (probably), but apart from introducing myself, I remained in the shadow hehe

I am not always on Goodreads and social media, but I do read your posts and I have to say they truly give me so much pleasure.

It's actually G.K. Chesterton who first brought me here (read only his Heretics, Orthodoxy, and Charles Dickens: A Critical Study). I've been intending to read more by him, but I was just lazily putting it off (plus, I can never find his books in libraries).

I remember when I first joined this group and had a very kind welcome from members here (I feel bad for not remembering the names), I promised myself I would read more by Chesterton and C.S. Lewis and get back here. But that didn't happen hehe and here I am renewing the promise.

We don't celebrate Christmas, but on Christmas Day, I did go back to a very lovely passage from Charles Dickens: A Critical Study. I remember sharing it with my penfriend from England. (Needless to mention that he loved it so much)

I'm sharing the passage here because Chesterton never gets redundant.



Comfort, especially this vision of Christmas comfort, is the reverse of a gross or material thing. It is far more poetical, properly speaking, than the Garden of Epicurus. It is far more artistic than the Palace of Art. It is more artistic because it is based upon a contrast, a contrast between the fire and wine within the house and the winter and the roaring rains without. It is far more poetical, because there is in it a note of defence, almost of war; a note of being besieged by the snow and hail; of making merry in the belly of a fort. The man who said that an Englishman's house is his castle said much more than he meant. The Englishman thinks of his house as something fortified and provisioned, and his very surliness is at root romantic. And this sense would naturally be strongest in wild winter nights, when the lowered portcullis and the lifted drawbridge do not merely bar people out, but bar people in. The Englishman's house is most sacred, not merely when the King cannot enter it, but when the Englishman cannot get out of it.

-Charles Dickens: A Critical Study


I do believe this is a time when unity and love are so much needed. For me, reading Chesterton during these times would be very relevant. (Wait, he's always relevant. By you all get what I mean.)

Sending love and warm regards to you all!

Hayfa from Tunisia

Thank you for the welcome and offer to introduce ourselves. I write Christian nonfiction based on my experiences as a volunteer EMT for the past 30+ years (At Heaven's Edge, On Heaven's Doorstep, and Help from Heaven) as well as two middle-grade action/adventure novels (Saving Mount Rushmore and Saving the Statue of Liberty) which are part of my St. Michael the Archangel Academy Series. I enjoy the groups posts.

Thank you for the opportunity to introduce ourselves and become acquainted with new members to the CBC. I’ve been a part of this wonderful group for approximately one year now and have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of this group. Welcome to all the new members who recently joined. I’ve been a Catholic all of my life and I love this beautiful faith. I’m a retired Nurse Manager and am blessed with 6 beautiful grandchildren..and love spending time with my family.

Andrea, could the group read one of your books?

I joined this group way back when there were less than 100 participants. Then I left for a while and later rejoined. I don't even recall why I did that. It must have been one of "those" snap decisions, lol.

I am thrilled how much this group has flourished over the years. The format of reading one book per month and pre-selecting possible titles for the coming year seems to resonate really well.

Hello! I'm Carolyn Astfalk, and I've been a member here for years, but I mainly scroll through the weekly summary of activities. I live in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and I'm both an author and an avid reader of Catholic books.

I write contemporary Catholic romances (Theology of the Body fiction) and I read a lot of Catholic fiction, much of which I review on my website blog (carolynastfalk.com). I review other books as well, some Catholic nonfiction, children's books, and Christian fiction.

I'm also a member of CatholicTeenBooks.com, where we've gathered lots of great Catholic novels for teens and some middle grade readers. It's a great resource for parents and teachers.

Hello
I am a cradle Catholic who just joined 2 months ago. I come from a strong Jesuit educational background so am on the more liberal side of the Church but wanted to expose myself to different viewpoints within the church especially with all the divisions within the world, the US and the Church these days. I have enjoyed reading the discussions of the books so far and am experiencing some good intellectual challenges from the books and the discussions.

Carolyn wrote: "Hello! I'm Carolyn Astfalk, and I've been a member here for years, but I mainly scroll through the weekly summary of activities. I live in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and I'm both an author and an avid ..."

Welcome, Carolyn. Hopefully you will have time to join us in our reading and discussion of In This House of Brede.

Mary Houston wrote: "Hello
I am a cradle Catholic who just joined 2 months ago. I come from a strong Jesuit educational background so am on the more liberal side of the Church but wanted to expose myself to different v..."

Welcome, Mary. I´m not sure what you mean - liberal as opposed to what? In any case, I hope you will join us in our reading and discussions. God bless.

I have been an observer since I rarely get around to reading the books, but my Lenten promise is to visit the page regularly and interact because I know it will be good for me spiritually. I run a parish book club and founded the Mad Anthony Writers Conference, so I know getting to a 1,001 members online is indeed a feat. Thank you very much for organizing and maintaining this web presence. Victoria Ryan

Victoria wrote: "I have been an observer since I rarely get around to reading the books, but my Lenten promise is to visit the page regularly and interact because I know it will be good for me spiritually. I run a ..."

Thanks, Victoria. I look forward to seeing you Ash Wednesday. :-)

I've been an observer, but will try to be more active.

Maggie wrote: "I've been an observer, but will try to be more active."

Welcome, and I hope you are able to participate more in the future.

God bless,