Catholic Thought discussion

We will be reading this book in two sessions. The first session until we break for our Christmas read, and for the second session we'll continue in January. I've deliberately paced it slow. As we're moving through the book we can certainly make adjustments to the pace.

Pope Benedict XVI, for those who are new to his writings, is not hard to read, but he goes deep. You will find his prose is much more accessible than St. John Henry Newman's. I've read the book many years ago, and I certainly need a refresher! For me it will be interesting to see if the parts that I underlined will be of significance again.

Here is the schedule until mid-December:

Week 1: 30 Oct - 5 Nov: Preface & Chapter 1
Week 2: 6 Nov - 12 Nov: Chapter 2
Week 3: 13 Nov - 19 Nov: Chapter 3
Week 4: 20 Nov - 26 Nov: Part 2: Chapter 1
Week 5: 27 Nov - 3 Dec: Chapter 2
Week 6: 4 Dec - 10 Dec: Chapter 3
Week 7: 11 Dec - 17 Dec: Chapter 4

Depending on what the group decides for Christmas, we may move week 7 into the New Year.
As always, we will start reading the first week, beginning with Oct 30, and the discussion will start Nov 6.

Best part about this is it ties in so well with Desiderio Desideravi.

My library has this book in every language but English it seems! I'll keep checking.

I bought it on Amazon for 27.00. No copy in my library. I found other copies selling for 40-257 dollars. 27.00 seems like a bargain.

Oh wow, I didn't know it was that expensive. I had bought it for my kindle a number of years ago. I looked it up and it seems it's on Kindle here for less than $6:

https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Liturgy...

Manny wrote: "Oh wow, I didn't know it was that expensive. I had bought it for my kindle a number of years ago. I looked it up and it seems it's on Kindle here for less than $6:

https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Li..."

Ah-ha! Thank you. That's my preferred method of reading these days anyway.

Ignatius Press is still publishing it, for anyone interested in the hard copy. It's $17.96
https://ignatius.com/the-spirit-of-th...

Oh why??? didn't I say something BEFORE I ordered the hard copy. Kindle is my definite go to medium for books these days. The Amazon Kindle did not display when I looked.

Celia wrote: "Oh why??? didn't I say something BEFORE I ordered the hard copy. Kindle is my definite go to medium for books these days. Amazon did not have the Kindle."

It was there on Amazon Celia. That’s where I found it. Perhaps you can contact Amazon and return the book for a refund. They do have a return policy.

My older copy of the Kindle edition does not include the Romano Guardini addendum at the end. But we’re not including that in our read. I should be ok but I would have liked to have it.

Manny wrote: "Celia wrote: "Oh why??? didn't I say something BEFORE I ordered the hard copy. Kindle is my definite go to medium for books these days. Amazon did not have the Kindle."

It was there on Amazon Celi..."

Exactly what I plan to do. TY Manny. Cathy Lees wants to read it on Kindle too. I sent her the link.

Pope Benedict's book is based on Guardini's book of the same name, The Spirit of the Liturgy. I haven't read it. It is a small volume published in 1918. I wonder if they are including Guardini's text in these later publications.

Kerstin wrote: "Pope Benedict's book is based on Guardini's book of the same name, The Spirit of the Liturgy. I haven't read it. It is a small volume published in 1918. I wonder if they are including..."

Yes they are.

This book is also on archive.org if you have an account. It's a scan but it is there.

Jonathan wrote: "This book is also on archive.org if you have an account. It's a scan but it is there."

Thank you Jonathan.

Kerstin wrote: "We will be reading this book in two sessions. The first session until we break for our Christmas read, and for the second session we'll continue in January. I've deliberately paced it slow. As we'r..."

Thank you Kerstin for arranging the sessions. I want to join the group reading this time.

Fantastic Friar

Oh wonderful, Friar Stebin!

My book should arrive before EOD today so hopefully I'll be able to read enough for the discussion tomorrow. I'm looking forward to participating in my first GoodReads book discussion.

Amy wrote: "My book should arrive before EOD today so hopefully I'll be able to read enough for the discussion tomorrow. I'm looking forward to participating in my first GoodReads book discussion."

Welcome, the book is very readable. I have it on Kindle and share notes with friends.

Since this is my first buddy read in this group, I need to ask a stupid question. Will each week in the reading schedule have a separate thread?

Perfectly fine question!
Yes. This way each person can follow at their own pace and place in the book and it avoids spoilers. Of course once we move to the next segment everything up to then is fair game. This is pretty much standard with every reading group. The only exception is when we read smaller pieces, such as the Apostolic Letter we just read.

Ok. Thank you!

Hello brothers and sisters, where shall we find the discussion of this book. I didn't get the notification of it. please help me with this. Thank you

Friar Stebin wrote: "Hello brothers and sisters, where shall we find the discussion of this book. I didn't get the notification of it. please help me with this. Thank you"

I hope I do this correctly 😄

Discussion for Chapter One: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

And for Chapter Two:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Friar Stebin wrote: "Hello brothers and sisters, where shall we find the discussion of this book. I didn't get the notification of it. please help me with this. Thank you"

Oh Friar, we started our second week. If you click The Spirit of the Liturgy link at the top of this page, it will take you to the folder with every week’s reading discussion. Or you can click this:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

I suggest you change your settings to receive notices from Catholic Thought. Do you know how? If not I can help you.

Manny wrote: "Friar Stebin wrote: "Hello brothers and sisters, where shall we find the discussion of this book. I didn't get the notification of it. please help me with this. Thank you"

Oh Friar, we started our..."

Thank you brother Manny for helping me. But I don't know how to change those settings here. Will be grateful if you can help me.

Friar Stebin, if you go into your account settings (click your profile button on the upper right corner), there is a tab for Emails. Under this tab you can customize notifications and other things. If you scroll to the bottom there you will find the listings for reading groups. It is here where you select your notification preference.
Personally, I only do the "notification only", the bell icon on the upper right corner lets me know if there are comments in the discussion threads.

Goodreads is not always intuitive in how they have things set up. For anyone who hasn't noticed yet, if you scroll up to the top, look under the group icon in the right corner, under the search button is a link for "unread topics". If you click it it will show you all discussion threads you have not read yet. Once you've clicked on it and see the listing, there is another link on the bottom "mark all as read", it will give you a clean slate if there are discussions you didn't participate in and/or are not interested in.

Kerstin wrote: "Friar Stebin, if you go into your account settings (click your profile button on the upper right corner), there is a tab for Emails. Under this tab you can customize notifications and other things...."

Yes, Kerstin's instructions are correct. The account settings is your avatar - that little picture of you - on the upper right. Then follow the rest of Kerstin's instructions. I chose "Both" so I can get email notifications as well as the Goodreads bell notifications. I check my email more frequently than checking into Goodreads.

Thank you all for helping me with it. I managed to change my notification settings.

Everyone,

I'm already falling behind... I will post the next chapter this upcoming Sunday. We are hosting Thanksgiving this year and I have family coming in tomorrow. I'm knee-deep in preparations and try as I may my brain is too scattered to focus on Ratzinger right now.

That is fine Kerstin. I understand. I know too well.

Kerstin wrote: "Everyone,

I'm already falling behind... I will post the next chapter this upcoming Sunday. We are hosting Thanksgiving this year and I have family coming in tomorrow. I'm knee-deep in preparations..."

I am behind for the same reason!

Let's continue with the next chapter, "The Altar and the Direction of Liturgical Prayer", and discussion Sunday (15th). I will also post the rest of the schedule this week.

Ok.

Here is the rest of the schedule:
Part 2
Week 6: 15 Jan - 21 Jan: Chapter 3: The Altar and the Direction of Liturgical Prayer
Week 7: 22 Jan - 28 Jan: Chapter 4: The Reservation of the Blessed Sacrament
Week 8: 29 Jan - 4 Feb: Chapter 5: Sacred Time
Part 3
Week 9: 5 Feb - 11 Feb: Chapter 1: The Question of Images
Week 10: 12 Feb - 18 Feb: Chapter 2: Music and Liturgy
Part 4
Week 11: 19 Feb - 25 Feb: Chapter 1: Rite
Week 12: 26 Feb - Mar 4: Chapter 2: The Body and the Liturgy

Oh good! I finished this book a day or two after Christmas, but I can refer to my notes.

I re-read Part 1 chapter 1 again to refresh and I saw it in a new light. It's excellent. Now I can catch up.

Thank you, Manny and Kerstin, for setting things up in such a clear and manageable way, and for helping us with the settings.

Group, Kerstin needs to go to Germany to visit her mom, who has a medical issue. She may have asked for prayers somewhere. So, I will be taking over leading this read. Now I am only a chapter behind. Let me take this week to finish Part 2 chapter 5, and get to the next chapter. Here is the schedule to finish out this read.

26 Feb: Part 3, chpt 1
5 Mar: Part 3 chpt 2
13 Mar: Part 4 chpt 1
20 Mar Part 4 chpt 2

We finish by March 25th,

I have not commented much - I've been behind the whole time - but it's a great read. I am so happy we picked this.