Catholic Thought discussion

Hello my name is Mike. I found this group without a moderator and inactive. With some help from both prior as well as new members I would like to see this group reestablished.

Hi Mike,

I would certainly join that effort. I enjoyed reading the old conversations here. I am a Catholic adult educator with special love for the virtues and the moral life. I focus on helping Catholics grow in intimacy with our Lord by rediscovering the joy of learning and living their faith. I will happily give whatever I can contribute to this group!

Jeff Arrowood
Www.fromtheabbey.com

Jeffrey wrote: "Hi Mike,

I would certainly join that effort. I enjoyed reading the old conversations here. I am a Catholic adult educator with special love for the virtues and the moral life. I focus on helping C..."

Wonderful to hear from you! Contributors are welcomed.

Mike,

It is good of you to reactivate this group. I have have young children so I'm not real reliable on GoodReads, but really enjoy the interaction with others seeking growth in Catholic spiritual growth.

Thanks,
Thadeus

Hi. My name is Manny. It's been a while since I joined Goodreads but I don't come very often. I find it hard to navigate. However, I am a great book lover, as well as Roman Catholic. If a good conversation comes up, I'll certainly make the effort to come here more often. Peace.

Thadeus wrote: "Mike,

It is good of you to reactivate this group. I have have young children so I'm not real reliable on GoodReads, but really enjoy the interaction with others seeking growth in Catholic spiritua..."

Good to hear from you. I am not as reliable in posting as I would like to be; I am in graduate school pursuing an M.A. in Theology and that consumes most of my time. I am trying to find a way to use some of the readings from school as posts here but that is a work in progress.

Please join in any conversation as you have time.

Manny wrote: "Hi. My name is Manny. It's been a while since I joined Goodreads but I don't come very often. I find it hard to navigate. However, I am a great book lover, as well as Roman Catholic. If a good..."

Welcome to the group.

Hopefully, you will find some interesting books and posts here.

Hello all, my name is Alejandro. By the grace of God I'm a recent convert to Catholicism and have fell madly in love with Christ and His Church. I came back to the Church through an apologetic apostolate which introduced me to authentic Catholic teaching for the first time. I've become an avid reader of art, architecture, philosophy, politics, spirituality, and theology and have always had a passion for history (secular and religious). My library is not restricted to Catholic thought alone. I've challenged myself to be more aware of secular and even anti-religious thought by reading and trying to understand those opposed to religion in general and Christianity in particular.
Hope to learn a thing or two from this group.
Thanks.

Hello, everyone. I'm Ken. Looking forward to sharing the faith with you all!

Welcome Alejandro and Ken! Glad to read your posts.

I thought I'd share a couple of publishers of good Catholic content that I've come by recently. One is Catholic Way Publishing and the other is Wyatt North Publishing. Wyatt North can be found on Twitter and Facebook and has been putting together short "life and prayers of" ebooks that introduce many well-known saints (most are $3 or less and they also release for free for a limited time that is advertised through Twitter and FB).

Catholic Way Publishing has some outstanding classics in ebook format by St. Alphonsus Liguori and others. These are also sold for under $5 a piece.

I look forward to hearing what is on your mind here on the Catholic Thought group.

Thank you Thadeus. I will check out your recommendations.

A.i.sanchez wrote: "Hello all, my name is Alejandro. By the grace of God I'm a recent convert to Catholicism and have fell madly in love with Christ and His Church. I came back to the Church through an apologetic apos..."

Welcome to this site,Alejandro and more importantly welcome to the Church.

Kenneth wrote: "Hello, everyone. I'm Ken. Looking forward to sharing the faith with you all!"

Welcome Ken.

Thadeus wrote: "Welcome Alejandro and Ken! Glad to read your posts.

I thought I'd share a couple of publishers of good Catholic content that I've come by recently. One is Catholic Way Publishing and the other is ..."

Thadeus, thanks so much for pointing us toward Catholic Way Publishing. I have not been there but will give them a try shortly.

I will also post some other sites with low cost or free ebooks.

If you have a Kindle, check out "The Life and Words of GK Chesterton" published by Wyatt North Publishing. It is currently free for a limited time. WNP does quality work on these short, introductory pieces.

Hi, I'm Emily! I'm hoping to find some good recommendations from this group! I really enjoy reading and learning about Catholic theology.

Emily wrote: "Hi, I'm Emily! I'm hoping to find some good recommendations from this group! I really enjoy reading and learning about Catholic theology."

Welcome Emily! I hope that the members here can supply you with informative and enjoyable Catholic titles.

Emily: What are your particular interests? There are so many great books one could recommend, but please help us to tailor that list to your areas of interest. God bless.

Hi- I just joined. I thought good reads would be a good resource for keeping track of what I read and learning about new books! I'm really into my Catholic faith and was thrilled to find this group!

Atlasgirl wrote: "Hi- I just joined. I thought good reads would be a good resource for keeping track of what I read and learning about new books! I'm really into my Catholic faith and was thrilled to find this group!"

Welcome! I hope that you will share other titles you find along the way.

Welcome Atlasgirl.

Hello everyone. My name is Doreen and I am looking forward to participating in this group. I feel like I've finally found a good home for my Catholic faith. I am devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Saint John Paul II and am really getting to like Pope Francis.

Welcome Doreen. Nice to meet you. :)

Thank you very much for the warm welcome Manny!

Welcome Doreen, it is very good to see you here.

Only dipping my toe into the water of this Goodreads thing. Not sure how deep I'll go yet.

Briefly, I'm a Catholic convert from the New Age movement. My journey as a Catholic began as ultra-liberal, but I've become increasingly traditional, gravely concerned as I am by secular society and the danger of (well-meaning) liberal Catholics unconsciously _colluding_ with secular materialism.

The tension between these things traditional and liberal, secular and New Age make up for a lot of what I think about, read about and also blog about at http://corjesusacratissimum.org (for anyone who might be interested in the same).

God bless you all,

Roger

Welcome on board Roger, I hope you will find or contribute some interesting titles.

Welcome Roger. I only dip my toe on occasion here on Goodreads. I don't exactly find it that user friendly. But still I have comments to this group emailed to me.

More importantly I want to welcome you to our wonderful faith. It always touches me when someone makes a dramatic change in their lives and finds the Catholic Church. Thank you. Conservative, Liberal, neutral, though I express my opinions on blogs and news articles, I just let the Church handle it. My focus is concentrating on my relationship with Christ. God bless you.

By the way, for those interested, I too have a blog. It's mostly on my literary interests, but I vary it with music, an expression of my faith, and a touch of personal stories, such as on my four year old son. Here for those who want to check it out:
http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/

Hi Roger! Welcome to the group. Hope to have some interesting discussions with you!

Warm thanks to you, Mike, Manny and Doreen!

Roger wrote: "Warm thanks to you, Mike, Manny and Doreen!"

Sorry so long in posting but you know how sometimes life gets in the way. I have a special devotion to Saint John Paul II but am really looking forward to reading a book on Pope Francis. To me he seems very much like Saint John Paul II and is a very humble man which is something I admire? How do you feel about Pope Francis Roger?

Doreen, I have been trying to keep silent about Pope Francis. But will say a little ...

I see him as a man of unmistakeable sincerity, heart, piety and the courage to challenge evils such as global capitalism . . .

However, as beautiful as these qualities are, St. John Paul II seems to me, in my all-too-subjective take understanding (obviously), as a GIANT of not only saintliness, but penetrating understanding of the crisis of the Church and the world that I just can't yet see in Pope Francis.

Not seeing that crisis in the world and in the Church as St John Paul II did, it seems to me that, subtly at least, Pope Francis has begun to reverse a number of important things St. John Paul II stood for.

Compare - for example - the document Dominus Jesus with some of Francis' gestures in terms of ecumenism.

I am also very concerned about Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiega, who Pope Francis has appointed as the head of his council of 8 - and is even now being perceived as something like "vice-pope."

Certainly, Cardinal Maradiega stands for some very different things than St. John Paul II did ...

Roger wrote: "Doreen, I have been trying to keep silent about Pope Francis. But will say a little ...

I see him as a man of unmistakeable sincerity, heart, piety and the courage to challenge evils such as glob..."

Oh Roger I totally agree that John Paul II was GIANT of saintliness. Although I do admire Pope Francis's humbleness to me, at least, no one will ever approach John Paul II. I have read many biographies of John Paul II and would like to read at least a few of Pope Francis to make comparisons. Have to honest though, I did not get warm fuzzies with Benedict XVI.

Doreen, I have been trying to keep silent about Pope Francis. But will say a little ...

I see him as a man of unmistakeable sincerity, heart, piety and the courage to challenge evils such as global capitalism . . .

However, as beautiful as these qualities are, St. John Paul II seems to me, in my all-too-subjective take understanding (obviously), as a GIANT of not only saintliness, but penetrating understanding of the crisis of the Church and the world that I just can't yet see in Pope Francis.

Not seeing that crisis in the world and in the Church as St John Paul II did, it seems to me that, subtly at least, Pope Francis has begun to reverse a number of important things St. John Paul II stood for.

Compare - for example - the document Dominus Jesus with some of Francis' gestures in terms of ecumenism.

I am also very concerned about Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiega, who Pope Francis has appointed as the head of his council of 8 - and is even now being perceived as something like "vice-pope."

Certainly, Cardinal Maradiega stands for some very different things than St. John Paul II did ...

Thank you for the invitation to join the group. I write lighthearted fiction with simple themes and messages. Two of my middle grade books in my KATIE MARIE series are self-published on Amazon.com. My new book is SIMPLY PUT, SIMPLY TOLD. It's a stand alone book set in Lily Bay Township, Maine. It's about Sister Rose Teirnan and her orphan charge, Katie. It touches on themes of alcoholism, caring for the elderly, animal abuse, and what exactly is love.

I went to Catholic Schools my entire life. My books stem from the mainstay orphan Katie, trying to find her way in Hell's Harbor, Maine.

I was the Catholic/Religion Saints Editor for Suite 101, which has evolved into informational chunks in the web. I write reviews. Columbia Press asked me to write a review of Francis, Bishop of Rome: A Short Biography: Jorge Bergoglio on Heaven and Earth.

I'd be happy to help with your group if I can remember anything from college Theology - lol! I do look forward to meeting new goodread friends!

Kind regards,
mkildor

Welcome M.K.,

I would love to see some book reviews you have written.

Mike

Roger wrote: "Doreen, I have been trying to keep silent about Pope Francis. But will say a little ...

I see him as a man of unmistakeable sincerity, heart, piety and the courage to challenge evils such as glob..."

Hi Roger,

I see some of your points regarding differences but in many respects I feel we should expect differences. We have been experiencing a run of some really remarkable people serving as Pope. Each of them different and from different backgrounds but each very good in their own way.

Who would have thought that a poet and philosopher would turn out to be such a great leader and Pope but John Paul II truly was Great. Benedict, the theologian, what a wonderful teacher. And now, Francis; his first year has been wonderful but in a much different way than the two Popes before him. That is exactly the part I find stimulating.

Manny wrote: "Welcome Roger. I only dip my toe on occasion here on Goodreads. I don't exactly find it that user friendly. But still I have comments to this group emailed to me.

More importantly I want to wel..."

Manny,

I stopped by and read portions of your blog, I enjoyed it. Thanks for letting us know about it, and for posting a John Vianney quote I had never saw before:

"If you care about what people think of you, then you should not have become Catholic."

-St. John Vianney

Mike

Thank you Mike, for the kind welcome! It's interesting to read the different comments.

Don't know where my head was at for missing your post M.K. Good to see people coming to this group. Do you live in Maine? My grandparents first settled when they emigrated from Poland but ended up in Massachusetts. Look forward to talking with you. Trying to think of a good book maybe the whole group could read. Like a book of the month. What do you think?

I am Dhanaraj, a Catholic from Tamil Nadu (Southern State in India). I am presently pursuing my higher studies (Licentiate in Missiology) in Rome. Thanks for the invite, Doreen.

Welcome Dhanaraj. I hope you find most of our posts interesting; please join in.

Hello, I'm Joseph. I'm from Rochester, NY and will be starting the pre-theology year of seminary in the fall.

So great to see you here Joseph.

Joseph wrote: "Hello, I'm Joseph. I'm from Rochester, NY and will be starting the pre-theology year of seminary in the fall."

Welcome Joseph, my prayers are with you for a successful year in seminary.

Hello I'm Genie. I was looking for a Catholic Group on Goodreads and I found this one :) I haven't read many Catholic books and i'm looking forward to sharing and finding some good recommendations here.I think reading catholic books will be a great way for me to include my faith in my everyday life. I admire St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Faustina :)

Welcome Genie - check out some of the books listed on a lifetime reading list, or join in our group discussion starting in August with Doreen.

Mike wrote: "Welcome Genie - check out some of the books listed on a lifetime reading list, or join in our group discussion starting in August with Doreen."

Thank You Mike! I will check them out. I don't have the book for the group read yet but I hope i'll get to participate :)

Ciao a tutti,

My name is Zachary; I'm a seminarian for the Diocese of Des Moines studying in Rome. I enjoy reading the novels of the French writer Francois Mariac (he has a very profound and uniquely-Catholic view of human action), as well as Tolkien's lesser-known works (I didn't particularly like the Lord of the Rings), but my favorite author of all time is Charles Dickens. I also enjoy reading the philosophy of Aristotle, Maritan, Blondel, Sartre, and Aquinas.

Good to see you here Zachary. We'll be having a group read starting August 1. I'm allowing for extra time to read this since we all have things going on in our lives. We'll be doing 2 chapters at a time. The book is by Anna Katharina Emmerick. After that I'll be setting up a poll so we can all vote on what we read next. Any suggestions you can make for a group read would be great.