TheChurch In The Times Of Madness: Further Steps

I have written yesterday some instructions for use, for those who want to navigate these incredible years and arrive at the shore of salvation without too much damage inflicted on their soul.

It might be good to add further steps for those who have already executed the little action plan outlined yesterday.

My personal suggestion would be to stay near three authors who have greatly helped to make Catholic theology accessible to the masses: Fulton Sheen, Ronald Knox and Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange.

A visit to any online store will reveal a wealth of publications from these authors. The first two are more colloquial and less difficult to follow, the third will generally be more suited to people with a grounding in philosophy or accustomed to more complex reasoning. You really can’t go wrong with any of those, but my suggestion would be to absolutely not miss the following:

Sheen: Life of Christ. He is the author of many other interesting books (I have read The World’s First Love, the Priest is not His Own and Mother of the Saviour, I think I am forgetting something), but I think that Life of Christ is a must. If I were to suggest a book about Christianity to a potential convert, this one would be it.

Knox, a convert from Anglicanism, was another one with a gift for making complex things easy. The Creed in Slow Motion and The Mass in Slow Motion are books I thoroughly enjoyed. Easy to read and difficult to forget, they are fare that can be easily tackled by adolescents.

Garrigou-Lagrange is a bit different from the other two. Of the books from him I have read, I would say that only Life Everlasting can be called “accessible”. This one is, I think, also a must-read. However, those inclined to more complex readings will enjoy “Providence” and “Predestination” immensely. If, then, they are willing to plunge again in the philosophy studies of their earlier years (or want to give it a bite), “Reality” will give him hours of high-level enjoyment. He also authored other books, ( I have read “Christian perfection and Contemplation” and “Our Saviour and his love for us”), but I’d say that the other two books make for more “essential” reading. Prepare yourself for frequent repetitions of the main concepts in the various books.

Note that all of these authors reflect the strictest Pre-Vatican II ideology, albeit I am told that Sheen was not as critical of V II as, I think, he should have been. Still, you will find his writings unimpeachable.

Before I close, I would like to also publish, with thanks, a link sent by a reader as a comment to my last post. The link has a useful, very extensive list of “safe” Catholic readings.     You may want to browse the list and pick from there what you think most suited to your tastes and interests.

Dear reader, we may be living in disgraceful times, but the Good Lord in His Mercy has also given us a wealth of information, easily available and readily digestible, to guide us through life. No generation before us ever had the access, the money, and the time to profit from these sources as we do now.

Francis can make all the mess he wants. He will be no excuse for anyone who is lost. Never could a Pope inflict as little damage to his sheep as one living in the age of the Internet and mass literacy.