Members read a different book each month and then meet on a Sunday after Mass to discuss the book. The group chooses books that cover a wide variety of topics, from literary novels to Church history and theology. If you are interested in joining the conversation, please contact Fr. Mark at mpavlik@saintolaf.org or 612-767-6201.
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Joseph of Nazareth by Frederico Suarez
Sunday, March 18 at 1:00
Saint Joseph passes through the Gospel without our hearing him utter as much as a single word. But God had selected him for a special mission: to look after two of the greatest treasures who have ever been on earth — Jesus and Mary. The figure of Joseph is also an incentive God has given us to stir up hope in the ordinary person. Joseph of Nazareth is a series of reflections on the life of Saint Joseph in the light of faith and based on revelation. At the end, the reader’s love for and devotion to this great saint will have grown considerably. For Joseph, the last of the patriarchs, shows how any one of us can come to be a great saint.
Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent
Sunday, April 29 at 1:00
Heaven Is for Real is the true story of the four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn’t know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear. Colton said he met his miscarried sister, whom no one had told him about, and his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born, then shared impossible-to-know details about each. He describes the horse that only Jesus could ride, about how “reaaally big” God and his chair are, and how the Holy Spirit “shoots down power” from heaven to help us. Told by the father, but often in Colton’s own words, the disarmingly simple message is heaven is a real place, Jesus really loves children, and be ready, there is a coming last battle.
Treasure in Clay: The Autobiography of Fulton J. Sheen by Fulton J. Sheen
Sunday, May 20 at 1:00
Treasure in Clay provides a lifetime’s worth of wisdom from one of the most beloved and influential figures in twentieth-century Catholicism. Completed shortly before his death in 1979, Treasure in Clay is the autobiography of Fulton J. Sheen, the preeminent teacher, preacher, and pastor of American Catholicism. Called “the Great Communicator” by Billy Graham and “a prophet of the times” by Pope Pius XII, Sheen was the voice of American Catholicism for nearly fifty years. In addition to his prolific writings, Sheen dominated the airwaves, first in radio, and later television, with his signature program “Life is Worth Living,” drawing an average of 30 million viewers a week in the 1950s. Sheen had the ears of everyone from presidents to the common men, women, and children in the pews, and his uplifting message of faith, hope, and love shaped generations of Catholics.
Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Joseph Pieper
June (date to be determined) at 1:00
One of the most important philosophy titles published in the twentieth century, Josef Pieper’s Leisure, the Basis of Culture is more significant, even more crucial, today than it was when it first appeared more than fifty years ago. This special new edition now also includes his little work The Philosophical Act. Leisure is an attitude of the mind and a condition of the soul that fosters a capacity to perceive the reality of the world. Pieper shows that the Greeks and medieval Europeans, understood the great value and importance of leisure. He also points out that religion can be born only in leisure a leisure that allows time for the contemplation of the nature of God. Leisure has been, and always will be, the first foundation of any culture. Pieper maintains that our bourgeois world of total labor has vanquished leisure, and issues a startling warning: Unless we regain the art of silence and insight, the ability for non-activity, unless we substitute true leisure for our hectic amusements, we will destroy our culture and ourselves.
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