Summer Reading

The Register reviews three books of interest to Catholics: A Guide to the Church: It’s Origin and Nature, Its Mission and Ministries, by Father Lawrence B. Porter, Good Discipline, Great Teens, by Ray Guarendi, and Infinite Space, Infinite God, edited by Karina and Robert Fabian

What’s Out There

BY DARIA SOCKEY,


Science fiction often gives the general impression that humanity has “evolved” beyond any kind of faith or sense of transcendence.

That’s a turn-off for Christian readers. And I don’t mean readers who demand constant affirmation of their beliefs in the fiction they read.

Thoughtful readers want their fiction to ring true, and the fact is, faith has been a constant in human history. There’s no reason to think this fact will change. Its existence should be acknowledged.

And sometimes it is. Agnostic author Ray Bradbury has the character of Father Peregrine wonder how, or whether, he can preach the Gospel to the Martians in his classic, The Martian Chronicles. C.S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra give several Christian themes a new twist in their extraterrestrial settings. And there are others. A search on “Catholic science fiction” turns up many titles.

Indeed, the Catholic faith turns up more often in science fiction than generic Christianity, whether for positive or negative portrayals. It’s more colorful than other denominations, thus better suited to creative purposes. And its firm stance on various moral questions makes it a better player in fictional ethics controversies than the less defined Protestant tradition of personal interpretation.

A new offering, Infinite Space, Infinite God, is an anthology of futuristic short stories by various authors. All speculate on a single theme: How might believers, whether clergy, religious or laity, deal with such phenomena as interplanetary travel, widespread genetic engineering, artificially engineered human life, animal/human mutants, abduction by space aliens or post-catastrophic anarchy?

The answers provided by these 16 stories are satisfying, absorbing reading, and for the most part consistent with Catholic orthodoxy.

In “Brother Jubal in the Womb of Silence,” by Tim Meyers, the moon is now home to an industrial colony — and to a monk who finds in the empty solitude of a lunar crater the ideal hermitage.

But when Brother Jubal visits the colony for supplies, he is challenged to leave his beloved silence to become spiritual counselor to its noisy, worldly inhabitants: “And just then he heard St. Basil’s words echoing in his head: If you always live alone, whose feet will you wash? He trembled a little, knowing he was now entering a much greater wilderness.”

Can alien abduction be a good thing? Maybe so — if the alien has a Bible in one hand and the Catechism in the other and is just trying to find someone to explain these strange teachings to his people.

In other stories, new orders of religious sisters have sprung up to meet various needs: one provides emergency medical care on space stations, another one, named for St. Joan of Arc, provides trained bodyguards for priests in cities where anarchy reigns.

The editors of Infinite Space, Infinite God have interspersed the stories with essays that succinctly explain Catholic teaching and practices and explain their relevance to possible future worlds. While certainly useful for non-Catholic readers, Catholics who don’t read lots of science fiction will be grateful for the way these essays gently ease them the sci-fi mindset.

Infinite Space, Infinite God is suitable for both teens and adults. Catholic readers will find it thought-provoking, faith-affirming, and vastly entertaining.

Daria Sockey is based in

Venus, Pennsylvania.


Discipline, the Guarendi Way


Good Discipline, Great Teens

by Ray Guarendi

St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2007

172 pages, $13.99

To order: catalogue.americancatholic.org

1-800-488-0488


BY PETER SONSKI

Why is raising 21st-century teenagers so fraught with challenges?

While it may be more difficult to rear a teen today than it was generations ago, according to Dr. Ray Guarendi, it doesn’t have to be an unmanageable burden.

A psychologist, speaker, author, Register columnist and father of 10, Guarendi insists that with a defined approach and some discipline of their own, parents can still guide and direct their teens to a virtuous and principled adulthood. But it’s not a task for the faint of heart — or will.

As youngsters mature they naturally seek more control of their lives. By the time the teen years roll around, they can become a bit more antagonistic in the manner they go about it. That’s what causes convulsions for parents: a teen’s challenge to parental authority and rules.

While younger children misbehave often due to lack of self control, teenagers can be very calculated in their defiance.

From belligerence and backtalk to poor academic performance and worrisome social relationships, Guarendi offers counsel on how to view and correct these problems.

A classic example of Guarendi’s firm but fair discipline is his three principles for effectiveness:

“1. Keep it simple. Repetition is what makes discipline work. And it’s hard to persevere with complicated consequences. Pick stuff you can use for most trouble: monetary fines, extra chores, writing sentences or essays, room time, remodeling the attic (just kidding). Then be ready to repeat as necessary.

“2. Be patient. God gives us a lifetime to work on our behavior. We can give kids the few extra years to work on theirs. Discipline is a process, not a fix.

“3. Hold the course. Almost any thoughtful consequence will work — that is, change the behavior — given enough parental perseverance. I know you want to retire in 31 years. But believe it or not, time is your ally. Good, steady discipline does teach good behavior, even while your child is still a child.”

Guarendi’s inimitable wit is exhibited throughout the book — and produces commensurate grins or groans for his clever or corny humor. His treatment of the subject is serious though, and he urges parents to find satisfaction, even joy, in their childrearing duties.

For parents whose teens are pushing the envelope, the book is a welcome source of suggestions for reestablishing and maintaining the upper hand in the discipline department. It will benefit parents of pre-adolescents, too.

Shaping children into moral and responsible adults is a result of purposeful parenting. And, although Guarendi does not mention it (the book is not overtly religious in theme or content), Catholic parents have the sacramental grace of matrimony on which to rely.

With grace on the parents’ side, even the most difficult of situations is a source of hope and blessings.

Peter Sonski writes from

New Haven, Connecticut.


Holy, Catholic, Apostolic


BY John Grondelski

In the interest of full disclosure, Father Porter and I were colleagues at a seminary. As a reviewer, however, I can unabashedly say: Reading this book makes one want to have an ecclesiology teacher like him.

Not that teaching ecclesiology (or this book) is easy.

In the wake of Vatican II, ecclesiology was one of the theological disciplines most riven by dissent. If pre-Vatican II theology too aggressively characterized Catholicism as “the one true Church,” too many post-Vatican II writers have treated it practically as “the one wrong church.”

Father Porter wants to set the record straight, rescuing the wheat of the Council’s teaching from a surplus of chaff amid which it is often buried. He does a great job.

Why are ecclesiological questions so important? Because the Church “is the most challenging form of community in that it makes the greatest demands upon give and take, that is, it makes demands upon the most personal human resources of faith, hope, and love, asking for a great deal of each of these virtues,” Father Porter writes. “It asks its members to believe that despite much chaos and confusion this life has a meaning. It asks us to hope this life is not all there is. There is a further life to come. It asks its members to love unto death (especially in marriage). It places supreme importance upon the transmission and appropriation of its historic, formative experiences (the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth). It is the most ambitious form of community in that it is not only convinced it can bring a depth of meaning to each individual human life but also peace to the world. No doubt some people will find these claims of the Church too daunting or even gratuitous, groundless. But no one should doubt their importance. The things one believes in make a great difference in the way one lives.”

In 28 chapters and two appendices, Father Porter tackles all the major questions of a contemporary theology of the Church: the Church as community and assembly, its origins, images of the Church (and a critique of Cardinal Dulles’ “models of the Church” approach), the Church’s four marks, the Church as communion, its mission, including its relation to other religions, church and state, ministry, with special attention to priesthood and the diaconate, the role of the papacy, the Church as teacher, women and ministry, religious life, the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Church, and an overview of Vatican II.

Each chapter deals extensively with a particular topic, usually concluding with one or two suggested “further readings” (which also include the theological position Father Porter scores).

The author often begins a chapter with identifying where particular controversies exist regarding a given subject (e.g., Did Jesus really intend to found a Church?). He then develops each issue Biblically and historically, tracing doctrinal development (including where that evolution went off track). As a diocesan seminary instructor, he often draws pastoral applications. Commenting on the tendency of sheep to be misled, for example, he observes that “there is much in contemporary experience to suggest the herd instinct among human beings is as powerful today ... as in any time in the past.”

He is ecumenically sensitive and witty.

This book could have been improved with a subject index. (It only has an index of names). I was a little surprised that there were chapters on priesthood and diaconate, but not a distinct one on the episcopate. In some places, the author is a bit wordy.

These minor flaws aside, this book is a good — albeit challenging and theologically demanding — introduction to the theology of the Church. It is ideally suited for college and seminary use.

John M. Grondelski

writes from Washington, D.C.

Michelangelo Mirrored

In this, the 500th anniversary of Michelangelo’s completion of the Sistine Chapel ceiling-painting project, a visit to a humble church in Goring-by-Sea, England, where a local artist has lovingly recreated the magnificent work detail by detail. By Joanna Bogle