Tiber River Review: The Church and the New Media

Popes John Paul II and Benedict XI have both expounded on the necessity of using the internet to evangelize.  The Church and New Media gives concrete examples of how this has been done and suggestions to those who want to use these new media successfully.  Those familiar with the Catholic blogosphere will recognize the names of Fr. Robert Barron, Jennifer Fulwiler,  Mark Shea, Father Dwight Longenecker and Lisa Hendey.  These big-name bloggers and others talk about how they started on the internet, what messages they try to spread and what they have learned to avoid.  

There is a chapter on the new media efforts by the Archdiocese of Boston that discusses how they integrate all their new media (basically different versions of electronic communications) efforts, as well as how they encourage the parishes to use electronic media.  

The basic point of the book is that people today use electronic media, be it facebook, twitter, email, text messaging or the internet in general.  If today's parishes, if today's Church is not on the internet, then it isn't meeting people where they are, it isn't enaging in their lives and it is missing a giant chance to evangelize.   When you compare the web presence and social media saavy of the average parish with that of the average business, the average parish comes in last, by a long way (I cringe when I look at my parish's website,  and yes, I've offered to help).   

If you are looking for some good Catholic blogs to read, this book mentions plenty.  It also offers suggestions for those thinking of starting a "Catholic" website--in short, be sure that what you are propounding is Catholic  teaching, not your own opinion.   

I'd recommend this book to anyone who basically understands the internet and is trying to develop an internet presence for some church ministry.  It pretty much pre-supposes a general familiarity with how facebook, Twitter, YouTube and podcasting work and what they do.  However, it is not a technical manual.  You will not know how to set up a parish website when you finish this book--but you will know that you should spend money to do it right.  

I'd like to thank the Tiber River Review program for furnishing a complimentary review copy of this book.  I was not obligated to write a positive review.  Grade:  B+

I wrote this review of The Church and the New Media for the free Catholic Book review program, created by Aquinas and More Catholic Goods, your source for Baptism Gifts and First Communion Gifts.

Tiber River Reviews: Sinner

Sinner

I guess I should have realized that a book by a comedian was not likely to be the book for me.  Comedy isn't my thing, and by the time I got to the end of Sinner I was skimming and waiting for it to be over.

Lino Rulli is an Italian-American comedian who has a show on Sirus radio (and I'll admit to barely knowing what Sirus radio is, having never listened to it.)  The book is kind of a memoir, but not really.  It's the story of his faith life, but not really.  It's a book about him, but after having read it, I don't feel like I know any more about him or about his faith than I did after reading the back of the book.

Rulli admits that he isn't the most pious guy on the block, and that he was thrilled to be confirmed because that meant he didn't have to go to mass anymore (guess his parents weren't as mean as mine).  What he doesn't tell us is why he came back.  He gives us a humorous chapter on how to go to confession.  I also liked the chapter about his first two adult confessions--one sitting in a beanbag chair talking to Fr. "You're OK" and the second in Rome talking to Fr. "How Many Times?"  He also had a chapter about how he ended up confessing to a priest he was trying to avoid.  Interesting as these chapters were however, there was nothing about them that would convince me to go if it was not a habit I already developed.

I liked the way he admitted that he doesn't know all the answers; that he isn't one of those people who comfortably tells you about what his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did for him today.  His mind wanders during mass and he doesn't like going to confession.  I'm not a person who wears my religion on my sleeve and I like hearing the faith stories of people to whom I can relate.  However, I don't think he ever tells us why he believes or why we should.  There are anecdotes about his life, but they don't come together to really explain much about him, at least in my opinion.

All that being said, I know there are people that love this book.

I'd like to thank the Tiber River Review program for providing a complimentary review copy.  It should be obvious that I was not required to write a positive review.

I wrote this review of Sinner for the free Catholic Book review program, created by Aquinas and More Catholic Goods, your source for Baptism Gifts and Oplatki Christmas Wafers. Tiber River is the first Catholic book review site, started in 2000 to help you make informed decisions about Catholic book purchases. I receive free product samples as compensation for writing reviews for Tiber River.

Atheist to Catholic

Atheist to Catholic

About the Book:

Most of the former atheists in this book had investigated religion's claims to truth, rejected them and were shocked to then find themselves turning to faith. Some of these stories come from: a university professor unexpectedly attracted to the faith when a student described her retreat at a monastery; a young woman impressed by a colleague's Mass attendance: I wanted to find her ridiculous, but quite unexpectedly, I felt like the ridiculous one; a Polish immigrant who once shared communism's disdain for religion; these seekers ended up someplace they never intended to go, the Catholic Church, and yet went there and found that they were home.

My Comments:

As a cradle Catholic I have sometimes envied those who can claim a conversion moment, a time when they went from not believing to believing, a time when they really felt Jesus in a way that compelled them to take action.  Over the years I have spent a lot of time reading about my faith and the faith of others.  I have haunted AOL message boards, read apologetics websites and read plenty of books.  One thing I've found interesting is how often converts to Evangelical Protestantism describe emotional experiences and how often converts to Catholicism describe intellectual ones.  While a rousing sermon may get you to answer an altar call, what prompts you to not only accept Jesus but to accept a belief system that limits personal freedom and goes against many of what people consider to be defining characteristics of our era like sexual freedom, gender equality and tolerance of varied sexual identities?  

Atheist to Catholic is a compilation of the stories of eleven former atheists who are now Catholic.  Most found their way to Catholicism if not Christianity, through reading and study.  While some had mystical or emotional experiences, those experiences either confirmed ongoing study or set study in motion.  What they describe is an intellectual search for the truth, not an emotional search for love.   Some of the stories are about bloggers known to many who read Catholic blogs--Jennifer of The Conversion Diary, The Raving Theist and Karen Edmisten are three.  As someone whose approach to life, and faith, is more intellectual than emotional, I appreciated the reasoned approach of these people.  

The book itself is easy to read and while it talks about reading philosophy, St. Thomas, St. Augustine, Chesterton or Tolkien, it doesn't quote them extensively nor is it an apologetics book dressed up as life stories.  We get a brief background on the faith life (or more precisely the lack of faith life) of each convert along with the story of their conversion.  I recommend this book to those who wonder how any intelligent person could believe all that stuff anyway.  Grade:  B+

I wrote this review of Atheist to Catholic: Stories of Conversion for the free Catholic book review program, created by Aquinas and More Catholic Goods, your source for Baptism Gifts and Oplatki Christmas Wafers.


Tiber River is the first Catholic book review site, started in 2000 to help you make informed decisions about Catholic book purchases.


I receive free product samples as compensation for writing reviews for Tiber River. 

Tiber River Review: The Death of a Pope

My latest read for Tiber River Reviews is a thriller, The Death of a Pope. Set around the time of the death of Pope John Paul II, it is the story of Kate, a young English journalist from a wealthy family and Juan, an ex-priest who has dedicated his life to serving the poorest of the poor. They meet when Kate is covering Juan's trial for terrorism--he was caught trying to obtain some Sarin nerve gas. Since he was being tried for planning to use it on humans and the defense told how he was going to use it on animals, he was acquitted. Shortly thereafter he and Kate meet. He shows her his work in Africa which greatly touches her. I won't tell you anything more about the plot other than to say it is a thriller.

I don't read a lot of thrillers so I don't have much to which to compare it, but I enjoyed it, and at the end was sitting on the edge of my chair.

The book was published by Ignatius Press, which is a Catholic publisher. I've read that a lot of Catholic publishers won't look at fiction, so I'm glad Ignatius decided to go with this one. Within the context of this thriller, the author is able to explain why the Church teaches as it does regarding the use of condoms in cases of AIDS. The book addresses several of the "hot button" issues in the Church. The liberal positions are given a positive spin, but by the end of the book you have to wonder in exactly what the liberals have faith.

My Review: Following Mary to Jesus

Thanks to the Tiber River review program, I've been able to review Following Mary to Jesus by Andrew Apostoli, CFR. This is a short, easy to read volume filled with "prayable" thoughts. Apostoli's basic thesis is that Mary leads us to Jesus and he explains how in this book, which is divided into three main sections.

Part one shows Mary as our mother, who brings life to her children. It describes her as the spouse of the Holy Spirit and then talks about how she is the new Eve. It ends with sections on how Mary brings Jesus to us, obtains faith for us, consoles us, prays for us, makes us the family of Christ and reveals herself to us. Something that struck me in this section was about the wedding at Cana. Because of Mary's intercession, Jesus performed a miracle which produced life-giving faith in his disciples.

Part two shows Mary as our teacher and tells us how we can learn from her to trust God. It points out that fear is the biggest enemy of trust--that we are afraid that if we give control to God He will ask more than we are capable of giving. One thought that struck me is that Mary wasn't among the women who went to anoint Jesus' body Easter morning; she trusted His word that He would rise.

The role of Mary as our advocate, preparing our hearts for God's mercy, is the subject of part three. Apostoli points out that God desires to show us mercy and that Mary helps us ask for that mercy. The chapter includes a call to conversion and reminder to frequently use the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It is pointed out that Mary helps us be merciful and helps us trust in God's mercy.

I enjoyed this book. It is one of those that can be read quickly for an overall impression or read in short pieces as an aid to meditation or other prayer. The 117 pages are divided into three parts, with a total of nine chapters. The longer chapters have sub-parts, so that there are a lot of logical dividers for those who want to savor the book a little at a time or pray about the ideas presented therein. I'd recommend the book to anyone who is trying to figure out why she or he should have a devotion to the Blessed Mother.