A Few Good Books

By Bill Harkins, Mobile, Ala., -St. Ignatius

Reading the Bible and Catechism are a great way to increase your knowledge of the Faith and enhance your spiritual life at the same time. In order to further develop, I have found that reading other Catholic titles is a big help.

By now, most of us have read Matthew Kelly’s Rediscovering Catholicism. If you haven’t, find a copy in a bookstore, off the internet or borrow one from a fellow Man of St. Joseph. It’s great. In fact, anything written by Matthew Kelly is worth reading.

If you are looking for other books, drop by the Visitation Gift Shop, they have a solid selection. One problem with finding a good book is that there are so many authors and publishers that put out trash concealed by a nice looking book cover and a few select reviews. The last thing I need to pollute my brain with is attacks on my Faith written by disgruntled former Catholics.

There was a time when you could look for an Imprimi Potest, Nihil Obstat and / or Imprimatur listed on the publisher’s info page of a book to determine if it was an authentically Catholic one. These do not mean the writing is official church doctrine, but that nothing in the book is contrary to church teachings. Here is a little more on them:

Religious Superior's stamp: IMPRIMI POTEST "it can be printed"
Censor's stamp: NIHIL OBSTAT "nothing stands in the way"
Bishop's stamp: IMPRIMATUR "let it be printed"

If find a book is written by a Saint, you can’t go wrong in reading it. Though, sometimes they are a little too deep or stiffly written for me. In fact, one day I will actually make it through St. Augustine’s’ City of God, but it is too much for me at this point in my life.
 
There are publishers that are sure to stick with authentic teaching. If I see a label from Tan Books, Ignatius Press or Marian Press, I am not concerned, though some of the Tan Books are a little extreme in their old world conservative emphasis.
 
I put a link to one of my favorites on the MoSJ website. It is The Spiritual Combat, written by a Priest in the late 1500’s. Here is the link: http://www.catholictradition.org/Classics/combat.htm

It’s a little “old corps” as we used to say in the Marines, but has tons of great advice on how to overcome the temptations of our world. Give it a try and let me know what you think.