Description
The most any of us can do–and ever be expected to do–is our best. But when it comes to commitment to our faith, should we demand something more of ourselves? The concept of being “good enough” in our dedication to God fascinates Paul Wilkes, one of America’s leading authorities and writers on religious belief, and a practicing Catholic himself. In The Good Enough Catholic, Wilkes addresses the basic dilemma of how Catholics can at once be faithful to their traditions, drawing upon the wellspring of Catholic teaching, spirituality, and practice, yet still remain open to new discoveries, both about themselves and Catholicism itself.
The Good Enough Catholic plumbs the hunger in Catholic souls for a relationship with God and a spiritual life, explores their relationships with other human beings–both those close and distant, known and unknown–and boldly confronts the controversial issue of Church authority. After each chapter, there is an invitation to put into practice what has been explored through a rich mixture of doctrine, history, current thinking, and the personal experiences of “good enough” Catholics across America.
Paul Wilkes has written a book of religious common sense, at once demanding and accepting, conventional and unconventional, a book that calls upon faith–and upon intellect. Wilkes beckons to all Catholics–those now in the pews, those who operate in the shadows of the official Church structure, and those openly estranged–to look to the essence of their religion for the guidance and strength to live lives brimming with personal satisfaction and filled with spiritual transcendence.
Based on the bedrock truths of a venerable religion, yet aware of the profound changes that have occurred in Catholicism and in the lives of modern Catholics as well, The Good Enough Catholic is a call to greatness: a greatness within reach, the kind of moral stature that we genuinely want for our lives.
The Good Enough Catholic plumbs the hunger in Catholic souls for a relationship with God and a spiritual life, explores their relationships with other human beings–both those close and distant, known and unknown–and boldly confronts the controversial issue of Church authority. After each chapter, there is an invitation to put into practice what has been explored through a rich mixture of doctrine, history, current thinking, and the personal experiences of “good enough” Catholics across America.
Paul Wilkes has written a book of religious common sense, at once demanding and accepting, conventional and unconventional, a book that calls upon faith–and upon intellect. Wilkes beckons to all Catholics–those now in the pews, those who operate in the shadows of the official Church structure, and those openly estranged–to look to the essence of their religion for the guidance and strength to live lives brimming with personal satisfaction and filled with spiritual transcendence.
Based on the bedrock truths of a venerable religion, yet aware of the profound changes that have occurred in Catholicism and in the lives of modern Catholics as well, The Good Enough Catholic is a call to greatness: a greatness within reach, the kind of moral stature that we genuinely want for our lives.
Review:
Ever since Vatican II in 1963 revolutionized the liturgical practices of the Roman Catholic Church, attracting the scrutiny of its laymembers, the church has suffered from a crisis of authority, particularly in the United States. American Catholics remain extremely loyal to their church, and yet the majority of the laity still feel free to disagree with its teachings on such defining issues as contraception, abortion, the role of women, and celibacy of priests. This tension between respect and disobedience causes a degree of guilt-ridden angst. In The Good Enough Catholic Paul Wilkes, a noted writer on religion, addresses troubled Catholics who are, he says, “spiritually hungry” and “morally unsure,” suggesting that the tension is resolvable with good faith and a thoughtful, practical approach to Catholic dogma.
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