Cultural Catholics has been selling well, even enjoying the #1 slot for a spell; it is great to know that the book is finding its way into the hands of readers!

Part of this popularity has to do with it being featured recently in The CARA Report. The folks at CARA gave a great review, and I am so thankful for them using their platform to help get the word out on the book! Their review closes with the following endorsement:

This would be an excellent resource for parish libraries and small groups, such as young adult ministries, adult faith formation groups, sacramental preparation leaders, and others who interact with those less actively engaged in their faith.

Thank you, CARA, for all you do to help scholars of Catholicism get their work into the hands of practitioners!

Congratulations to Gerald J. Bednar for his fantastic new book, Mercy and the Rule of Law: A Theological Interpretation of Amoris Laetitia. Bednar does a great job of illuminating Church teaching and pastoral practice in light of Pope Francis’s exhortation, The Joy of Love. There has been a lot of concern among some Church leaders and understanding what accompaniment looks like; at its worst, this debate has resulted in a sort of factionalism among leaders, with some claiming allegiance to one pope over and against others. Bednar does a beautiful job of showing the unity of the last three popes’ approaches to ministerial questions around marriage as well as their continuity with the history of the Church. A must read for pastoral theology courses! My review is in the latest issue of the Journal of Catholic Social Thought. I’ll close by including an excerpt that suggests appropriate audiences for the book:

It would be an excellent book in a Catholic ethics course-graduate or undergraduate~for professors wanting students to think through the pastoral application of Church teaching. It should be high on the list of required reading for those seeking careers in ministry, both lay students and seminarians. This book would be helpful for Church leaders in thinking through their own implementation of Amoris laetitia, as well as their demonstration of the continuity of this document with Church teaching historically. Further, Bednar’s thinking on the connection between mercy and law has implications for a wide variety of pastoral questions, far beyond simply the divorced and remarried that he focuses on for this book. In sum, this is an excellent book that I highly recommend for students, leaders, and scholars.

Dr. Timothy Walch of the Hoover Presidential Library has published a positive review of my latest book in Choice, a journal for librarians. Not only did Dr. Walsh recommend the book, but in the expanded listing he also recognized the wide number of audiences this book would appeal to, including undergraduates, graduate students, researchers and faculty, and professionals and practitioners. I had hopes that the book would have theoretical and practical implications for multiple audiences and I’m glad to know that an emeritus colleague thought so, as well! As Choice reviews are very brief, I will paste the text here, but you can read the official version in the December 2020 issue (vol. 58, no. 4) and the review number is #58-0991.

The image of American Catholicism as rigid, unchanging, and immutable dates to colonial times. In fact, as Day (Franciscan School of Theology) notes, American Catholicism evolved from a republican style (1750–1820), to an immigrant tradition (1820–1920), and then to an evangelical impulse (1920–60). Since the 1960s, American Catholicism has developed an individualistic style that emphasizes discipleship at the parish level. Volunteerism is replacing institution building as a means of Catholic engagement. It is in this context that Day focuses on the work of JustFaith Ministries, which describes itself on its website as “a vast community of faithful people, transformed by the Spirit, and leading extraordinary lives of compassion.” Since 1989, JustFaith Ministries has enlisted 50,000 people in more than 1,500 churches to share its vision. Day studied JustFaith Ministries over the course of three years, and her conclusions are based on interviews, surveys, participant-observation data, and traditional printed secondary sources. Including two useful appendixes and a substantive bibliography, this readable, professional treatment of JustFaith Ministries puts the organization in the context of a larger social movement within American Catholicism.

Congratulations to Dr. Jean-Luc Marion on the release of the English edition of his book, A Brief Apology for a Catholic Moment (University of Chicago Press). Dr. Rich Wood and I offer our praise on the back of the book:

“This book deserves the fullest attention of all who care about the future of democracy. Writing for people of secular conviction as much as for people of faith, Marion offers a powerful thesis: If we are to overcome our current societal struggles and political impasses and find any kind of shared future, Christianity represents an irreplaceable public voice. In particular, Catholicism offers cultural resources the world needs in order to face this moment. But to offer that gift successfully, Catholics must be more truly Catholic.”– Richard L. Wood, author of Faith in Action: Religion, Race, and Democratic Organizing in America

“A rich and comprehensive philosophical analysis of Catholicism in contemporary France. And yet, the questions Marion raises have significance for Catholics globally, as they also assess the relationship of their faith to the public sphere. Through its insights on separation, crisis, communion and more, A Brief Apology for a Catholic Moment is guaranteed to shape the philosophical imagination of its readers.”– Maureen K. Day, author of Catholic Activism Today: Personal Transformation and the Struggle for Social Justice

This has been the season of book reviews! Closing out this season America has just published my review of an excellent book that examines the recent history of American Catholic activism. Sharon Erickson Nepstad continues to “do it again,” with books that bring readers insights on religion and activism. Catholic Social Activism: Progressive Movements in the United States (NYU 2019) brings the readers into the changes and efforts made by the laity and hierarchy on issues of gender, the environment, the Central American peace movement and more. The whole book examines the interplay between the laity and hierarchy on each of these topics; sometimes they work together, sometimes their efforts are more parallel and at times they are at loggerheads. Nepstad closes the book by connecting these efforts to broader ideas on understanding Catholic social change. The book is one of those that is great for classroom or a parish book group, and I note the multiple-audience appeal in my review:

The rigor and breadth of Nepstad’s research and analysis makes this an excellent book for academic courses. Yet the page-turning readability also makes it valuable for everyday Catholics who look to deepen their understanding of Catholic social teaching and how our church has enacted it.

The Wabash Center Journal on Teaching has just published my review of the edited collection Identity and Internationalization in Catholic Universities: Exploring Institutional Pathways in Context (Brill 2018). Appropriately spearheaded by a global team (Hans de Wit, Andrés Bernasconi, Visnja Car, Fiona Hunter, Michael James, and Daniela Véliz), this book uses case studies to examine the ways various institutions in Catholic higher ed have navigated questions and challenges surrounding identity and internationalization. It is a book that would provide insights on Catholic identity for a number of institutions, as I note in my review:

Identity and Internationalization in Catholic Universities is indispensable not only for those in leadership in Catholic higher education, but also for those leading Catholic schools, hospitals, nonprofits, networks, Bishops conferences, and other organizations that seek to make a distinctly Catholic impact in an increasingly global and pluralist world.

Social Forces has just published my review of Beyond Betrayal: The Priest Sex Abuse Crisis, The Voice of the Faithful, and the Process of Collective Identity (University of Chicago Press 2019). This book, written by Drs. Patricia Ewick and the late Marc W. Steinberg, explores a single Voice of the Faithful affiliate for ten years. For those unfamiliar, Voice of the Faithful is a group that began following the discovery of clerical sexual abuse of minors and its subsequent coverup. Ewick and Steinberg’s long-haul study allows us to see the ways the group does identity work as they encounter victories and setbacks in their work for justice and healing. Beyond the content itself, the book is a wonderful contribution to the literature on theories of narrative; I’m especially appreciative of this as this in an understudied field within sociology. To share a piece of my review:

Beyond Betrayal is a masterfully written book that dives deeply into the minds of individual activists to see the ways they make sense not only of their activism, but also their very selves. This book is sure to invite new questions on meaning and the role of narratives in social life. It is a must-read for scholars in the areas of social movements, identity, emotion, small groups, or framing and would be very useful for those who lead small groups trying to foment social change.