by Lorene Hanley Duquin

Our Sunday Visitor. 207p $14.95

This month we are pleased to feature two books. The first is a timely publication, since Easter often occasions a “coming home” for non-practicing Catholics—even if for just a brief period. But others, who for whatever reason had left the church and the faith, do return to full and permanent membership. In Recovering Faith Lorene Hanley Duquin—lecturer and workshop leader at national and diocesan conferences—gathers together a number of compelling testimonies from famous and not-so-famous persons, stories of how Christ touched each and everyone “to draw them home.” These include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas; award-winning television and film actor Martin Sheen; author, speaker and host of “Crossing the Goal,” Danny Abramowicz; co-founder of St. Luke’s Mission of Mercy, Amy Betros; Janet Morana, executive director of Priests for Life; and suspense novelist Dean Koontz. Helpful sidebars throughout the book offer insights on the secular vs. spiritual; the meaning of conversion; understanding the Mass; finding one’s purpose in life; divorce and annulment; changes in the church; forgiveness; post-abortion syndrome and a host of other issues. It is a powerful book, indeed, and one that will touch readers at the deepest level.

Purchase Recovering Faith: Stories of Catholics Who Came Home from amazon.com.

Why Stay Catholic?

Unexpected Answers to a Life-Changing Question

Michael Leach

Loyola Press. 347p $14.95

Many of our readers are already familiar with this book and this author (see a review of the book in America, 4/4/11 and listen to a podcast with the author on our Web site). Amidst scandals within the Catholic Church, amidst temptations to throw out the baby with the bath water, as it were, Michael Leach—emeritus publisher of Orbis Books—offers reassurance to the disaffected and celebrates what is right about the church—those things that last because they are spiritual. The book’s 50 chapters are grouped under three parts: ideas (from the sacramental imagination to Jesus’ death and resurrection to finding God in the ordinary); people (including Thea Bowmam, Walter Burghardt, S.J. and Andrew Greeley); and places (schools, hospitals, parishes, among them). One can disagree with the church and still be a good Catholic, the author avers, just as the church can change; he cites John Cardinal Newman: “To live is to change and to be perfect is to have changed often.” Why Stay Catholic? is a courageous and inspiring book that should be read by Catholics of all ages—especially those tempted to “give it up.”

Purchase Why Stay Catholic?: Unexpected Answers to a Life-Changing Question from amazon.com.