Association Of Catholic Bloggers

There’s growing evidence to support the idea that fiction books can be good or bad for you. It’s a drum I’ve been beating on for a very long time. I begin supporting my own belief about this by going directly to Scripture: Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things (Philippians 4:8). Books, after all, cause us to think of things. Whatever fills the pages ultimately fills our mind. read more here

How many books have you read in the past year or so? (This doesn’t count the ones that you started but did not finish and now languish on a shelf gathering dust.) I’m talking about books that you have read cover to cover. That may reduce the number by as much as half if you are anything like most people—so don’t feel bad! And of those books, how many are Catholic fiction? So now the question is: How many Catholic fiction books have you read in the past year or so from cover to cover? Sadly, the odds of an adult Catholic reading a Catholic fiction book are pretty miniscule—especially on a consistent basis. I know this from the countless people I have talked with over the years as well as from my professional experience as a publisher working with Catholic bookstores and so on. Ever since I taught parochial middle school English and religion, I’ve been on a bit of a mission in this regard. Add to that the years (decades, really) that I’ve watched my good friend devour her Protesta...