Catholic Women's Book Group

Meeting Time and Location
The book group meets the first Tuesday of each month from 2-3:30pm in the Parish Ministry Center. For more information, contact Sue Andzik (719-359-2471 or [email protected]).
2025 Reading List
January ~ The Fourth Quarter of Your Life: Embracing What Matters Most (Allen Hunt and Matthew Kelly)
February ~ Walking with Purpose: Seven Priorities That Make Life Work (Lisa Breninkmeyer)
March ~ The Shadow of His Wings: The True Story of Fr. Gereon Goldmann, OFM (Fr. Gereon Goldmann)
April ~ The Spirit of the Liturgy (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger)
May ~ Sweet Cross: A Marian Guide to Suffering (Laura Mary Phelps)
June ~ Chasing Humility: 8 Ways to Shape a Christian Heart (Joel Stepanek)
July ~ Gather the Fragments: My Year of Finding God’s Love (Maureen O’Brien)
August ~ Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls: Revealing the Jewish Roots of Christianity (John Bergsma)
September ~ Climbing Out: An Adventure in Rediscovering Life After Loss (Robin L. Flanigan and Bonnie Thies)
October ~ Awake, Not Woke:  A Christian Response to the Cult of Progressive Ideology (Noelle Mering)
November ~ The Life of Blessed Margaret Castello (Fr. Willian R. Bonniwell)
December ~ Jesus: The Way, the Truth, and the Life (Marcellino D’Ambrosio)
​2025 Book Reviews
Ratings 1–5 †
February 2025
Walking with Purpose, Seven Priorities That Make Life Work by Lisa Brenninkmeyer (†††††)

Synopsis: Taken from parts of the book’s back cover:  Drawing from the author’s own experience of balancing marriage, motherhood, and work inside and outside the home, Lisa Benninkmeyer helps the reader to uncover the key to living a busy life with inner calm.  What’s her secret? Identifying key priorities and doing first what matters most.

Comments from the group:
  • I thought this a great book for the younger working mother.  There were a lot of great ideas I could have used years ago.
  • Life has a tendency to take over. She reminds us that what matters most is a healthy active prayer life….putting God first, asking for His guidance and direction, for His council.
  • I like how she listed the obstacles to putting God first. Boy could I relate. 
  • I used to write in a journal quite a bit but slowly over the years stopped doing it. She reminded me how journaling could helped me focus on what I wanted to say to God, to have more of an actual conversation instead of random thoughts that come and go, thoughts that might have only been present for a moment. Like she said “it’s that you make the time to focus on God.”
  • I’ll probably give this book to my granddaughter who has a new baby.  
January 2025
The Fourth Quarter of Your Life, Embracing What Matters Most by Allen Hunt and Matthew Kelly (†††††)

Synopsis: Taken from parts of the back cover
Intentionality is the key to successful fourth quarter living. People don’t accidentally age gracefully. Nor do they die peacefully, or leave behind legacies of hope, love and encouragement. The purpose of this practical guide is to help you live the fourth quarter based on proven life principles, establish meaning and direction for your life, develop the clarity necessary to make good decisions, establish what you need and want most at this time in your life and learn to say “NO”.
 
Comments from the group:
  • I really enjoyed the book and I’m definitely in what he thinks is the “fourth quarter” of my life, though anyone could be in their fourth quarter no matter what their age is now.  I would recommend this book to anyone.
  • I thought the question about the reality of death puts the majesty of life in perspective.  Be prepared, don’t wait until tomorrow to get right with God, to start to “Live life intentionally” --- like he says, we all have to live our lives intentionally and with purpose.
  • There weren’t a lot of new or different ideas, but it’s a great book for discussion.
  • I’m not a big fan of Matthew Kelly’s because all his books tend to sound the same, but I enjoyed this book and got a lot out of it.  I especially liked him explaining “Holy Moments” as a single moment in which we open ourselves to God, we make ourselves available to Him by setting aside our personal preferences and self-interests and for the moment do what God is calling me to do.
  • In a way this book reminded me of the book “He Leadeth Me”…my favorite book. Sometimes we must be at our bottom before we realize the importance of God in our lives.
  • I actually liked this book and used it as the workbook it’s intended to be, writing in it and answering the questions.  It brought up memories that had long been forgotten and set aside, asking the “what if” questions, remembering my loved ones who died too young, and most importantly identifying what matters most right now in my life…what’s left of it.  He says, “Your family needs a prayerful giant.  Commit your fourth quarter to becoming a woman of prayer.  Let part of your legacy be a legacy of prayer.”  I often wonder how I can convince my adult children and adult grandchild to return to God…..I can give them my example, my “legacy of prayer” and leave them in God’s hands.  Afterall, God has a plan for them too.