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 sandzik@gmail.com).

2022 Book List

  • January         Habits of Holiness: Small Steps for making Big Spiritual Progress by Fr. Mark-Mary Ames C.F.R.
  • February       Chosen and Cherished: Biblical Wisdom for Your Marriage by Kimberly Hahn
  • March            Wisdom from the Psalms by Peter Kreeft
  • April                Hope to Die: The Christian Meaning of Death and the Resurrection of the Body by Scott Hahn
  • May                Mulier’s Digntatem by Pope John Paul II (available online)
  • June               Whisper: Finding God in the Everyday by Danielle Bean
  • July                By God’s Grace by Laura and Michael Kondratuk (available at Catholic Shop online)
  • August           When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Movement by Ryan T. Anderson
  • September   The Heart of Perfection: How the Saints Taught Me to Trade My Dream of Perfection for God by Colleen Carroll Campbell
  • October         Return: How to Draw Your Child Back to the Church by Brandon Vogt
  • November     Praying with the Saints for the Holy Souls in Purgatory by Susan Tassone
  • December     Joseph the Man Who Raised Jesus by Gary Caster
​2022 Book Reviews
Ratings 1–5 †
May 2022
Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem, The Dignity and Vocation of Women by John Paul II (††††)
 
Synopsis: (gathered from different resources)
This Apostolic Letter is one of many remarkable resources available to anyone wishing to understand seriously the Catholic Church's teaching on the dignity and unique vocation of women.  Pope John Paul II insists that any discussion about woman is necessarily a study of what it first means to be a human being and what the Incarnation signifies to our humanness. This eternal truth about the human being--man and woman-–is immutably fixed in human experience –at the same time constitutes the mystery which only in 'the Incarnate Word’ takes on light.  The document teaches that Mary is the fulfillment of the creation of the human person in the image and likeness of God.  Mulieris Dignitatem presents the doctrine of creation, especially the creation of the human person as person-communion-gift. The reason that a human person is like God is because this is God's choice in creating us in his image and likeness.  The document discusses the Church as Bride of Christ, explains the Church's relationship to Christ, and ultimately, the mystery and the gift are love.  Hence, woman - in herself and in what she represents in and to the Church – is described as an answer of love for the Church, the world, and to God.  Mulieris Dignitatem defends the equality of women, the vocation to love, the mutual submission of husbands and wives, the on-going impact of Original Sin on male/female relationships, Jesus's modeling of how to treat women, the significance of Jesus's mother for today's Christians, and the nature of the relationship between Christ and His Church including the role of the Eucharist as expressing the total self-gift of Christ and making possible the reciprocal total self-gift of the recipient.

Some Comments from the Group’s Discussion: 
  • It might be difficult to absorb the entire document but it is the most important literature I’ve read in a long time. There is so much food for thought in every line, and it should be mentioned to all parishioners to read and reread. We need to return to this message. It’s free to read on the internet.
  • I liked the reference to all the different women in the Bible. I liked JP2 pointing out that men and women each have their own gifts, gifts that complement each other.
  • All the women in the Bible he mentioned were intuitive—even Piolet’s wife. They all showed sensitivity to the needs of others, generosity, receptiveness, trust.  Men have their unique gifts as well.  He points out that fatherhood comes through women. 
  • It might seem wonderful to us older women, but today’s teens need different wording. I thought it too difficult to read, some words being too theological. And it’s all the same old stuff I’ve heard before. I didn’t get much out of it.
  • I thought it was an amazing letter that totally points out the dignity of all women and men together.  However, man has diminished that dignity by their own selfishness and self-centeredness.  
  • I loved his writing and even the fact he starts off with ‘Dear sisters.’  He showed dignity to all women as he said, “women make things bearable.” 
April 2022
Hope to Die: The Christian Meaning of Death and the Resurrection of the Body by Scott Hahn (†††††)
 
Synopsis:
​As Catholics, we believe in the resurrection of the body. We profess it in our creed. We're taught that to bury and pray for the dead are corporal and spiritual works of mercy. We honor the dead in our Liturgy through the Rite of Christian burial. We do all of this, and more, because when Jesus Christ took on flesh for the salvation of our souls, he also bestowed great dignity on our bodies. In Hope to Die: The Christian Meaning of Death and the Resurrection of the Body, Scott Hahn explores the significance of death and burial from a Catholic perspective. The promise of the bodily resurrection brings into focus the need for the dignified care of our bodies at the hour of death. Unpacking both Scripture and Catholic teaching, Hope to Die reminds us that we are destined for glorification on the last day.  Our bodies have been made by a God who loves us. Even in death, those bodies point to the mystery of our salvation.

Some Comments from the Group’s Discussion:
  • I thought it was a good review of the Catholic teaching on death and burial traditions. 
  • Interesting information on the Free Masons/Communistic disregard for the body and their burning hundreds of bodies during the war to demean the resurrection of the body.
  • It seemed the Introduction was not out to demote cremation, but it did a good job of it nonetheless.
  • The book made me rethink our decision for cremation. 
  • I liked the history of how we got to where we are today and the Church’s thoughts about cremation over the centuries.  And very interesting information on what the pagan Romans thought about the dead and entrance into the underworld if bodies weren’t treated in a certain way.
  • It was an easy read and an important topic in my life right now. I thought Scott Hahn took some liberty in explaining the Church’s view, however.
  • I liked the book and Hahn is such a great teacher.  It was God’s plan that the Second Person of the Trinity would take on a human nature to “sanctify the Body” -- make the body holy.  It gives us a new understanding of the human body.  Also, he talked about Adam not fighting back the devil which brought spiritual death into the world. So now we are born physically alive but spiritually dead. Something to think about.
  • This book was just what I needed!  I’ve lost three sisters in the last ten months who died without any written wishes on what they wanted done with their bodies.  It’s a gift to the family to have your personal wishes written down.
  • I liked: “The morality rate is 100% and so is the immorality rate.” He pointed out—and I never think of this—when we receive the Eucharist we receive the Trinity—the Father, the Son, AND the Holy Spirit!
  • It was obvious Hahn was really pushing NOT to cremate our bodies.  But those were Scott Hahn’s thoughts. The Church does not push or recommend not to cremate. In the end our bodies WILL be resurrected and we don’t all need to have whole bodies. God will make us new no matter what.  
March 2022
Wisdom from the Psalms by Peter J. Kreeft (†††††)
 
Synopsis: (taken from the inside cover) 
The Psalms make up the most popular, most universally loved and used book in the Bible, which is the most widely read book in the world. They are hymns, songs, poems, and prayers—at once formal and informal, liturgical and spontaneous, communal and individual. As a result, they have many layers of meaning. In this work, Peter Kreeft focuses on a dozen of the best-known psalms, including Psalms 23 and 51. He leads the reader through his personal explorations of this deep ocean of divinely inspired spiritual water, pulling up treasures for the soul along the way. "What prayers did Jesus and his disciples pray?" The Psalms! As all Jews have always done ever since they had them. The Psalms are God's answer to our plea, 'Teach us to pray.' Christ prayed them not only in the synagogue but throughout His life, and at his death."

Some Comments from the Group’s Discussion:
  • I really like the book.  He started right off in Ps 1 pointing out that life is a drama, a choice between two opposite roads through life: good and evil, holiness and unholiness, which lead in two opposite directions: joy and misery, both in this life and after death.  We have a choice.
  • I loved the book!  It really helped me to start praying the Psalms which are so relevant for our age now.  We have security under God’s protection.
  • There is so much to reflect on in this book that it took a lot longer to read than I thought it would.  It’s a great book to take into Adoration. I liked his explanation of the Tree of Life that God planted in the Garden of Eden. It symbolized the very life of God in the soul, divine life, eternal life.
  • I loved how he brought up so many different issues in our lives today and could relate them all to the Psalms. I loved all the analogies he uses.
  • I especially loved the Forward by Scott Hahn, what a warm friendship they have. Kreeft is so brilliant, and he explained God so perfectly--paragraph after paragraph on just one line in the Ps. When I was in public grade school we would recite the 23rd Ps after the Pledge of Allegiance!  
  • I found the book too deep for me, though he did have some great points— “addiction blinds the mind, it shuts down the reason, which is the critic and censor of the passions.”  How true!
  • The book was incredible!  And to think that Jesus prayed the Psalms—we are praying Jesus’ prayers—the prayers Mary taught Jesus!  It’s the only Book in the Bible that we pray at every Mass! Every Psalm he wrote on had such jewels to take away and meditate on.
 
Quote:  
Theology teaches us what God is; only prayer and the moral life teach us who He is.
February 2022
​Chosen and Cherished, Biblical Wisdom for Your Marriage by Kimberly Hahn. (†††)

Synopsis: Source taken from The St. Paul Center Review
Author Kimberly Hahn is a Catholic speaker and author who for decades has shared her wisdom with other wives and mothers. Married to Scott for more than forty years, they have six children and nineteen grandchildren.   After homeschooling for twenty-six years, Kimberly now serves as Council-at-Large in Steubenville, OH, and hosts the St. Paul Center podcast.   In her book Chosen and Cherished, a Bible Study Based on Proverbs 31, she highlights this radiant image as a model for all wives and provides lessons on marriage for each season of life.  
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Some Comments from the Group’s Discussion:
  • I needed this book 40 years ago and felt right now in my life the book was a little irrelevant.  However, it would be good for parents to read and teach their children.
  • I thought Kimberly Hahn a little bit evangelical—I don’t need a scripture reading for EVERYTHING!
  • She’s a good writer and has some good points, like those for the unmarried to practice chastity.  Though I thought if young people now a days read this they would laugh.
  • I had a hard time getting into this book, it would pick it up and put it down.  I was encouraged when she wrote “don’t focus on our fears because God has a plan for our marriage.”
  • I wish I had this book when I was newly engaged and first married.  I have a granddaughter at the marrying age now         , and I plan on giving her this book.
  • There were some good gems and pearls of wisdom throughout the book, but I could not get over the feeling of being lectured to.  Maybe it was her writing style.
  • Reading the book made me feel that my marriage was inadequate. 
  • I liked the biblical quotes in the book and the tips at the end along with her idea of a moment of ‘Sacred Silence’ to think about ‘it’ before ‘talking’ about ‘it’.  I also wished she would have talked a little more about some of the hardships in their marriage and how they got through them.  We all learn by example.  I think our church, in support of marriage, could use a mentorship sort of program for our newly married couples: a small group of newly marrieds and a long-married leader to discuss maneuvering some of the bumps in the road of marriage.
  • We are all influence by what we watched in our parent’s relationship as to how we want our marriage to be, whether both our parents worked or not, whether they had a faith-based marriage. I wish we were spiritually at the point we are now when we got married.  We’ve grown so much spiritually together.
January 2022
Habits of Holiness: Small Steps for making Big Spiritual Progress by Fr. Mark-Mary Ames C.F.R. (†††††)
 
Synopsis: The ideal of holiness can seem impossible as we find ourselves busier and more distracted in our increasingly complicated world.  Yet the witness of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal offers us hope that it is possible to become a saint while living in the world.  In fact, it is by opening ourselves up to others and making time for prayer and sacrifices in our daily lives that we can bring God’s love to the world.  The book is all about making spiritual progress on the journey of living out the faith, of prayer, and of virtue. It is not impossible to become holy, and this is the goal of the book - to teach the reader through questions, reflections, and dialogue what it means to be “holy”. 

Some Comments from the Group’s Discussion: 
  • I loved this book—even the title was good!  Fr. Mark-Mary was so relatable and there were so many tidbits of wisdom.  “Lead with listening”, “Don’t give answers to questions that haven’t been asked.”  But more than this, he asked the important questions and made me think…Is there an area in my life not touched by Jesus?  At first I thought ‘no.’ But he made me look deeper into myself and into the areas I haven’t let Jesus touch.
  • I thought the book would be just “ho-hum holy” since it was written by a friar.  But I was pleasantly surprised by how much I got out of this book.  I’ve got grandkids and their language is (shall I say) not always the best.  We need to pray and ask God’s blessing and His anointing upon our conversations and upon our witness that we give to others. Father Mark-Mary gave such a great example of how we never know just who might be watching and listening to what we do and say.
  • The book was well organized, and I loved the boxes with “Questions for Reflection”—thoughts and ideas of things we can do now.  It all could be a little over-whelming, but at the beginning he tells you just how to read and use the book.  “Poco a Poco, Little by Little”.  I marked and starred the book, wrote in the margins, and highlighted a lot.  I will be going back over this book to continue making a habit of prayer and the many other suggestions he gave.  What a treasure it is!
  • This was the right book for me at this stage in my life.  Take one thing and work on it for six weeks to make it a habit.  I already have a list of his suggestions.  I am definitely doing this!
  • What a great book to start off the new year!  I thought the section on loving the poor very good. He mentioned Mother Theresa saying to set a time every day to pray a holy hour and if you think you don’t have time for one hour—she said to make it two hours!.  I have to always be a witness to the faith!
  • He made so many suggestions on how to change our habits into holiness.   I’ll be reading this book again and again…step by step, with prayer and fasting, becoming more aware of Jesus deep within me, and aware of Jesus in the people who need to see Jesus in me.