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Rome
Sweet Rome: Our Journey to Catholicism, by Scott and Kimberly Hahn. Ignatius Press, 1993..
Do you have an easy chair, a few hours of quiet, and a book called "Rome Sweet Home"? If you do, you are in for a wonderful faith story of a couple who struggled with whether the Catholic Church was the one for them. The couple deals with the use of contraceptive in their early days of marriage, and found that unacceptable, for it is God who decides if they are to have children after the marriage act. They set the contraceptives aside and brought forth a family of four children. This seems to be the one area in which they both agreed in their faith journey; all other areas were handled separately. Scott first, and then Kim later. Scott was a Presbyterian minister, top student in the seminary, madly in love with all of Scripture, and very anti-Catholic! Kim, also a top-notch theology student, is the daughter of a Protestant minister, and was subject to a very "dark night of the soul" in her journey to
Catholicism. Their "conversions" were to be separate and both suffered greatly in the interims; divorce seemed on the horizon at one time. The deep love of Christ and of Scripture is very evident throughout their journeys, as is their thirst for
the truth and their deep love of neighbor. What are their stumbling blocks in the journeys to the Catholic faith? The Eucharist for one; the concept of whether faith with or without good works saves one; the problem of Tradition as an accompaniment to Scripture as guide for Catholics; the idea of an infallible Pope; the honoring of the Blessed Mother and of the saints. This is a remarkable journey to Catholicism, and can serve as a welcome tool for many who are seeking the Truth. (Thanks to Sr. Irene Hartman OP for this review.)
Paperback, Kindle
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Saints of the Week
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St. Patrick (415? - 493?): March 17
Legends about Patrick abound; but truth is best served by our seeing two solid qualities in him: He was humble and he was courageous. The determination to accept suffering and success with equal indifference guided the life of God's instrument for winning most of Ireland for Christ.
Details of his life are uncertain. Current research places his dates of birth and death a little later than earlier accounts. Patrick may have been born in Dunbarton, Scotland, Cumberland, England, or in northern Wales. He called himself both a Roman and a Briton. At 16, he and a large number of his father's slaves and vassals were captured by Irish raiders and sold as slaves in Ireland. Forced to work as a shepherd, he suffered greatly from hunger and cold.
After six years, Patrick escaped, probably to France, and later returned to Britain at the age of 22. His captivity had meant spiritual conversion. He may have studied at Lerins, off the French coast; he spent years at Auxerre, France, and was consecrated bishop at the age of 43. His great desire was to proclaim the Good News to the Irish.
In a dream vision it seemed "all the children of Ireland from their mothers' wombs were stretching out their hands" to him. He understood the vision to be a call to do mission work in pagan Ireland. Despite opposition from those who felt his education had been defective, he was sent to carry out the task. He went to the west and north, where the faith had never been preached, obtained the protection of local kings and made numerous converts.
Because of the island's pagan background, Patrick was emphatic in encouraging widows to remain chaste and young women to consecrate their virginity to Christ. He ordained many priests, divided the country into dioceses, held Church councils, founded several monasteries and continually urged his people to greater holiness in Christ.
He suffered much opposition from pagan druids and was criticized in both England and Ireland for the way he conducted his mission.
In a relatively short time, the island had experienced deeply the Christian spirit, and was prepared to send out missionaries whose efforts were greatly responsible for Christianizing Europe. americancatholic.org site
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