John Godges rocks!
My good friend from J-school, John Godges, just published a book called "Oh Beautiful" that he wrote about his family's experiences as immigrants and as Catholics growing up in America. I read it in manuscript (the first book I ever read entirely in PDF form, actually) and it was really good. I mean, REALLY good. I was afraid when I agreed to read it that I was going to have to grope for something nice to say about it so as not to hurt his feelings if it sucked, but this was not a problem. John is an excellent interviewer, writer, and thinker of deep thoughts about all sorts of interesting stuff.
Go to his website and you can learn more about the book and even read an excerpt -- and of course buy it if you're so inclined, which would be nice for John even though I won't see one penny of the avalanche of proceeds that the blog post will generate.
Being raised by strict atheists, I didn't know much about Catholicism before I read the book. Actually that's not true -- I knew a bit about the theology and important modern-day stuff like the Popemobile and the sex abuse scandal, but I didn't have a clue about hat it's like to grow up Catholic and have it be at the center of your family's life. John gives a good indication of how Catholicism becomes an integral part of you when you when he described a conversation with a priest where he confesses that he's gay but is thinking about the priesthood as a career anyway.
Thinking about John's book and also about Yom Kippur tomorrow reminded me of the routes to religion taken by the many of us who were not raised in a particular faith. It can be a complicated path indeed.
Go to his website and you can learn more about the book and even read an excerpt -- and of course buy it if you're so inclined, which would be nice for John even though I won't see one penny of the avalanche of proceeds that the blog post will generate.
Being raised by strict atheists, I didn't know much about Catholicism before I read the book. Actually that's not true -- I knew a bit about the theology and important modern-day stuff like the Popemobile and the sex abuse scandal, but I didn't have a clue about hat it's like to grow up Catholic and have it be at the center of your family's life. John gives a good indication of how Catholicism becomes an integral part of you when you when he described a conversation with a priest where he confesses that he's gay but is thinking about the priesthood as a career anyway.
Thinking about John's book and also about Yom Kippur tomorrow reminded me of the routes to religion taken by the many of us who were not raised in a particular faith. It can be a complicated path indeed.
Comments
Odie
Your kindness upon this Yom Kippur to a not-so-good Catholic boy like me touches me deeply. It reminds me that our many religions can learn so much from one another--maybe even be redeemed by one another!--as long as we can perceive the treasures of our own faiths reflected in the exemplary lives of those of other faiths. Exemplary lives like yours! Thank you for being such a faithful friend. Oh, and by the way: The published version of the book that you now have is WAY better than that old PDF!