Letters to a Young Catholic

March 1, 2004
In this spiritual memoir-cum-travelogue, Weigel writes with the same beauty and clarity that characterized his biography of Pope John Paul II, Witness to Hope, merging reportage with personal insights about Catholicism. He takes readers on a journey from Maryland to Europe and Israel, visiting sites that are whimsical (G.K. Chesterton's favorite pub) as well as those that are renowned as holy (the Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem, St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome). Writing in a conversational, epistolary form aimed at young Catholics, Weigel offers a book that simultaneously is, and is not, your grandmother's catechism: he affirms the core doctrines of the Church, but he does so in a way that is refreshingly contemporary and--because of his emphasis on Church sites around the world--catholic as well as Catholic. Weigel opens the book with an entertaining description of his childhood in the Catholic stronghold of Baltimore, and invites young readers to entertain the idea that Catholicism is not just a creed but an"optic," a rooted way of viewing the world. In the rest of the book, he introduces that world and offers them new lenses with which to understand it. This book is simply first-rate.

April 15, 2004
America's leading commentator on religion and author of the best-selling Witness to Hope, Weigel here offers a collection of 14 beautifully written chapters describing internationally known Catholic sites with accompanying catechetical instruction. Thus, "Letter Two" (as the chapters are labeled) chronicles the archaeological discovery beneath St. Peter's Basilica during the reign of Pope Pius XII. With attention to historical detail and reliance on primary sources, Weigel writes a vivid account of actual events as they unfolded, namely, the finding of the physical remains of the Apostle Peter. Never leaving the reader with a mere travelog, he subtly introduces salient theological issues, catching the reader at a moment of receptivity. The theological issue considered in the gritty graveyard under St. Peter's is that human failure and physical death are never the final word. Other sites Weigel visits include the Church of the Holy Sephulchre in Jerusalem, the Sistine Chapel, and Chartres Cathedral. A passionate, accessible, and intelligent work on how to live, believe, and see things as a Catholic, this book will be a source of inspiration for readers young and old. Recommended for public libraries.-John-Leonard Berg, Univ. of Wisconsin Lib., Platteville

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2004
Growing up in Baltimore, one of the most Catholic U.S. cities, Weigel knew Catholics were different. They identified with their parish, not their neighborhood. Their school uniforms made them distinctive, and Sunday mass gave them a rich ritual life. But the real difference, he says, is that Catholics had a particular way of looking at the world, based on what he calls a sacramental imagination. In the Catholic worldview, everything matters. Writing directly to young Catholics and for anyone curious about Catholicism, Weigel discusses what it means to be Catholic now. He tours the Catholic world that has shaped his own understanding, and particular places he visits range from Milledgeville, Georgia, deep in the Bible Belt but home of Catholic novelist and apologist Flannery O'Connor, to the Vatican, Chartres Cathedral, St. Stanislaw Kostka Churchyard in Warsaw, and even the Olde Cheshire Cheese tavern in London, a favorite haunt of G. K. Chesterton. This is a luminous work that would appeal to anyone interested in faith, hope, and life itself.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)