There are several new and
highly recommended Catholic fiction
books now available in our
parish library and more are on the
way, thanks to an anonymous parish
donor. You will surely find
something to your taste among
the following:

• Amata Means Beloved, by Sr.
  Mary Catharine Perry, O.P. (FIC
  PER 2004).
  
  This novel glimpses into the lives of cloistered contemplative nuns and a woman’s deep inner struggle with pain and forgiveness. This thoughtful read immerses you in the world of monasteries and the ideas, struggles, hopes, and dreams of Sister Mary Catharine.
  
  One caution, though:
  you will have to overlook the writing style, which is less than professional.
  
  
• Children of the Last Days, a
  series by Michael D. O’Brien.
  
  This trilogy, beginning in 1900 and concluding with the climactic events leading up to the Millennium, follows Anne and Stephen Delaney and their descendants as they live
  through the tumultuous events of
  this century.
  
  Set in the rugged interior of British Columbia, it traces the lives of four generations of a family of exiles and the gradual movement of souls from despair and unbelief to faith,
  hope, and love. The recommended
  order to read the books is:
  
  • Strangers and Sojourners
  (FIC OBR 2002). The first in
  the trilogy, this spiritual novel
  follows the struggles of Anne
  Delaney’s family with religion,
  society, culture, and the government.
  
  • Plague Journal (FIC
  OBR 2003). This story describes
  a nation quietly shifting from democracy to totalitarianism.
  Plague Journal chronicles the
  struggle of a thoroughly modern
  man, Nathaniel Delaney, who is
  put to the ultimate spiritual and
  psychological test, a man who in
  losing himself finds himself.
  
  • Eclipse of the Sun (FIC
  OBR 1998). O’Brien presents a
  thrilling apocalyptic novel about
  the condition of the Roman Catholic
  Church at the end of time. In
  this novel, the Vatican sends a
  Carmelite, Fr. Elijah Schäfer, on
  a secret mission that leads him
  into a series of crises and subterfuges affecting the Church’s ultimate destiny.
  
  

• Sophia House, by Michael D.
  O’Brien (FIC OBR 2005).
  
  Sophia House is set in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. Pawel
  Tarnowski, a bookseller, gives
  refuge to David Schäfer, a Jewish
  youth who has escaped from the
  ghetto, and hides him in the attic
  of the book shop. Decades later,
  David converts to Catholicism; he
  is the Carmelite priest Fr. Elijah
  Schäfer, called by the Pope to confront the Anti-christ in Michael
  O’Brien’s best-selling novel, Father
  Elijah: An Apocalypse.
  
  This book explores, from two distinct perspectives, the meaning of love, religious identity, and sacrifice.
  
  
• The Complete Father Brown
  Mysteries, by G. K. Chesterton
  (FIC CHE 1998).
  
  The protagonist in these English detective stories is a quiet, unassuming, and modest
  Catholic priest. Chesterton,
  known as the “prince of paradox,”
  was one of the few writers in the
  twentieth century who made an
  important contribution to English
  literature that was stamped
  by Christian principles instead of
  the prevailing secularism of the
  day.
  
  
• Dear and Glorious Physician,
  by Taylor Caldwell (FIC
  CAL 1959).
  
  This novel is set in the time of St. Luke. Caldwell brings the Gospel writer Luke to life, from his beginnings as the young son of a Greek freedman in the Roman Empire to his ultimate search for Christ. It depicts the human struggle for spiritual relevance
  and the rebellion of the human soul. This is a great novel,
  written in a wonderful narrative
  style.
  
  
  + + +
  If you would like to donate books on the
  parish library’s wish list, please contact
  Lori Mestre (365-9994), library team
  coordinator. If you need help locating
  materials in the library, Lori or one of the other team members will be happy to help.
  
  The parish library is open weekdays
  during office hours, and on the fourth and fifth Sundays of the month from 8:30 to 10:45 a.m.