Almost Catholic: An Appreciation of the History, Practice, and Mystery of Ancient Faith

246 Pages·2008·1.42 MB·English

by  Jon Sweeney

ALMOST
CATHOLIC
An Appreciation of the
History, Practice, and Mystery
of Ancient Faith
JON M. SWEENEY
Copyright © 2008 by Jon M. Sweeney. All rights reserved.
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Interior image courtesy Joanne Clapp Fullagar
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sweeney, Jon M., date.
Almost Catholic : an appreciation of the history, practice, and mystery of ancient
faith/Jon M. Sweeney.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7879-9470-9 (cloth)
1. Catholic Church. I. Title.
BX1751.3.S94 2008
282—dc22
2007044097
Printed in the United States of America
first edition
HB Printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
Introduction vii
SECTION ONE The Language and the Spirit 1
Forget What You Thought You Knew 3
“Catholic” 11
Forget About Conversion 16
Doubters and Believers, Atheists and Agnostics 22
Eleven Steps to Becoming a Truly Catholic Christian 26
SECTION TWO The Catholic Imagination 29
God Is Here 31
Sacred Spaces and Places 36
Privy to a Revealed Secret 42
But It’s Too Easy 48
Taking Vows 54
Becoming a Saint 62
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iv Contents
SECTION THREE Faith with Flesh 69
He Loved His Own Flesh 71
The Sensuousness of Jesus 77
The Crucifix 81
Stations of the Cross 88
Bones and Bodies 93
Something Good About Hell 101
SECTION FOUR Much More Than Kitsch and Jesus
Junk 109
Rosary Beads 111
Little Books 116
Images That Speak 122
Novenas for Heathens and Outcasts 128
Going to Confession 135
The Sacred Heart of Jesus 140
SECTION FIVE My Own Cloud of Witnesses 147
Thomas Merton 149
Saint Francis of Assisi 153
Every Idealist Who Has Ever Tried 156
G. K. Chesterton 160
Flannery O’Connor 165
The Catechism as a Mystical Novel 172
SECTION SIX Together with Others 179
Take Me to the River 181
Sacraments and Sacramentals 187
Contemplative Living 192
contents v
Eating and Kissing 197
Millions of Blessings 203
Excommunication 207
Appendix Defining a Few Terms 213
Notes 217
Suggestions for Further Reading 225
Acknowledgments 227
The Author 229
I dedicate this book to my mother and father,
who first taught me
to “ dwell in the house of the LORD ”
(Psalm 23:6)
INTRODUCTION
I
did not step inside a Roman Catholic church until I
was nineteen years old and living in a foreign country.
A hyperreligious child and teenager, I grew up outside
of Chicago in a town that was home to a lot of evangelical
Protestants, a lot of Catholics, and few others. I was in the first
group. We believed that Catholics were going to hell unless
they found our brand of true salvation.
I was intrigued by Catholics when I was a boy. In
vague terms, I understood that they were a part of some-
thing enormous, much larger and more ancient and mysteri-
ous than my own tradition, and that my own faith somehow
derived from the Catholic one. I was taught that Catholics
were the same as they had always been, going back centu-
ries, and that they should have known better, long ago. Their
spiritual practices intrigued me. I remember making fun of
the kids on the playground who crossed themselves, mock-
ing how they would do it in times of stress or anticipation,
muttering short prayers, as I had seen it done by baseball
players on television. “What is that all about?” I accused, roll-
ing my eyes in as exaggerated a way as I could muster. It’s
a wonder that nobody ever punched me in the face. But I
vii