Parish Book Club

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CONTACT: Julie Lee ♦ (908) 204-0146

One of the newer organizations at Saint James is the Parish Catholic Book Club that meets on the second Tuesday of each month in the Parish Library in the Pastoral Center at 9:15 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. The group began under the auspices of the Saint James Home School Association in 2005.

Book selections are announced in advance in the Sunday Bulletin and on the Parish Web site at www.saintjamesbr.org/ParishBookClub. To date, the club has read and discussed more than 50 books. Some have been life-changing, such as autobiographies by Thomas Merton (Seven Storey Mountain, which details the author’s conversion to Catholicism) and Father Walter Ciszek (He Leadeth Me, which discusses the author’s deepening his faith  amid the horrors of a Soviet prison camp).

 Some books have challenged the group with their emphasis on social justice (The Long Loneliness by Dorothy Day) and morality (Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life by Archbishop Charles Chaput) . Many books have touched us deeply, including Immaculee Ilibagiza's moving story of the Rawandan genocide and her ability to forgive in Left to Tell and its sequel, Led by Faith.

 

Among the group's favorite authors are James Martin, SJ (My Life with the Saints, The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything and Becoming Who You Are: Insights on the True Self); Archbishop Timothy Dolan (To Whom Shall We Go? and Called to be Holy); and George Weigel (Letters to a Young Catholic).

 

The Parish Catholic Book Club promotes good fellowship during meetings and always welcomes new members. Although the books discussed pertain to the Catholic faith, members enjoy sharing recommendations of books on a broad range of subjects.

 

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. -- Joseph Addison