Some of these books I’ve read cover to cover. Some of them I bought and picked through and put them down for the time being. Some of them I go back to again and again, the more I learn about Scripture, Tradition, the institution and so on.
Books are Tools for Living the Question OR When Your Dogma is Strong Enough to Hold the Tension of Some Ecumenism + Multi-Disciplinary Thinking
Divine Intimacy Father Gabriel of Saint Mary Magdalen, O.C.D.
This book has a meditation and colloquy for every day of the (Old) liturgical year.
Prayer: The Only Necessary Thing Henri Nouwen
Prayer is a Hunger Rev Edward J. Farrell
Living the Gospel Without Compromise Catherine Doherty
I mailed this book to a Catholic developer in Sudbury who quizzed me about my online teaching. he had said he wanted to start a residential healing centre for addicts and I wanted him to know Catherine Doherty’s story.
Religion for Atheists Alain de Botton
It’s not what you think. Trads should read this, for perspective.
The Great Code: The Bible as Literature Northrop Frye
https://macblog.mcmaster.ca/fryeblog/what-the-great-code-is-and-does
The Double Vision: Language and Meaning in Religion by Northrop Frye
Are young people still being taught to read literature and think symbolically? I didn’t know that the Bible was symbolic until I was in my early 40s. Like everyone else I knew in those days, I dismissed Christianity, and / or religion as simplistic garbage. Argh — so much time lost! Why did no one ever invite me to Mass? Why are the Latter Days Saints the only ones who go door-to-door to spread the civilizational narrative? Part of me thinks that Catholic schools now exist mostly to keep the Good News for themselves and perpetuate the ‘us vs them’ divisiveness and ‘Othering’ that characterized tribal life in Israel 6000 years ago.
Ego and Archetype Edward F. Edinger
On individuation, how religion places our God projection into a communal narrative.
Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals Iris Murdoch
Among many, many things, this book explained why bad art in the Latin Rite is enough. Factory-generated, mass market ‘art’ plants seeds in the public mind to remind us of the Christian narrative. For the global Church, statues and images don’t need to be beautiful, they just need to get the job done. Thus, banal Divine Mercy posters and bland Mary statues and technically perfect Gregorian chant. This is reason #275 for unity of the Eastern Rite (with its beauty and soul power) and the Latin Rite. Is this why so many adults call themselves ‘spiritual’ or eclectic? Is this why so few adults are ‘religious’, that is, willing to confine themselves within a single, top-down narrative that was only ever meant to be a jumping off point for spiritual development?
The Imitation of Christ St Thomas a Kempis
This is one of the first books that captured my imagination. When I read it, I felt that I had come across a way of living that was very compelling and also very dangerous. Then I read the Introduction, which said this was one of the most loved Christian books of all time. So, I knew I had to get myself into a Church community since I wanted to experience this kind of way of living. I actually took this to my meeting with Fr Andrew in Peterborough. He didn’t seem to hear what I was saying. He told me to go to St Alphonsus because ‘they are evangelical’. He said most people think the Church is the building. I wonder if he had ever read St Thomas a Kempis? Perhaps he was just busy that day.
Solitude: A Return to the Self Anthony Storr
Interrupting Silence: God’s Command to Speak Out
A Bible Study for Adults by Walter Bruggemann
Fratelli Tutti calls for encounter and dialogue and this 110 page book tells us how to break the silence.
A Lever and a Place to Stand: The Contemplative Stance, The Active Prayer Richard Rohr
Who we are is How we pray: Matching Personality with Spirituality Dr Charles J Keating
This book is about which types of spirituality suit the various Myers-Briggs Personality Types.
The Spiral Staircase: My Climb out of Darkness Karen Armstrong
A story of escape from toxic institutional religious life, a brilliant woman finding her vocation outside an oppressive system.
New Seeds of Contemplation Thomas Merton
The Great Divorce C.S. Lewis
A stark warning! I think cradle Catholics need to read this book so they can understand that a parish this is not actively receptive to newcomers is condemning people to (psychological) hell.
2 Peter 2:21 It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. Formation in the spiritual life needs to be LIFELONG and inclusive of diversity, otherwise, cultural Catholics make access to Christian community it’s a ‘social inclusion’ game.
Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community Dietrich Bonhoeffer
If you liked Cheap Grace, here is how that could play out in community life.
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking with the Stakes are High Kerry Patterson, Joseph Greeny, Ron McMillan Al Switzer
Practical insights and techniques for peace-makers.
I See Satan Fall Like Lightening Rene Girard
Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life by Karen Armstrong
The Prophet Kahlil Gibran
Masochism: A Jungian View Lyn Cowan
Catholic orders with their self-flagellation and re-enactments of the crucifixion. Not saying that this isn’t a valid phase that human beings go through. No judgement. Life, sexuality, communion, intimacy, power, surrender, spirituality grounded in our biological reality, marriage, sacrifice, ordered relationships vs disordered existence, salvation through grandchildren, prosperity and a life well-lived. All phenomenon exist for the eventual Restoration. I want to go back to Jung’s writing on Job, Aion, etc.
The Lamb’s Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth Scott Hahn
This is why “going to church” can remain a aid-to-contemplation for a long, long time. It also explains why so-called smart people still mention the Apocalypse, the Book of Revelations. People who dismiss Christianity and Catholicism with its Sacraments (the supernatural stuff humans have been preoccupied with for millennia, made present for you by priests, buildings, the liturgical year, the saints, Tradition, encyclicals) are really missing out!
Hearts on Fire: Praying with the Jesuits Edited Michael Harter SJ
I bought this one at Value Village in Peterborough way back in 2015 or 2016. I had it when I was waiting to be baptized. I remember seeing the IHS on church walls and wondering why that logo was important enough to be there. Just picked it up again after a few years and there is a lot here I didn’t fully appreciate back then. I showed this to Mary Spiritual Companion at the Pastoral Centre in one of our remedial RCIA sessions in January, 2021 and she exclaimed, “Oh you have that?!” (As though it was unimaginable that I would.) Let me share some of the prayers that are resonating with me these days. Also, I want to explore how Jesuit discernment (Ignatian) is different from interpreting the Word of God from Scripture. Is this why there is an Examen of Consciousness vs Examen of Conscience?
Radical Gratitude Mary Jo Leddy
The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ Fleming Rutledge
Life of Christ Fulton Sheen
This book has my favorite presentation of the Woman at the Well story.
Prayer Hans Urs von Balthasar
One paragraph can take over your mind for weeks.
Sobornost: Experiencing Unity of Mind, Heart and Soul Catherine Doherty
A Sobor = a unified group of people. This book includes an explanation of how baptism is entry to contemplation
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion Jonathon Haidt
An important piece of the puzzle as to what happened in 2016 to 2020 when North America became so polarized due to a sudden addiction by most citizens to asynchronous, written communication over interactive, face to face spoken discourse. It’s almost like Facebook is a kind of disease, too. Facebook’s asynchronous, text-only, profoundly disordered communication patterns triggered a pandemic of social upheaval, disinformation and alienation and isolation of human being from their closest family and friends.
The Religion of Tomorrow: A Vision for the Future of the Great Traditions Ken Wilber
An encyclopedic attempt to systematize the world’s Wisdom Traditions with Wilber’s own categories and classifications. This is like a reference book for everything else Wilber has talked about.
No Man is an Island Thomas Merton
Universal Christ Richard Rohr
…and everything else he has written. All his lectures on Youtube, even his controversial-to-Traditionalist stuff on the Christian origins of the Ennegram. Fusion food for the contemplative mind! He is teaching Buddhism in Christian terms.
Selected Writings Maximus the Confessor
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
An elegant unpacking of the Catholic way of life and worldview. This should be studied by young adults everywhere. This was like a site map of the concepts, ideas of the Catholic Church. Bought it for $5 at the Value Village in Peterborough. Funny no one in three RCIA programs thought to mention that this exists. I don’t think they knew it existed until I told them, actually.
Introduction to the Devout Life St Francis de Sales
I just found out he was an Oratorian! This book is magic, the real deal. Reads like The Imitation of Christ.
The Practice of the Presence of God Brother Lawrence
This reminds of the Introduction to the Devout Life. I look at Jesus and he looks at me. Is God ‘love’ or benign approval or compassion / mercy? I read these books when I first converted but as the people in my first Diocese deepened their rejection of me, I lost my contact with good. I converted independently of the institution, relying on my reading and interior life and an Ignatian Review. I felt a relationship with God was about saying ‘Yes’ to life, opportunity, love, all that was good in life. When I approached a community that bore all the visible signs of the Christian-Catholic narrative, what I experienced was a very conditional toleration, at first. Given how certain I felt about the rightness of the Christian narrative, I was confused by their being so slow to warm. Now I understand parishes are SOCIAL, and newcomers are seen as opportunists seeking a sense of social belonging. As of May, 2022 I use Mass as the aid-to-contemplation-and-goodness that I believe its meant to be. For the time being, I am avoiding the social dimensions of parish life, given that I am a ‘newcomer’ (for the second time) to nativist small towns in Ontario.
The Rebel Christ by Michael Coren
Added June 19th. The author was Catholic but became Anglican.
An excerpt: “An authentic relationship with God is about dialogue, and one that involves questions, arguments and even doubt. We’re made — and if we are Christians we believe we are made by God — to be thinking individuals who want answers, and not robotic creatures who simply obey. A mature belief in Scripture necessitates an understanding that the Bible is not a divine dictation but an inspired history of God’s relationship with humanity…
…at heart, it’s about love, and love culminates in the life, death and resurrection of Christ, who says not a word about abortion, homosexuality, euthanasia, pornography or the so-called traditional family but demands justice, forgiveness, equality, care for the poor and for the marginalized and for strangers, and compassion even for one’s ‘enemies’ and who constantly speaks of the blistering risk of wealth and prestige.”
This is a book that the institution (who does what it does to survive in political and economic realities) should give to TEENS and young adults and actually all lay baptized people to (re)kindle their mission and vocation to bring a Christ consciousness to their work and community and family lives. The Canadian Catholic Church needs a better program of adult formation / lifelong learning. Expanding the tent pegs / an embrace of ecumenism means Anglican writers can be on the curriculum! Loyal sheep who object need simply be told that creativity is a gift from the Holy Spirit and that dogma exists alongside other interpretations. Humans were made to grow; they will survive.
Opus Dei John L. Allen
This is a very fact-filled, informative book. Their spirituality reminds me of Catherine Doherty’s duty of the moment.
NB. I originally made this page after being arrested because Robert Lariviere of the Sault Diocese, “didn’t think Jennifer believed what the Church teaches”, which is a notion I think Msgr Michael Heffernan communicated to him. Congratulations, Mike. I’ll admit, you succeeded in hurting me so badly I almost did walk in front of a train during the pandemic. Well done, good and faithful servant! I hope you and all your Knights of Columbus Good Ole Boys feel good about yourselves. What a victory! Such heroes for the faith!
Jesus: A Pilgrimage by Fr Martin
Creativity by Matthew Fox
Christian Mysticism by Manuela Dunn Mascetti
I can imagine Trads reading this list and saying, “She is NOT REALLY CATHOLIC!” However, I am SURE there is tons of diversity of interests, beliefs, favorite writers, areas of interest among Catholics, even in the same parish, but the habit has been to go to Mass and not get to know neighbours too much, with a focus on the silent communal worship. That might SEEM like unity but is it? Now, with everyone sharing their ideas and thoughts online, we can see all the fault lines. Which were always there. This is why rigid polarities in the Church make no sense to me. I can dip into Matthew Fox, Fr James Martin, Divine Intimacy, Rene Girard, Catholic media all in the same week. For a long time, I went to the new Mass and old Mass. I appreciated both. I was destroyed by progressives who demand pro-choice until eight months and women priests, and Trads who demand veils at Mass and are vocally anti-LGB. I was both/and (Catholic!) in a time of rigid polarization.
Added October 2025 The Two Popes by Anthony McCarten