{"id":31758,"date":"2011-09-22T01:01:33","date_gmt":"2011-09-22T01:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/theanchoress\/?p=31758"},"modified":"2015-07-21T14:59:28","modified_gmt":"2015-07-21T14:59:28","slug":"catholicism-a-course-in-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/09\/22\/catholicism-a-course-in-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Barron’s “Catholicism” Book is A Course in Revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Recently I posted the first<\/a> of what<\/strong> are bound to be many, many posts raving about Catholicism; A Journey to the Heart of the Faith<\/em><\/strong><\/a> and urging you to purchase the book, read<\/em> it and \u2014 you won\u2019t be able to resist \u2014 give it to everyone you know.<\/p>\n

My husband and I are giving it to our priests and the parish DRE, and we\u2019re not waiting for Christmas!<\/p>\n

And I haven\u2019t actually even written my rave review<\/strong>, yet. But while I figure out how to do that, George Weigel<\/strong><\/a> has written a rave of his own, this time for the DVD Series!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

[PBS\u2019] \u201cCivilization\u201d was the perfect way to finish a serious undergraduate liberal arts education; it brought together ideas, art, architecture and history in a visually compelling synthesis of the history of western culture that respected Catholicism\u2019s role in shaping the West.<\/p>\n

Over the next four decades, I wondered whether someone, somewhere, at some point, would do a \u201cCivilization\u201d-like series on Catholicism itself: a Grand Tour of the Catholic world that explored the Church as a culture through its teaching, its art, its music, its architecture\u2014and above all, through the lives it shaped. That has now happened. The result is the most important media initiative in the history of the Catholic Church in the United States.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>I have been lucky enough to see the first episode<\/strong> (I am heading into retreat in a few hours and am bringing additional episodes with me, to watch) and I concur. The book is stand-alone splendid, but together with the series (and the study program<\/strong><\/a>) we\u2019re talking about a flint-strike that could spark a conflagration of Catholic renewal and a hunger for adult catechesis that could literally change the world.<\/em><\/p>\n

That is not an exaggeration.<\/p>\n

I got an email tonight from a woman<\/strong> who read this post<\/strong><\/a> and realized that the reality of the world \u201cas it is\u201d makes her unhappy.<\/p>\n

Well, combating the world \u201cas it is\u201d requires us to teach and admonish, not<\/em> with the tactics of the world, but \u201cin wisdom made holy\u201d through the love of Christ. If we do that correctly we will \u2014 like the early Christians \u2014 attract<\/em> others, and thus assist the Holy Spirit in the turning of the world toward the light.<\/p>\n

If we do it incorrectly, we will only repel<\/em> those<\/strong> who are perhaps in the greatest need to come to know the love of Christ and his salvation. And then we will have to deal with a turned-off, tuned-out world whose heels are stubbornly dug-in to the darkness.<\/p>\n

Worse, we will have to answer to Christ<\/em><\/strong> as to why we trusted the worldly<\/em> way of confrontation \u2014 the way of anger and distrust and scored points and power \u2014 over His<\/em> way, and the way of His saints, the way of patience, humility and love.<\/p>\n

Bl. Pope John Paul II famously said that we Catholics must look at the world clearly and see it \u201cas it is\u201d before we can help to form it into something more perfect-in-Christ.<\/p>\n

To do<\/em> that, we to pray, certainly, and we need more than prayer, but we are not sure what that might be.<\/p>\n

I believe this effort by Father Robert Barron\u2019s Word on Fire<\/em><\/a><\/strong> \u2014 its instruction, it\u2019s beauty, it\u2019s passion and it\u2019s profound humanity<\/em> in exploring the Incarnational Christ and His church \u2014 may well be the precise and timely tool we need to learn how to respond to the world \u201cas it is,\u201d because it tells us things about ourselves, our church and our Savior that many of us do not even know, or have perhaps forgotten.<\/p>\n

Think about it.<\/em> The person who really knows who he or she is, and is true to himself or herself, is the magnetic and trustworthy person with whom you feel safe enough to engage in discourse \u2014 because you know that person needs nothing from you<\/em> for their own validation.<\/p>\n

If Catholics do not know who they are,<\/strong> what they believe and why they believe it, they face the world at a profound disadvantage, because they have only the world and its promptings and provocations to respond (or react) to, and a spiritual arsenal that needs serious replenishing.<\/p>\n

Catholicism<\/em><\/strong><\/a> is what we need to replenish and renew; this is the adult catechesis that can re-invigorate one soul, and then another, and then another, until a secure and confident force amasses \u2014 one that in the face of \u201creality\u201d and relativism can declare \u201cwe know who we are, and who sustains us,\u201d and effect the spiritual and social revolutions we so desire.<\/p>\n

Writes Weigel: <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Father Barron knows that the Catholic Church is a community of sinners whose infidelities have often marred the face of the Lord. At the same time, Father Barron\u2019s series displays the innumerable ways that the Catholic Church has been and remains a force for truth, decency, compassion, and sanity in an often-cruel world.<\/p>\n

Watch it. Politely lobby your local public television station to show the series in its entirety. Spread the word.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Amen.
\n
\nRelated:<\/strong> Read an interview with Fr. Barron on why he filmed \u201cCatholicism\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently I posted the first of what are bound to be many, many posts raving about Catholicism; A Journey to the Heart of the Faith and urging you to purchase the book, read it and \u2014 you won\u2019t be able to resist \u2014 give it to everyone you know. My husband and I are giving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4822,4828,4831,557,4906],"class_list":["post-31758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-america","tag-bookchat","tag-catholicism","tag-truth","tag-tv"],"yoast_head":"\nBarron's "Catholicism" Book is A Course in Revolution<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Recently I posted the first of what are bound to be many, many posts raving about Catholicism; A Journey to the Heart of the Faith and urging you to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2011\/09\/22\/catholicism-a-course-in-revolution\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Barron's "Catholicism" Book is A Course in Revolution\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Recently I posted the first of what are bound to be many, many posts raving about Catholicism; 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