Product Description

For centuries, the Catholic Church has offered an abundance of splendid traditions that extend religious and spiritual practice into daily life. Now, Meredith Gould reintroduces these customs and rituals to modern Roman Catholics.

Using the liturgical calendar, The Catholic Home provides familiar and new ways to celebrate each season and its special days. Gould reviews major holy days, select saints’ days, familiar prayers, and suggests meaningful ways to prepare as a family for such sacraments as Baptism, Confirmation, First Eucharist, and Matrimony.

This book includes a concise history of each ritual and clarifies the meaning behind it by highlighting celebrations of Catholic holidays from different parts of the globe. Your family will learn to make Advent wreaths, Jesse trees, St. Lucy’s crowns, King’s cakes, All Souls altars, traditional foods, and participate in family devotions.

Throughout The Catholic Home, Gould’s down-to-earth practicality and sense of humor give the activities she describes modern relevance no matter how ancient their origins. Excerpts from the official Catechism of the Catholic Church are included to illuminate Church doctrine on matters of faith and ritual. This indispensable guide will appeal to Catholics young and old and inspire beloved family traditions to be handed down from one generation to the next.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35107 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-19
• Released on: 2006-09-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780385519076
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Who better than a nice Jewish girl to tell Catholics how to celebrate their faith at home? Jews have always been known for a sensibly domestic-centered observance of their religion, and Gould, a Jewish-born convert to Catholicism, speaks from a unique dual perspective. Having lived in a Jewish home, she knows about lighting Sabbath candles, but also remembers when Catholics kept holy water and statues in their houses. In her own home, which she affectionately describes as "the Hermitage" and "Julian of Norwich goes suburban," she has revived traditions that fell by the wayside after changes wrought by Vatican II, and also established a multitude of new ones. Readers seeking to reinforce Catholic identity on the home front will find plenty of ideas, among them a how-to for celebrating Christmas when it actually arrives, instead of weeks before, and making Halloween holy by embracing it as the eve of All Saints Day. Gould's writing is light and airy, even irreverent at times, but her ideas are well-grounded and refreshing. She wisely reinforces her suggestions with excerpts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church and uses the church's sacraments and elaborate calendar of feast days and liturgical seasons as the skeleton of her book, trotting out bits of history and legend for added interest. Gould's engaging enthusiasm will doubtless have readers asking, "Who knew Catholicism could be so much fun?"
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Review

?The Catholic Home is clear, practical, and inviting; it will make every Catholic?s job easier visualizing how to bring the faith home.? ?Frederica Matthewes-Green, NPR commentator and author of Facing East and At the Corner of East and Now

Review
“The Catholic Home is clear, practical, and inviting; it will make every Catholic’s job easier visualizing how to bring the faith home.” —Frederica Matthewes-Green, NPR commentator and author of Facing East and At the Corner of East and Now

Customer Reviews

Great Handbook for families
I love this book! I grew up in a Catholic family and in Catholic schools. However, that did not prepare me for passing along Catholic traditions to my own children and to my converted husband. The fear of offending anyone(especially my non-Catholic relatives) made me a little hesitant to "let religious identity permeate our home". Gould's book encourages and instructs on how to do so. She has specific ideas, traditions, and even recipes for living a richer life within the Church.

Great, accessible writing!
Meredith Gould's spritely, conversational writing style combined with her knowledge and passion for the subject make this book a winner. If you're Catholic and looking to better integrate your faith into your home, lapsed Catholic trying to find your way back to your roots, or just curious about why Catholics do the things they do, you'll enjoy this book.

I Needed This Book 30 Years Ago!
As a single-parent mother of four who was taught by nuns for 14 years and whose own mother was a convert to Catholicism, I was certainly raised in a Catholic Home. But not with such delightful celebrations that Dr. Gould shares in "The Catholic Home." I just wish she'd written this book when I started raising my own children thirty-plus years ago. She makes "keeping the faith" fun, fulfilling and so interesting that even teenagers might go along with some of her ideas. Bravo! This book should be given to all Catholic couples when they marry.