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: #231785 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-19
• Released on: 2006-09-19
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

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

Ways to grow in Faith
Meredith Gould has done a great job of bringing together traditions from all around the world, and offering these as ways to grow in true faith, not just more items on holiday to-do lists. Her suggestions for Lenten prayer are particularly valuable. Written in a clear, concise, and humorous style, this compact book has earned its place as a family reference.

Great manual for catholic home
This is a very nice manual of catholic traditions that can be incorporated into everyday life. My husband and I were looking for something like this as we both weren't raised with any Catholic traditions and hope to raise our kids with a very Catholic home. This is a great starting point, and has a lot of interesting ideas that I had never heard of.

Great Gift
I ordered this for my sister as a gift. She suggested the book and I had no trouble finding it on Amazon. Thanks!