catherineofalx's reviews
603 reviews

I am so impressed that the Daughters published this book before Pierre Toussaint was even declared Venerable, and that they encouraged a hagiography that respects and celebrates his Blackness. This wasn’t a small thing in 1981 (or 1998), but the way things are in the Catholic Church in the U.S. right now, it would honestly be even harder to publish this book in 2021.

Tarry put it well when she said that people have been writing about Pierre as if he were “a saintly white man with a black face,” rather than the truth of a Black Saint! I also loved the reflection from Jaime Vidal at the end of the book: Pierre’s virtue did not flatter white elites, but humbled them by highlighting how artificial their ideas about race were. His no-exceptions Christian virtue shines a light on all the exceptions others were making. He was just plain charitable in a world ready with a thousand excuses not to be.

I will say, I didn't love the novelized/imaginative style of the book, though Tarry's research is phenomenal. It's just not my thing. But don't let that stop you from learning about this wonderful saint!!

Beautifully written, and full of humor and joy that is infectious. I really loved this and needed its reminders about poverty pointing us to communion with the One who is our greatest wealth. ❤️

This book has some lovely things to say, but Sheen's vision of God is far too authoritarian to be the same God I know. He has a very reactionary view of the Church as well. This book gave me some insight into his following, but I probably won't be turning to him for actual spiritual reading again.

 

Jesus said it best, in the epigraph to this book (taken from his words to Bl. Angela of Foligno): "I did not love you as a joke." 

 

This book will save lives. I am not exaggerating. Eve's questions are born of hope in its real, genuine, deep sense—not sunny optimism, but confidence in a project worth giving your life to: "What if gay people were *safer* in our churches than in the secular world? What if we could find *more* ways to give and receive love within the Church than we do outside it?" (xv) By starting here, and mixing lectio divina with real talk, practical advice, and lofty dreams along the way, this book manages to reckon with the pastoral crisis we're in while keeping us ever focused on the all-powerful, all-overcoming love of God. 

 

This book is first and foremost for gay Christians looking for community and longing for a whole kaleidoscope of futures, as it should be. But, while I don't wanna make this about ~the straights~, it's also for straight Christians who want to love gay Christians better... and straight Christians who know the secret that many of us see our sexualities as crosses, not gifts from and for God, too. This book will leave you loving the God who made us, and delighted to have gotten to know him better. I can't give a better review than that. 

 

Thank you to NetGalley and Ave Maria Press for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review! 

Whenever I pick up a book about the lives of the saints, I’m usually bracing myself for all the usual tropes. All those generic white girls with no personality and colonizing men presented completely uncritically. Glossed-over rape and glorified eating disorders. The list goes on.

What a relief it was to open this book and know from page one that I wouldn’t have to worry about any of that, In Meg Hunter-Kilmer’s capable hands, each saint really does leap out as a unique image of Christ, utterly irrepeatable, formed in this real world. You get the sense that Hunter-Kilmer has learned to see the Creator’s delight in each of us, and wants to teach us that above all. This book doesn’t shy away from difficult topics, but handles them all with instructive grace.

If the goal of this book was to make me want to be a saint… To be a part of this star-studded cast… To meet people in heaven like jungle surgeon Bl. Maria Troncatti, bold foundress Ven. Mary Elizabeth Lange, and misfit sister Bl. Sara Salkahazi… Then it was successful. Sign me up!

(Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC!)

PHENOMENAL, FIVE STARS, CANNOT WAIT TO READ THE THOUSAND INEVITABLE SEQUELS

I just can't get over how many fascinating lives are in this book. I want to know everything about all of them!!! What a gift to the Church.

This was the perfect book to experience as an audiobook. I really enjoy the world Locke has built up around this character and how much more complicated everything is than when it first appears.