Mary Jane Frances Cavolina

I grew up Catholic in England, and the subtitle to this book—An infinitely funny guide for the faithful, the fallen, and everyone in-between—made me eager to read. Was the Catholic experience in America the same? Is American humor the same? And how much would the authors say the church had changed and grown?

Actually, it seems the experience of growing up Catholic in England is different from in America. There were many images I could relate to—nuns casting their wimples and wearing blacks and blues, the sharply wielded ruler (though it was a rare event, evoking horror and amazement in my world), kneeling down to prove my skirt was long enough, and, of course, the uneasy question of “What’s a mortal sin?” But lots of things felt alien to me too. I’d never heard of the Baltimore Catechism, measuring years of indulgences made me think of the middle ages, and a lot of cultural references (to movies and books) belonged (not surprisingly) to a different world.

I liked the gentle humor of this book—not infinitely funny after all, but honest, with a self-deprecating sense of chatting among friends. I liked the illustrations, quirky questions (how near is a near occasion for sin?), questionnaires (match these martyrs to their martyrdoms), and the gentle parodies of church vacations or church magazines. But I wished the book had been truly updated, rather than just updated to the Millennium. Of course, it’s called “The Commemorative Catholic Jubilee Edition” so I should have known. But so much has happened recently to make chapters on recent Popes or canonization procedures feel oddly out of date.

My favorite piece is a nun’s recollection of how she made a difficult class obey her. My parents were teachers. Her story rang pleasingly true. And my conclusion is it’s a good fun book, eminently ripe for its next update.

Disclosure: I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.… (meer)