Customer Reviews

Almost Catholic: An Appreciation of the History, Practice, and Mystery of Ancient Faith

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I thought this was a refreshing book about how an evangelical was enriched by the catholic tradition. Too often present day Christians think their tradition goes back to the founding of their particular group when in fact we share a longer tradition with others. If you read Richard Foster or many other spiritual writers they will consult both catholic and protestant writers and mystics. I an a United Methodist and I have been informed by Anglican and Catholic heritages as well as my own Wesleyan heritage. This writer communicates to Protestant readers the practices of Roman Catholics that we could learn from and benefit from ourselves.

Author John M. Sweeney has written an excellent book, "Almost Catholic," that should find a home with non-Catholics, lapsed Catholics, and Catholics "in good standing" alike. Sweeney's family was originally Roman Catholic but found it was not easy being Catholic in Kansas in the 1800s so they became evangelical Protestant. Today, Sweeney is an Episcopalian. He admits that his family's Catholic history may be haunting him.

The book is composed of six sections:
* Definitions and language which includes "The Eleven Steps to Becoming a Truly Catholic Christian."
* The Catholic Imagination" which explores a particular way of seeing the world - God is here in sacred places and spaces.
* What it means to be Catholic which is to fully embrace the Incarnate Christ - the Crucifix, the Stations of the Cross, and relics, "bones and bodies."
* Physical connections to spiritual reality which includes the Rosary, Novenas, Icons/Images, Confession, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
* A reflection by the author on his faith journey which includes chapters on Thomas Merton, St. Francis of Assisi, G.K. Chesterton, Flannery O'Connor, and the Roman Catholic Catechism.
* Practices that pull us together which include the Sacraments, Sacramentals, and Blessings, which are being rediscovered today by many outside the Catholic Church.

Sweeney, who has thought deeply about the Catholic tradition, wrote this with the hope others would learn as he did about the jewels that lie below the surface. Non-Catholic religious leaders have confused the matter by preaching that being Catholic is primarily about that outer crust of religious observance. As the reader will learn, there is much beauty to uncover and there are many elements of Catholicism that have the potency for non-Catholics and for uncommitted Catholics as well as for Catholics who believe they are well formed.

This book is not quite what I was expecting. I picked it up anticipating a quasi-history of Roman Catholic spiritual traditions. In reality, it reads more like a self-help book (a la The Purpose Driven Life), with Jon Sweeney laying out his own opinions on Jesus and the Gospel and how he believes they should apply to everyday life. It might have helped had I known that Sweeney is some type of motivational speaker, and this book certainly employs the language I associate with those types of seminars (there's plenty of talk about your "true" vs. "false self").

I also found that in his infatuation with Catholicism, he was unfair with Protestant Christianity in many places. And I think I can judge this without bias - I'm not a Christian, just someone who's recently become interested in the matter, and reading lots of different texts lately on Jesus and those who follow Him. For instance, Sweeney criticizes Protestantism for its lack of imagination and its heavy focus on personal faith. For someone like myself, I can't help but simultaneously consider the many benefits of the Reformation. Luther's rejection of religious hierarchy paved the way for democracy, something I happen to like quite a bit. Also, for all the focus on Catholic mystery, I find that there's plenty among Protestants as well. What about Pentecostal charismatics, or the intense spiritual movements in African-American Baptist churches? I find them all equally fascinating.

The book has many chapters and each is intended to deal with a certain element of Catholicism, but they really don't. For instance, there's a chapter on the Rosary. But it's hard to explain what all of the chapters become. There is no history of the Rosary, or even any explanation of what it is. It's just more of Sweeney's personal musings and a story about the first time he prayed the Rosary. And then there's the chapter on Iconography, which, far from providing a defense of the practice, actually seems to provide a stronger argument for those who oppose such objects as idolatry.

This book is terribly difficult to describe, but I still find myself rating it rather highly for a couple of reasons. First, it's immensely readable. And maybe it is just a bunch of self-help mysticism, but, nevertheless, I wouldn't mind if he turned out to be right. While I personally would have liked more of a substantive assessment of Catholicism, Sweeney does excel in certain topics, such as the "sensuousness" of Jesus, which I thought was very well argued. I also admire his open-armed approach to Christian fellowship. In an atmosphere that seems dominated by those more concerned with who to exclude from the faith, it's nice to find a voice for moderates.

we all come from the early church and this sure helps explain some old myths we have been feed