Customer Reviews

The Catholic Home: Celebrations and Traditions for Holidays, Feast Days, and Every Day

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

I think this book would make a wonderful gift for someone who is either new to Catholicism, say entering RCIA or returning to the Church after many years absence, or for someone who is just easing into the celebration of seasonal rituals for the home, for the first time, and who does not want to be overwhelmed.

It might help to point out that this is a book which makes some pretty basic distinctions: that Catholics pray with the saints in icons, not to the saints in icons. It explains the Jesse Tree for Christmas, but strangely, has little information on the Advent wreath (though, to be fair, the author suggests that you can find lots of information, including the daily readings, online). It includes a few paragraphs on keeping a prayer journal, lists the station of the cross for Lent and explains the Rosary in a fairly minimal and introductory fashion.

The whole book runs to roughly 200 pages, not including appendices, but including non-seasonal information, daily devotions and honoring the sacraments, so that each seasonal celebration merits just a few pages. Today's solemnity, Mary, Mother of God, runs to a page and a half, a third of which is taken up by the entry heading. As the saying goes, this is not a fount of information that would drown an elephant, though it is a good, resourceful introduction for those individuals who are just beginning a deepening personal, sacramental life in the Church.

I, personally, would have loved to have discovered, in this book, more information on all the seasons: crafts for adults and children; information on home altars not just in the back of the book, but within every seasonal entry; more historical information, prayers and novenas and lots and lots of pictures! The Roman Catholic Church has been around for 2,000 years and Holy Mother Church's intense emotional and spiritual impact on art, culture and the home have produced profound artifacts of tradition, lore and devotion. This book barely skims the top of such an immense wealth.

Sadly, I have yet to find such a book. For those who are searching for such a tome, a good resource can be with fisheaters: fisheaters.com/beingcatholic.html as well as within Flickr, by searching for catholic altars, etc.

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.

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.

A valuable reference book that is a joy to read from cover to cover.

It is densely filled with holidays and feast days throughout the year, their histories and suggestions for celebrations. Dr. Gould's friendly and relaxed style of writing makes me feel as if all this wonderful information is being given to me while sitting across from her having a cup of tea.

My only sadness is that this wonderful book was not written thirty years ago when I had young children. A young family using the book as a resource and basis for family celebrations throughout the year could not help but grow into a strong spiritual unit with sound values that would be shared with their community.

Some of the traditions she describes are very familiar, some happily ring a distant bell, and some are new to me. Dr Gould has blessed us by making all of this available in an attractive and enjoyable form.

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.

Ms. Gould has written a book that should be in every Catholic home, church, and school. It comes at a time in our history when many of us are looking towards our churches, our Catholic schools and our homes as sources of peace and comfort. She has provided an opportunity for Catholics to return to the traditions that nurtured the faithful for generations without losing the perspective of modern church celebrations. As a Catholic school teacher I see this book as an excellent classroom resource , and as a mother I see it as the source of rich traditions that my family could practice throughout the liturgical year. Ms. Gould's intelligent, as well as refreshing, writing style will make this book attractive to readers of all ages, including those young adults who will be the parents, teachers and role models for the next generation.

The new paperback edition of The Catholic Home has its own special Preface; more material, including an Appendix that reveals all the titles ascribed to Mary; corrections for liturgical color errors; and an index to help everyone (including me!) find stuff.

I am very pleased with the way this updated edition turned out and grateful to have received glowing endorsements from national leaders in family catechesis and adult formation. I am also grateful to readers who have taken the time to send kind comments to me directly.

My hope and prayer is that The Catholic Home inspires a greater interest in those aspects of Catholic culture that support our Catholic Christian faith. Please feel free to contact me if you'd like me to visit your parish!

I really loved this book. I never really learned all the traditions associated with Catholicism and this book delivered on its promises. I look forward to incorporating some, maybe all, of the suggested activities in the book into our family's life. I know I would have loved to have had more home traditions mixed in with my family's life growing up, because it would have helped me to stay more connected with church rather than feeling like it was just a weekly obligation.

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.