May Crowning, Mass, and Merton and Other Reasons I Love Being Catholic [Paperback]

Liz Kelly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2006

“Liz Kelly’s love of her Catholic faith is an inspiration. I highly recommend her wonderful book.”
—Matthew Kelly, New York Times best-selling author of
The Rhythm of Life

In May Crowning, Mass, and Merton, Liz Kelly, a thirty-something writer and jazz singer, eagerly shares her ardent love for the Catholic faith. While the beliefs of the church are important to Kelly, her passion is really ignited by the holy people and places, the beloved rituals, and the rich spiritual traditions of this living faith. She celebrates them here, with wit, affection, and candor.
Kelly has realized that “the litany of reasons to love being Catholic is extraordinary.” These include every­thing from the crucifix, kneelers, and Ash Wednesday to Flannery O’Connor, the Swiss Guard, and Tenebrae. Though she writes that, “Mine is not an extraordinary faith, so much as a faith growing a little messy, a little rough and subversive around the edges,” it is a rich, inspiring faith, celebrated by a fresh, young Catholic voice.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kelly, a writer and musician who works at Harvard University, explains and extols Catholicism's "many little traditions" in this paean to all that she loves about her faith. Starting with crucifixes, she cycles through Catholicism's favorite objects, people, devotions, truths and worship rhythms, describing how each anchors Catholics "not so much in this world, but oh so solidly in 'the next.' " Kelly acknowledges that the Catholic penchant for celebrating feasts, saints, significant moments, holy places and sacred objects makes devotees appear superstitious to outsiders. She holds that such things are not about magic but about "remembering and drawing on the rich, abundant experience that is the life of faith." What she loves about being Catholic, she writes, is the realization that she lives not just in the temporal world but in eternity. Kelly is most convincing when she writes from personal experience, sharing a story from her childhood about May Crowning ceremonies or holding forth on why she likes kneelers in churches. Her forays into the didactic are less engaging; for example, her essay on the rosary begins with a charming personal recollection, but ends with a rather lackluster description of the devotion. This book will mainly interest Catholics, especially those who embrace these devotional traditions. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Book Description

  Thirty-something Liz Kelly is successful writer, a jazz singer, and an assistant to the president of Harvard Univeristy.  She is also a devout Catholic who loves her faith and is eager to share its beauties with others.  "Mine is not an extraordinary faith," she writes, "so much as a faith growing, a little messy, a little rough and subversive around the edges.  But the litany of reasons to love being Catholic is extraordinary."

Kelly offers her personal list of reasons to love being Catholic--from May Crownings to daily Mass, to Pope John Paul II and kneelers in chruch.  With wit and great affection, she describes the holy people and places, beloved traditions, and joyful practices that constitute the vast, rich panoply of Catholic life well lived.  She shows how the Catholic Church is a great storehouse of spritual gifts that are offered to each believer.

May Crowning, Mass, and Merton is an exuberant and lively look at a fully-alive faith and a young woman who embodies the hopes and promises of today's spiritual seekers. 

 

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Loyola Press; First Edition, First edition (February 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0829420258
• ISBN-13: 978-0829420258
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,024,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

152 of 152 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Look at Amazing Traditions and practices, May 19, 2006

By 

Steven R. McEvoy "MCWPP" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: May Crowning, Mass, and Merton and Other Reasons I Love Being Catholic (Paperback)

This is a fascinating little volume, part meditation, part, biography and part theology. Liz Kelly open's up to us her life and her faith and in doing so can help us to understanding our own faith and tradition better. She examines the things, traditions, places and people that are a source of encouragement, challenge and trial to her faith, and through these pense's and thoughts opens our eyes to see Catholicism in anew light. As she states in her prologue "One: It's hard. Being Catholic has taught me about balance and prudence and the deep joys of daily discipline and commitment...Two: It's Hard. Sometimes it is painful to be Catholic, not because of rules and regulations so often associated with being Catholic are so restrictive, but because the love of heaven leads us to fearless expansiveness..."(p.XIII, XIV) Yes being Catholic can be hard but as Kelly shows us it has much in the way of consolation and rewards to make the hardships worth the efforts.

Kelly has separated her book into five roughly equal parts that examine different aspects of the Catholic tradition:

1. Objects with Meaning

2. Those who Journey With Us

3. Devotion in Practice

4. Truths That Bring Grace

5. Rhythms of the Faith

In each of these area's she examines different elements and examples of peoples, places, things, beliefs and practices that are means of grace in our lives. She opens up each of these categories like a flower blooming in an ever progressive way to draw us deeper into understanding the faith she is explaining to us.

In the first section she examines such elements as the Crucifix, Holy Water, incense, the Rosary, kneelers ... and through them helps us to focus our faith on what matters most. She states "I don't think heaven needs my burning candle any more than it needs holy water or incense. Sacramentals are for us, because we are sensory beings, and symbolism and sacramentals help infuse the spiritual into other planes of our experience - physical, emotional, mental."(p.12) In exploring these items she opens us to the grace inherent in the use of them as tools to draw us closer to God. Not as an end in themselves, but as a means to an end.

In looking at the lives of some of those who journey with us in this quest for faith and a life in God, Kelly shares some of those examples of saints and people of faith who's stories can be a source of challenge, inspiration and encouragement in our own journey with God. In Writing about Pope John Paul II Kelly says: "This picture is famous now, Pope John Paul II and his would be assassin, sitting together in intimate conversation two years after the incident. The Holy Father leaning toward the man with gentle attention, ...He was unafraid of the vulnerability created by living in forgiveness, of sitting in total love with the enemy."(p.59) Later while reflecting on the Communion of Saints Kelly reminds us of our own call to be saints, "Most saints did not have easy lives. Many were persecuted and martyred. They were an odd lot, many of them outcasts who experiences every kind of human suffering and weakness. And many of them began as ordinary folks like you and me."(p.81) She also reminds as that our service is to be done for God "Like many of the saints of the church, Pier Giorgio seemed to lead two lives, not contradictory lives, but one that people observed and one that was hidden."(p.98) So too our lives should bear silent witness to the work of God in and through us.

Through these examples and the many more that Kelly presents she shows a faith that is rich, vibrant and challenging. This book's greatest strength is the devotion in which it was written and the sentiment of finding peace in the journey of life. Peace that ultimately can only come from God, but we have a gracious God who has given us many tools to help us along out part. This book is once such tool, for it reveals to us so many other tools that God has provided.

(First Published in St. Anthnoy Messenger June 2006 Book Review Section)

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Reflection on Some of the Trademarks of Catholic Christianity!, October 4, 2006

By 

D. Horan "Franciscan Friar" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: May Crowning, Mass, and Merton and Other Reasons I Love Being Catholic (Paperback)

Kelly does a very nice job at sharing some of her reflections on what are the tenets of Catholicism that strike her as both most inspiring and most significant. While not an exhaustive list by any means, Kelly - a young Catholic writer and musician - presents those aspects of her faith that are closest to her heart.

I found this book to be a welcomed change from the standard "Why am I Catholic" or "The Greatest Things of Catholicism" genre of publication. What makes this unique is that it is written from the perspective of her lived faith experience bearing no tone or sense of proselytizing. It is an approachable book that is divided into chapters, 49 in total in addition to a prologue and an epilogue, representing each of the "reasons she loves being catholic." Each chapter is short and to the point, allowing for someone with a hectic schedule or a limited attention span to digest this book in prescribes segments over time.

While one might presume that this book is primarily for a Catholic audience, Kelly explicitly invites non-Catholics, on a number of occasions throughout the book, to explore some her devotional interests and "see for your self." That said, this book is an interesting read to both the cradle Catholic, the convert, the person of another denomination or faith and the unbeliever - this book is for all.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A life and faith-affirming testimony by a fresh young voice, September 11, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: May Crowning, Mass, and Merton and Other Reasons I Love Being Catholic (Paperback)

May Crowning, Mass, and Merton and Other Reasons I Love Being Catholic by jazz singer Liz Kelly is a testimony of love for the Catholic faith, particularly the beloved rituals, cherished spiritual expressions, and close bonds with holy people and places. A celebration of the extraordinary tradition of Catholicism, that reaches out to the fellow reader to partake in the joys of faith, love, and reverence for God, May Crowning, Mass, and Merton is a passionate and wonderful testimony of true belief. A life and faith-affirming testimony by a fresh young voice.