Book club craze hits Spencer parish

By Kenny Keane, Globe staff writer
Posted Oct.10, 2002

SPENCER - Sort of like break dancing in the '80s, a recent fad, if you will, started somewhere in the '90s, many would say by Oprah Winfrey. That fad or trend is something called a book club, and according to Father Roger Linnan, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Spencer, it is no stranger to many of those in his community.

"There are book clubs here in town, and we have parishioners who belong to book clubs," he said. "Some of them thought we should start reading spiritual books with the thought that good spiritual or theological material would work, too. We got a pretty good response."

The response prompted the starting of a book club at Sacred Heart. Father Linnan said they just ordered several copies of a book called Against an Infinite Horizon: The Finger of God in Our Everyday Lives, by Father Ronald Rolheiser, a Catholic priest.

Father Linnan said anyone interested in this club can purchase the book, which is currently available at the parish office. All those who participate will read the book during the month of October, and then they will join him for dinner and discussion at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 3 at the rectory.

Robin Barber, pastoral minister/development director at Sacred Heart, was the one who presented the idea to Father Linnan. She said the idea came from the popularity of these book clubs seen on a lot of television shows, such as Oprah.

"It seems to be something that people are responding to," Barber said. "I thought it was a neat way to do some adult education without asking people for a lot of their time for meetings. They read the book and then come for a dinner to talk about the book, but we're not meeting in between time."

This is the first month for the book club, but Barber said they've already sold so many books that she believes it will be successful.

"We don't worry that much about how many people are coming," she said. "If it's 12, we'll still continue to do it. If it's more than that, then we'll have more than one discussion group at the end.

"We have some elderly people, who have picked up books, so we might meet in the daytime for a luncheon rather than for dinner. We do plan on making the books spiritually enriching."

This first book should be right along those lines according to Father Linnan, who said that Father Rolheiser is a wonderful, spiritual writer.

"I think when you read him, he gives you things that become pointers that remind you of the presence and the love of God during the day," Father Linnan said. "That's the effect his books have had on me, and I'm hoping it'll have the same effects. I think he helps us interpret our day-to-day lives from the perspective of the Gospel."

Overall, Father Linnan said he thinks the book club would provide "encouragement to read a good book, and then you find out what wonderful ideas were inspired in the minds of lots of other people."

Barber said the evening of dinner and discussion should end around 9, depending on the length of discussion. Regardless of how the discussion goes, she said the dinner, which she is cooking, will be worth it.

"We're having a gourmet dinner. It'll be at least a five-course dinner," she said. "We'll have a cocktail hour, and then we'll have dinner and discussion. My first hobby is cooking, so the dinner's going to be as good as the book."

If you have any question about the book club or would like to join, you can contact Barber at (712) 262-3047.

"The dinner at the end and the conversation is an incentive to sort of push people to buy the book and read it," she said. "Nobody will be sorry they did it. It's an enriching book that would add some meaning to anybody's life."

Home