Book Review - The Great Mysteries: Experiencing Catholic Faith from the Inside Out

October 14, 2004

EDITOR'S NOTE: This book review is sponsored by the Religious Education Media Center as a service to those interested in developing their own spirituality. Books featured in this column can be borrowed from the diocesan media center.

You may request this or other books by writing Deacon Larry Sitzman, Religious Education Media Center, 1821 Jackson St., Sioux City, IA 51102, e-mail him at larrys@scdiocese.org or phone (712) 255-7933.

Sister Kevin Cummings, retired archivist of the Diocese of Sioux City, offers a review of The Great Mysteries; Experiencing Catholic Faith from the Inside Out, 158pp. by Andrew M. Greeley, Sheed & Ward, 2003(c) ISBN 1-58051-131-7.

If longevity is one of the marks of what is sometimes called a "spiritual classic," Father Andrew Greeley's book, The Great Mysteries..., may be on the way to achieving that distinction. Father Robert Barron, professor of systematic theology at the University of St. Mary of the Lake-Mundelein Seminary, and who has a weekly radio program called The Word on Fire, has written a foreword to Father Greeley's book.

Father Barron mentions that he first read this "Catholic catechism" when he was seventeen. Although he doesn't give the year for that first reading, the book was out of print in May 1985, when Ingrid Shafer received permission to put the book on-line so that a priest at Loyola University, New Orleans, could continue to use it as a text for one of his courses and its message could be available at all times for those in need of the truths within.

The book is once again available in hard copy, having been republished with the 2003 copyright noted above. Father Barron notes about Greeley, "What he sees in all Christian doctrine-creation, redemption, Christology, Mariology, Trinity, cross and resurrection-is God's exuberant, child-like, irrepressible "Yes." This view coincides with Pope John Paul's opinion that the virtue the world seems to need during this era, is hope.

Father Barron ends his foreword, "For this light-filled interpretation of Christianity, we should all give thanks."

For some, especially those who have deep-seated suspicions about Father Greeley, it might be best to read his Introduction after they have read the book. The book follows the general progression of the "Baltimore catechisms," so there can be some advantage in reading it chapter by chapter.

However, just as one might start at any chapter in other catechisms, depending on one's current question, or concern, one can read the various chapters of this book in any order.

A guide for discussion and personal meditation follows the final chapter. One might read the suggested questions for each chapter before reading the chapter. Another might prefer to read the chapter first and only then look at the questions. An advantage of the latter method might be that one will, before reading the suggested questions, formulate one's own questions.

There is one chapter for each great mystery Father Greeley presents as basic to the Catholic faith. One can find the list of chapters on-line. Six of them are mentioned in the foreword, as noted above. At the head of each chapter is a title, and a "catechism question" as posed by today's ordinary people, followed by the question as it would be asked in the catechisms some of us grew up studying. For instance, Chapter 1, "The Mystery of God," "Is there any purpose in my life?" ..."Why did God make me?"

At the end of each chapter is a section called "Theological Note." In some chapters the theological note is followed by "Note" or "Notes," and some are particular kinds of notes, such as "Liturgical," "Historical" and, after "The Mystery of the Church," "Theological and Organizational Notes" and "Historical and Doctrinal Note." Each adds to the thoughts in the chapter, without interrupting the flow of thought within the chapter.

Some quotes from "Conclusion" to give a taste of the message of the book: "Doing or not doing certain things is not religion; religion is a way of doing everything." About the contents of the book: "It is not ethics, because it does not yet contain any specific moral imperatives, but it demands a style of life that is far more of a challenge to human generosity than any specific imperative could possibly be."

About scandals and failures: "Scandals and failures however should not obscure what the Catholic Christian theory stands for; they should have nothing to do with whether one embraces the theory or not.

If one wants to know whether the theory offers a life worth living, then one should look at the people who really lived it (the saints) and at those Catholics in their best moments when they are trying hard to live it."

Don't miss this opportunity for growth; read this book either on-line or one from the media center or your public library. You may want your own copy to guide you to further growth.