Easter Season: One of the Best Parts of Being Catholic?

Posted on May 6, 2013 | Leave a comment

By Blog Editor

Easter is not just celebrated on Easter Sunday, in fact, the Easter Season is 50 days, and in Kathy Coffey’s latest book, The Best of Being Catholic, she writes why Easter is so important to Catholics.

The Best of Being Catholic has three sections:

1) The Beliefs We Cherish

2) The Seasons We Celebrate

3) The Company We Keep

In Chapter 13, which is focused on Easter, Coffey explains that it can be helpful to separate the religious meaning of Easter from all of the “cultural accumulations”

This happened experientially for me one year when Easter brought snow and sickness. Without lilies, bunnies, bonnets, egg hunts, pastels, or yellow marshmellow chicks, this was the Acid Test of the feast. In a friend’s mountain home, sniffling, coughing and watching dreary weather, would the message of resurrection still hold?

Indeed it came powerfully, through a totally unexpected channel: clearing skies and sunlight gradually stroking the mountaintops. What had been grey fog parted to reveal luminous peaks, emerging slowly. It echoed the absence and presence/hidden and revealed/hide and seek themes of this season. The resurrected Jesus may be unrecognized or invisible, but is still with his friends in a less physical way.

If there had been musical accompaniment, those mountains streaked with sun would’ve invited the Alleluia chorus, belted loudly. The mountains unfurled banners of good news: granite heavily grounded, yet airily sweeping the skies. While it’s not our traditional image, a healing sleep without coughing fit Easter nevertheless: joy unexpectedly found in the midst of sorrow.

TO BE CONTINUED…

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The Best of Being Catholic Reviewed in Spirit & Life

Posted on April 22, 2013 | Leave a comment

Best of Being Catholic

By Blog Editor

Kathy Coffey’s latest book, The Best of Being Catholic, was recently reviewed by Spirit & Life Magazine  by Mary S. Sheridan.  She explains that while Catholics have heard much bad news over the past year, “Kathy Coffey tells the “light” and “hope,” through an eclectic mix of reflections, stories (her own and those of others), facts, and information—all positive—about the Catholic Church today.”

Sheridan concludes that given the book’s focus on Catholic culture, it would be appropriate for new or inquiring Catholics, “But its real value, in my opinion, is in reminding discouraged Catholics that there is more to the Church than problems.”

To read the full review, visit this link: Spirit & Life, Book Reviews, (March/April 2013)

To read other reviews of The Best of Being Catholic, visit:

Introduction and Review by Publisher’s Weekly. 

Review by National Federation of Priests’ Councils

Review in Hark Blog (Denver Post)

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Darkness and Light: A Reflection on Good Friday

Posted on March 14, 2013 | Leave a comment

By Blog Editor

Kathy Coffey was recently featured in the March 2013 issue of St. Anthony Messenger.  Coffey writes about Good Friday, and the role that acknowledging suffering can play in Catholicism:

Many wise traditions know the importance of naming one’s loss or sorrow because suppressing it only makes it worse. Buddhist monk and author Thich Nhat Hanh suggests cradling our broken hearts as tenderly as we would a sick and crying child.

In a particularly Catholic way, an abstraction such as “suffering” is translated to tangible, visible word and gesture in the liturgy. Furthermore, it links our individual stories and struggles concretely, not just verbally, to the overarching story of Christ’s redemptive suffering.

To read the rest of “Darkness and Light: A Reflection on Good Friday,” visit the March issue of St. Anthony Messenger.

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Best of Being Catholic Reviewed in “Hark” Blog

Posted on December 18, 2012 | 1 comment

By Blog Editor

John Kane recently reviewed Kathy Coffey’s latest book, The Best of Being Catholic, in the Hark blog, which is housed at the Denver Post.

Kane begins with a disclosure that he has worked together with Kathy Coffey for a number of years.  He explains that like Coffey, he was also a little bit worried about the topic of the book, worried that it might be “just another counterbalancing catalog, some long list of “good things?”

Instead, Kane explains that the book is “realistic, critical at times, reflective, suggestive-with the good poet’s eye for endless detail and concreteness, but the good writer’s ability to move things even while reaching deep and wide.”

Kane continues: “Reading made me think of a group of friends meeting over wine or beer, telling stories, sharing memories (quirky and even strange), yet all in atmosphere of deep affection for things really good.”

To read his full review, visit the Hark blog on the Denver Post website: “‘The Best of Being Catholic’ a good gift for discouraged members at Christmas”

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The Best of Being Catholic Review by National Federation of Priests’ Councils

Posted on December 3, 2012 | 1 comment

By Blog Editor

The National Federation of Priests’ Councils recently reviewed Kathy Coffey’s latest book, The Best of Being Catholic, calling it “uplifting and refreshing.”    The review explains: “Coffey reminds readers of the assuring and powerful treasures and practices available in the Church, but are rarely heard about in the day-to-day bustle of post-modern life.”

The Best of Being Catholic was also recently reviewed by Coffey’s grandson:

The Best of Being Catholic

We’re not sure if he made it to this section in chapter one:

“Even Catholic toddlers learn they are God’s daughters and sons. They know themselves beloved and precious to the Great Lord of all the Universe. And that, when you weigh 37 pounds and have droopy socks, is an empowering message. Our true destination and authentic home, Catholics learn early on, isn’t only the messy, violent, unfair world where we spend a lot of time, but the “many mansions” of the Father’s house. ”

The Best of Being Catholic- A Tasty Ready!

Interested in learning more about The Best of Being Catholic?

The table of contents and first chapter are available on the publisher’s website and you can also order the book there: Orbis Books: The Best of Being Catholic.

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Profile of Bridging Hope in National Catholic Reporter

Posted on October 7, 2012 | Leave a comment

Kathy Coffey recently profiled Bridging Hope in the September 28-October 10 issue of National Catholic Reporter.

Bridging Hope is a nonprofit founded by Franciscan Sister Sen Nyguyen.   The article profiles Nguyen’s journey from Vietnam, to Denver, Colorado, where she became a Franciscan Sister, to her return to Vietnam in 1991, which motivated her to start Bridging Hope.

“Some bridges are hard to negotiate, but this ministry is a significant start. Many feel overwhelmed by world poverty, yet finding a direct, trustworthy way to alleviate it is the first step on the bridge. Even one small, practical action restores hope.”   To read the entire article, visit: National Catholic Reporter: “Franciscan sister’s nonprofit aims to create bridges between U.S., Vietnam”

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The Best of Being Catholic

Posted on September 29, 2012 | 2 comments

By Blog Editor

Kathy Coffey’s newest book, “The Best of Being Catholic” was recently published and is now available.

Best of Being Catholic

In a review of the book, Publisher’s Weekly explains: “While acknowledging the many grave problems within the church, and those caused by it, the author lovingly presents brief vignettes about the people, places, and ideas that have made Catholicism such a rich and dignified religion.”

In the introduction to The Best of Being Catholic, Coffey explains that the “best” of being Catholic will vary for each person:

The Reader’s Role

I enjoy many friends, and Catholics make up part of that delightful, cantankerous, humorous company. There must be a great deal that’s “best” about being Catholic. As with every other exploration, a principle of selection applies.

To the same place or question, we all bring our individual backgrounds, experiences and opinions. One person, for instance, will relish the windswept beaches of the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Another, traveling to the same area, will be intrigued with the museum nearby, which celebrates the Wright brothers’ first flight in the Kitty Hawk.

I became interested in the exploration that follows—and hope to draw the reader into it too. The questions after each chapter invite personal investment, and provide prompts for groups reading this book together.

Interested in learning more about The Best of Being Catholic?

The table of contents and first chapter are available on the publisher’s website and you can also order the book there: Orbis Books: The Best of Being Catholic.

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