John Hardon (1914–2000)

This is definitely a "Pope Benedict" sort of book, not a "Pope Francis" sort of book. By that I mean that it is deeply involved in the niceties of doctrine, and not at all concerned with the history, effects -- or side effects -- of this doctrine.

I often like to read reference books, in times when I have a few minutes to spend and don't want to get too deeply into something. So, when I get a new dictionary or encyclopedia, I usually glance through it to see what I could look for if I read it show more consecutively. So imagine my surprise to randomly flip to the entry on "Investiture," the practice of a lay ruler appointing senior church officials such as bishops. The book correctly says that the Papacy forbid this practice early in the second millennium. But there is nothing at all about the investiture controversy, which was the long conflict between Kings and the Papacy over this practice, which by no means was resolved by the Second Council of 1139 -- monarchs continued to insist on their own candidates for many years after that, and they often got their own way by the simple means of not letting the Vatican candidate enter into the office.

That absence made it obvious to flip to the entry on "infallibility," which is interesting in a number of ways, such as under-stressing the role of the rest of the church in advising the Pope on moral pronouncements. But what is truly fascinating is that the entry completely ignores the fact that this was an ability the Pope took to himself -- in the nineteenth century. I have never quite understood how (say) John Paul II -- who certainly never met Jesus -- could be more infallible than Peter, who was obviously a fallible man but who knew Jesus and (tradition says) was the very first Pope.

Or take the very first entry I saw in my random flipping, "Onanism." The book defines Onanism to include "birth control, contraception, planned parenthood and Neo-Malthusianism" (!). Which is fascinating, because the actual crime of Onan was coitus interruptus, and I've never heard the term used any other way. Admittedly Onan did it for purposes of contraception, but even the Catholic Church permits family planning by means of the rhythm method. To my way of thinking, Onanism ought to be another legitimate birth control, rather than a term for all the forms of birth control which result in the death of a fertilized embryo. Of course, that's just me using logic -- but the point is, the book has redefined the term in a non-English way, and in a very, very aggressive way, and never admits the distinction.

On the other hand, when I looked at the Benedictines to find out whether they were the "Black Monks" or the "Grey Monks" or the "White Monks" (useful for historians, and certainly something one might wish to know about Catholic monks), there was a substantial (and fairly useful) description of their history, but no mention of the nickname.

Bottom line: If you want to understand the viewpoint of a fanatical Catholic -- fanatical to the point of self-deception, sometimes -- this is a useful book. There is certainly a lot of useful information in here if you are careful to ignore its extreme ability to confuse facts with opinions. But if you just want to know things about the history of Catholicism, it's a lot less useful. It feels very much like the strict, utterly authoritarian, non-rational, non-charitable Catholicism. Speaking personally, it frankly makes me feel as if I never want to have anything to do with Catholicism ever again. Certainly it is not something I would trust for anything other than a statement of doctrine. Your theology may vary. show less

For less than $20 hardcover, this anthology is a brilliantly edited introduction to esteemed authors and poets on the Catholic faith, almost all of which would have been difficult to acquire otherwise. Like the Imitation of Christ, some of which is included here, every sentence is pure gold. The 14-page Analytic Index is a bonus. One of the most value-packed books I have ever seen.

I stumbled across this review on the blog and decided to post it here on LibraryThing:

The Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan, by Fr. John Hardon, S.J.
Grotto Press
1989

Anything with Fr. Hardon's name on it is worth looking at, and this was a
Christmas gift several years ago. Sadly, it languished on the shelves for
many of those years until recently, shortly after I reviewed Elizabeth
Kantor's book, "The Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American
Literature." In that book, Dr. Kantor argues show more that English and American
literature is misrepresented in most universities. In the process of
developing her thesis, she introduces the reader to many of the classic
authors, with each chapter accompanied by a list of recommended authors and
works. I liked that book so much that I started thinking that there should
be a Catholic version of Kantor's book.

I should qualify that. I think there should be a list of Catholic authors
whose works demonstrate the best of literature and the Faith.

Thankfully, Fr. Hardon has saved me the trouble of doing this on my own by
compiling a list of recommended readings from Catholic sources.

Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan is divided into writings from various time
periods, such as The Age of Persecution, The Patristic Age, Medieval
Civilization, The Catholic Reformation, and finally the Modern Age. Each
author has a one to two page writeup, consisting of a brief biography,
followed by discussion of what Fr. Hardon argues is the best work of that
author. In some instances, he quotes from the author to give one a 'flavor'
of his writings. With more than 100 authors discussed, one could easily
find something that appeals to one's taste.

Here is an example from The Roman Catechism, where Fr. Hardon quotes a
report explaining the need for the catechism which was released after the
Council of Trent(1542?):

"There are few authentic teachers. As a result the children are growing up
without instruction and without formation, either by their parents or their
teachers, in the Christian way of life, which they began to have and to know
whey they were baptized."

This quote sounds as if could have been written today.
I recommend this book as a guide to reading the best of Catholic literature,
just as I think Dr. Kantor's book is a good source for reading the best of
literature in general. One thing that is striking is how often Catholic
ideas are woven into so many stories, poems, and essays. While the world
wants to relegate the it to the background, the Catholic Church still
provides a source of inspiration for literature and the arts.

I took the title of this blog entry from a common restaurant menu setup,
where one selects an entrée from several different lists. One could use Fr.
Hardon's and Dr. Kantor's books to develop not only a greater enjoyment of
literature, but also a greater appreciation of the contributions of Catholic
authors to the written word. show less

The question and answer format is the most popular way of providing specific answers to specific quetions about Catholicism. Father John A. Hardon, using the material from his best-selling Catholic Catechism, has put together a book of over 1,700 questions and answers to provide the modern Catholic with easy access to the issues of the Catholic faith.