The premise behind Chad Torgerson’s new release, Waking Up Catholic: A Guide to Catholic Beliefs for Converts, Reverts, and Anyone Becoming Catholic, isn’t a new one.
He wants to help people understand what the Catholic Church teaches. It’s a laudable goal.
What’s different about this book than what I expected from another Catholic guide can be found, in part, in the fact that Torgerson isn’t a professional apologist. He’s a programmer, a writer, and a husband and father. He’s a normal guy, and he approaches the topic that way.
You feel, as you read it, as though you’re having a conversation with a friend, one who’s there to explain things and not necessarily sell you on anything. He doesn’t shy away from explaining things clearly, but there’s no “you have to believe this” sledgehammer.
Torgerson’s authentic and honest. He shares his struggles and the solutions he found in Church teaching.
This is a good, straightforward book. It’s a quick read and well-done. I wouldn’t have any hesitations in sharing it with nearly anyone who expressed interested in Catholicism and maybe even some of those who haven’t but have questions.
Highly recommended.
Thank you for the review.
I’m almost finished reading “American Church,” by Russell Shaw, which I won in a “giveaway” on this site. It’s an educational book that I recommend highly.
Wow, you’re a fast reader! I’m so glad you’re enjoying that book! 🙂
I’m semi-retired, with a work-from-home job, so I have a lot of time to read. 🙂 I’m old enough to have observed some of the changes discussed in the book and found the commentary about them very informative and interesting. I finished reading the book but marked sections that I want to go back and re-read.
Deinitely plan on not only getting for myself but for the high school principal at our Catholic high school and maybe my priest too. Converts are a funny bunch! (I am one.)
“Converts are a funny bunch” <– Love that, Kathryn!
I was an early convert. I had one Catholic grandmother. My parents initially raised me as a Protestant, but from my preschool years I sometimes went to church with my Catholic grandmother and said that I wanted to be a Catholic. After attending Sunday school at a Protestant church throughout my elementary school years, I opted not to be confirmed there and began instruction in Catholicism. In high school, I had my First Communion and Confirmation.
I think the principal and priest would probably appreciate the book.
ooh! I need to win the three copies! lol I was asked one day what was different about the Catholic church than the Protestant by some coworkers who just attended a funeral Mass and I was lost for words. I also have a few cradle Catholics who know NOTHING about the Church that I would love to pass this on to! And I am also, as you know, one of those “funny” converts 😉