Wednesday, July 6, 2011

The Father of the Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan


When I first started working at Loome Theological Booksellers there were two books Henry Stachyra gave me to read in order to become as Loomish as possible.  One was Pieper's Liesure the basis of Culture and the other was Fr. John Hardon's Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan.  I thought I was a well read person before I started working at the bookstore.  After leafing through the Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan and seeing page after page of authors I had never even heard of, let alone read, I found out I was woefully under-read, at least in the intellectual tradition that mattered at Loome Theological Booksellers.

Happily I later found that Fr. Hardon was a rather holy and intellectual priest leaving behind many good books. I have particularly benefited from his Modern Catholic Dictionary actually.  I recently met the postulator for his cause for sainthood, Fr. Robert McDermott (see him below).



Fr. McDermott visited the bookstore recently and he was after Fr. Hardon's books.  Happily we were able to show him a rare Hardon book on confession.  Fr. McDermott's visit prompted me to reflect once again on the worth of a good book and in particular, the many good books of Fr. Hardon.

Please learn more about Fr. Hardon and his cause for sainthood here.

What books of Fr. Hardon have you benefited from?

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