THANK you to The Leader for the interesting article on Fr Bruno and St Paul’s Book Centre (CL 3/8/03).
However I have some reservations about his comment: ‘People ask how we can sell a certain book in a Catholic bookstore but the simple truth is we must serve everybody. I say to them while this book may not be good for you, for somebody else who needs to know or is testing their beliefs, it is good’.
I help with a small parish library, and it is certainly difficult to cater for all tastes.
However, I learn so much by listening to people because they are sharing a point of view with me that I would otherwise have missed. So I consult and if enough people agree with them, I change or add the book discussed. They are the experts in that they tell me what impression that book gives to some people.
Our books must be readable, and, if written by Catholics, must fall within the boundaries of the Catholic faith as defined in The Catechism of the Catholic Church. Right and left spectrums can be balanced, eg Frank Sheeds Genesis Regained with Eamon Keanes Creation Revisited.
Books written by non-Catholics can be very helpful as long as it is clear that they are written from a different perspective and are non-Catholic rather than anti-Catholic, eg Open Embrace: A Protestant couple rethinks contraception shows the logical natural law reasons for refusing the various contraceptive devices, rather than just because ‘The Pope says so’.
Books which explore objections to the Catholic faith are fine and there are plenty of good question and answer books that do this really well. The objection is given, the Catholic teaching is stated and the objection gently demolished with references given for further reading. Contraception the Hidden Truth by Christine de Stoop is a good example (which covers more than the title suggests).
Christopher West’s The Good News about Sex and Marriage and his new videos are also marvellous at explaining the logic and love behind Catholic moral laws.
Autobiographical books such as David Morrison’s Beyond Gay are also good. He explains how he grew from being a gay activist to a chaste homosexual oriented Catholic (but it is not a book for children).
There are now so many new good books which explain with exciting love and confidence that the Catholic Church is the one founded by Christ that it is empowered by him to teach with authority, that its tough teachings on divorce, homosexuality and contraception are unchangeable and are absolutely necessary for a Christ-like society.
A Catholic bookstore or library is there for a purpose – to help people understand what the Catholic Church teaches, to know why it teaches it, and to understand and love the rich Catholic (and Christian) tradition. We have no need to promote anything negative.
PATRICIA M. BYRNES
Toowoomba, Qld
