Book for mother

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Lazerlike42

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I am trying to select a book to present as a Christmas gift to my mother.

I am a convert to Catholicism and am pursuing a call to the priesthood; I am currently discerning the particulars of it and will hopefully be entering some seminary or religious order in the relatively near future.

My mother is an “Andy Griffith show” sort of Protestant (hopefully that will make sense!) and is not overtly anti-Catholic, but she does have negative opinions regarding Catholicism.

Christ isn’t as central a part of her life as He’d need to be for her to be anti-Catholic really - in other words, her faith isn’t important enough for her to make a big deal out of it most of the time, but when it does come up, and in particular when my vocation comes up, she expresses negative feelings.

The thing is, they aren’t so much rational feelings. They aren’t so much based on facts or whatnot, but on feelings. Like I said, she isn’t in a Christ-centered enough life where facts about God would begin to trump feelings, family background, what faith she grew up in, etc. Now a lot of those things would still affect a hardcore Protestant, but in that case they would at least want to discuss this Scripture or that one as if they mattered, even if they thought they mattered to defend their point of view.

So basically the problem here is she doesn’t understand my faith and choice and isn’t closed per se but sure isn’t open to either. However, if I were to get her ea book for Christmas she would read it.

So I am looking for something that is not hard and heavy apologetics. Maybe I dont want something that is apologetics at all. I want something that can perhaps help her understand my choice to convert and more importantly to accept this call to the priesthood. I want something that won’t preach to her, but will just… show her the Church and the priesthood… in some way.

In fact, I’m not entirely sure - as is obvious from my last paragraph - what I want, but I am looking for suggestions! 👍
 
For showing her the Church in a non-apologetic way, maybe “Catholicism For Dummies” or some of the “Surprised by Truth” books - they are just conversion stories.

A powerful book on the Priesthood is " A Priest Forever" , but it is a very emotional book…
 
Perhaps one of these three books by a fantastic writer Father James Martin, SJ, would be appropriate.
My Life with the Saints: A fantastic (and award winning) account of well known saints and their relevence to the modern world. Perhaps you should give it to yourself as you begin your vocation. I have given it to several folks and even non-Catholics like it.
Becoming Who You Are:Martin’s meditation on Merton and various saints and about his own attempt to live a holy life.
In Good Company: The Fast Track from the Corporate World to Poverty, Chastity and Obedience: Martin’s autobiographic account of his Catholic childhood to corporate life (he was a top executive), his dissatisfaction with that life and his becoming a Jesuit. This may be the best for your purposes.
 
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