ThyKingdomCome:
That sounds like a great book - Does it has a specific section on marital chastity, and does it specifically explain what the Church teaches on contraception/NFP and why? I can’t “look inside the book” at Amazon like some books allow. My main goal is to make sure she has a clear explanation of the Church Teaching on this, since this may be the only thing ever to sit on her bookshelf that does. Everything else is gravy.
Yes, The entire first third of the book is devoted to a Catholic understanding of Marriage and sexuality. He gives a very good defense of Church teaching including the teachings on NFP and contraception. In that first part of the book he is laying the moral foundation for Catholic marriage. The second two thirds of the book are geared towards helping the couple reading it to build the tools to strengthen their marriage based on what they just learned. It has quizes, relationship ratings, and excercises that are really interesting and engaging. The great thing about this is that because of the way he writes it, you get sucked in cause you wanna take the quiz or see where your marriage rates on the scale of success, etc. and in the meantime, he is getting the moral message across as well, and planting lots of seeds about the faith.
If it helps, I have a co-worker who sounds much like the folks you are talking about. ‘Catholic’, but using contraception, and lived together before marriage, etc. I leant them my copy of this book and they really enjoyed it. They read the entire thing, did the quizzes, and it lead to some very fruitful discussions on some of the moral issues involved. Did it ‘convert’ them to follow church teaching? To my knowledge, not as of yet. But they certainly read a great defense of that teaching, the seeds are planted, and from what they told me, this certainly didn’t gather dust on their shelf a any time. Hope this helps to make you feel more comfortable with your choice.
ThyKingdomCome:
I actually have the Christopher West CD and Book. I’m a bit tentative to give her the book because it seems a bit harder to get into (it may have something to do with the font size and style), and I’m trying to have the highest possible chance of her not just using the book as a footstool. The CD is great! My other concern is what everyone will say when she opens the gift at the shower. I’m not looking forward to giving an explanation for what the book is about and having it sound so goofy (as things often do coming out of my mouth) that I’m an ad against the book! My husband thinks that noone will ask for more details about the book - he says they’ll just roll their eyes at religious me and move on - that would be easier!
Pray for my backbone to strengthen!
I have all of the tapes, CDs, and books mentioned so far in this thread. I love everyone of them. However, I don’t think any of them are a very good idea for the couple you are describing. Each one assumes (not consciously) you are already a certain amount along the path in accepting Church teaching. I really think most of them are too ‘deep’ and will fall on deaf ears if read at all (not likely). I used to be ‘one of those’ folks and these books would not have appealed to me, and indeed only began appealing to me after I had learned quite a bit more about my faith. It’s exactly why I suggested the Popcak book. It plants the seeds, but in a way that the reader doesn’t feel like someone is trying to convert them (though under the covers he is
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Don’t know why I didn’t provide this first, but you can also buy the book from his website…
exceptionalmarriages.com/
…and he even gives you the introduction to the book online so you can read a bit about what you are getting…
exceptionalmarriages.com/book2.htm
…If you still feel unsure, I would be happy to grab my copy tonight and type up the chapter headings in the book to give you a better look at what you would be buying.
By the way, I recommend this book for ANY married couple. While it’s great for the couple you mention below, it would be good for any married couple to go throught it.
God Bless, and be proud that your a Catholic geek who everyone thinks is whacko. Just means your on the right track.:yup: