Keep the Faith
Letters from a Catholic Father
William R. McNamer
Keep the Faith is a series of letters from a Catholic father to his five young adult children, and by extension to all young adult Catholics who are at risk of losing their faith, or who have dropped out. The author presents the theology underlying Catholic teaching at a level appropriate for thinking adults, addresses the common hangups to faith, and concludes with an extended treatment of Catholic spirituality.
In Keep the Faith, the author meets the problem of belief and doubt with understanding and common sense, questions the adequacy of secularism as a philosophy of life, and insists that both faith and reason -- and a little poetry, beauty, and prayer -- are necessary to live a life of meaning and purpose. These can be found in the Catholic faith.
Table of Contents (96 pages)
INTRODUCTION
PROLOGUE: THE NEED FOR MYSTERY AND RELIGION IN LIFE
Characteristics of the Faith
1: IDENTITY
2: UNIVERSALITY AND COMMUNITY
3: SACRAMENTALITY
4: RATIONALITY
Basic Catholic Teaching
5: THE SOURCES OF CATHOLIC TEACHING
6: WHAT DOES THE CHURCH TEACH?
Obstacles to Faith
7: THE PROBLEM OF BELIEF
8: THE CHURCH AND SEX
9: THE CHURCH AND WOMEN
Jesus Christ as the Center of the Faith
10: THE LIFE OF JESUS
11: THE JESUS OF FAITH
12: THE JESUS OF THE EUCHARIST
13: WHY GO TO MASS?
14: THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS
The Alpha and Omega of Life
15: LAST THINGS
Everyday Catholic Spiritual Life
16: SELF, VIRTUE, AND MORALITY
17: CATHOLIC SPIRITUALITY
18: CATHOLIC LIFESTYLE
19: SUMMING UP: THE CATHOLIC WORLDVIEW
EPILOGUE: SOME PRACTICAL ADVICE
NOTES
About the Author
William R. McNamer is a lawyer in Billings, Montana. He states “Who am I to be writing this book? My analytical background as a lawyer helps, but mainly I’m just a practicing Catholic and a father, which I think puts me in close touch with the subject, and with you. However my mentor throughout this project has been a Jesuit theologian and retreat master, and my wife, a professor of religious studies, has kept me on track. And I’ve done an extensive amount of solid research for this book, as can be see from the notes.”
McNamerW@Rocky.edu
Praise for Keep the Faith
Author McNamer addresses a serious challenge of today - how to communicate the Catholic faith to Catholic youth born after the great upheavel of the Sixties. As the father of five young adult Catholics he knows well how the cultural and technological revolution in their time has put them in a cognitive space quite distant from previous generations. The statistics show how many in their thirties and forties have left and find their religious needs better met - if they still have religious needs - in the mega churches. In Letters From a Catholic Father, McNamer urges his children and their contemporaries not to forsake lightly their Catholic inheritance, and in 19 well-crafted chapters gives them good reasons for staying.
Fr. Thomas Bokenkotter
Author of A Concise History of the Catholic Church
The perfect gift and answer to concerned Christian parents and grandparents for their religiously troubled and questioning children.
Fr. Armand Nigro S.J.
What can a parent do when children leave the Church? You could share Bill McNamer's little book with them. And follow his example: invite them back, urge them to grapple with Catholic teaching, discuss their concerns, and light a candle at the altar for them, along with your prayers.
Bert Ghezzi Ph.D.
Author of The Heart of a Saint
The book may also be of value to older Catholics.
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