A St. Gregory Pocket Reading List
I thought I’d give you a little pep talk for the St. Gregory Pockets! (The feast of St. Gregory, September 3, is next week, Labor Day, so maybe this is a good spur to action if you’ve been thinking you want to start or join one!)
Probably most of us are asking, “What can we do?” — in response to the crisis of faith that we are experiencing (ours or others’). There seems to be no shortage of attacks from within and without. We feel helpless and little, but the truth is that Christianity spread throughout the world by means of people living quietly, raising their families, loving their neighbor, and being friends.
And that’s what the St. Gregory Pocket is about. We encourage you to make in-real-life friends for the long term. Don’t waste your time with endless Facebook group discussions or forums where you will never meet the people you are talking to. Your children need to grow up thinking “these real people are my people” — good people who sacrifice for each other and who also have a good time together, enjoying each other’s company with a right good will.
(Below is a shot taken by my friend Lina of her St. Greg Pocket gathering. Isn’t it wonderful to see so many children playing with each other — all ages together, while the moms sip iced tea and talk about whatever is on their minds! We love to see your St. Greg’s Pocket snaps!!)
The St. Gregory Pocket is not (or not only) a book club, but we do encourage members to read articles, documents, and books to share with each other in conversation, whether women together, or couples, or men.
My experience is that when people are reading some of the same things, the opportunity is there for a real exchange of ideas — and it comes in handy, too, when the conversation needs a little direction. Using our blog as a touch-point ensures that you will have something in common with the people who join — more even than that you all baby-wear or use cloth diapers!
If you and your friends are too busy to read a book, my posts here on LMLD, short articles, and documents of the Church work perfectly. And there are some books that are a joy to have read together and have in common; these days when we find our own education has let us down, we can do something about it on our own, together! You can take a long time if you want — no rush! And if you are homeschooling older children, you can take the opportunity to read some of their material with your friends; this will help when it comes time to discuss things with your children.
I thought it might be helpful to have a reading list — sort of the LMLD hive-mind (or collective memory, if you will) to dip into if you need suggestions that relate to moral and family life and general intellectual stimulation.
These are not in order of importance, obviously! Maybe more in order of what you could suggest as you get started, and then as you go along and have known each other better. (For background on what Pockets are and how they got started, and for a list of Pockets, go here.)
Certain posts here on the blog. We have a menu bar up above that does have the most important ones gathered for easy reference. I know that could be better; even better would be a book; working on it! Some groups have printed out the menu posts and just hashed them over, for instance. It helps for mutual encouragement! When you have in common that you enjoy reading the blog, conversation flows.
The {bits & pieces} feature obviously links to great articles! So you can browse those. A couple I would suggest especially (but I chose them mostly at random from my archive of articles!):
Why Young Readers Need Real Books by Maura Roan McKeegan
Will Rascals Defend Our Civilization… and What Books Will They Read? by William Fahey
The 3 Characteristics of an Educated Man by Brett and Kate McKay
Essays — maybe for couples’ discussions!
The Necessary Failure of Inclusive-Language Translations by Paul Mankowski, SJ
One of my favorite essays of Fr. Schall’s: On a Small Point of Doctrine
On Sex Education — by me!
Again, if you look through the archives of {bits & pieces} you will come across articles that are fun and worth a glance, but also ones that I have thought are truly worth reading and discussing.
Documents of the Church. Why do I recommend these? People are always making things up about Christianity. Why not do some studying and find out what is really taught?
Casti Connubii — On Chaste Marriage. Lives have been changed by reading this long encyclical. I have a reading help for it: my book God Has No Grandchildren, which is based on posts I did here.
Divini Illius Magistri — On Christian Education. Read especially for Pius XI’s explanation of how the “three necessary societies” work together, and why boys and girls should be educated separately in schools.
Humanae Vitae — On Human Life. Best read after Casti Connubii.
Mulieris Dignitatem — The Dignity and Vocation of Women. I wrote about this here.
Books for the Pocket:
The Restoration of Christian Culture by John Senior. (These Amazon links are affiliate links.)
The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis. This can be a difficult read, short as it is. I recommend reading That Hideous Strength, a novel, along with it. You could always start with The Screwtape Letters (and that would make Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child by Anthony Esolen easier to discuss if people aren’t familiar with the satirical genre).
Planet Narnia by Michael Ward, if everyone has read Narnia and the Space Trilogy, of course.
Any Jane Austen novel! (Persuasion has the virtue of being short.) And then, when you’ve read and enjoyed them all, The Jane Austen Guide to Happily Ever After by Elizabeth Kantor. (The footnotes of this book are a delight.)
If you want a book to help you and your friends throw off the shackles of feminism and find a different vision of how men and women can interact with social virtue, I highly recommend Return to Modesty by Wendy Shalit.
The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom An incredibly moving story, The Hiding Place contains many bits of parenting wisdom as Corrie recounts her wise father’s actions and words. In our quest to raise our children to be saints and if necessary, heroes, the book is a wonderful help.
Peace Like a River by Lief Enger. Pay attention to the names. This book is full of Biblical imagery and is basically about salvation history, that’s all…
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty (also highly recommended, this audio version from Audible). An excellent book about marriage.
Vipers’ Tangle by François Mauriac. If you happen to have a group that can handle an unreliable narrator in an epistolary novel, this is the one for you.
The Temperament God Gave You. I’ve written about how I recommend this book highly here; Deirdre says this was the most enjoyable read for her St. Greg’s Pocket in Manchester. It really got everyone talking about themselves and their families — a great ice breaker! — and it’s really extremely helpful to understand everyone better.
Anything from the LMLD Library Project.
This should keep you for a while! Email me if you need discussion guidance, and maybe I’ll update the post with my thoughts!
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