The Thorny Grace of It: And Other Essays for Imperfect Catholics

by Brian Doyle

Best-selling and award-winning essayist Brian Doyle knows that the heartbeat of Catholicism is found not in papal decrees and pageantry, but in the parish halls, potluck dinners, and the believing community. In this spirited collection of more than 40 essays, Doyle employs his trademark wit, candor, and gusto for life and faith to reignite readers’ excitement for Catholicism as he plumbs some of the stickier and trickier elements of the Catholic character. From preparing for his first confession with a fake laundry list of sins to his young observations of President Kennedy’s assassination, Doyle’s passionate writing makes for a heartfelt, genuine, and often laugh-out-loud read. The Thorny Grace of It  reaffirms that the Catholic faith—imperfect as it is—is wildly aflame in hearts and lives everywhere. “It is a boon, a blessing, to have Brian Doyle’s vagabond essays now rubbing elbows in a single, handy, and altogether delightful volume." 
- Kenneth L. Woodward, author of The Book of Miracles

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction, Religion, Spirituality, Theology, Catholic

188 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2013

About the author

Doyle's essays and poems have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, The American Scholar, Orion, Commonweal, and The Georgia Review, among other magazines and journals, and in The Times of London, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Kansas City Star, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Ottawa Citizen, and Newsday, among other newspapers. He was a book reviewer for The Oregonian and a contributing essayist to both Eureka Street magazine and The Age newspaper in Melbourne, Australia.

Doyle's essays have also been reprinted in:

* the Best American Essays anthologies of 1998, 1999, 2003, and 2005;
* in Best Spiritual Writing 1999, 2001, 2002, and 2005; and
* in Best Essays Northwest (2003);
* and in a dozen other anthologies and writing textbooks.

As for awards and honors, he had three startling children, an incomprehensible and fascinating marriage, and he was named to the 1983 Newton (Massachusetts) Men's Basketball League all-star team, and that was a really tough league.

Doyle delivered many dozens of peculiar and muttered speeches and lectures and rants about writing and stuttering grace at a variety of venues, among them Australian Catholic University and Xavier College (both in Melbourne, Australia), Aquinas Academy (in Sydney, Australia); Washington State, Seattle Pacific, Oregon, Utah State, Concordia, and Marylhurst universities; Boston, Lewis & Clark, and Linfield colleges; the universities of Utah, Oregon, Pittsburgh, and Portland; KBOO radio (Portland), ABC and 3AW radio (Australia); the College Theology Society; National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation," and in the PBS film Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero (2002).

Doyle was a native of New York, was fitfully educated at the University of Notre Dame, and was a magazine and newspaper journalist in Portland, Boston, and Chicago for more than twenty years. He was living in Portland, Oregon, with his family when died at age 60 from complications related to a brain tumor.

Reviews

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you only read 2 or 3 of these essays it would be worth the price of the book. His work is astonishing - grace, redemption, poignancy, and humor all rolled into one. highly recommended.

[RG · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brian Doyle is a gift to this earth. This is my third book of his (and second collection of essays), and I find myself wanting to come back to him again and again. He is perspicacious in a way that I so admire and seek to emulate; he is fiercely curious and aggressively worshipful and near-perpetually in awe. He’s not a pie in the sky sort of writer, though—he believes fiercely in Good and as such is a staunch critic of any sullying thereof. I nearly always come away from his writing wishing I could have known him.

Several of these essays moved me to wonder, others to tears at the grace and mercy that this mischievous Irish Catholic so keenly saw afoot all ‘round him. These essays in particular are some of his greatest love songs to Catholicism and to Christ as Doyle knew Him via the Catholic Church (as the title implies), in his adult life as well as in his adolescence, and it was perhaps the latter which most greatly touched me. I’m not Catholic myself, but these essays were nonetheless enjoyable, accessible, and winsome. My all-time favorite was “Sister Cook,” but I imagine I’ll come back to all of these in due time.

[Emily at Reaching While Rooted · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have had this book on my list for a very long time. Took a quarantine to read it, but was the perfect balm for my spiritual needs. Was a great reminder that the Church is more than a building

[Shandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wise man I know likes to say "The perfect is the enemy of the good." (I think about that phrase a lot, especially now that I'm a parent.) I like the subtitle of this essay collection because Doyle has such a gift for finding the good and great among the imperfections -- a grumpy priest somehow managing to make the magic of the Mass happen in a dusty classroom, a cranky baker who snaps at you and then sends secret cookies home for your kids, a beloved pope who let his flock down as often as he lifted them up, a scrawny kid from Nazareth sassing his parents and grousing at his friends.

I hesitated over giving this five stars because Doyle's style can feel overwhelming sometimes (so many adjectives, such uneven punctuation). But then -- the perfect is the enemy of the good, and Doyle's wonderful humanness is precisely what makes this collection so great.

[Julie Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd give this 4-1/2 stars.

I think about the motley chaotic confusing house that is Catholicism. I think about the mad wondrous prayer of the Mass. I thing about how htere are such stunning and wonderful and confusing people in the clan of Catholic. I think about how we are all several kinds of people at once and hardly know ourselves let alone anybody else. I think about how possible the Church is, and how possible we are. I think about how really the Church is lots and lots of us mulish miracles gathered for little holy meals and story-swaps. I think about how religions are like people, capable of both extraordinary evil and unimaginable grace. I think about how the Church is sort of like the windows above me which catch these timbers of sun and focus them on the human comedy. I think about how I'd be a lot less of a man if I didn't have ways ot wake up to what I can be if I harness mercy and humor and grace and wisdom and attention and prayer and humility and courage and grace.

Which is what all true stories are about. Which is what we are, really, at our best--true stories. And true stories, stories with love and power in them, can save your life and save your soul and bring you, if even for only a flickering instant, face-to-face with the unimaginable creative force that once, a very long time ago, explained itself to Moses as, simply and confusingly, I Am. That force is in you, in every moment, in every story; which you know and I know, and which we hardly ever admit, which we should, so I do, amen.

(the clan of catholic)

Read it once.

This is the essence and theme and a large portion of the style of The Thorny Grace of It by Brian Doyle.

In face, it is so truly the essence of it that I can't describe it better.

Read it a second time, perhaps aloud.

So I will just say that I liked this book very much. Some of the essays are written in a more standard form.

The third person to bless my rosary was a small girl in sage country. She is six years old. Whatever it is that we call the creative force that made us all and can be seen most unadorned in children beams out of this kid with the force of a thousand suns. She put my rosary on top of her head and held it there with her right hand as she put her left hand on my face and said I hope these beads will always have holy in them for when Mister Brian needs it, which is a very good blessing it seems to me.

(ten blessings)

Some are stream of consciousness.

At least look her in the eye and be gentle. Christ liveth in her, remember? ... Also in the grumpy imam, and in the surly teenager, and in the raving man under the clock at Flinders Street Station, and in the foulmouthed man at the footy, and in the cousin you detest with a deep and abiding detestation and have detested since you were tiny mammals fresh from the wombs of your mothers. When he calls to ask you airily to help him lug that awful vulgar elephantine couch to yet another of his shabby flats, do not roar and use vulgar and vituperative language, even though you have excellent cause to do so and who could blame you? But Christ liveth in him. Speak hard words into your closet and cast them thus into oblivion. Help him with the couch, for the ninth blessed time ...

(how to be good)

Some, like the example we began with way back at the top of this piece, are in-between.

In a way, they were like reading Ray Bradbury who reveled in words, flicked words against each other to talk to us in a new way, drowned in the poetry of them. If Bradbury had written about faith he'd have made me smile, nod, see myself. These hit me that way.

I will say that Doyle is from Portland, Oregon, which tends to imbue its inhabitants with a somewhat different viewpoint than those from my part of the country (Texas by way of the Midwest). The things that divide us are those that he lets roll off his tongue as matter-of-fact. However, those pointers tend to be lightly passed over to get to more important, personal ground. That makes it easy to ignore comments which would usually make me roll my eyes if they were emphasized more. And there are not very many of them. I appreciated that because the overall effect of the essays was to make me think more like the excerpt that started us off on the review.

This book is by a Catholic for imperfect Catholics. Doyle's light hand with divisive elements makes me think wonder if it wouldn't be a good one for Christians of any stripe. These essays make me think of how Pope Francis has so many enthusiastic supporters from outside Catholicism, spreading even into atheist ranks. They draw on the common things we all know about being human from the very good, to the striving, to the times that we fall and must haul ourselves up for another try.

Read it a third time.

Get the book. Keep it by your bed. Pick it up. Read it. Let the words roll over you. And be glad.

NOTE:
The review copy was provided by the Patheos Book Club. Publishers pay for Patheos to feature their books.My review is my own based solely on the book's merits.

[Achille B]

Definitely running this one back

[Jonathan Hiskes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A character in Doyle's Mink River speaks of fighting depression through "a ferocious attention to things." Doyle demonstrates that quality in this brief essays aimed in countless directions -- the past, public events, the minor characters of his neighborhood life, the private moments of worship services. These essays are short enough they could be blog posts, but Doyle shows that brief and casual needn't mean careless. The successful pieces (which are most of them) have intricate transitions, humor, and a relentless probing quality. Like a basketball team passing the ball around the perimeter, probing for an opening until it finds one, at which point it lunges, ferociously.

[Shelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fell in love with the writing of Brian Doyle when I came across Mink River. As much as I enjoy his works of fiction, however, his essays are now my favorite. His was a gift of using a deceptively small number of words to share a story that could bring a reader to laughter, tears, delight, and grief; some or all and always in the space of just a few pages. This collection is a treasure and one that I look forward to reading again once I’ve made my way through all of his published non-fiction books.

[chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

delightful

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the first essay to the last, I have absolutely enjoyed Brian's writing and how he captures the beauty of life even at it's ugliest. Laugh out loud, then wipe the tears, there are so many beautiful stories of the life of an everyday Catholic. I want to read more, more , more of his work.
Also, I was determined to write the author and thank him for his incredible writing and was told he had died.... the sorrow felt like losing a friend. Astounding how he is able to capture some small topic of interest and make you feel like you are there with him and at the same time, seeing the world in a whole new way.
Great gift for.... anyone.... but especially a Catholic or lapsed Catholic.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some very good essay, and some good essays

There are about 5-6 of these pieces that just took my breath away with their beauty and depth, and many that were good and enjoyable to read. There was just a little filler stuff.
It was a pleasure to wander through these thoughts, and I’m grateful for Brian Doyle’s writing.

[Doris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely essays: some funny, some touching, some both, all faith-filled.

[Hannah Jansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual, Brian Doyle delivered. Nice bedtime reading for when I am really tired because I can just read a couple essays.

[Megan Willome · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Thorny Grace of It: And Other Essays for Imperfect Catholics Brian Doyle

Several writing friends who are also professors have recommended Brian Doyle because they use his essays in their classes. I'd read some of his work here and there, but this was my first time to read an entire collection, this one subtitled "and other essays for imperfect Catholics."

Looking back over all the old and new Brian Doyle recommendations over the years, all the recommenders are not Catholic. Which is remarkable because this is a very Catholic book—beads and near-empty noon Masses, and Real Presence, and real, beautiful, imperfect people.

"There are more sacramental moments than we know," Doyle writes, and he writes of them on the basketball court, on the transit bus, in the dorm room, with Boy Scouts, beside the sea, and with nuns, with priests, with parents, with brothers of all sorts.

Sometimes he swoons in long, long sentences. (I dare you to finish one in a single breath.) And so my poem for "The Thorny Grace of It" swirls and meanders as well.

Ought but Death

Whither goest this music—in ocean salt, carried on the wings of extraordinary birds, flaming forth
from the needle and thread of a patient mom, in the quiet closing of a door, in the rituals of trees,
in the songs of sailors on their last dark night, and especially in the music of the Mass—there
I will go, will lodge, will take the direct musical route to the Divine.

–Megan Willome

[Robin Wright Gunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would give this book a thousand stars if I could! I have been reading it the last several months as a morning devotional. some of the essays directly. talk about Catholicism,/ religion/ etc and many don't mention it at all, yet this was consistently the perfect way for me to start my day. a way to reset my hope button, which is getting harder to do. I also laughed a good bit. I plan to read other books by him, starting with one of his novels that was given to me by a friend 8 years ago or so and that's been quietly waiting on my shelf for me to notice it. I'll let y'all know how that goes!

[Andrew Shutes-David · Rating 3 out of 5]

every moment is gift; every tear, blessing; every crooked crude smile, beauty // brief, hit-and-miss, observational, eerie (but only in that it was as if Doyle had crawled into the skin of my life and spoken, in his strange informal way, what he found there) // talk of death, misbehaving, the mixing of sacred and profane // 3.5: 3.0, 4.5, 5.0, 3.8, 4.0

SUMMARY // 4 ADJECTIVES // WARNINGS FOR KIDS // RATING: SETTING RATING, PLOT RATING, CHARACTER RATING, WRITING RATING, IDEAS RATING

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not Catholic, but you don't need to be to love this book. Doyle's poignant wit and observations are for everyone. His essays made me laugh, made me cry, made me ponder. I am so grateful that this book is in my life, as it will be one that stays with me.

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Someone gave this to me. It took me a while to get to it. I did enjoy it, and one chapter in particular, I found hilarious, which was the meeting of the parish book group deciding what to read for the next few weeks. Some chapters were rather sentimental, others did hit home.

[Therese · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Brian Doyle's writing.

[M Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

More beautiful short essays from Brian Doyle. The essays on his brother's early death are particularly poignant in light of the author's own early demise.

[Connie Ciampanelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essays by the late Brian Doyle, beautifully written,graceful reflections of spirituality grounded in real, ordinary, normal life. Refreshing.

[Michael O'Leary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great series of essays, very thought-provoking and meaningful.

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brian Doyle wrote prose that to me is so beautiful I want to savor every word. What a lovely man he was!

[Christopher Moellering · Rating 4 out of 5]

If Robert Fulghum was Catholic and a basketball fan, this is what he would have written.

[Ruth Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved every word in these essays, especially the made-up ones. Doyle has written with wit, humility, a vast imagination, and a big dose of grace. (not just for Catholic readers)

[Jean Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bar-none, my favorite collection of Doyle essays, in part because of the variety. So many memorable pieces between these covers, it is hard to pick a favorite.

[Ginny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Doyle's breathless style. His writing is Catholic without even thinking about it; his sacramental worldview is present even when he's writing about non-religious topics. These essays are moving, funny, and utterly delightful.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book! Easy to read. Some essays are funny, others are insightful and really make you think. I like that I can read a chapter at a time without feeling like I have to finish right away

[Bridgett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Brian Doyle's essays. He always helps me remember why I love a church so flawed and human and still filled with people of grace.

[Robbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brian is at his best when writing on overtly Catholic subject matter. His prose makes me want to be a better man, quicker to laugh, more attentive to the stories of lives.