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Yes, God!: What Ordinary Families Can Learn About Parenting from Today's Vocation Stories
In a culture that is often dark and discouraging, where can parents look for help in raising their children? By profiling ten men and women on their journeys to the priesthood and the convent, award-winning author Susie Lloyd discovered lessons that can be used by any parents who want to raise faithful children. Here are the heartwarming stories of five priests, five nuns, and the parents who raised them to be open to God's call. Lloyd relates some of their joys and setbacks, reveals their guiding principles and rallying cries, and passes along tips from the "master" parents. The mother of seven, Lloyd also shares some of her own (often humorous) parenting tales, and she helps readers understand the various dynamics of Catholic family life and the diverse factors that influence a child's decision to say "yes" to God.
109 pages, Paperback
First published November 25, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 13, 2014
In a recent address, Pope Francis described the family as the, "primary place for education, the community of love and life in which every person learns to relate to others and to the world." He continued, "All vocations make their first steps in the family."
We Catholics know this, deep down, but we have a tendency to deny the latter part of that statement. Vocations are for other people’s kids, we tell ourselves, our families aren’t perfect enough. We over-idealize those families who have produced vocations to the priesthood and religious life. We place them on a pedestal; imagining a large family filling the pew each morning at Daily Mass, homeschooling in Latin, cheerfully doing farm chores all afternoon, then serenely kneeling in the living room each evening for the family Rosary. These ideal Domestic Churches have no loud arguments, no black sheep, and no doubts that their children would serve the Church. Since our own families are not like those, we reason that our children could not possibly have vocations to the religious life.
Susie Lloyd, the best-selling Catholic humorist, and homeschooling mother of her own large family, assures us that these lofty images are accurate, some of the time. But there’s much more to depth to families who produce vocations than we think, and in exploring their various characteristics, we just might find our families have more in common with them than we think.
In “Yes, God!” LLoyd chronicles the childhood and vocation stories of nine men and women religious, describing the details of their family which she believes brought each of them to say “yes” to God’s call to religious life. Chapters are named for the predominant strength which those religious and priests learned from their families. There is “Yes to Strength”, “Yes to Duty”, “Yes to Generosity”. No matter what the inherent strengths of a family, a vocation always begins with a “yes” and a family which strived to serve God with their lives. Families bring their particular gifts to their vocation whether their home was rural or urban, athletic or artistic, rowdy, quiet, or just plain contentious!
These families are not perfect. At times, Mrs. Lloyd points out; even the challenges in the home were used by the Lord to help the future religious transform weakness into virtue. This is true in the family of Sister Marie Jose de la Rosa S.C.C. whose chapter is subtitled, “Yes to Spiritual Poverty”. Her father’s long term unemployment and depression posed a daunting challenge for her mother who worked to support and raise her children singlehandedly. For Mrs. Lloyd, it’s not about perfection, number of children, or proximity to a Church building, it’s about the attitude which engenders the person’s “yes” to God.
And the attitude is not always universal. Sometimes a vocation comes as a surprise. One of the funniest stories in the book involves Mrs. Lloyd’s inability to see the great potential in a college friend, Fr Jeremy Paulin, OMV, now a Vocation Director.
So it seems no one is off the hook when it comes to raising Catholic children considering religious life, since no two vocation-producing families are alike. Mrs. Lloyd’s characteristic humor keeps the Catholic guilt light-hearted as she brings to light helpful habits which an aspiring mother to a religious can implement in her Domestic Church. It’s a lead by example book on Catholic parenting, and it will have you smiling at both the strengths and faux pas of your own family as you read the captivating stories.
We Catholics know this, deep down, but we have a tendency to deny the latter part of that statement. Vocations are for other people’s kids, we tell ourselves, our families aren’t perfect enough. We over-idealize those families who have produced vocations to the priesthood and religious life. We place them on a pedestal; imagining a large family filling the pew each morning at Daily Mass, homeschooling in Latin, cheerfully doing farm chores all afternoon, then serenely kneeling in the living room each evening for the family Rosary. These ideal Domestic Churches have no loud arguments, no black sheep, and no doubts that their children would serve the Church. Since our own families are not like those, we reason that our children could not possibly have vocations to the religious life.
Susie Lloyd, the best-selling Catholic humorist, and homeschooling mother of her own large family, assures us that these lofty images are accurate, some of the time. But there’s much more to depth to families who produce vocations than we think, and in exploring their various characteristics, we just might find our families have more in common with them than we think.
In “Yes, God!” LLoyd chronicles the childhood and vocation stories of nine men and women religious, describing the details of their family which she believes brought each of them to say “yes” to God’s call to religious life. Chapters are named for the predominant strength which those religious and priests learned from their families. There is “Yes to Strength”, “Yes to Duty”, “Yes to Generosity”. No matter what the inherent strengths of a family, a vocation always begins with a “yes” and a family which strived to serve God with their lives. Families bring their particular gifts to their vocation whether their home was rural or urban, athletic or artistic, rowdy, quiet, or just plain contentious!
These families are not perfect. At times, Mrs. Lloyd points out; even the challenges in the home were used by the Lord to help the future religious transform weakness into virtue. This is true in the family of Sister Marie Jose de la Rosa S.C.C. whose chapter is subtitled, “Yes to Spiritual Poverty”. Her father’s long term unemployment and depression posed a daunting challenge for her mother who worked to support and raise her children singlehandedly. For Mrs. Lloyd, it’s not about perfection, number of children, or proximity to a Church building, it’s about the attitude which engenders the person’s “yes” to God.
And the attitude is not always universal. Sometimes a vocation comes as a surprise. One of the funniest stories in the book involves Mrs. Lloyd’s inability to see the great potential in a college friend, Fr Jeremy Paulin, OMV, now a Vocation Director.
So it seems no one is off the hook when it comes to raising Catholic children considering religious life, since no two vocation-producing families are alike. Mrs. Lloyd’s characteristic humor keeps the Catholic guilt light-hearted as she brings to light helpful habits which an aspiring mother to a religious can implement in her Domestic Church. It’s a lead by example book on Catholic parenting, and it will have you smiling at both the strengths and faux pas of your own family as you read the captivating stories.
December 13, 2013
Yes, God! is a book I have been anxious to read. I can't describe my excitement when it finally arrived in the mail. In this book, author Susie Lloyd interviews ten people who said yes to their vocation to the religious life. Doing her best to get a sampling of people, she interviews priests, sisters, and nuns from both Western and Eastern rites within the Catholic Church. The families these ten men and women came from are also varied, which was perhaps the biggest surprise for me. I, like most people, assumed that if you want to foster vocations in the home, then that home should smell of incense and have a holy aura that you could see from space. This isn't the case though, as demonstrated in this book.
The book as a whole focuses on fostering different traits to encourage vocations, such as affection, generosity, spiritual poverty, etc. Each chapter of this book is divided into two parts. Part one gives a brief biography of one of the clergy or religious members who are featured, a description of their family life, and what led them to accepting their vocational call. Part two is the author's reflection on what she told you in the first part and how it relates to her and her family. I had a hard time picking which chapter I enjoyed the most as each one was beautiful in its own way. There's Fr. Mark Fesniak of the Ukrainian Archdiocese of Philadelphia, who grew up altar-serving at both Western and Eastern Rite Catholic Churches every Sunday. (No wonder he became a priest!) And there's Sr. Brigid Mary Rock who grew up on a farm, where she learned toughness mixed with affection from her father. Like I said, all of the stories are beautiful in their own right.
This book is not some magic formula on how to raise future priests and religious; nor is it a blueprint which provides step-by-step instructions for fostering vocations. Such a book does not and will not ever exist. Instead, this book provides a glimpse into the home lives growing up of our religious and gives some practical guidance that, while not guaranteed to make your sons priests, will help you become a better parent. I would recommend this book for all Catholic parents. In addition, I would recommend that parents (together with their children) pray for an increase in vocations. Also, do not shy away from discussing vocations with your children. You don't have to push them into it, but let them know it is an equally valid choice, alongside doctor, engineer, etc.
The book as a whole focuses on fostering different traits to encourage vocations, such as affection, generosity, spiritual poverty, etc. Each chapter of this book is divided into two parts. Part one gives a brief biography of one of the clergy or religious members who are featured, a description of their family life, and what led them to accepting their vocational call. Part two is the author's reflection on what she told you in the first part and how it relates to her and her family. I had a hard time picking which chapter I enjoyed the most as each one was beautiful in its own way. There's Fr. Mark Fesniak of the Ukrainian Archdiocese of Philadelphia, who grew up altar-serving at both Western and Eastern Rite Catholic Churches every Sunday. (No wonder he became a priest!) And there's Sr. Brigid Mary Rock who grew up on a farm, where she learned toughness mixed with affection from her father. Like I said, all of the stories are beautiful in their own right.
This book is not some magic formula on how to raise future priests and religious; nor is it a blueprint which provides step-by-step instructions for fostering vocations. Such a book does not and will not ever exist. Instead, this book provides a glimpse into the home lives growing up of our religious and gives some practical guidance that, while not guaranteed to make your sons priests, will help you become a better parent. I would recommend this book for all Catholic parents. In addition, I would recommend that parents (together with their children) pray for an increase in vocations. Also, do not shy away from discussing vocations with your children. You don't have to push them into it, but let them know it is an equally valid choice, alongside doctor, engineer, etc.
January 26, 2014
I have read both of Susie's other books, and she is one author to whom I would say "Hurry, HURRY! Write another book!" Finally she did. :-) This is a really special book because it blends Susie's great wit with wonderful vocation stories. I truly enjoyed reading about the families who were featured. Read it!
August 6, 2019
This was a fun, fast read. The author interviews a series of individuals who have entered religious life. They identify to her what it was about his or her family life that helped them to pursue their vocation. The author adds in all sort of funny personal stories as well. What I took away from this book is that no family is perfect! This was a series of ordinary families, with mistakes and issues (just like the rest of us), and that gives me great hope.
November 20, 2013
Regular, everyday families can raise children who grow up to do extraordinary things for the Church and the world.
Each chapter in this short book contains a vocation story, a family story, a prayer, and Susie’s own commentary on the stories told by 5 young priests and 5 more young Sisters. These are not old stories about senior citizens; they focus on recent vocation stories.
Susie celebrates parents who say “Yes” to duty, affection, strength, spiritual poverty, tradition, the greatest commandment, generosity, humility and patience–in the regular, everyday circumstances and events of their lives. Even as the stories are told, you see Susie’s trademark sense of humor shining through in the telling–and you’ll find it in her encouraging reflections as well.
Each chapter in this short book contains a vocation story, a family story, a prayer, and Susie’s own commentary on the stories told by 5 young priests and 5 more young Sisters. These are not old stories about senior citizens; they focus on recent vocation stories.
Susie celebrates parents who say “Yes” to duty, affection, strength, spiritual poverty, tradition, the greatest commandment, generosity, humility and patience–in the regular, everyday circumstances and events of their lives. Even as the stories are told, you see Susie’s trademark sense of humor shining through in the telling–and you’ll find it in her encouraging reflections as well.
May 18, 2015
Susie Lloyd once again pens a book that makes me laugh until my side hurts, but never misses a poignant moment. As a parent, who would absolutely love for one of her children to enter religious life, this book was invaluable to help me recognize what I can and cannot do as a parent. More importantly, these remarkable (yet also very ordinary) stories uplift and encouraged me in the future of the Catholic church.
February 22, 2014
Yes, God is another inspirational, fascinating book by Susie Lloyd!
Thank you so much Susie for blessing us with these stories and taking the time to write up these wonderful and beautiful stories.
A must read for all Catholic parents!
Thank you so much Susie for blessing us with these stories and taking the time to write up these wonderful and beautiful stories.
A must read for all Catholic parents!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews