Clap Your Hands!

by Larry Tomczak

Catholic evangelist, Larry Tomczak, tells his story.

Genres: Biography

143 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[John Doyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite frankly I have very mixed feelings after reading this book. Larry Tomczak narrates, with what strikes me as either uncanny precision or, perhaps more likely, with pedagogically embellished details and dialogues, his early life through college—the latter embellishment seems more likely to be the case as his book was written in later life. The narration appears to have the same quest as the evangelist John in writing his gospel “that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and have life in his name” (cf. John 20:31); unfortunately, Larry is not as straightforward in stating his purpose, so the reader is left wondering what this author intends. Is the story a mostly historical (but somewhat embellished) autobiographical memoir, a not-so-subtle attack on several Catholic beliefs, or an apologetic for accepting Jesus into your life in a personal way? Now please don’t misunderstand me, I am a Christian, a Catholic, and a priest, so I steadfastly hold to the awesomeness of entering into friendship with God in Jesus in the most personal of ways; Jesus is most certainly my only Savior and Lord whom I deeply love. It is disturbing that Larry didn’t find this personal relationship with the Lord within the Catholic-Christian tradition and that his experience was primarily one of fear of ‘mortal sin’ and rule following. For a Church that claims to be holy, we certainly fail a lot of people with our less than Christian ways, and I am sorry for the hurt and scruples that Larry experienced. That being said, it seems to me to be a parody of Christianity to reduce it to a few sayings of the Lord and a few beautiful ‘mystical’ experiences. It is not within the scope of a book review to counter the gratuitous attacks on Catholic doctrine that the author makes; however, I will state that I have found nothing in the bible to contradict the Church and much to affirm her beliefs. Jesus never meant for his grace to not bear fruit in good works as innumerable sayings of his affirm (cf. John 15:16) … the term ‘mortal sin’ expresses biblical truth (1 John 5:16)… it is perfectly within human freedom to willfully reject God despite having first accepted him in faith. Conversion is an ongoing process and thankfully Jesus is extraordinarily merciful (cf. Matthew 18:21,22). Sure, clap your hands, but weep too—both over sin and in solidarity with those who suffer; be angry at injustice, have a true fear of the Lord, and love the Lord in mind, heart, soul, body and in practice!

[Tisha (IG: Bluestocking629) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is part autobiography part religious self help book (for lack of a better term).

As far as the autobiography, Larry is older than I am, so I could not relate to all the dated references of his youth. That didn’t make it any less enjoyable to read.

When he spoke of the religious aspects of his life he was real convincing. He was raised a Catholic (as was I). But being born into a religion and choosing one are two different things. For instance, as children we are made to eat our vegetables. That does not mean we enjoy them nor do we understand the benefits of the vegetable consumption. The same is with religion, often. We follow in our parent’s footsteps without giving it a second thought. Larry, gave his religion a second thought.

Anything Larry says in this book could be applied to your religious life or your normal every day life. I loved when he said: “many times the most loving thing was to say nothing at all”. That there is some great advice. Sometimes we are just better off just biting our tongue!