Swimming With Scapulars, by Matthew Lickona
Matthew Lickona is about eight or nine years younger than me, but there is much in what he writes that resonates with me. A cradle Catholic like myself who has long wrestled with the faith, his 2005 memoir on the faith, Swimming With Scapulars, details a childhood strikingly similar to mine in many respects. I think we had very similar fathers; and as he notes in Scapulars, quoting Tyler Durden in Fight Club, "Our fathers were our models for God."
Though I think a lot like him, I have to admit my own path to the faith was marked more by shocking failures than his; Matthew seems to me to be like a younger version of myself who has walked his path better than I have. He is, in his views as a Catholic are thoroughly and unapologetically orthodox; I read him and say "Yup, with you on that one." He also strikes a good balance in his views of both "Rad Trads" and "Spirit of Vatican II" Catholics; he is, like me, somewhere in the via media. That being said, his book is not a book of views or positions; it is the story of his life growing up as a boy, then as a young man in a Catholic college where he met his wife, and then as a father raising his children. His views come across as musings in response to the practical matters of life, shot through with a good deal of insight and humor.
That he accepts Catholicism as being not only true, but practical, and ultimately wise, is a sign of his faith. He accepts the faith as true and tries to conform himself to it. I have (after many years) come to that view myself, and I have to say, it is the only way to properly approach it.
I have not read his blog yet, but I'm sure I'll enjoy it. He's a good writer, a good Catholic, and a good man.