Assisi Media: Waking Up Catholic (plus a giveaway!)

Welcome to Stuart's Study! Today, I am excited to bring you a new book from Chad R. Torgerson. Chad is the founder of the website Waking up Catholic, which according to the site, is aimed at people going through the RCIA process, cradle Catholics looking to reawaken their faith, and people new to the Catholic faith. Their Facebook page was also nominated for Best Catholic Facebook Page in the 2013 About.com Reader's Choice Awards. That's pretty awesome in and of itself.

Waking Up Catholic, by Chad Torgerson, is the story of one man's journey to Catholicism and the MANY objections he had to the Catholic faith along the way. However, his story is not unique to him. Many people, myself included, had these same objections and misconceptions before we finally made our way to Rome. Chad just had the good sense and spiritual gift to write about these points and help others along their journey.

In this book, one will find some of the major stumbling blocks people have with the Roman Catholic Church, including, Tradition, Mary, the Saints, the Eucharist, etc. Each chapter follows a specific pattern. Chad mentions a subject that was a stumbling block for him. Next, he talks about his feelings on the subject before he was Catholic. He then explains the actual Catholic teaching on the particular subject using Scripture and the Catechism. Lastly, he explains his new viewpoint and appreciation of the matter at hand. This definitely was like re-living my conversion as I went through practically these same steps on each such subject.

On face value, this books comes off as an introduction to Catholic Apologetics. Depending on your point of view, it is either a nice defense of your core beliefs or a reinforcement of them. However, the author wants us to not only know our faith; he wants us to live it too. He mentions the 80-20 rule, which says that 20% of the people do 80% of the work. In reality, and according to Matthew Kelly in "The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic," 7% is a more accurate approximation of the number of people who are active in their parish. ("Active" means more than just showing up to Mass once a week.) Chad designed this book to be a call to evangelization, particularly the New Evangelization. The first step in the New Evangelization is learning and growing in our faith, with which this book definitely helps.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. It's easy to read, but that doesn't mean that the truths of our Faith have been dumbed down. My one regret with this book is that it wasn't around when I was embarking on my journey toward Catholicism. This is the perfect book for those considering becoming Catholic, already in an RCIA class, those looking to come back to the Church, or just someone who wants to understand what they believe better. Thanks to Chad's generosity, I am able to give away one autographed copy of this book. If you'd like to enter, use the Rafflecopter form below. The contest ends July 12th at midnight. Winner will be announced on July 14th, the Feast of St. Kateri Tekakwitha. If you found this review helpful, please click the link and hit Yes.

a Rafflecopter giveaway