"Effective Faith,"
by Bishop Thomas J. Tobin
I've just read Bishop Thomas Tobin's book for the second time, and I liked it just as much as I did the first time.
I'd only spent a handful of hours in the bishop's company a few years ago, but I was invited to read a proof of a collection of newspaper columns that he'd written for diocesan newspapers in Ohio and Rhode Island.
What I said about the writing of the Bishop of Providence then ended up as an endorsement on the back cover:
"Bishops are people, too! Who knew? Expecting a book by a bishop to be dry and theological? 'Effective Faith' . . . is the antithesis. Meet a down-to-earth, self-effacing human being who happens to be a Catholic priest and bishop."
Teaching without preaching
I added at the time that this collection of columns deserves a wider audience, and I'm glad that Seraphina Press from Minneapolis has made that possible with this easy-reading, 175-page paperback.
What the bishop does best is take the news of the day -- the topics real people are talking about -- and make them the perfect subject matter to grab readers' attention and engage them in the lessons that life keeps teaching him.
That means writing about sports, about casinos, about how life changes, about all the "stuff" in his life and ours and the need to get rid of some of the baggage.
One of my favorite chapters is "The Gospel at 30,000 Feet," where he describes getting the third-degree about the church from a non-Catholic seat-mate on an airplane. The questioning is priceless!
There's a beautiful chapter about his interior thoughts as he held the baby he'd just baptized and pondered the world she would find on her journey.
"Ashley's World" lets us all into Bishop Tobin's world, if you will, and the questions we all have about what the future holds.
The chapters are short, worth savoring one a day for 40 days, worth reading and spending time reflecting on our own view of life, faith, the issues of our day and our own little world.
Nice job, bishop. -- bz
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