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Confessions of a Cafeteria Catholic

$16.95

Paperback

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Product Details

Product Code:
CCCP
Format:
Paperback
ISBN/UPC:
9781621644811
Length:
0.5 (in)
Size (HxW):
8 x 5.25 (in)
Pages:
154
Publication date:
May 23, 2022
Weight:
6.8 oz
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Product Overview

One day, philosopher Peter Kreeft reads an open letter published by a friend, Nat Whilk. He's Catholic, but he sees the Church as unsteady, outdated, obsessive. As a challenge to the "True Believers", Nat pens a twenty-point manifesto for "cafeteria Catholics", who pass up certain Church teachings and scoop up others like a diner in a buffet line."I find in [Catholicism] both much to accept and even love and also much to refuse and even despise", he asserts. "If you insist on tying God to the Church, you will make me an atheist."

Kreeft has an answer for Nat—one that spans over a hundred pages. The result is this book: a sharp, friendly, and funny debate between two honest thinkers trying to understand the Christian life. Nat "is the'cafeteria Catholic', "writes Kreeft,"and I am the 'eat all the food Mommy puts on your plate' Catholic." Taking on Nat's manifesto point by point, the Boston College philosopher builds his case for a full-package Catholicism, addressing the themes of authority, love, freedom, conscience, sex, abortion, social justice, science, and more. "Our hopes differ", he points out to his friend."Your hope is in man; mine is in God."

If, like Nat Whilk, you find yourself wondering why the Church asks for so much commitment, Confessions of a Cafeteria Catholic could be the book for you. This debate serves as a fun and accessible introduction to some of the knottiest aspects of Catholic doctrine. Readers of Peter Kreeft's apologetic works and his Socrates Meets dialogues will enjoy the latest venture by one of the most celebrated contemporary Catholic writers.

Editorial Reviews

"When I was twenty-six years old, I came across a video of a man analyzing the truth, goodness, and beauty of the Catholic Church. It was a major turning point in my own reversion to the Faith. That man was Dr. Peter Kreeft, and in Confessions of a Cafeteria Catholic, I could hear that same tone of simplicity and charity, which is bound to echo in the heart of any truth seeker."
— Tyler Rowley, Author, Because of Our Fathers: Twenty-Three Catholics Tell How Their Fathers Led Them to Christ

Reviews

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  • 5
    Confessions of a Cafeteria Catholic is good for the soul

    Posted by Charles Schmidt on May 31st 2022

    Boston College philosophy professor Peter Kreeft has written Confessions of a Cafeteria Catholic in response to a letter by a Catholic who feels that the Catholic Church needs to change its teachings to be more in line with modern culture. So Kreeft has written an apologetics book defending Catholic moral principles, showing how the Church’s teachings reflect Divine Law, which is eternal and therefore doesn’t need updating. Here's Kreeft explaining why the Catholic Church doesn’t allow divorce and remarriage: Let’s take a typical instance. Nearly all people, including Protestant Christians, criticize the Church for being rigid, unbending, cruel, and impersonal for not allowing divorce. But the reason she says this is because Jesus said it, quite clearly, in the Gospels. Why did He say that? Because he is love incarnate, and he wants us to be deeply, truly happy, and divorce is one of the most profound causes of unhappiness in human life. The data – the scientific data – show very strongly and clearly that children are more traumatized by their parents’ divorce than by a parent’s death. The Church forbids divorce, not because she is less compassionate and less kind than all other Christian denominations which do, but because she is kinder and more compassionate. And divorce not only harms children, it harms society in harming society’s most important, most loving, and most happiness-generating institution, marriage. Allowing divorce talks half of the drama and romance out of marriage. It cuts asunder what God has put together. For marriage was God’s invention, not man’s. This is very clear in Genesis and in the sayings of Jesus. And here is Kreeft explaining why the Catholic Church stands by its teachings: When the Church labels some human acts good and helpful to the flourishing of human nature, that is not unjust nor is it bullying; it is just the truth. In fact, it means that the Church loves you, because one of the most important things love does is that it refuses to lie; love tells the truth to all the person who are loved, even if they don’t like it and even if the teacher is hated in return for his love. The term “Cafeteria Catholic” refers to Catholics who pick and choose among which Catholic moral principles they will accept, and they likely are a significant minority of Catholics. All Catholics, whether traditional Catholics or Cafeteria Catholics, would benefit greatly from reading this well-written defense that shows that Catholic doctrines are true, beautiful and good.