Coming Clean

Swimming with Scapulars: True Confessions of a Young Catholic by Matthew Lickona and published by Loyola Press is a curious yet delightful work. Curious in that I found myself wondering – often out loud to my wife and friends – why write this book? Fame? Fortune? Evangelization? All of the above? Probably and yet probably not quite.

I can’t properly answer that question. But I can tell you why you might like to read it:

• you’re up for some well written prose
• for some odd reason you care – or have the charity to care – about Matthew Lickona
• you’re interested in why a Catholic does the things Catholics do from the perspective of the man in the pew.

If you are motivated by any one of these, then this book is worth the read. Assuming I know my audience in some small way, I think they’d probably fit into at least one of these categories.

The last bullet above strikes at the core of the theme of the book. This is a book written by a Catholic to communicate his life in faith – a life he thinks is interesting and worth reading about. And in a lot of ways, he’s right about that.

Matthew Lickona is a man of (almost) 32 years, a column writer for an alternative newspaper (the San Diego Reader), a husband, and a father of 4 (soon to be 5). He’s no heavy handed or deep theologian. He’s not writing to persuade anyone of his beliefs; although, I imagine he’d be thrilled if even in some small way you were. This is not some religous tract or propoganda. This is Matt’s life of faith as a man in the pew who believes and obeys, as absolutely as he knows how, to the teachings of the Church. In today’s world where Catholics are reknown for their outright disregard and disobedience to the teachings of their faith, Matt brings something fresh to the table – though certainly not original. Matt strives to maintain the 2000 years of Christian believing, living, and teaching: he’s a Roman Catholic. No exceptions, no qualifications, no excuses for his faith.

The hardest part about being a Christian of the 2000 year-old variety is that there’s 2000 years of information and tradition to sift through and know. As a convert to Catholicism, I can personally attest that this makes it simply impossible to know it all. No one man can learn and retain everything about Catholicism, but through the faithful working together, the faith is preserved, practiced, and handed down to the generations.

In this context, Matt has been diligent as a member in the Body of Christ: where I have been ignorant or undiligent, Matt and his book have come and filled some gaps and taught me a number of things about Catholicism. The delight and beauty of his book comes from how he makes the teachings of the faith alive, fleshy, real. His subject matter is not strictly academic and never without its context: his topics are all motivated by something in his life. His presentation is full of reflection – on Scripture, on Tradition, and within reason – while remaining human – full of aggrevation, joy (though he doesn’t see it), concern, and hilarity.

Birth control, evangelization, sex scandals, the Eucharist… all of these topics and more I’m with my man Matt. He has concerns and doubts, all of which are properly cause for concern and reflection. I share in a lot of his weaknesses and shortcomings, and he relates the difficulties that lie therein as well as in moving past them. If there’s one area of disagreement, it’d be our preferred styles of worship – but I don’t think it a problem, really. I like interacting with people around me in my celebration whereas Matt doesn’t. I feel drawn in to the Mass and into our Lord when Matt feels driven away. Thank God for charity – the charity of the Mass and the charity we (ought to) give to each other. I think he and I would get by if we ever sat next to each other at Mass. But he didn’t talk about my number 1 distraction at Mass: my children. …Matt, c’mon… how are you not distracted and ripped from the Mass by your children?!?

For me, the real gems are those things which Matt introduced or reintroduced to me. Things such as mortification, alms giving, scapulars… and the moral value of cock roaches. These are things I have never thought about or fell by the wayside for any number of reasons. They are in some manner challenges to my life – that is they are challenges if Matt and I are honest when we say we take moral living and the teachings of the Church seriously. So, to Matt, thank you for bringing these teachings and traditions to me.

I’d probably recommend this book to anyone interested in Catholicism. Not because of its theological depth – I would say it does not wade out more than waist deep – but because of its reality. This book is about just an ordinary guy trying to be true to his Church and his faith, without exception or reservation, and why he is doing it – why it’s important . That’s what being a Catholic Christian means, and Matt makes a good example for our postmodern times.