Some time ago, I purchased Rome Sweet Home by Scott and Kimberly Hahn for my wife. I have watched a couple of videos of Scott describing in his conversion, and I find his narrative compelling, for it was not by intuition or faith that I became Catholic, but by reason. It just made more sense than the alternatives. It was only later that I came to appreciate the spirit world, and I must give credit where it is due, to the Lords of Spirit podcast (which has subsequently jumped the shark and degenerated into anti-Catholic agitprop).
Anyhow, I decided to take a read on a lazy Sunday afternoon and was completely hooked. Even though I knew the outline of the story, I still found the narrative compelling. The book is laid out in sequential chapters, each following the same “he said, she said” format, so that we learn of Scott’s early life and then Kimberly’s. When they finally meet, this fusion of alternative viewpoints becomes something of a story in itself, because it highlights the fundamental difference between male and female.
Even though both of them were Christian and sought to know God, they approached this in different ways, just as men and women are different. Their stories highlight how this difference is complimentary, that is to say, neither is superior to the other. We need both to experience the fullness of God’s creation.
This is why feminism is so toxic. It tried to categorically exclude and denigrate the male aspect of existence, in the process creating an artificial “patriarchy” which was simply the way all human societies existed throughout history. With the benefit of hindsight, it has been an unmitigated failure, which is why attempts to find its positive aspects are doomed to failure.
I think this book has surprisingly wide appeal. It is a call to arms for “cradle Catholics” to learn their catechism and read their scripture, because the enemies of the Church labor tirelessly to undermine her teachings.
Converts will appreciate the varying motivations behind conversion and perhaps reflect on how certain subsets of the Church would rather accept decline rather than adapt to newcomers.
It is also a warning to Protestants, who (as both the Hahns attest) have created something of a bubble around their faith, based in large part upon caricatures of the Catholic faith rather than a serious understanding of it.
As mention above, I started the book on a Sunday afternoon and finished it this morning. I read it late into the evening, and it’s kind of funny to think that a conversion story had me turning pages like it was The Hunt for Red October.
Given its detailed discussion of Catholic doctrine, I would rate this as at least as important as The Screwtape Letters in Christian apologetics.
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