Tablet Special Sections

The Books We Are Reading This Summer

Brother Michel Bettigole, O.S.F.
St. Francis Friary, Bay Ridge
“The Polish Officer” – Alan Furst
“The Old Regime and the Coming of the French Revolution” – Alexis de Tocqueville
“The Sunday Sermons of St. Bonaventure” – translated by Timothy Johnson

Msgr. John J. Bracken
“Jesus, A Pilgrimage” – James Martin, S.J.
“The War That Ended Peace” – Margaret MacMillan
“The Mantle of Command” – Nigel Hamilton
“I Am Pilgrim” – Terry Hayes

Katie Breidenbach
Reporter, Currents News
“Phantastes” – George MacDonald
“Till We Have Faces” – C.S. Lewis
“Story” – Robert McKee

Mark Bristol
Seminarian, Diocese of Brooklyn
“The Joy of the Gospel” – Pope Francis
“Forming Intentional Discipleship” – Sherry Weddell
“Rebuilt” – Michael White and Tom Corcaran
“The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors” – James Hornfischer
“Lone Survivor” – Marcus Luttrell

Msgr. Joseph Calise
Pastor, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Williamsburg
“The Swerve: How the World Became Modern” – Stephen Greenblatt
“The Serpent of Venice” -Christopher Moore
“Can We Save the Church? We Can Save the Church” – Hans Kung

 Msgr. Thomas Caserta
Pastor, St. Bernadette, Dyker Heights
“Navigating the Interior Life: Spiritual Direction and the Journey to God” – Daniel Burke
“Doctored Evidence” – Donna Leon
“A Fatal Grace” – Louise Penny
“The Fear of Insignificance: Searching for Meaning in the Twenty-first Century” – Carlo Strenger
“Incarnation: The Person and Life of Christ” – Thomas Torrance

Larry Celona
Reporter, New York Post
“Orr, My Story” – Bobby Orr
“The Yankee Way” – Willie Randolph

Auxiliary Bishop Raymond Chappetto
Vicar General
“Pope Francis’ Spirituality and Our Story” – Father Robert E. Lauder
“Jesus: A Pilgrimage” – James Martin,S.J.
“A Magic Summer, The Amazin’ Story of the 1969 New York Mets” – Stanley Cohen

Diane Competello
Principal, St. Athanasius School, Bensonhurst
“Pope Francis: Untying the Knots” – Paul Vallely

Father James Cunningham
Pastor, Holy Name of Jesus Parish, Park Slope
“Key Moments in Church History – A Concise Introduction to the Catholic Church” – Mitch Finley
“John Wayne: The Life and Legend” – Scott Eyman
“Mercy in the City” – Kerry Weber
“Rebuilding Catholic Culture: How the Catechism Can Shape Our Common Life” – Ryan N. S. Topping
“Heretics and Heroes: How Renaissance Artists and Reformation Priests Created Our World” – Thomas Cahill

Father John Cush
Doctoral Student in Fundamental Theology, Gregorian University, Rome
“Cyberteologia” – Antonio Spadaro, S.J.
“Redeeming History” – Gerard Whelan, S.J.
“Ratzinger’s Faith” – Tracey Rowland
“The Wolves of the Calla” – Stephen King
“The Final Solution: A Story of Detection” – Michael Chabon

Donna Czak
Sacred Heart Parish, East Glendale
“The First Crusade” – Thomas Asbridge
“Salt of the Earth” – Joseph Ratzinger
“Total Surrender” – Mother Teresa
“Saint Rita of Cascia” – Father Joseph Sicardo, O.S.A.

Father James Devlin
Pastor, Good Shepherd, Marine Park
“Clouds of Glory: The Life and Legend of Robert E. Lee” – Michael Korda
“Pope Francis: Untying the Knots” – Paul Vallely
“John Wayne” – Scott Eyman

Liz Faublas
Anchor, Currents News
“Life Is Not Complicated, You Are: Turning Your Biggest Disappointments Into Your Greatest Blessings” – Carlos Wallace
“David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants” – Malcolm Gladwell
“10% Happier” – Dan Harris

Msgr. Fernando Ferrarese
Pastor, Immaculate Conception Parish, Astoria
“Mercy” – Cardinal Walter Kasper
“Dry Bones” – Peter Quinn
“Naked Economics” – Charles Wheelan

Msgr. Steven Ferrari
Pastor, St. Teresa Parish, Woodside
“The Church of Mercy” – Pope Francis
“All The Light We Cannot See” – Anthony Doerr
“The Silkworm” – Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling)
“The Visionist” – Rachel Urquhart
“The Boys in the Boat” – Daniel James Brown

Dr. Philip Franco
Principal, St. Margaret School, Middle Village
“Forget Not Love, The Story of St. Maximillian Kolbe” – Andre Froussaud.
“The Last Superstition: A Refutation of the New Atheism” -Edward Feser
“He Liked Tuesdays Best: a Memoir of John Paul II” – Archbishop Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki

Grant Gallicho
Commonweal
“Capital in the Twenty-First Century” – Thomas Picketty
“The Victim” – Saul Bellow
“Young Catholic America: Emerging Adults In, Out of, and Gone from the Church” – Christian E. Smith

Msgr. Michael Hardiman
Pastor, St. Patrick Parish, Bay Ridge
“Trent” – John O’Malley, S.J.
“The Pilgrim’s Regress” – C.S. Lewis
“Still Life With Bread Crumbs” – Anna Quindlen
“What Happened at Vatican II” -John O’Malley, S.J.
“James Madison” – Lynne Cheney

Christopher Iasiello
Assistant News Director, NET-TV
“St. Francis of Assisi” – G.K. Chesterton
“Father Brown of the Church of Rome” – G.K. Chesterton
“Pope Francis: Why He Leads the Way He Leads” – Chris Lowney

John Kennedy
St. Rose of Lima Parish, Rockaway Beach
“Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence” – Daniel Goleman
“Emotional Intelligence” – Daniel Goleman
“Jonathan Livingston Seagull” – Richard Bach

Gina Krainchich
Director of Educational Services, DeSales Media Group
“The Hemingses of Moniticallo, An American Family” – Annette Gordon-Reed
“The Elegance of the Hedgehog” – Muriel Barbery

Father Robert Lauder
Professor, St. John’s University
“The Betrothed” – Alessandro Manzoni
“Quo Vadis” – Henryk Sienkiewicz
“Ask the Beasts: Darwin and the God of Love” – Sister Elizabeth Johnson, C.S.J.
“The Vision of Catholic Social Thought” – Megan Clarke
“No Irrelevant Jesus: On Jesus and the Church Today” – Gerhard Lohfink

Msgr. Thomas Machalski
Chancellor and Rector, Orchard Lake Schools, Mich.
“Three Days: The Search For The Boy Messiah” – Chris Stepien
“A Lost Shepherd: An Ex-Priest’s Journey from Sin to Salvation” -Michael E. Ripple
“Holy Goals For Body and Soul: 8 Steps To Connect Sports With God and Faith” – Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki
“Serving The Body Of Christ: The Magisterium on Eucharist and Ordained Priesthood” – Kevin W. Irwin
“Long Shot” – Mike Piazza

Jim Mancari
Sports Columnist, The Tablet
“The Boys of Summer” – Roger Kahn

Father Frank Mann
“The Boundless Circle: Caring for Creatures and Creation” – Matthew W. Fox
“Recovering a Sense of the Sacred: Conversations with thomas Berry” – Carolyn W. Toben
“A Lion Named Christian” – Anthony Bourke and John Rendall
“Compassion: Listening to the Cries of the World” – Christina Feldman
“Bowling Alone: The Compassion and Revival of American Community” – Robert D. Putnam
“The Church of Mercy” – Pope Francis
“How Animals Grieve” – Barbara J. King
“Reverence for Life: The Ethics of Albert Schweitzer for the 21st Century” – Marvin Meyer

Father James Massa
Moderator of the Curia
“Therese of Lisieux: God’s Gentle Warrior” – Thomas R. Nevin
“A Miracle for St. Cecilia’s” – Katherine Valentine
“Purity, Sacrifice, and the Temple: Symbolism and Supersessionism in the Study of Ancient Judaism” – Jonathan Klawans

Dr. Patrick McNamara
Author
“John Wayne: The Life and Legend” – Scott Eyman
“The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism” – Doris Kearns Goodwin
“Jesus: A Pilgrimage” – James Martin, S.J.
“Clouds of Glory: The Life and Legend of Robert E. Lee” – Michael Korda
“Letters from the Desert” – Carlo Carretto

Christine Mohan
Director of Web Services, DeSales Media Group
“Let the Great World Spin” -Column McCann
“The Possibilities” – Kaui Hart Hemmings
“The Cathedral and the Bazaar” – Eric S. Raymond

Msgr. Sean Ogle
Pastor, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Astoria
“Newman and His Family” – Edward Short
“The Soul of the World” – Roger Scruton
“The Mississippi Flows into the Tiber” – John Beaumont
“Angels and Saints” – Scott Hahn
“The Bad Catholic’s Guide to the Catechism” – John Zmirak

Margaret Riconda
Sacred Heart Parish, Bayside
“Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars” – Lee Billings
“Jesus: A Pilgrimage” – James Martin, S.J.
“The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History” – Elizabeth Kolbert
“The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win WWII” – Denise Kiernan

Father Raymond Roden
Spiritual Director, Cathedral House of Formation, Douglaston
“The Life of Saint Hugh of Lincoln” – Herbert Thurston
“The World of Damon Runyon” – Tom Clark
“Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life” – Cardinal Walter Kasper
“A Walker in the City” – Alfred Kazin

Tony Rossi
Director of Communications, The Christophers
“Mission at Nuremberg: An American Army Chaplain and the Trial of the Nazis” – Tim Townsend
“Something Other Than God: How I Passionately Sought Happiness and Accidentally Found It” – Jennifer Fulwiler
“Star Wars: Dark Journey” – Elaine Cunningham

Bishop Paul Sanchez
Auxiliary Bishop, Diocese of Brooklyn
“The Joy Of The Gospel: Evangelii Gaudium” – Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation
“The Mississippi Flows Into The Tiber: A Guide to Notable American Converts to the Catholic Church” – John Beaumont
“Immortal Diamond: The Search For Our True Self” – Richard Rohr

Matthew Schiller
Business Manager, Catholic New York
“Jesus: A Pilgrimage” – James Martin, S.J.
“The Grunt Padre” – Father Daniel L. Mode
“1954” – Bill Madden
“Gettysburg” – Allen C. Guelzo

Father Peter Schineller, S.J.
“Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life” – Cardinal Walter Kasper
“All Creatures Great and Small,  All Creatures Bright and Beautiful” –   James Herriot
“The Divine Milieu” – Teilhard deChardin, S.J.
“Jesus: A Pilgrimage” – James Martin, S.J.

Stefanie Gutierrez
Spokesperson, Diocese of Brooklyn
“Eclipse of the Sun” – Michael O’Brien
“A Corner of the Veil” – Laurence Cosse
“The Betrothed” – Alessandro Manzoni

Msgr. John Strynkowski
Rector, St. James Cathedral, Downtown Brooklyn
“Jesus: A Pilgrimage” – James Martin, S.J.
“Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life” – Cardinal Walter Kasper
“Divorce and Remarriage” – Theodore Mackin, S.J.

Louise M. Walton
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Astoria
“Living in a Pluralistic Society” -Timothy J. Keller
“Where Jesus Walked” – Ken Duncan

Ed Wilkinson
Editor, The Tablet
“The Target” – Michael Baldacci
“Unlucky 13” – James Patterson

John Woods
Editor-in-Chief, Catholic New York
“The Vatican Diaries” – John Thavis
“Summers at Shea” – Ira Berkow
“Footprints on the Journey” -Juliann DosSantos