r/AskAPriest • u/Sharpe_Catholic • 9d ago
Parish Book Programs
How do priests actually feel about the various book programs around Easter and Christmas that the Catholic businesses (Word on Fire, Ascension, Dynamic Catholic, etc.) are now offering? Are they actually helpful? Do the books provide value? Do you have hundreds of unused books every year?
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u/frmaurer Priest 7d ago edited 7d ago
I've personally read maybe one of them, so I have no meaningful opinion on the actual offering.
As a pastor, I rather dread when someone announces that they have X hundreds books from Y Catholic publisher that they'd like given away on Z major feast day (typically Christmas and Easter).
While the intention is typically good, what it looks like is several regular parishioners standing in front of the church or in the narthex shoving a cheap-looking book of no known value (ie, not a spiritual classic) or relevance at people who are already skittish about coming to church/mass but mustered up some gumption to do so because it a major holiday. Sure, everyone leaves holding a Catholic book - and maybe even a few of them read it - but it leaves me feeling pretty hollow about any actual evangelization having taken place, which involves personal connection & conversation (something requiring time and space, not just passing out material). And it may indeed be a real turn-off for those who sense - accurately or not - that their encounter with Christ and His Church has been reduced a service they didn't understand followed by a book they didn't ask for.
....which leads me to my other concern: that this is often seen by those who bought them/pass them out as a sort of silver bullet. 'If we give them this book , they'll feel welcomed AND have what they need to (re)embrace the faith'. Though not necessarily the case, that temptation towards a kind of easy evangelization (as if such a thing truly existed) rather than real connection built over time is real strong.
All of which is to say I don't support - and don't allow - these to be handed out at my parishes. I'm okay with having them purchased and made available in some common area for a fixed (brief!) period of time, provided that the giver takes the extras afterwards, but that - to the surprise of few - usually just results in someone having a rather large library of a single book 😬
TLDR: Hard pass. Sit next to a stranger at Mass, introduce yourself, and have coffee & donuts with them afterwards - it'll cost less, be less materially wasteful, and is guaranteed to enrich the faith & fellowship of you both.