Book Studies
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Get involved in the parish life at St. John's by joining a small group book study. Book studies meet on various days of the week and times so that there is a study that fits everyone's schedule. At St. John's we have book studies year around (Lent, Summer, Advent). Questions about current or upcoming book studies? Reach out to Deacon David Bartolowits: david.bartolowits@stjohnsindy.org
SUMMER SMALL GROUP BOOK STUDY
Groups meeting weekly during June 2018 You are invited to participate in this summers' annual "affinity" book study. In addition to offering multiple book options, groups will gather at various times and locations throughout the city. Groups will meet once a week through the four weeks of June. Join us as we explore a mixture of fiction, spirituality, liturgy, and theology. Sign-ups are available after Masses on May 26-27 or online at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SummerStJ18. All the books that are offered can be purchased from Amazon.com or from the publisher. See descriptions of all books used for the small groups below.
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Summer Book Study Options
Gaudete et Exsultate: On the Call to Holiness in Today's World (Pope Francis)
In his third apostolic exhortation, Pope Francis presents the universal call to live holy lives with a new, fresh approach. We are encouraged to strive for and achieve holiness in our everyday lives. As we actively live out holiness day by day, we not only draw closer to the Lord ourselves, but become participants in bringing others to Christ.
Gaudete et Exsultate shows us:
How to understand and embrace the call to holiness
How to spot the contemporary enemies of holiness
How to understand Christ's call to holiness in the Beatitudes
How to be signs of holiness in our everyday lives
How to draw strength for the battle for holiness
Growing Young: 6 Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church.
(Dara Powell, Jake Mulder, and Brad Griffin) - Young Adult Group
"Growing Young" explores practical ideas to help young people engage with and in the Church based on groundbreaking research from over 250 of the nation's leading congregations. This book is theologically informed, research savvy, and pragmatically outstanding.
The Screwtape Letters (C.S. Lewis)
The Screwtape Letters is a classic masterpiece of religious satire that entertains readers with its sly and ironic portrayal of human life and foibles from the vantage point of Screwtape, a highly placed assistant to "Our Father Below." At once wildly comic, deadly serious, and strikingly original, C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters is the most engaging account of temptation—and triumph over it—ever written.
"The Catholic Family Handbook: Time-tested Techniques to Help You Strengthen Your Marriage and Raise Good Kids"
(Fr. Lawrence Lovasik) - Family Group w/childcare
This book offers insights to shield your family from the effects of our selfish secular culture, which destroys families and poisons relationships. Using Scripture and Church teachings in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step format, Fr. Lovasik helps you understand the proper role of the Catholic father and mother and the blessings of family. He shows you how you can secure happiness in marriage, develop the virtues necessary for a successful marriage, raise children in a truly Catholic way, and much more.
Loved as I Am: An Invitation to Conversion, Healing, and Freedom through Jesus (Miriam James Heidland) -
Women's Group
When Sr. Miriam James Heidland's life as a successful college athlete proved unfulfilling, she went searching for something deeper and ended up falling in love with Jesus. By charting her own journey toward wholeness, Heidland invites young Catholics to pursue their own relationship with Jesus. Although originally full of athletic ambition and goals for a career in sports news, Heidland was transformed in a very slow but deep way during her undergraduate years, moving from party girl to bride of Christ. In Loved as I Am: An Invitation to Conversion, Healing, and Freedom through Jesus, Heidland helps readers learn from her experience of seeking love in the wrong places and instead finding it in Christ. She shares her struggles--learning she was adopted, battling alcoholism, and healing from childhood sexual abuse--as signs of hope that anyone who desires to know Christ can find him and be loved intimately by him in return. By bringing readers into Heidland's healing process, Loved as I Am provides a gentle and subtle template for finding peace and freedom in Jesus.
Amoris Laetitia: On Love in the Family (Pope Francis)
"All of us are called to keep striving towards something greater than ourselves and our families, and every family must feel this constant impulse. Let us make this journey as families, let us keep walking together." (Pope Francis) - In his groundbreaking work on modern family life, Pope Francis continues to guide and lead the Church, calling us to be a sign of mercy and encouragement for families of all shapes and sizes.
Amoris Laetitia guides us through:
Scripture - what we can learn from Biblical families and relationships with God and each other
Reality - the experiences and challenges we face in today's world
Tradition - essential aspects of Church teaching on marriage and families
Love - what it means for all our relationships
Ministry - Pope Francis offers pastoral perspectives for helping build strong families
Spirituality - the expression of the Gospel message in our relationships
The Liturgy of Marriage: Building Your Relationship with the Rite Stuff (Timothy A. Heck) -
Married/Engaged or Soon to be Engaged Group
The Liturgy of Marriage brings together the counseling experience of a seasoned marriage and family therapist with the teachings of the Christian faith to help couples experience anew the dream that brought them together. With powerful stories and practical exercises, readers can tailor the concepts into the fabric of their own unique relationship. Dr. Timothy Heck takes his readers on an inspiring liturgical journey that shines the beauty of the Catholic Mass directly onto the sacrament of marriage. Discover in this book how to bring the faith home and experience all that marriage was meant to be as you build your relationship with the “Rite” stuff.
Time for God (Jacques Philippe)
Are you too busy to pray? What if you could actually gain time and be more productive by praying? Would you pray more? We often forget the real secret to gaining time and being productive is to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness , and all these things shall be yours as well (Mt 6:33). If we make time for God through prayer, He multiplies our time and makes it fruitful and productive in all areas of our life. But have you ever felt unsure about how to pray? For that matter, what exactly is prayer and who is it for? And where, when and how should you pray? These questions find an answer in this latest book from Scepter, Time for God. Written in a simple and modern style, author Jacques Philippe draws on years of experience as a spiritual guide to illuminate the fundamental principles of true prayer and describes some common mistakes and misconceptions that can lead it astray. This book is a must-read for anyone wanting to make better use of their time with God.
In his third apostolic exhortation, Pope Francis presents the universal call to live holy lives with a new, fresh approach. We are encouraged to strive for and achieve holiness in our everyday lives. As we actively live out holiness day by day, we not only draw closer to the Lord ourselves, but become participants in bringing others to Christ.
Gaudete et Exsultate shows us:
How to understand and embrace the call to holiness
How to spot the contemporary enemies of holiness
How to understand Christ's call to holiness in the Beatitudes
How to be signs of holiness in our everyday lives
How to draw strength for the battle for holiness
Growing Young: 6 Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church.
(Dara Powell, Jake Mulder, and Brad Griffin) - Young Adult Group
"Growing Young" explores practical ideas to help young people engage with and in the Church based on groundbreaking research from over 250 of the nation's leading congregations. This book is theologically informed, research savvy, and pragmatically outstanding.
The Screwtape Letters (C.S. Lewis)
The Screwtape Letters is a classic masterpiece of religious satire that entertains readers with its sly and ironic portrayal of human life and foibles from the vantage point of Screwtape, a highly placed assistant to "Our Father Below." At once wildly comic, deadly serious, and strikingly original, C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters is the most engaging account of temptation—and triumph over it—ever written.
"The Catholic Family Handbook: Time-tested Techniques to Help You Strengthen Your Marriage and Raise Good Kids"
(Fr. Lawrence Lovasik) - Family Group w/childcare
This book offers insights to shield your family from the effects of our selfish secular culture, which destroys families and poisons relationships. Using Scripture and Church teachings in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step format, Fr. Lovasik helps you understand the proper role of the Catholic father and mother and the blessings of family. He shows you how you can secure happiness in marriage, develop the virtues necessary for a successful marriage, raise children in a truly Catholic way, and much more.
Loved as I Am: An Invitation to Conversion, Healing, and Freedom through Jesus (Miriam James Heidland) -
Women's Group
When Sr. Miriam James Heidland's life as a successful college athlete proved unfulfilling, she went searching for something deeper and ended up falling in love with Jesus. By charting her own journey toward wholeness, Heidland invites young Catholics to pursue their own relationship with Jesus. Although originally full of athletic ambition and goals for a career in sports news, Heidland was transformed in a very slow but deep way during her undergraduate years, moving from party girl to bride of Christ. In Loved as I Am: An Invitation to Conversion, Healing, and Freedom through Jesus, Heidland helps readers learn from her experience of seeking love in the wrong places and instead finding it in Christ. She shares her struggles--learning she was adopted, battling alcoholism, and healing from childhood sexual abuse--as signs of hope that anyone who desires to know Christ can find him and be loved intimately by him in return. By bringing readers into Heidland's healing process, Loved as I Am provides a gentle and subtle template for finding peace and freedom in Jesus.
Amoris Laetitia: On Love in the Family (Pope Francis)
"All of us are called to keep striving towards something greater than ourselves and our families, and every family must feel this constant impulse. Let us make this journey as families, let us keep walking together." (Pope Francis) - In his groundbreaking work on modern family life, Pope Francis continues to guide and lead the Church, calling us to be a sign of mercy and encouragement for families of all shapes and sizes.
Amoris Laetitia guides us through:
Scripture - what we can learn from Biblical families and relationships with God and each other
Reality - the experiences and challenges we face in today's world
Tradition - essential aspects of Church teaching on marriage and families
Love - what it means for all our relationships
Ministry - Pope Francis offers pastoral perspectives for helping build strong families
Spirituality - the expression of the Gospel message in our relationships
The Liturgy of Marriage: Building Your Relationship with the Rite Stuff (Timothy A. Heck) -
Married/Engaged or Soon to be Engaged Group
The Liturgy of Marriage brings together the counseling experience of a seasoned marriage and family therapist with the teachings of the Christian faith to help couples experience anew the dream that brought them together. With powerful stories and practical exercises, readers can tailor the concepts into the fabric of their own unique relationship. Dr. Timothy Heck takes his readers on an inspiring liturgical journey that shines the beauty of the Catholic Mass directly onto the sacrament of marriage. Discover in this book how to bring the faith home and experience all that marriage was meant to be as you build your relationship with the “Rite” stuff.
Time for God (Jacques Philippe)
Are you too busy to pray? What if you could actually gain time and be more productive by praying? Would you pray more? We often forget the real secret to gaining time and being productive is to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness , and all these things shall be yours as well (Mt 6:33). If we make time for God through prayer, He multiplies our time and makes it fruitful and productive in all areas of our life. But have you ever felt unsure about how to pray? For that matter, what exactly is prayer and who is it for? And where, when and how should you pray? These questions find an answer in this latest book from Scepter, Time for God. Written in a simple and modern style, author Jacques Philippe draws on years of experience as a spiritual guide to illuminate the fundamental principles of true prayer and describes some common mistakes and misconceptions that can lead it astray. This book is a must-read for anyone wanting to make better use of their time with God.