Living the Call. Michael Novak

      Table of Contents

       Praise

       Title Page

       Dedication

       A WORD FROM BILL

       A WORD FROM MICHAEL

       PART I - INTO THE WORLD

       CHAPTER 1 - Taking Our Knowledge and Putting It to Use in the World

       CHAPTER 2 - Teach Our Children to Follow the Right Path

       CHAPTER 3 - The Child of Immigrants Gives Back

       CHAPTER 4 - A Life of Service—Not Far from Home

       POSTSCRIPT

       CHAPTER 5 - Passing by Injustice—and Then Stopping to Do Something about It

       CHAPTER 6 - Parish Ministry

       CHAPTER 7 - “This Is My Perfect Job!”

       CHAPTER 8 - The Business of the Church

       CHAPTER 9 - “My Credentials Are My Baptism”

       CHAPTER 10 - Lay Ministries

       CHAPTER 11 - Surrounded by Poverty, a Soul Is Enriched

       CHAPTER 12 - In Love and Death, Helping Others Find Peace

       CHAPTER 13 - After the Waters Recede: Leading the Next Generation to Shore

       PART II - THE SEARCH WITHIN

       CHAPTER 14 - The Soul of Laypeople

       CHAPTER 15 - First Comes Love—God’s for Us

       CHAPTER 16 - Looking Inward

       CHAPTER 17 - Into the Presence of God

       CHAPTER 18 - The Sacraments

       CHAPTER 19 - Imbibing the Wisdom of the Ages—Spiritual Readings for the Lay Catholic

       CHAPTER 20 - Getting away from It All—Spiritual Retreats

       CHAPTER 21 - Are You Ready for Commitment? A Look at Oblates and Associates

       CHAPTER 22 - Single or Married—Answering God’s Call

       CHAPTER 23 - Teach All Nations!

       CHAPTER 24 - To Rebuild All Things in Christ

       Copyright Page

      Praise for Living the Call

      Every Christian has the right and duty to participate in the Church’s evangelical mission to spread the Gospel of the King- dom of God. Simon and Novak explain why, and how, that mission can be lived today.

      —George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow,

       Ethics and Public Policy Center

      Nothing can advance the Kingdom of God more than Christians getting out of the pews and into the world. Living the Call is an inspiring guide to do just that.

      —Chuck Colson, Founder, Prison Fellowship and the

       Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview

      Living the Call inspires readers with particular stories of ordinary yet heroic virtue, while guiding us to further participation in that which is good and noble. It is uplifting and practical.

      —Edwin Feulner, President, The Heritage Foundation

      Bill Simon and Michael Novak show us how laypeople are fulfilling their baptismal call: to bring Christ to the world. Some do this within Church structures, most in the public square. I found their concluding account of the spiritual resources which support this call riveting.

      —Fr. John Jay Hughes, Author, No Ordinary Fool: A Testimony to Grace

      For my wife, Cindy, a constant source of respect, admiration, and love.

      —Bill

      For Karen Laub-Novak, Artist of the Dark Night, fun-loving and carrier of joy.

      —Michael

       A WORD FROM BILL

      Thirty years ago, if you had told me I was going to write a book about opportunities for lay Catholics to become more involved in the Church, I would have chuckled and said, “Not likely” or maybe, more emphatically, “Highly unlikely.”

      I grew up the oldest of seven children in an Irish Catholic family, going to church every Sunday. I even had a sort of evangelical experience while I was working at a hospital during high school. But my young adulthood, which I sometimes jokingly refer to as my “George W. Bush phase,” was not a model of religious piety. I worked hard, but I did a lot of partying too. I got married at 27 and was divorced by the time I was 32.

      I still have some trouble piecing together how I got so lost in my 20s. But slowly, I returned to the Church. After an annulment, I remarried, and though my wife didn’t convert to Catholicism until 15 years later, we raised our three children in the Catholic faith. My churchgoing and sacramental life