St. John Neumann
Catholic Church

Please know that I will offer another "book club" experience in the fall. On six Thursdays this fall, I will hope to engage a large group of you in the spiritual/intellectual work of adult ongoing formation: growing in our knowledge of the Lord and his new Way for us. We will read a challenging and insightful book by Professor Ralph Martin, Director of the New Evangelization at Sacred Heart Seminary, in Detroit.

I selected Ralph Martin's The Fulfillment of All Desire: a Guidebook for the Journey to God based on the Wisdom of the Saints for the fall book club experience for four reasons:

• This book is a wonderful follow-up to Matthew Kelly's Rediscovering Catholicism, the book that was given to most every member of the parish at the beginning of our Building a Legacy of Faith project (which is moving along and on schedule). Matthew Kelly's book spoke to us about THE CALL: in rediscovering our Catholic faith-life, we are invited to rediscover our call... to holiness of life, as disciples of the Lord Jesus. The book we will read this fall explores this call to the joy of holiness in greater depth.

• The small group that met with me in the choir room and read Paul: Least of the Apostles recommended something like the Martin book: it is a survey of the spiritual wisdom of Sts. Augustine (430), Bernard (1153), Catherine of Siena (1380), Teresa of Avila (1582), John of the Cross (1591), Francis de Sales (1622) and Therese (1897).

• In the short vacation I had earlier this month, my two best friends from seminary (one a Bishop and the other the Vicar General of a mid-western diocese) brought the book with them on that vacation. We all brought the book as a project... without planning or rationale.

• I began to read the book on that July vacation and could not put it down.

This book will be a blessing to every one of you that reads the text and then joins me on these six Thursday evenings (7:30 to 9:00 PM, in Lind Hall) to share the insights gained from Professor Martin and the wisdom of the saints. It is a long book (443 pages); and the subject matter is meant to challenge and confront your own discipleship (it surely has confronted mine). I am hopeful that a large group of you will join me for these six nights in the fall.

Please begin to read the book now, taking notes, writing down insights and questions. The book is published by Emmaus Road Publishing (2006). I purchased my paperback edition on-line (from Amazon).

Please write down these dates on your calendar or in your electronic appointment gadget: the 17th of September, the 1st of October, the 15th of October, the 22nd of October, the 5th of November and the 19th of November. We will meet in Lind Hall and share the gifts given us in reading the wisdom of the saints.

Please try and contact me (e-mail is best @ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or 770 -923-6633, x135) and let me know if you will plan to join me for these six Thursdays in the fall. I hope you will!

Please continue to pray for the spiritual renewal of our parish family. Reading this book by Ralph Martin will be one sure-fire way to engage the Lord in that hunger and thirst... to be happily, joyfully, holy. And know this: the holiness that the Lord Jesus calls us to seek is all about love... of God and of neighbor.

AMDG

Msgr. David Talley