Cath-Lit Live! Episode #53 – Leslea Wahl

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A ten-day Caribbean cruise might sound like a fabulous way to spend the holidays, but Liz would rather be anywhere than stranded on a ship with her estranged father for his high school reunion.

While an anonymous note, an onboard mystery, and a cute boy help turn the tide on the unwanted trip, Liz and her father drift even further apart. However, when Liz’s reckless actions create a tsunami of unintended consequences, she recognizes that she’s drowning in pent-up hurt and anger. As her carefully created façade begins to ebb away, she turns to her faith and sets off to chart a new course for her life.

Leslea Wahl lives in beautiful Colorado and is the author of several award-winning teen novels. She strives to write stories that encourage teens to grow in their faith through fun adventurous mysteries. Leslea is often inspired by her family, their travels, and real-life adventures. She particularly enjoys including the furry, four-legged members of her family in her novels. Besides writing, Leslea also reviews faith-based novels on her website and is a founding member of CatholicTeenBooks.com.

To catch all the new episodes, follow me on YouTube here.

Cath-Lit Live Episode #27 with guest Katy Carl

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Shortly before Br. Thomas Augustine Fielding solidifies a lifelong commitment to his monastic community, a traumatic encounter with an abusive priest plunges the novice into terror and doubt. Reeling and uncertain, he reaches out to his friend, artistic rival, and former lover, Angele Solomon, with hopes that she can help him to speak the difficult truth. As she attempts to advocate for her friend, Angele must ask how the scars left by their common past—as well as newer harms—can ever be healed or transcended. The wider inquiries demanded next will transfigure how both of them picture a range of human and divine things: time and memory; art and agency; trust and responsibility; and what it might mean to know real freedom.

Katy Carl is the author of As Earth Without Water (Wiseblood Books, 2021) and of Praying the Great O Antiphons: My Soul Magnifies the Lord (Catholic Truth Society, 2021, forthcoming) and is editor in chief of Dappled Things magazine.

To catch all the new episodes, follow me on YouTube here.

Cath-Lit Live Episode 25 with guest Eleanor Bourg Nicholson

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For Athene Howard, the only child of renowned cultural anthropologist Charles Howard, life is an unexciting, disillusioned academic project. When she encounters a clairvoyant Dominican postulant, a stern nun, and a recusant English nobleman embarked on a quest for a feral Franciscan werewolf, the strange new world of enchantment and horror intoxicates and delights her—even as it brings to light her father’s complex past and his long-dormant relationship with the Church of Rome. Can Athene and her newfound compatriots battle against the ruthless forces of darkness that howl for the overthrow of civilization and the devouring of so many wounded souls? In this sister novel to A Bloody Habit, the incomparable Father Thomas Edmund Gilroy, O.P. returns to face occult demons, gypsy curses, possessed maidens, and tormented werewolves, accompanying a charming neo-pagan heroine in her earnest search for adventure and meaning.

In addition to scholarly pursuits, Eleanor Bourg Nicholson occasionally strays into fiction, including her epistolary novella, The Letters of Magdalen Montague (Kauffmann Publishing, 2011; Chrism Press, 2021), and her Victorian vampire novel, A Bloody Habit (Ignatius Press, 2018). A former assistant executive editor for Dappled Things, she is assistant editor for the Saint Austin Review (StAR), as well as the editor of several Ignatius Critical Editions of the classics. Her work has appeared in the National Catholic Register, Touchstone, First Things, The Catholic Thing, The Imaginative Conservative, and elsewhere. By day, Eleanor is the resident Victorian literature instructor at Homeschool Connections and with her husband homeschools their five children. By night, she reads the Victorians, writes Gothic novels, and cares for feral offspring. She is joining us tonight to talk about her new book Brother Wolf.

To catch all the new episodes, follow me on YouTube here.

Cath-Lit Live Episode 24 — when the tables got turned on me!

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Romance author Maddie Evans turned the tables on me for this one! She interviewed me about my new book Sweet Jesus, Is It June Yet? 10 Ways the Gospels Can Help You Combat Teacher Burnout and Rediscover Your Passion for Teaching.

The Amazon Book Blurb:

You work hard to motivate your students every day, but where can you find the inspiration you need when teaching gets tough or your passion for the classroom starts to wane?

Veteran teacher Amy J. Cattapan invites you to look to the greatest teacher of all time—Jesus. With humor and stories from the trenches, Cattapan draws valuable insight and tools from the Gospels and shares ten life-changing principles every teacher can learn from Jesus. In Sweet Jesus, Is It June Yet?, she’ll help you hang onto your sanity and fulfill your calling even when you’re feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and on the verge of burnout.

Classroom burnout is real. About 44 percent of new teachers in New York leave the profession by their fourth year and 40 percent of new teachers leave Chicago schools within five years. All over the country, managing online instruction has only added to the pressures teachers face.

In order to combat frustration and burnout, Cattapan will help you:

  • remember where your calling began
  • rediscover who this is all about
  • know when to lean on others for help;
  • learn how Jesus dealt with challenges
  • and understand that God’s grace really is enough.

Whether you’re a brand new teacher, a veteran educator, or a homeschooling parent, you’ll find wisdom—and more than a few laughs—in Cattapan’s reflections on the Great Teacher and in classroom stories straight from the front lines.

To catch all the new episodes, follow me on YouTube here.

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