Catholic Hipster: The Next Level

An interesting book, full of food for thought and well written. I appreciated the clarity of exposition and the style of writing.
I discovered new things and had a lot to think about.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

This book was not exactly what I was expecting. And that was a surprise, because I began my review of, The Catholic Hipster Handbook the exact same way. I really enjoyed volume one. And did not expect a follow-up. And according to the author neither was he. And yet he has delivered another great read. I had seen it mentioned by so many people that I was certain it would be something I would like and purchased it without realizing that it is an anthology with 13 contributors when you included Tommy. Sort of a modern-day group of apostles plus a Paul. But there are 39 articles in the volume compared to 27 books in the new testament. Some contributed as few as 2 pieces and Tommy contributed 6.

The contributors are:

Fr. Damian Ference
Haley Stewart
Holly Vaughan
Jackie Francois Angel
Julie Lai
Kaitlyn Facista
Katie Prejean McGrady
Matthew Sewell
Patrick Neve
Samantha Povlock
Sr. Brittany Harrison, F.M.A.
Theresa Zoe Williams
Tommy Tighe

And only one of the contributors other than Tommy repeat from the first volume.

And the sections in this book are:

Introduction
Part 1: Living with Faith
Part 2: Living with Hope
Part 3: Living with Love
Conclusion
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
About the Contributors

Each chapter follows the same format, the main article, cool saint, forgotten prayer, and a Living the Faith activity. When I started reading book 1 I could not tell if it was satire, sarcastic, or real devotion. My wife often comments that sarcasm is lost on me, so it took me a few chapters to figure it out. This time I knew going in it was written from a place of deep faith, deep devotion, and desire to grow in living that faith.

I found I really enjoyed the book, even more so than volume 1. I take the authors and the articles at face value. I give it a solid 4/5 stars. With book one I waffled between 3 and 4 stars. This time I wavered between 4 and 5, and finally settled on a solid 4, and would give it 4.5 if it was possible. I read fairly widely, and I read a lot, but again with this volume I was unfamiliar with most of the contributors prior to reading this book. In fact, other than Tommy and Sr. Brittany Harrison from volume 1 I only knew one of the other contributors. Like the last time I have started following a few of the contributors on social media because of their contributions to this book.

I have known a few Catholic Hipsters, going back to a college and Careers group at Saint Mary's Cathedral in Kingston Ontario in the late 80's and early 90's. Hipsters before being a hipster was cool. What I loved most about this book was that it comments on several trends in the Catholic community today, some that are growing and others with longer standing. I really appreciated the section 'Forgotten Prayer' and also 'Cool Saint' the activity sections are good also.

I really appreciate that this book is called the next level and not just Volume 2. For that is my feel. This book goes further up and deeper into living the faith. The articles in the order they appear are:

Honor the Sabbath: Learning to Pause the Noise in Our Lives to Hear God
Healing the Sick and Raising the Dead: Just Your Average Catholic Hipster
Jesus, I Trust in You (Easier Said than Done)
Observing Ember Days
First Mass, Last Mass, Only Mass
Third Orders: Extreme Hipster Catholicism
There’s More than One Way to Pray a Rosary
The Song of Songs: The Mass in the Old Testament
J. R. R. Tolkien: Catholic Hipster
Guitars and Organs
Deck the Halls with Weird Old Testament Ornaments, Fa La La La La, La La La La
Lectio Divina: The Art of Sacred Reading
Fasting: Not Just for Diets
They Don’t Call Us a Universal Church for Nothing!
Bringing Catholic Twitter into the Real World
Punk Rock Catholicism (aka Tattoos)
Becoming Inklings
Human Formation for Every Catholic
I’ve Got That Grief, Grief, Grief, Grief Down in My Heart
Catholic Feminism (aka Things Popes Said That No One Talks About)
The Early Church Was the Catholic Church
You Must Wait Three Days to See the Pope
Chalk on the Door: House Blessings
Social Justice in Every Sip
Getting into the Spirit of Michaelmas
Servant Royalty
Hipster Mom: Working Catholic Mom of Nine
The Art of Accompaniment: Journeying with Others in Faith
The Catholic Worker Ethic
I’m Not a Regular Catholic; I’m a Cool (and Prideful) Catholic
The Catholic Idea That’s Key to Gender Equality
How to Make a Flannery O’Connor Pilgrimage
Catholic Bees
NFP, Yeah You Know Me
Co-Creating with God
Making All Things New
St. Andrew, an Apostle before It Was Cool
Attraction: Hormones Meet Theology
Heroic Friendship

This is an excellent read. But be warned, if you read it you will be challenged and changed. I doubt many could read this book and not be impacted by several if not many of the articles. And I will likely circle back and reread it in a few years, at a different point in my life and benefit from it in a different way.

This is an easy read and very accessible. I would say it is even accessible for teens and tweens. So, could be a good study for a youth group. What I loved most were the prayers and saints presented. Overall a very refreshing read, but I must state again it will challenge you. So give it a read and take your hipsterness to the next level.

Confession: this book lured me in purely by the use of the phrase "Awesomely Obscure Stuff" in its title. I'm not sure where exactly I fall on the Hipster scale... I mean, I raise chickens. I shop at Farmers' Markets. I buy used and vintage clothing and often make my own. I listen to music on vinyl. But Twitter scares me, and I'm quite prefer my husband's face clean-shaven. So I think I'm just old-fashioned, not cool. It's a fine line, isn't it?
On the Catholic scale however, I'm a rosary-toting, Butler's-Lives-of-the-Saints-memorizing, Pope-quoting freak. When I was a kid--and still now, to some extent--nothing made me happier than digging up "Awesomely Obscure Stuff" about my faith. When all my homeschooler friends were dressing up like St. Therese or Cecilia or Francis (I mean, they're cool, but everyone's heard of them), I draped sheets over myself as St. Emerentiana. Or St. Marina the Monk. (You should look them up. They're awesomely obscure.)
But Catholic Hipster: The Next Level isn't all about reaching into the forgotten annals of our past and pulling out gems like these--even though it does so, and well. Ultimately, it's a guide for life as a Catholic in the modern world. It shows that we can be steeped in tradition and still love our neighbors. That we can simultaneously embrace Twitter and Latin Hymns and social justice. That being who we were created to be might look like madness--but that it's also very, very cool. And that if you do so, you won't be alone.
On a more specific note, I'd like to end by pointing you in the direction of a few of my favorite essays from this volume:
"I've Got That Grief, Grief, Grief, Grief Down in My Heart," by Tommy Tighe (a reminder that true Joy doesn't look like what you might expect)
"Catholic Feminism (aka Things Popes Said That No One Talks About,)" by Samantha Povlock
The Art of Accompaniment: Journeying with Others in Faith," by Sr. Brittany Harrison
"I'm Not a Regular Catholic; I'm a Cool (and Prideful) Catholic," by Julie Lai (10-year-old me at those All Saints' Day parties could have used this one)
"Catholic Bees," by Haley Stewart
"Co-Creating with God," by Theresa Zoe Williams
"Heroic Friendship," by Kaitlyn Facista

Mother Teresa once told a group of priests: "Celebrate this Mass as if it is your first Mass, your last Mass and your only Mass". Tommy Tighe has written a beautiful exposition on this statement. It is probably easier for converts to do this, even if their first Mass was way back in their adolescence or even childhood, but great advice for everyone. This book is full of excellent advice for how to live your Catholic faith, interesting anecdotes about saints and suggestions for prayers. I loved it.



However, it is directed mostly to a young American audience. At the risk of being thought old-fashioned, I think that some of the advice was really too self-consciously 'cool'. For example, I didn't agree with the suggestion about considering a religious tattoo. The fashion of tattoos comes and goes over the years, and it can still be dangerous to get one, and a risk to career prospects, as well. Apparently, it can be even more dangerous to get tattoos removed!



Apart from this, it is a great book for all Catholics.



I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review

A delightful read whether you are a Catholic , a hipster or none of the above! A quick read that kept me engaged due to the upbeat tone and the variety of "voices" and short passages. I am an adult Catholic convert and enjoyed relearning and remembering various practices (i.e. lectio divina) as well as learning about the saints and seeing familiar as well as new prayers. I admit quite openly - I have diverged from the RC church and am not attending mass currently. I am also not a millennial hipster and yet this book gave me joy and inspiration. I finished the book in 2 days and am going to restart it tonight. Thank you to the publisher for giving me an opportunity to review this book. I would definitely suggest it as a gift or a personal read for any Catholic or anyone interested in the Catholic religion. I'd give it a 5 star rating but I took off a star as in some parts, I felt there was a definite assumption by the writer(s) that the reader was a somewhat financially comfortable middle class reader. Perhaps, the authors should consider that not everyone has the resources for cross-country (or continent) pilgrimages, and some people reading the book do not need to reduce their consumption because they are already living well below poverty level. That criticism aside, it is a wonderful read.

The next level indeed. Another fun compilation - and perfect follow up - to the first Catholic Hipster book, full of ways to go more deeply into the Catholic faith.

Catholic spirituality made accessible for modern youth, a joyful exuberant book, great for faith building.

I was so excited to get this book in the mail! Why? Because is the first book I’ve ever received for free from a publisher in exchange for my (honest) review.

I really loved it although I had a hard time getting into it when I got started. I think that’s just because I didn’t set aside time to read in the midst of a lot of other things.

Tommy and his 12 or so contributors talk about all things Catholic. Most of them I had some slight knowledge of, but I always appreciated the prayer and saint portion of the chapter.

The book is broken up into three sections of about 10 or so chapters each. Each chapter has a reflection by one of the contributors, a cool saint related to the topic, a forgotten prayer related to the topic and/or the saint, and a living the faith section where you can put this new thing into action.

It’s a great accompaniment to trying to figure out how being Catholic is different than every other Christian and practically the opposite of the world. It was a great collection of writers that were short, to the point, and able to inspire me to consider a few new things.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️