The Catholics Next Door: Adventures in Imperfect Living is a wonderfully
candid, intimate, honest, and, at times, hilarious look at a Catholic couple’s
efforts to live out their vocations as children of God, spouses, and parents of
five in ways that uphold their faith and desire to glorify God. The foreword by Fr. Roderick Vonhögen, CEO, Star Quest Production Network paints a great picture of life with the Willits starting with the scene the first time he met them in person. I’ll give you a hint, it was on the front porch of their home and it involved lightsabers.
Greg and Jennifer Willits don’t claim to have things all figured out—not in any area of their lives—but they do know that putting God first and their marriage second are the two essential ingredients to make them good parents and good people.
Through their
experience as a married couple raising children while keeping the faith, they
are credible sources for entertaining stories and essential guidelines for
growing closer to the Lord and drawing others nearer to Him. This dynamic duo hosts the radio program The Catholics Next Door and have founded
New Evangelizers, Rosary Army, and That
Catholic Show, among other apostolates.
It works really well in
this book to have Greg and Jennifer go back and forth writing views from their
own perspectives regarding everything from learning about the Catholic faith to
living it out in all areas of their lives.
This couple doesn’t
hold back. They are vulnerable and
humble enough to share their major mishaps and current struggles in their faith
journey which are likely to reassure and inspire others who are fairly certain
the neighbors (and maybe even their family) think they’ve lost their
minds.
They even give some
great suggestions and guides for using and monitoring media in your household
so that parents and their children are seeing, listening to, and entertained by
media that upholds the Catholic faith and wholesome values. I really love that
they included this section and talked about how getting on the right track
meant that Greg and Jennifer needed to go through their music, movies, and
podcast collections first and clean out things that erode faith and family
values.
This couple does a
great job discussing the trials and triumphs of committing to put God first,
and how that can be done by an imperfect people still in need of growth,
transformation, and most of all a heaping helping of grace.
This
review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The
Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on The CatholicsNext Door. The Catholic Company is a great resource for tools to help you participate in
the Year of Faith, including Year of Faith bible studies and exclusive Year of Faith
personalized gifts. The Catholic Company also has all your Advent needs in
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