One of my good friends came to me with an excellent idea the other day. “Father, let’s start a parish library!” It is a very good idea, but someone already thought of it, and did it—we’ve had a parish library at St. Joseph’s for several years. In the last two years our parish librarian, Leslie Field, who has school librarian experience, has made it truly wonderful. She and others before her have catalogued and entered all our holdings, so that a quick check on the computer tells us what we have and where everything is. Come with me on a quick tour of our library! We have about a dozen sections, including Apologetics, Bible Studies, Parenting, Catholic Novels, Church History, and a large collection of children’s books and movies. Currently we have almost 3000 books on the shelves, although the number is growing as folks donate books. We have about 150 DVD’s, many of which are movies on saints’ lives, such as films on St. Rita, St. Anthony, St. Maximilian Kolbe, and St. Maria Goretti. We also have about 150 videos on saints and current topics. We have about 250 CDs and audio tapes of national speakers’ conferences, such as those by Fr. Groeschel, Fr. Pavone, Mother Angelica, and Mother Teresa. Normally when the parish bookstore orders several books to sell, it orders a copy of each for the library as well. The library hours are posted on the parish library web page. Why do I bring this up? Because Lent is rapidly coming to an end (only two weeks left) and an excellent spiritual practice for Lent is to read a good Catholic book or watch a quality Catholic movie. Get to know your parish library—it has books and movies you will not find anywhere else. Many of them are classics that are out of print. I recommend you read a good novel, such as a golden oldie like Morris West’s The Shoes of the Fisherman, or Lloyd Douglas’ The Robe. Or a newer novel, such as Piers Paul Read’s The Death of a Pope. There are classic saints’ biographies too, such as Chesteron’s Francis of Assisi, or Shirley du Boulay’s Teresa of Avila. Visit our parish Library and develop the discipline and art of good reading.

Visit the St. Joseph's Library page by clicking here.