Just Couldn’t Finish Reading: Catholicism – A Very Short Introduction by Gerald O’Collins

I have been accused (more than once) of simply not understanding religion which is the reason I laugh and poke fun at it as if it makes no sense. I have also been accused (more than once) of being an Atheist because of my ignorance. If only I made the effort to understand (I am told) rather being simply dismissive I would appreciate the religious viewpoint more and decide to join them. There is at lest some truth in these statements. I am largely ignorant of the religious viewpoint on things. I have never lived inside ‘the bubble’ (as I call it) that religious people seem to inhabit. I have tried, from outside the bubble, to understand exactly where they’re coming from. Even in Europe it’s hard not to come across religious people from time to time and just like rats you are never that far from a church of one denomination or another. So having a general understanding of religion in all its myriad forms can come in handy when you try to understand the world around you. After all the past at least has been deeply shaped by religious considerations and if we do not understand the past it makes understanding the present and the future much more difficult.

To finally arrive at the point I’m trying to make I’ve made another (unfortunately abortive) attempt to understand at least a small part of the religious spectrum by reading this book on Catholicism. As a nominal member of that particular faith (having been baptised into it at a very early age) I thought that after 50 or so years it was about time I learnt something about it. There is however no need to worry – the possibility of me becoming a practicing Catholic in the foreseeable future is rather more unlikely than the imminent discovery of the Higgs boson. So I tried to read a 126 page book on the basics of the Catholic faith that was part of a series of books I hold in high regard. I made it to page 72 before I realised that I couldn’t really go on with it. When I thought about reviewing it here I realised at that point that I had no clear idea what those 72 pages had said. Most of it was, at least to me, incomprehensible gibberish. It was clearly not aimed at the non-Christian reader as I found assumption piled on unvoiced definition which lost me at every turn. I thought that maybe if I read a bit further some sort of explanation would be presented and everything would fall into place. Maybe at some point after page 72 such an epiphany might indeed have taken place. I guess that I’ll never find out. This may be a useful, informative and even well written book for those with a Christian mindset but for someone who’s knowledge of the whole area is rather scanty at best it was basically a waste of paper. At least I tried, that’s something I suppose.