The cover for "The Catholic All Year Compendium: Liturgical Living for Real Life" by Kendra Tierney.

By Bonnie Engstrom

Easter is just around the corner and most of us have a good idea of what we’ll be doing to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord. Mass, family, ham, rolls, an egg hunt, lots of chocolate. But what about the next day, and week? And how will you celebrate Easter for the whole 50 days of the season?

Don’t know? Well, Kendra Tierney’s got you covered.

Author Kendra Tierney

Tierney’s book “The Catholic All Year Compendium: Liturgical Living for Real Life” came out last fall and has already been a helpful resource for many families, DREs, and parochial school teachers. Tierney is a well-known writer whose blog, “Catholic All Year,” was created to share all the ways our Catholic faith can be lived out besides Lenten Fridays and major holidays.

She’s been sharing her family’s fun, devout ideas for celebrating the liturgical year online for more than six years and this book brings together the best of it all with much more detail and background information. It’s perfect for catechizing!

WEALTH OF INFORMATION, IDEAS

Parents and Catholic educators have the responsibility and privilege to evangelize our children. In my personal experience I have found liturgical living to be one of the best and most flexible of tools to carry out this important work. That’s why I love Kendra’s creative ideas, which are always backed by research, Church teaching, and a real love for the faith and fun.

“The Catholic All Year Compendium” has more than 300 pages of ideas for feasting and fasting along with information on saints, customs, and why we do the things we do. Tierney is not a theologian, historian, or party planner, but calls herself “a very enthusiastic amateur practitioner of all of the above.” And her enthusiasm, wit, and intelligence have carried her far, which is evident by the wealth of information she shares in the Compendium.

Truth be told: the abundance of information overwhelmed me when I first flipped through the book. As I said, liturgical living is my favorite tool for passing on the faith to my children, but there is just no way that my unique family in our current stage of life has the time, energy, or even interest to put into practice half of the ideas the Compendium shares.

However, reading the Introduction and first chapter helped put my mind at ease because Tierney herself states the same. “This book isn’t about Catholic perfection; it’s about celebrating our common faith with family and friends,” she writes. She then goes on to lay a foundation for us to all build upon: do what works for your family, try things out as needed, start slow and build from there. Her perspective and wisdom set the perfect tone for the rest of the book.

HELPFUL REFERENCE

And the rest of the book covers just about every detail you could think of for liturgical living. It works its way through the liturgical calendar, covering Advent, Christmas, Ordinary Time after the Baptism of the Lord, Lent, Triduum, Easter, and Ordinary Time after Pentecost. The section on Advent alone is almost 60 pages! There are suggestions for music, menus, decorations, novenas, activities, and more in every section with incredibly helpful appendices in the back that explain the regulations for fasting, indulgences, the canonization process, and more.

It’s evident that Kendra loves her faith and wants her kids, your kids, your grandkids, and you to understand the thoughtful reasons behind why we do what we do as Catholics. This book is an incredibly helpful reference that can help all of us live out the Catholic faith with more joy, devotion, and understanding. I highly recommend it!

“The Catholic All Year Compendium: Liturgical Living for Real Life” by Kendra Tierney is published by Ignatius Press and available for sale.

You can find author Kendra Tierney on her website, “Catholic All Year,” at @kendra_tierney on Instagram and Twitter, and as a writer for “Blessed Is She.”

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Bonnie Engstrom

Bonnie Engstrom is a writer, speaker, homemaker, and blogger from St. Patrick Parish, Washington, and one of The Catholic Post’s new team of book reviewers. Learn more about Bonnie at her blog, “A Knotted Life.”

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