God and Man at Georgetown Prep: How I Became a Catholic Despite 20 Years of Catholic Schooling

I'm the author of this book, and don't want this posted. Just wondering why there were seven reviews of this book up, and one, a 5-star review, was taken down yesterday.

Many of the author's experiences mirrored my own. If you are well-versed in Catholicism, the extensive quotes from it's great writers may irritate you. For me, they were like water in the desert. Like Judge, I have only recently become aware of the richness of the writing of Catholics throughout the ages. His book served as a valuable resource to other authors who do not spend all their time bashing Catholicism, but actually examine its doctrine within a greater spiritual context. In other words, it is a relief to find authors who examine the spiritual rationale for church doctrines, instead of advocating a change to universal truths simply because they are incovenient to modern life.

This is a remarkable book from a very courageous fellow. As the other reviews show, the book manages to show a lot about what changes happened in the Catholic church and educational systems, especially throughout the 60s and 70s. But the book does more than this. It actually gives insight into how these separate paths (orthodox, "progressive," and so on) existed side by side. Even though the author was kind of railing against liberals, you can see that he actually tried to get inside their head and understand them for what they were trying to accomplish. I don't mean the book is soft (it's a little over the top), but it's not just Ann Coulter screaming at people. It's really a good look at shifting cultures. I recommend it highly.

Judge takes dead aim at a vaunted institution and squarely connects. His criticism of the curriculum is valid and the delightful adventures he speaks of have more than a ring of truth--since I too experienced both as a classmate of Judge's. Georgetown Prep would be wise to heed the author's advice and do the right thing: hire Mark Judge as a religion teacher.

Anyone who sets to stepping into William F. Buckley, Jr.'s giant shoes by borrowing the title "God and Man at . . ." undertakes quite a task. I am happy to report, though, that Judge pulls it off pretty well. Short disclaimer--I was a classmate of his at Georgetown Prep. Having said that, I was not a part of the group of friends he writes about. It is fair to say that I knew more of "Mr. Judge" during our school years than I actually knew him. Suffice it to say that he is obviously now a much different person than he was 22 years ago. The fact that I wasn't part of his "group" serves as a jumping-off point. While he doesn't mention this in the book, Georgetown Prep is part boarding school, and about 20% of the students (at least that was the number back then) board, and I was one of them. So what he observed between 8 and 5, I lived 24 hours a day. As he writes, there was really something of a dichotomy among the Jesuits--largely based on their age. For example, my Spanish teacher was of the old-school, WWII generation, and he tolerated no nonsense. He was, unsurprisingly, also a splendid teacher, and when I told him that I was applying for a ROTC scholarship, he cheered me on. Contrast that with "Father Macabee," about whom Judge writes. "Macabee" was no more than 10 years older than we were (and truth be told, he was still a Jesuit scholastic, i.e. not yet ordained), and he was horrified when I told him about my ROTC plans. Of course, as Judge reports, "Macabee" left the Jesuits soon thereafter. Unfortunately, not all of the "Macabees" have left. Indeed, one reads elsewhere about the "Gallery Owners," who man most of the administrative and theology positions in Jesuit education, and comes to the sad conclusion that they are all who are apparently left in the Order--or at least that they are at the top of the hierarchy. I can also verify the story about Bernie Ward's "sex ed" class. All that I remember of it was that we learned every imaginable form of birth control (including abortificient methods, of course) and read Betty Friedan and the like. It was sex education by Alan Guttmacher, rather than by "Humanae Vitae" or "Love and Responsibility" (by the future Pope John Paul II). Indeed, like Judge, it was not until years later that I really began to learn the faith. In my case it was during my years at Notre Dame Law School. Perhaps that was nothing more than the teacher appearing when the student was ready, but I tend to think it was more than that. At NDLS I had professors who, rightly, challenged me into questioning whether the law's power could ultimately be separated from the question of God. And my inquiry into my faith took off from there. In fact, a moment that I still chuckle about is when, about 4 years out of law school, Fr. Benedict Groeschel (whom Judge also mentions) was giving a multi-day mission at a local parish, and I attended several of the talks. As a result of one of hi