cover image Ascend: The Catholic Faith for a New Generation

Ascend: The Catholic Faith for a New Generation

Eric Stoltz, Vince Tomkovicz, . . Paulist, $24.95 (229pp) ISBN 978-0-8091-4621-5

This laudable effort to make the Catholic faith understandable and appealing to young adults labors mightily to sound hip and cool, but it suffers from an oversimplified style that could alienate more thoughtful young seekers. In their attempt to take the Catholic faith down to the basics, Stoltz and Tomkovicz, both deacons in the archdiocese of Los Angeles, write in a way that may strike some readers as rudimentary. For example, in the introduction, they use a footnote to explain their subsequent use of footnotes. The authors also seem uncertain about the age group they are addressing. While “young adult” typically refers to collegians and recent college graduates, the introduction at one point suggests the audience may be raising children and thus would be slightly older. The book's positive features include its organization into short chapters with sidebars, the inclusion of a glossary of terms and treatment of questions like “I read The Da Vinci Code . Don't the facts in this book show Christianity is a lie?” The authors also effectively use cultural references to convey some points. This book will work best for those who know lots about culture and little about Catholicism. (Nov.)