Joan Chittister’s book called ‘The Liturgical Year’ reads like a textbook. Not that that’s a bad thing, but the subtitle of ‘the spiraling adventure of the spiritual life’ gives me the impression that this book should be more intriguing. I’m afraid I found it to be a bit dry. And while Chittister covers the history of liturgical practices very well, she doesn’t grip me with wanting to observe the traditions she maps out. The world, however, is giving a harder look at ancient practices, with liturgy being one of them. I’m just not convinced.My issue is whether these feast days should be given so much attention, and when they are, if folks are focused more on the ritual and not on the true meaning the ceremony represents. Obviously my Protestant beliefs are showing. My issue isn’t so much with her writing style, as the subject matter. Clearly we’re at odds with one another.
A final point, and a negative one, is Chittister’s mention of the feminists Simone de Beauvoir, Betty Friedan and Bella Abzug in a chapter titled Models and Heroes, holding them up as women who strove to ‘free their mothers and their daughters from sexism and abuse’. That comment in itself is enough to cause me to not recommend this book.
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