Religion is far too important to be taken seriously all the time--so says author Tom Sheridan, who in The Book of Catholic Jokes invites readers to laugh along with him and remember that faith can be--and should be--fun. Sheridan begins by discussing the importance of laughter and the relationship of humor to religion before launching into hilarious jokes. After all, Jesus said, "Unless you become like children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven."
As Pope Benedict XVI has said, "A writer once said that angels can fly because they don't take themselves too seriously. Maybe we could also fly a bit if we didn't think we were so important." Imagine the pontiff, now in his eighties and undoubtedly feeling the pains of growing older himself, cracking a joke about it to one of the cardinals in the Vatican. So must every married couple do as they go about the business of maintaining a loving, committed relationship...but discover that they still get on each other's nerves occasionally.Here is The Third Book of Catholic Jokes, chosen and told by Deacon Tom Sheridan, the former editor of The Catholic New World, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Chicago. He is now retired and living with his wife in Florida. The book also features a Foreword by Father James Martin, SJ, the culture editor of America magazine and the author of Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life.This edition of this popular series of books focuses on the universal--and often hilarious--human experience of relating to one another and growing old together. These stories, jokes, lists, and one-liners are mostly about lay people and are told from a "Catholic" (that is, Roman Catholic) or a "catholic" (that is, universal and about everyone) perspective. They are "clean" and not "mean" and are certainly not intended to offend anyone of any faith or situation in life. But if we can't make fun of ourselves about the difficulties of growing older or trying to maintain our most intimate relationships over a lifetime, then how can we ever expect to "fly a bit"?
A surprisingly reverent collection of religious humor clean enough to be used in the pulpit. St. Peter jokes, mock sermons, church bulletin misprints and age-old denominational rivalries are all here. Illustrated.
A core tenet of Ignatian spirituality is that God can be found in all things. From the standpoint of the Jesuits, “all things” most definitely includes humor! In Jesuits Telling Jokes, Nikolaas Sintobin, SJ, uses a little Jesuit jocularity to introduce us to the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits)—how they began, who they are, what they do. Each chapter opens with a humorous cartoon and joke to illuminate one particular aspect of the Jesuits, and the rest of the chapter offers a brief but insightful look into a foundational Ignatian principle or practice, such as the discernment of spirits, finding freedom in obedience, and making the street a monastery. For anyone wanting a good laugh and a great introduction to how the Jesuits live, work, think, and pray, Jesuits Telling Jokes is the perfect place to start.
A Comedian's Prayer Book. The title is a worry, isn't it?... God is a tough audience as far as audible response is concerned, but at least you don't have to explain the references. In this collection of prayers, much-loved comedian, broadcaster and radio host Frank Skinner has tried to retain the bare candour of the rehearsal-room improvisation - to show what faith feels like, from the inside - but infused it with all the production values required to make it a passable public entertainment. In it are his convictions, his questions, his fears, his doubts, his elations - all presented in an eavesdropper-friendly form. Hell, Judgement, atheism, money, faith and the X-Men all feature: it's a bit like reading the Bible, except you only get one side of the conversation, and all the jokes are left in.
“Between Heaven and Mirth will make any reader smile. . . . Father Martin reminds us that happiness is the good God’s own goal for us.” —Timothy M. Dolan, Archbishop of New York From The Colbert Report’s “official chaplain” James Martin, SJ, author of the New York Times bestselling The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, comes a revolutionary look at how joy, humor, and laughter can change our lives and save our spirits. A Jesuit priest with a busy media ministry, Martin understands the intersections between spirituality and daily life. In Between Heaven and Mirth, he uses scriptural passages, the lives of the saints, the spiritual teachings of other traditions, and his own personal reflections to show us why joy is the inevitable result of faith, because a healthy spirituality and a healthy sense of humor go hand-in-hand with God's great plan for humankind.
The original edition of Growing Up Catholic, along with its sequels, struck a heavenly chord with a generation of Catholics of all persuasions. Now, to commemorate the Great Catholic Jubilee of the Year 2000, the authors bless us with an updated and expanded version of this beloved national bestseller. Filled with a witty, poignant, and downright hilarious potpourri of essays, lists, games, drawings, photos, and quizzes, it includes the best of all three Growing Up Catholic books, along with many all-new features, such as: Jubilee 2000: Not Your Average Birthday Party Father Phil: Confessor to the Sopranos Who Will Be The Next Pope?: A Handicapper's Guide Ansubstantiationtray: Can't Anybody Here Speak Latin Anymore? www.holy.com For Catholics of all ages -- from those who lived through Vatican II to those who've never seen a nun's habit except in a movie -- Growing Up Catholic celebrates in a lighthearted way the funny and sublime side of day-to-day Catholic life.
ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR NAMED ONE OF THE 50 BEST MEMOIRS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS BY THE NEW YORK TIMES SELECTED AS A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY: The Washington Post * Elle * NPR * New York Magazine * Boston Globe * Nylon * Slate * The Cut * The New Yorker * Chicago Tribune WINNER OF THE THURBER PRIZE FOR AMERICAN HUMOR “Affectionate and very funny . . . wonderfully grounded and authentic. This book proves Lockwood to be a formidably gifted writer who can do pretty much anything she pleases.” – The New York Times Book Review From Booker Prize finalist Patricia Lockwood, author of the novel No One Is Talking About This, a vivid, heartbreakingly funny memoir about balancing identity with family and tradition. Father Greg Lockwood is unlike any Catholic priest you have ever met—a man who lounges in boxer shorts, loves action movies, and whose constant jamming on the guitar reverberates “like a whole band dying in a plane crash in 1972.” His daughter is an irreverent poet who long ago left the Church’s country. When an unexpected crisis leads her and her husband to move back into her parents’ rectory, their two worlds collide. In Priestdaddy, Lockwood interweaves emblematic moments from her childhood and adolescence—from an ill-fated family hunting trip and an abortion clinic sit-in where her father was arrested to her involvement in a cultlike Catholic youth group—with scenes that chronicle the eight-month adventure she and her husband had in her parents’ household after a decade of living on their own. Lockwood details her education of a seminarian who is also living at the rectory, tries to explain Catholicism to her husband, who is mystified by its bloodthirstiness and arcane laws, and encounters a mysterious substance on a hotel bed with her mother. Lockwood pivots from the raunchy to the sublime, from the comic to the deeply serious, exploring issues of belief, belonging, and personhood. Priestdaddy is an entertaining, unforgettable portrait of a deeply odd religious upbringing, and how one balances a hard-won identity with the weight of family and tradition.
“Finally I understand what it is I’ve been laughing at all these years.”—Jimmy Kimmel From the best-selling author of Why Does the World Exist? comes this outrageous, uproarious compendium of absurdity, filth, racy paradox, and gratuitous offensiveness—just the kind of mature philosophical reflection readers have come to expect from the ever-entertaining Jim Holt. Indeed, Stop Me If You’ve Heard This is the first book to trace the evolution of the joke all the way from the standup comics of ancient Athens to the comedy-club Seinfelds of today. After exploring humor’s history in Part One, Holt delves into philosophy in Part Two: Wall Street jokes; jokes about rednecks and atheists, bulimics and politicians; jokes you missed if you didn’t go to a Catholic girls’ school; jokes about logic and existence itself . . . all became fodder for the grand theories of Aristotle, Kant, Freud, and Wittgenstein in this heady mix of the high and low, of the ribald and profound, from America’s most beloved philosophical pundit.
