TEXARKANA — They say the early bird gets the worm. In the case of the St. Edward Book Club, the early bookworms get the spiritual nourishment. The group of readers meet at 7 a.m. every Friday.
“So many adults are hungry and thirsty to know more about their faith,” said Father Vincent Flusche, who leads the group. “I don’t like to get up early, but it has been worthwhile to get up and meet with others and talk about our faith. That is the point: to share our faith with each other.”
The first book the parishioners read was “Saints Behaving Badly: The Cutthroats, Crooks, Trollops, Con Men, and Devil-Worshippers Who Became Saints,” by Thomas Craughwell. Book Club member Bobbie Henderson summed up the underlying message of the book: “If they can become saints, there is hope for me.”
And Father Flusche observed, “I like the book because it shows how God’s grace is available to everyone.”
Since most books about saints tell only about the edifying aspects of saints’ lives, Craughwell’s book was a source of encouragement to the early-morning group.
“It goes to show that you can have a horrible living style and can still be of use to God,” said David Mounsey.
The book club has been meeting about two months now, and they are almost through with their second selection, “Our Lady of Kibeho,” by Immaculee Ilibagiza. Ellen Unger commented about the books read so far: “Father’s selections are good. They give a dimension of our faith that I have never studied before.”
And all the readers agree that the books are strengthening their faith, especially Ilibagiza’s story of the Vatican-approved appearances of Mary to youths in a remote village of Rwanda.
Mounsey said Ilibagiza’s book reaffirmed his faith in God the Father, Mary and Jesus. Delita Lusk commented, “It has given me a deeper insight into little-known experiences that have occurred in the Catholic faith and the reactions of the people involved. It gives some thoughts and ideas of the road that God truly wants us to follow.”
The author Ilibagiza lived in another of Rwanda’s remote villages and traveled to Kibeho to see the visionaries and experience the loving presence of Mary. Father Flusche explained how he found the book: “I went into the bookstore to look for books. I had seen a movie about the genocide in Rwanda and all my life I have been fascinated by the holocaust and other events like that, trying to figure out how people can kill other people by the millions. I saw this book, ’Our Lady of Kibeho.’ I had never heard of the author, but she had survived the genocide in Rwanda in the 1990s.”
Although Father Flusche is taking another parish assignment this summer and then taking a four-month sabbatical this fall, he said he hopes the book group will continue. He has already chosen the next faith-building book, the personal writings of the late Father Stanley Rother of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. Father Rother was martyred in 1981 in Guatemala and is being considered now for beatification.
Now that the St. Edward Book Club members have tasted the joys of learning more about their faith, it is not hard to predict that they will continue to participate in the St. Edward Book Club just as Father Flusche hopes they will. Lusk, who attended Catholic schools when she was young, said, “I regret that I didn’t pay more attention in school.”
