A Faith for Grown-ups: A Midlife Conversation about What Really Matters, by Robert P. Lockwood, Loyola Press, 304 pp.

Reviewed by MICHAEL F. FLACH
HERALD Editor
(From the issue of 9/30/04)

With his usual blend of wit and wisdom, Robert P. Lockwood, director of communications for the Diocese of Pittsburgh, shares with his readers what it was like growing up in Christ the King Parish in Yonkers, N.Y., during the 1950s and ‘60s. The book is a humorous and nostalgic personal reflection that accurately depicts the journey that many Catholic "baby boomers" took during this period.

Lockwood was president and publisher of Our Sunday Visitor Publishing for many years. He still writes his popular "Catholic Journal" column for Our Sunday Visitor and is a regular contributor to other Catholic publications.

Lockwood’s childhood was spent in New York, while most of his professional life was spent in the Midwest. This gives him a unique perspective into Catholic life in both regions.

The strong influence of Lockwood’s father, the "Old Man," is felt throughout the book. It is evident that he learned the practical side of life from his father, as well as his deep love and appreciation for the Church.

"I was the Old Man’s excuse when I was a kid," Lockwood writes. "‘Hon,’ he would announce to my mother an hour or so after supper, ‘I’m taking the kid for a ride.’ We would hop in the car and head off for about 20 minutes to nowhere. Up and down the hills of Yonkers, the Old Man would smoke a cigar while I prattled on and on about various theories of life I had developed."

The chapter on "Holy Ed and Other Eccentrics" sounds familiar to anyone who grew up in the Church. Msgr. Edward Betowski, pastor of Christ the King Parish, sounds like the pastor we all knew, loved and feared as 10-year-olds. "As kids, we believed that if he hadn’t met Jesus personally, he had known at least two or three of the apostles on a first name basis," Lockwood writes about his former pastor.

Lockwood intersperses quotes directly from the Baltimore Catechism amidst his autobiographical recollections. Although born and raised Catholic, Lockwood readily admits he fell away from the Church during his college years. His gradual return to the faith that nurtured him throughout his youth is a journey that some of us have taken. Some readers will be able to identify with Lockwood’s trip.

"What we began to discover, finally, as we revisited our faith through the eyes of an adult, was that it has been there all along," Lockwood writes. "The spirituality we seek, the prayer life we hope to have, that way of living our lives daily as if we are touching the infinite, has been there waiting for us. We found that there is a way to get back home."