The Catholic Hipster Handbook: Rediscovering Cool Saints, Forgotten Prayers, and…

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Winner of a 2019 Catholic Press Association Award: Backlist Beauty (First Place).

Being a Catholic Hipster is all about an attitude—an attitude grounded in being part of a countercultural community of believers dedicated to something bigger than themselves in a world dominated by self-centeredness. It’s about yearning to learn more about the faith by seeking out “Catholic cool”—overlooked saints, forgotten prayers and feast days, and traditional practices long set aside by mainstream believers. The Catholic Hipster podcaster Tommy Tighe will help readers rediscover everything awesome about the Catholic faith.

The Catholic Hipster started out in 2014 with a little bit of fun—the Catholic Hipster of the Year contest—on Tighe’s blog. But Twitter is where—in all its 140-character glory—that Tighe’s “The Catholic Hipster” movement really took root. That’s where a group of cool and funky countercultural Catholics gather to swap one-liners, hilarious hipster memes, and all things authentically Catholic.

Tighe even met comedienne Jeannie Gaffigan, who wrote the foreword for The Catholic Hipster Handbook, on Twitter. She said what drew her to the feed was that Tighe was “an embarrassingly Catholic dude who knew he was embarrassingly Catholic and was not embarrassed by it” and that he was “not preachy or judgey or divisive.” Catholic hipsters in a nutshell.

Tighe and a group of hipster friends—including Sarah Vabulas, Anna Mitchell, Fr. Kyle Schnippel, and Lisa M. Hendey—explore the beautiful weirdness of the Catholic Church and invite others along for the journey. They share their love for extraordinary saints, offer up obscure prayers, provide short reflections on something quirky and Catholic they’ve rediscovered, and dare readers to put their faith into action with some cool and challenging practices they can do on their own.

Discover what’s awesome about: Wearing a scapularApplying Laudato Si’ at your local farmer’s marketHanging with priests, monks, and nunsLearning to see Christ in making beerPraying the Rosary everywhere you goLoving the Latin MassMaking the Liturgy of the Hours a daily part of your routine The Catholic Hipster Handbook will help readers realize the only way to go against what’s normal and accepted in the culture is to be authentically Catholic.

From the Publisher

An Introduction to Hipster Catholicism

Hipster culture is based on going against the trend, turning away from the mainstream; it’s about the coolness of being a part of the ultimate counterculture. In his 2019 Catholic Press Association award-winning book, Tommy Tighe and his hipster companions are here to bring you everything cool about being authentically Catholic in today’s society.

Maybe you’re the guy who fell in love the first time you went to Mass in the Extraordinary Form. Or the gal sneaking a peek at your Breviary app during your work meeting. Perhaps you’re the new parent making sure your kids set up the corn, butter, and cake for St. Brigid and her cow on the eve of her relatively unknown feast day.

If any of the above sound familiar, you, my friend, are a Catholic hipster—and this is the book you have been waiting for!

You might be a Catholic hipster if… your idea of “Catholic cool” is overlooked saints, forgotten prayers, and feast days you believe that God is present in all things—including food, sports, and craft beer you hang out on social media with other hip and holy Catholics

Rediscover the Hipster…

Attitude

There’s a certain, inexplicable essence that comes with being Catholic. It’s hard to put your finger on it, but it’s an attitude unlike that of any other group. It’s full of paradoxes: of joy amid sadness, hope amid darkness, and other-centered love in a world seemingly dominated by selfishness. It’s an attitude that is grounded in being a part of something big, something important—something that is everlasting.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ himself established a Church, and two thousand years later, he seeks for you to be a part of it. If that isn’t cool, I don’t know what is.

Stuff

From an outside perspective, the Catholic faith can seem a little weird with all the “stuff” it contains. What those on the outside don’t understand, however, is the reason behind all the stuff. God uses the things of this world to draw our attention to something bigger: holy water to remind us that Jesus offers us cleansing from our sins, liturgical dress to connect us to the fact that we are a part of something bigger than our local parishes, scapulars to help us feel a reminder of our calling to holiness as we go about our regular day.

So, let’s get back into the stuff that gets us back into him!

Life

The best means of evangelizing for the Catholic faith is being the best darn Catholic you can be. From following a calendar that sets us apart from the rest of the world, to listening to radio stations most non-Catholics don’t even know exist, to offering up our pain and suffering as our grandmothers told us to, the Catholic life is a beautiful expression of deep relationship with our Lord and our brothers and sisters in the faith.

The time has come for us to rediscover the Catholic life—because that’s the only way we’ll draw others back to it as well.

Attraction

From talking about your personal experiences of God’s mercy to being willing to stand in front of a crowd that will categorize you as “different,” from kneeling before the bones of people who actually met Jesus while he walked on this world to finding the breath of fresh air coming from a television sitcom with strong Catholic themes—we have the answer to what is ailing this world. We have the solutions to the many problems we find as we walk through this valley of tears.

There’s something attractive about our Catholic faith, and it’s about time we rediscovered it.

Journey into the Heart of Hipster Catholicism

Within these pages, the likes of St. Isidore the Farmer, Ven. Solanus Casey, and many others are waiting for you to discover their inspiring lives of virtue. Ancient prayers such as the extended Our Father and the Invocations to the Sacred Heart of Jesus are waiting to help lead you closer to our Lord and his Blessed Mother. Packed with stories about cool saints, profound yet forgotten ancient prayers, and the many telltale signs of what it means to be a hipster Catholic, this book is sure to help you discover—or rediscover—everything awesome about the Catholic faith.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ave Maria Press
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 22, 2017
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1594717079
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1594717079
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.75 x 8.25 inches