Deepen your family’s love for the holy days and saints of the Church—and laugh yourself silly—with this zany, slightly irreverent but thoroughly faithful book that will spice up your calendar with parties, recipes, and fun.
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Wondering how to make St. Patrick’s Day signify something more than “green beer”? This book explains how to throw an uplifting Potato Famine party. Ever consider what Ash Wednesday really means for unmarried believers? Why, it’s “Catholic Mating Identification Day,” and this book provides the “Top Ten Catholic Pick-Up Lines.”
This delightful mélange of fact and fancy, sober doctrine and sweet prosecco, is the perfect bedside or bathroom book for Catholics who love to laugh—and a good stealth catechism for students and “fallen-away” friends.
"I have long thought it significant that Our Lord’s first public miracle was turning water, a dull liquid in which fish fornicate, into glorious wine. That’s my kind of Christianity. John and Denise understand that an authentic Catholic life is one of fasting and feasting, to the point of cheerfulness, in anticipation of the great wedding banquet in heaven."
—Rod Dreher, editorial writer, The Dallas Morning News
"If I had not been given a free copy of this book, I would have bought it, but I would have done it online or in disguise at a bookstore. I certainly will give it to many friends, but anonymously. Unfortunately, I still have remnants of a respectable reputation to preserve. This book is outrageous . . . What rescues it is that it is not based on a sophomoric parody of Catholic exaggeration, but on a clear love for the sheer facticity of Catholicism. Their contribution to the 'new evangelization' may not be exactly what the Holy Father and the bishops have in mind, but it is certainly based on the same point of departure: Christianity as a wondrous event and not a discourse."
—Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete, theologian and author, former president of the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, and professor at the John Paul II Institute for Studies in Marriage and Family
"Imagine Mel Gibson crossed with Monty Python—a hilarious, in your face, Late-Nite Latin Mass."
—Angelo Matera, publisher, Godspy.com, former CEO, The National Catholic Register
"Truth is often hard to distill from the thousands of self-help and lifestyle books available today, but I am happy to say that I have found my mantra in The Bad Catholic’s Guide to Good Living. Silly some of the time, respectful most of the time and hilarious all of the time, even the squirrel recipes sound delicious and will have me driving slower through the red states on the two lane road all the way to Mardi Gras."
—Mario Batali, chef, host of Molto Mario, Mario Eats Italy, and Ciao America on the Food Network, author, The Babbo Cookbook
"For thirty years, heavy-handed works of 'humor' by lapsed-Catholic writers have been a dime a dozen. Thanks to Zmirak and Matychowiak’s uproarious cornucopia of Catholic fun, now we can laugh ourselves up and out of that literary purgatory. Their sharp-witted irreverence seldom fails to amuse—because they know the Church so well, and love her so dearly."
—Thomas McArdle, White House speechwriter, former communications director, the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights
"All saints suffer one way or another but there are no sad saints. As this book makes abundantly clear, some more than others had the gift of “laetitia” or earthly gladness which, by not being lived as an end in itself, points the way to 'beatitude' or heavenly joy."
—Rev. George Rutler, author, theologian, host, Eternal Word Television Network
"It is important that Catholics insist upon how orthodox this book is, so as to chase non-Catholics away from reading it. For the non-Catholic there are too many calories, and too many trade secrets."
—Richard Cowden Guido, veteran Catholic journalist, author of John Paul II & the Battle for Vatican II
"Bad Catholics beware, Zmirak and Matychowiak have a hidden agenda: to make you better Catholics. Beneath the puns, ribaldry, and hilariously apt (and no doubt delicious) feast-day recipes lie a profound reverence for—and knowledge of—the Church, her saints, her teachings, and her traditions. Whether you’re the ‘lapsed’ kind of bad Catholic, or just the sinful kind like me, this guide will put you back on the straight and narrow."
—Jeffrey Rubin, editor, Conservative Book Club; former editor, The Latin Mass and Susum Corda magazines
"This ingenious guide will leave you educated and entertained. A comical yet dignified must-read."
—Erik Blauberg, chef, former executive chef, The 21 Club.