The Catholic Gentleman: Living Authentic Manhood Today
Sam Guzman
Ignatius Press
2019
177 pages
ISBN: 978-1-62164-068-4
Sam Guzman is a convert to Catholicism, a licensed psychotherapist, an Internal Family Systems coach, and the founder of the online men’s apostolate The Catholic Gentleman, which contains blogs and podcasts. He has a diverse background in communications, marketing, and mental health counselling.
In thirty-two short chapters he spells out the challenges and the opportunities for men today. The Catholic Gentleman is a solid and practical guide to virtuous manhood. It turns to the timeless wisdom of the Catholic Church to answer the important questions men are currently asking. In short, easy-to-read chapters, the author offers pithy insights on a variety of topics, including how to know you are an authentic man, why our bodies matter, the value of tradition, the purpose of courtesy, what real holiness is and how to achieve it, and how to deal with failure in the spiritual life. The book is one that should be read by young (and not so young people) grappling with the issues and complexities of today’s society.
He tackles issues like gender head on and is unyielding in his belief that the Catholic Church is the one true Church founded by Jesus Christ. In a telling paragraph he describes how in his youth he came across what he called consumerist thinking on matters of faith—the existence of so many churches or denominations with so many different beliefs and styles of worship. People would “church shop”, looking for the perfect combination of charismatic preacher, preferred musical style, alignment with personal beliefs, and warm fellowship, whereas to be a Catholic means, as St Paul exhorted the Thessalonians, “to stand firm to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter” (2 Thess 1:15).
At the end of the book, Guzman gives a useful appendix entitled “The Catholic Gentleman’s Rule of Life”, which has thirteen nuggets such as: “I will learn to pray as if my eternal salvation depends on it—because it does”; “I will prefer the Beatitudes to the world’s values”; “I will treat others, made in the image and likeness of God, with dignity and respect”; “I will honor women, acknowledging their great dignity as daughters of God”; “I will love the Blessed Virgin Mary in a special way”; and “I will learn to bear suffering with patience, carrying my cross after the Lord Jesus”.
In all, this is a short, easy-to-read book which touches on some of the great issues society faces. It is said that so many young people today, with their addiction to their devices and with the dominance of AI, have difficulty even expressing concepts without help; for them this book should be a great help.