Catholic Writer

I am prone to quipping that I am a Catholic writer despite myself. There is some validity to the description; that I will admit. I grew up Catholic, I understand Catholicism. And, as the cliché goes, write what you know. Unfortunately, many who label themselves Catholic are woefully ignorant of their faith. Even those who attended parochial schools.

Yes, some of the nuns who taught us weren’t much better. But I imbibed Catholic social teaching at school and still respect those teachings. I am fond of the writings of Belloc and Chesterton (while also finding things to criticize), and am attracted to Distributism as a social and economic system.

So these things have shown up in my fiction. I write Catholic protagonists because I understand them better than those from other backgrounds. Some are admittedly not so accurate in their own understanding of their religion.

Though, inevitably, I take at least a partially Catholic view of events, my work in no way proselytizes. Having any agenda is deadly to good fiction writing. Moreover, I enjoy poking fun at just about everybody. I do not spare my Catholics.

There are no Catholics—nor Christians of any sort—in most of my fantasy writing. I’ve gone out of my way to make sure no invented religion too closely resembles Christianity. This does not mean my outlook on life changes. Here, again, I am a Catholic writer despite myself.

That, I suspect, will never change.