FSYALit: Catholicism in YA, a guest post by Katie Behrens
Today as part of our Faith and Spirituality in YA Lit Project, guest Katie Behrens is discussing Catholicism in YA literature.
When I was confirmed in the Catholic Church at the age of 16, I really meant it. I knew there was a lot about the faith that I didn’t know and maybe some stuff I didn’t understand, but I knew the Church was important to me. I was your typical, book-loving public school kid, but I also felt a great longing for life to be bigger than it seemed. The Catholic Church, filled with beauty and mystery and 2,000 years of theology, was where I found myself.
Unless you know Catholics who take their faith seriously, you could easily assume that it’s a dying religion of a bygone era. That’s the stereotype I get from the media, at least. Fictional Catholic characters usually “go through the motions” of religious practice out of obligation, rather than personal conviction. My experience is the opposite. In college, I met hundreds of people my age who were full of life and joy because of their Catholic faith. They might be a minority, but believe me, Catholic teens definitely exist.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
For a religion that unites an estimated 1.2 billion people worldwide, Catholicism can be very misunderstood. Catholics ARE Christians. We do read the Bible, but we also look to tradition and the great writings of the past for guidance. However, many baptized-and-confirmed Catholics don’t know what the Church really teaches or why. In the U.S. at least, the past several generations have received poor instruction about the Church’s teachings and mission. We all acknowledge it – if you attended CCD between 1970 and 2000, you probably didn’t get the full picture. Even worse is the painful and horrible reality of the priest abuse scandals brought to light in the past 20 years. It caused great hurt within the Church, and cast doubt on the clergy.
All of these factors contribute to a pretty pitiful representation in YA lit. Priests and religious (monks and nuns) are all too often used as a stand-in for ultimate and crushing authority in the lives of teens. Catholicism is seen only in its “rules” and not as a diverse and complex body of believers. It’s especially obvious in stories set in a Catholic school, like The Chocolate War. The primary Church representative, Brother Leon, manipulates the schoolboys against each other for his own gain. A power-hungry, corrupt priest is a stereotype, no question. Is there corruption in the priesthood? Unfortunately yes – they’re humans just like us. But that seems to be the only role they play in stories (I’m looking at you, Dan Brown), and it’s become a tired trope.
Catholicism for teen protagonists isn’t so much a stereotype as it is a flat, empty character trait. Maybe they say their family is Catholic, and then a sentence or two dismisses its importance to the story. Is that the fault of the author? Not necessarily. The world is filled with devout Catholics and cultural Catholics and “cafeteria” Catholics (so-called because they pick and choose what they believe). A character who says she’s Catholic can fall anywhere on that spectrum. We all want characters that present faith in a positive light, no matter what we believe, but the reality is that lived faith is messy.
I want to focus on three books that positively resonated with my experience as a Catholic. The first is Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel Boxers & Saints. The corresponding stories of Little Bao and Vibiana are centered on the Boxer Revolution in China at the turn of the 20th century. Faith is shown to be real, something for which people choose to die. In Saints, Vibiana sort of falls into Christianity and eventually embraces it in the face of death. St. Joan of Arc appears to her and inspires her, even when it would be easier to renounce it all. We also see characters who bully in the name of Christ, a priest who makes difficult decisions in serving his congregation, and the stark reality of martyrdom. Yang, a Chinese American Catholic, beautifully weaves these stories of faith and identity together with humor and grace.
My second recommendation is The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork. There’s so much wonderful and deeply honest discussion of faith between different characters, but I think there’s a particularly Catholic flavor to it. Daniel Quentin (D.Q.) is dying when he meets Pancho Sanchez, but he’s resolved to suck the marrow out of what remains of his life. The priest in charge of the orphanage, Father Concha, is a non-sentimental man who greatly cares for the children (not a stereotype!). Pancho was raised Catholic, and when pushed on the topic, he says, “Faith’s what makes you pray. It’s why people say the Rosary and light candles to Jesus and Mary and all those saints. It’s what you go to church for. It’s why you’re good when you want to be bad. It’s what you think is gonna happen to you after you die.” He doesn’t have to say much more about what he thinks of religion, because his actions through the rest of the novel make it clear what Pancho believes. There’s a great exchange between D.Q. and Pancho later in the story that goes like this:
Pancho: “You gotta believe.”
D.Q.: “I believe. Help my unbelief.”
Pancho: “What’s that?”
D.Q.: “Nothing. Something I remembered.”
That “something” is from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 9, where a father asks Jesus to heal his epileptic son. It’s an emotional moment where humanity meets divinity. The fact that Stork can sneak scripture into character conversation definitely earns my respect.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
My third pick is a recent read for me: The Opposite of Hallelujah by Anna Jarzab. For most of Caro’s life, her older sister Hannah has been gone at a convent, but Hannah returns one day and won’t explain why. Caro has to get used to Hannah in her life again, all the while balancing friends, school, boys, and whatever she does or doesn’t believe about religion. Jarzab does an amazing job showing the complexities of faith, especially what happens when it’s used to shut the world out. The priest with whom Caro forms a friendship speaks eloquently and accurately about Catholicism – and he loves science (that’s right! We do!). Caro herself wrestles with the big questions and comes to a place of peace amidst her confusion. It’s not a perfect novel – sometimes scenes are forced, and I highly doubt that Hannah’s religious order would have allowed her to stay as long as she did when she was obviously unhappy. It’s still one of the best representations of real Catholic faith I’ve seen in realistic YA fiction.
Other great Catholic characters and themes can be found in more classic works. For the teen that likes reading older stuff, you only have to point them to Flannery O’Connor, G.K. Chesterton (especially The Ball and the Cross and The Man Who Was Thursday), C.S. Lewis’ work for grown-ups (The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and his Space Trilogy), Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, and J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien, a devout Catholic, famously said that “The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision.”
Did you notice the racial diversity in the three selections? It was unplanned on my part, but it speaks to the inherent diversity within the Catholic Church. All across the globe, people are united by the same beliefs and love for God (the word ‘catholic’ means ‘universal’). As we call for greater ethnic diversity in YA lit, we should also expect more stories of authentic faith.
Meet Our Guest Blogger
Katie Behrens is a 2013 graduate from UW-Madison’s School of Library and Information Studies. She’s currently obsessed with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Thrilling Adventure Hour podcast, and her first reread of The Lord of the Rings. Katie is a project manager for The Library as Incubator Project and occasionally blogs at thirstydaughter.wordpress.com.
About the Books Discussed:
Boxers and Saints by Gene Yuen Lang
One of the greatest comics storytellers alive brings all his formidable talents to bear in this astonishing new work.
In two volumes, Boxers & Saints tells two parallel stories. The first is of Little Bao, a Chinese peasant boy whose village is abused and plundered by Westerners claiming the role of missionaries. Little Bao, inspired by visions of the Chinese gods, joins a violent uprising against the Western interlopers. Against all odds, their grass-roots rebellion is successful.
But in the second volume, Yang lays out the opposite side of the conflict. A girl whose village has no place for her is taken in by Christian missionaries and finds, for the first time, a home with them. As the Boxer Rebellion gains momentum, Vibiana must decide whether to abandon her Christian friends or to commit herself fully to Christianity.
Boxers & Saints is one of the most ambitious graphic novels First Second has ever published. It offers a penetrating insight into not only one of the most controversial episodes of modern Chinese history, but into the very core of our human nature. Gene Luen Yang is rightly called a master of the comics form, and this book will cement that reputation.
The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork
Two young men — one dying of cancer, one planning a murder — explore the true meanings of death and life in the tense and passionate new novel from the author of MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD.
When Pancho arrives at St. Anthony’s Home, he knows his time there will be short: If his plans succeed, he’ll soon be arrested for the murder of his sister’s killer. But then he’s assigned to help D.Q., whose brain cancer has slowed neither his spirit nor his mouth. D.Q. tells Pancho all about his “Death Warrior’s Manifesto,” which will help him to live out his last days fully–ideally, he says, with the love of the beautiful Marisol. As Pancho tracks down his sister’s murderer, he finds himself falling under the influence of D.Q. and Marisol, who is everything D.Q. said she would be.
The Opposite of Hallelujah by Anna Jarzab
Caro Mitchell considers herself an only child—and she likes it that way. After all, her much older sister, Hannah, left home eight years ago, and Caro barely remembers her. So when Caro’s parents drop the bombshell news that Hannah is returning to live with them, Caro feels as if an interloper is crashing her family. To her, Hannah’s a total stranger, someone who haunts their home with her meek and withdrawn presence, and who refuses to talk about her life and why she went away. Caro can’t understand why her parents cut her sister so much slack, and why they’re not pushing for answers.
Unable to understand Hannah, Caro resorts to telling lies about her mysterious reappearance. But when those lies alienate Caro’s new boyfriend and put her on the outs with her friends and her parents, she seeks solace from an unexpected source. And when she unearths a clue about Hannah’s past—one that could save Hannah from the dark secret that possesses her. Caro begins to see her sister in a whole new light.
Additional #FSYALit Posts:
- Faith and Spirituality in YA Lit: A Discussion (Introductory Post)
- YA Librarians Ally Watkins and Karen Jensen Discuss Faith and Spirituality in YA Lit, part 1
- Because you gotta have faith
- Top 10 Titles: ‘Cause You Gotta Have Faith
- A discussion of faith and science in Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande
- GLBTQ YA and Issues of Faith, a guest post by Robert Bittner
- The Distance Between Lost and Found, part 1: Wilderness Survival and Youth Group Culture (Ally Watkins)
- The Distance Between Lost and Found, part 2: Sex, Power, Politics and The Church (Karen Jensen)
Filed under: #FSYALit, Faith, Spiritual Life, Spirituality
About Karen Jensen, MLS
Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 30 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
SLJ Blog Network
Your Fall Newbery/Caldecott 2025 ‘Hey, Keep an Eye Out’ Lists
Early Sleepy Lines: A Cover Reveal(ish) and Q&A About Wheetle by Cindy Derby
Researching ‘Milk Without Honey’ | Interview
Talking with the Class of ’99 about Censorship at their School
ADVERTISEMENT
Liz B says
I’ve enjoyed all those books. Here’s a list from my blog (old, 2009) with some crowd-sourcing of titles with Catholic main characters: http://www.lizburns.org/2009/02/what-about-catholics.html
STAINED by Jennifer Richard Jacobson is one of my favorite titles is one that also addresses the problems of the abuses and also talks about retaining one’s spirituality even when there is hypocrisy and abuse: http://www.lizburns.org/2005/07/stained.html
Karen Jensen, TLT says
Liz, I have not read STAINED by Jennifer Richard Jacobson but I’m so glad to hear that there is another title that addresses the issues of abuse in the church in respectful ways. I also really liked The Gospel of Winter by Brendan Kiely which came out in early 2014, though I can honestly admit that I would have to re-read it again to specifically look at how the church as a whole is represented, but I thought it dealt with the issue of abuse itself in ways that really resonated with me.
One of my most recent favorite representations of a Catholic priest was in Dark Metropolis. Have you read it? I loved that the father said he couldn’t just preach about taking care of people but that he had to go out and actually do something and then he did. It was really moving and profound to me.
Karen
Katie Behrens says
Liz, STAINED was definitely on my to-read list, and I’m glad to hear it’s a fair representation. I felt really unqualified to tackle the topic of sexual abuse in the Church at any length, so I chose to focus on books that have impressed me. I did read The Gospel of Winter, which I appreciated for handling a tough situation with complexity. I didn’t like the book personally, but that’s just because I have a low tolerance for rich kids who rely on drugs and alcohol to numb themselves. Thanks for the other recommendations!
Christine Kohler says
Thank you, Katie Behrens, for the recommendation of THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF HALLELUJAH. I’ve read the other two. Please read my novel NO SURRENDER SOLDIER (Merit Press, 2014), based on a premise similar to THE LAST SUMMER OF THE DEATH WARRIORS. Two other novels that are respectful to Catholics and the Church, even though the latter novel is about abuse by a priest, are WHEN WE WERE SAINTS by Han Nolan and THE NAMESAKE by Steve Parlato (Merit Press 2013).
At the Texas Library Assoc. convention last year I spoke on a panel about religion in YA novels. There is an article on my blog/website about religious novels in the ABA market. I’ve written about Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Shintoism.
Karen Jensen, TLT says
Christine, I’m so glad you left a comment and let me know about your presentation. I went and found a link: https://secure.txla.org/secure/events/handouts/2014/316DontTalkAboutWhatHandout.pdf. I went and looked and it turns out we linked to it in our FSYALit Discussion Hub: https://www.teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2015/02/fsyalit-discussion-indexhub/. If you have other posts yourself or know of others please let us know so we can link to them as well. It’s been very educational and interesting to read/share everyone’s thoughts. Thank you so much.
Christine Kohler says
Karen, unfortunately the TLA link you gave only shows our working papers. The panel discussion was quite eye-opening as we were all candid about our experiences writing about religion and where we received resistance. Here’s a link to the article “Religious novels in the ABA market”http://www.christinekohlerbooks.com/blog.htm?post=893562 .
In the comment section I added the link to an article in the HUB http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2013/04/12/the-big-five-1-in-ya-atheism-and-agnosticism/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+yalsathehub+%28The+Hub%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail
Christine Kohler says
My apologies, the link ran into the text and isn’t active. Here it is again: http://www.christinekohlerbooks.com/blog.htm?post=893562
Mary Porto says
I really appreciate these recommendations and look forward to reading them! Thank you for your entry.
Jaime says
I have been so hungry for positive Catholic representation, and so happy I happened upon this blog post. Can’t wait to start reading.
It’s been 6 years since posting, but this info is as valuable as ever. I resonated with what you see people perceiving Catholics as and what your experience has been, and I am smiling now knowing there is someone out there like me. I appreciate the diversity, too, in these book selections.