Is Catholicism trendy?

Chicago Tribune (MCT) - For American publishers, Catholics suddenly seem trendy. Three books by high-profile names from pop fiction, Hollywood and politics have arrived or will soon arrive in bookstores:

"Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession" (Knopf), by Anne Rice, the best-selling queen of vampire novels. Since her return to Catholicism in 1996, Rice has written two novels about the young Jesus and now this memoir, coming in October. Most of the book focuses on the beauty and wonder she found in the faith as a child _ she considered becoming a nun _ and now as a returned Catholic.

Quote: "When people refer to me as a 'prodigal daughter' because I have given up writing 'about vampires and witches,' I am confused. ... The sincerity of my writings removes them completely from what I hold to be sin. I also feel no real contrition for my years as an atheist, because my departure from the church was not only painful, but also completely sincere."

"Crossbearer: A Memoir of Faith" (St. Martin's Press), by Joe Eszterhas, the screenwriter of such erotically charged films as "Showgirls" and "Basic Instinct." Throat cancer cost Eszterhas 80 percent of his larynx and led him to a curbside conversion in 2001. But the wild child of Hollywood parties is still somewhat wild in the pews, especially in his willingness to criticize the church hierarchy.

Quote: "I ... got too close to the flame and I too liked it. A child of the darkness, I wallowed in it ... all of it ... booze and cigarettes and coke and weed and the place where all that led: the sexy, neon women who liked dancing on the edge just as much as I did."

"Being Catholic Now: Prominent Americans Talk About Change in the Church and the Quest for Meaning" (Crown), by Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and niece of President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy interviewed 37 diverse Catholics, such as cable news commentator Bill O'Reilly and movie star Susan Sarandon. Like most of those interviewed, Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke of Chicago talked of her love for the faith while also criticizing the church leadership, particularly Cardinal Francis George.

Quote: "(F)ew would deny that some of what the Catholic Church teaches, and sometimes the manner in which it conducts itself, is at odds with the very values Catholics are taught that Jesus preached. ... (T)he message has always been mixed, as Catholics are taught both obedience to authority and to venerate saints who challenged the status quo."

___

© 2008, Chicago Tribune.