Mom to Mom by Danielle Bean – A Review

For the last five years, Mr. Pete and I have presented the “Marriage as a Sacrament” talk at pre-Cana for our parish. In addition, I have worked as one of the wedding coordinators for our parish, talking with new brides and running the wedding rehearsals etc. There were many times over those years that I wished I had a book that I could give to these young women that would help them start out their married lives in the right direction. I wanted something that was steeped in the richness of our Catholic faith, but wasn’t so deep in theological language and terminology that you needed a degree in theology to understand it. I found just such a book in Danielle Bean’s new book, “Mom to Mom Advice and Support for Catholic Living.”

The entire book with resource guide is only 153 pages long, so its size is not intimidating. Its beautiful cover is very inviting. I think I might even be able to convince our busy parish priest that this would be a wonderful book to buy and hand out at pre-Cana, or give to new mothers at baptisms. It’s a very fast and enjoyable read. (I read the entire thing while manning the awards table at a swim meet!)

But don’t let its size and appearance fool you. Mrs. Bean packs a lot of information and solid advice in those pages, with a dollop of wit and humor on the side. The target audience for this little book is young Catholic mothers with small children in the early part of their marriage. Those ladies will feel that Danielle Bean is right in the trenches with them, coping with the challenges, stress and fatigue that comes from dealing with little folks all day long. But even after almost 28 years of marriage on my resume, I felt that I too could benefit from much of what she was saying, particularly in how to relate and care for my spouse. Newlyweds will find a lot of practical advice in that area as well.

I think the fifth section of the book entitled, “How Can I Make our Faith an Integral Part of Family Life” would be particularly helpful to young women with or without-children-yet in making their faith a day-to-day living faith. There is a lot of concrete advice in that section of truly making a little domestic church and living the liturgical year! That section gives solid examples of how to develop a relationship with the Lord.

Danielle makes the book a very personal look at her own joys and struggles. The part about her non-Catholic brother-in-law coming to dinner and being questioned by her little boy about not saying grace had me chuckling out loud! She shares a lot about the joys of having a large family and the blessings they bring.

I am going to present this book to my own pastor and suggest he buy it for our church library and to give out at pre-Cana and at the baptism classes. I will point out that if nothing else, he should at least want to make sure that the list of resources in the back of the book get out to the young families our parish serves! I’m sure as time goes by this is going to be one of the must-have books for Catholic moms!

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