Presidents in the bathtub

During my nightly bath as a 5-year-old, my 16-year-old sister taught me the names of all the presidents (up to JFK). I can hear yet my little singsong chant with splash accompaniment: John TY-ler, James K. POLK, Zachary TAY-lor, Millard FILL-more. Not that I knew anything about any of these guys - just their names.

My son learned the names of the presidents when he was 8. He also learned that Chester A. Arthur owned 80 pairs of pants, which he changed several times a day; that FDR modified his car so he could drive with his hands; and that Millard Fillmore signed a bill allowing slavecatchers to retrieve runaway slaves from Northern states. These guys are living, breathing people for him.

I'm going on about presidents here because I see some parallels (just a few) to our Catholic saints. We see the saints' names on Catholic calendars and on our churches as we drive through town. We may know a few of them intimately: Saint Jude, Saint Anthony, even Mother Teresa if I may be so bold. But, like my presidents in the bathtub, most of them remain names only.

What a shame. The saints offer some of the best stories around. Even more than many presidents, they were people who took risks, made unpopular choices, blazed with creativity and courage and sometimes derring-do in living their lives for Christ. Any parent knows the power of story in a child's life: how it inspires dreams, how it lingers in the memory for years to come. Witness the examples of Luke Skywalker, Batman, Superman--great stories all. Our saint stories could equal even these perennial favorites in the thrills department.

Catholic writer and activist Rosemary Haughton writes in US Catholic magazine of converting to Catholicism at age 16 primarily because she loved stories of saints. "I read about people who did outrageous things I could only dream of: they ran away from home, disobeyed their parents, gave away their clothes, lived in caves, played with angels, nursed lepers!"

If you want the Catholic faith to tame your kids, don't let them read stories of the saints. They might end up doing outrageous things that will turn your hair white--like my friend whose son, brought up on the best of Catholic tradition, chose to stay in the middle of the Rwandan bloodbath to help refugees.

The best way to learn about the saints is to buy a good book or two, either for your kids or yourself. Many of the kids' books tend toward the one-page profile approach, which I find woefully inadequate: how could anyone do justice to your life in one page? Tomie de Paola has a great series of illustrated books about saints (Francis, Patrick, Christopher, and Our Lady of Guadalupe) for the younger set. Ethel Pochocki's One of a Kind Friends is good for older kids. Or you might choose to buy your own book and tell your kids the stories. Standouts for adults include Saint of the Day by Leonard Foley, O.F.M., 365 Saints by Woodeene Koenig-Bricker, and a superb new book, All Saints by Robert Ellsberg.