Transcript of Interview with Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle about Grace Cafe and The Domestic Church Room by Room. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com
Listen Now to the audio version of the show.
The Domestic Church Room by Room and Grace Cafe are available at The Catholic Company.
http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1004032/Grace-Cafe/
http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1004041/Domestic-Church-Room-by-Room/
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Welcome to the Catholic spotlight….
This is the catholic spotlight the broadcast where we talk about what is new, cool and exciting in the catholic market place, I am you host Chris Cash, director of e-commerce from catholiccompany.com your source for all your catholic needs.
And today in the spotlight we have Donna Marie cooper, back with us to talk about her new book grace’s cafe and the domestic church room by room. Donna how are you doing today?
Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle Great and how are doing today.
Chris Cash: Well, you know it has been an interesting morning and I think I am doing pretty good at the moment
Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle I agree
Chris Cash: And I will keep persevering in prayer that things continue to go swell. Now for those of our listeners who don’t know Donna was in an accident a few months back, we just want to let everybody know how she is progressing on that if you want to just tell us, share with us how are you doing? And for those of us who have been concerned and praying for you.
Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle well, Thanks for asking and thank you so much everyone for your prayers, because I know that is what gives me the strength to keep going, my daughter and I both continue with our physical therapy, really it has been since January of this year so it has been quite a long haul. Still a way to go but you know just praying and offering to God and trying to just feel all of the struggle and the pain and that’s about it. Just getting through each day, and thanking God for his blessings and continuing the therapy and so thank you so much for your prayers everyone.
Chris Cash: Well, we are going to move right on and talking about the domestic church room by room. This is a pretty exciting little book and it is pretty small condensed but it packs a lot of power. So you want to tell us about what is the domestic church and why is it broken into rooms?
Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle Sure, I will and actually it 242 pages, this is the bigger of the two, it is actually a pretty good size,
Chris Cash: Oh, I am sorry I got mixed up…
Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle that’s ok, its ok, because you get so many books there, I am sure stacked up on your desk. It is broken up into rooms called the domestic church room by room, a study guide for a mother and I thought it will give it a cozier feel, if I break it up into rooms and for instance, to give you an idea. In the beginning will be the foyer of inviting our blessed mother into our home, the garage comes next, the husband in the picture, the nursery and the blessing in the little stools ,the living room in the heart of the home. The kitchen and the location of love. The dinning room and the praying in the domestic church, the basement selfless love at the foot of the cross. The porch an overflowing with the challis of love and the patio advancing with the feminine genius, in meaning going out of the home and bringing our feminine genius as our holy father refers to the gifts of a woman, out into the world as well.
You know as well as our domestic churches. I just wanted to write a book for moms to help them to feel affirmed and encouraged in the vocation as a mother. And in the heart of the home and you know, talking about the domestic church in different aspects of receiving it everyday and the nitty-gritty, detail for being a mom and a being a Christian mom, a catholic mom and waving our little faiths to heaven.
Because, you know by outward appearance, it could seem as though the diapers and demands and laundry and the over flowing hampers of laundry and dishes, might be the only activities that fill a mother’s days and her nights. You know you have so much to do and the limited hours of the day, moms might begin to feel a little frustrated or feel kind of down about the fact that she might not be achieving all that she thinks she should be doing or accomplishing every thing or checking off her to-do list and she may even fail to see that our lord can if mystically end all of this. He is very much aware of the extent of the mothers busyness in the mother’s dedication. In the work and home as a family because he is the one who has given her that sublime privilege of raising those little children who were actually entrusted to her care. And leading them to heaven.
The walls of heaven within the walls of her domestic home. And you know, mother might be feeling inundated with the cares of the family, fail to recognize that our lord is really living under their roof too. And assisting the mom and the family all along the way, so, basically I really want to help mothers and Christian women and families to realize what are the main locations and it is to be a parent, to be a mother. To raise our families within the wall of our domestic churches. and then take that Christianity and that realization out with us out into, you know take it to the streets with our dealings of people in public, possibly working , volunteering, whatever we are doing out in the world as well. So.
Chris Cash: Sounds like this s book is written with a lot of personal experience.
Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle Yes, it is actually it is written from a lot of personal experience, I have weaved a lot of that in. I also cannot help but weave mother Theresa. Her spirituality in everything that I write since I was very close with her so that always finds a way into the pages, onto the pages rather. And also not only personal experiences but I pack a lot of church teaching in this book because I wanted to put it all at a mother’s finger tips. You know, I am very passionate about encouraging these moms and I know they are so busy in the care of their families no matter how old they are. I wanted the little teeny infants or older teenagers or even young adult children, or adult children. Being a mother does not stop because you child has left the front door and embarked upon a life of his or her own. You know going to college and beyond. You are always a mother your prayers are always therefore them.
You advise them when they want it sometimes even when they don’t! But you are constantly busy in the care of the family so because of that there is not a lot of time to do our research on our own and you are not going to get everything in 20minutes calmly at mass because there just is not enough time. So it is great to look at our church documents read the *** [07:26], look into all this yourself but again we are so busy, I like to have it at a mom’s fingertips, so that is why it has all this relevant church teachings as well as the family life within these books so you can just read away here you can go and find something that pertains to that particular aspect of parenting whether it be the regulating the size of your family, what is approved and what is not approved to dealings with your spouse, you know how to better communication or better current life.
You know raising your children. you know anything that has to do with family life, I have tried to include it all within this mothers study guide and it is something a mom can do by herself and you know, reflect upon and write her answer because there are places to, there are two parts to each chapter and there are questions up there, under each part. And you can ponder and pray and reflect and write down your answer and then look back at it later on. Just check out, you know, maybe a glow of holiness or maybe how you have changed or you know the pas t year and then maybe do it again. But an ideal way to do it is within a group. It will be better.
Chris Cash: Well, is this book something that will appeal to stay at home dads or dads who are very involved with the domestic church as well or is it geared really at women?
Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle Well, it is geared really at women, but there is a lot of wisdom if I may say so. you know from the church that does speak to men and I also encourage the women to you know, keep the catechism handy or the catechism of the catholic or keep certain things handy that you know, you can pick up and start a discussion with whether you know, you are engaged to be married and you want to bring up the discussion with your future spouse and pick up the catechism, pick up the study guide. Read about what the church says about the family planning, talk about it you know, with each other. Say some prayers about it, getting some discussion going between the spouses so it addressing women’s.
Since I am a woman and I am a mother and I am speaking to mothers about, it’s really calling upon the woman to communicate and discuss theses things with her husband or her finance so there is open communication and better understanding of the richness of our catholic faith and what it has to offer us.
Chris Cash: Now, you got all these different rooms in the house, do you have a particularly favorite rooms in your domestic church?
Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle Well, that is a pretty good question there Chris, do you mean like my own domestic church or do you
Chris Cash: I mean the book, I mean within the contents of the book
Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle That’s hard to say, it could be the nursery, because the bustling of little souls and so much I dearly love my children, the five I have here on earth and the 3 in heaven. And you know so talking about that it is very special to me and I do have a lot of that in graces cafe which you know I will talk about a little bit. Talking about even their night feedings and about how to someone it might seem like oh…My goodness, I cannot get any sleep around here, and now I have to keep standing up and I am exhausted. I saw that night feedings as a beautiful time of quiet and prayer, you know, bonding with the infant and trying to pray and actually hear yourself think and listen to God, you know when everyone also in the household is usually quiet, usually sleeping.
So I do weave a lot of you know, my own feelings about raising my family and my own children. So I guess the nursery is a very important part and then later in grace cafe I talk about kids leaving their nests and how that is with me and with other parents I have spoken with…
Chris Cash: I guess as a dad I am kind of interested in what you have to say about the garage
Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle I know, I know, you got to
Chris Cash: You know as a not so handy husband, I will not spend a lot of time in the garage, in the workshop either. I am most likely to be doing dishes and laundry.
Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle Oh that’s it, I am sorry I put you in the garage thing, I did not know. I did not want to stereotype, I just want to pick a room that I thought would be dad, the guys with the bikes and I figured, you know for the men to tinker around in the garage. My husband liked to do that. And you know, some guys do and some guys don’t. But a lot of times they do so I just kind of stuck up in the garage. It is basically, you know it is not talking about the garage. Talking about guys and women are different in sense and complimentary. You know, we each have our gifts to bring to the marriage and it is really a discussion of marriage, life and so I think he would really enjoy that chapter.
Chris Cash: Alright, we are going to take a short break to hear from our sponsors and when we come back we are going to be speaking more with Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle
about Grace’s cafe, this is the catholic spotlight.
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Chris Cash: And we are back on the catholic spotlight with Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle. Now we are going to talk about grace’s cafe. And you want to share just a little about the concept and the idea about the concept and idea behind the book is?
Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle Sure. It is called Grace’s cafe serving up recipes for faithful mothering, so it is actually a cook book if you will……
Chris Cash: You really like using these analogies, of a home and a cook book to bring things down to earth for your readers.
Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle I do, because I like to have them see how they can apply it to their own life. And on the back cover, every wish you had. Cook book for life as a catholic wife and mother. A step by step guide for various demands of the church situations. Considered your prayers answered. The recipe scene may be light hearted in some events but there is real nourishment to be had in this wonderful dish too. And spiriting on trades, catholic women can live out their familiar vocation, are seasoned with simple suggestions in answering Christ’s call. His universal call for holiness. And then a special sections of lovely poems and prayers and a book on the note, a warmth that will lift hearts beyond the kitchen up toward heaven. I thought it was pretty nice out there description of the book.
Chris Cash: And, I guess, one thing that I want to make sure that we do here, is, you got both of these excellent books coming out at the same time. What is going to be different for someone getting grace cafe as opposed to the domestic church room by room. Obviously already we touched on the fact that the domestic church room by room, is a much larger book. So what is someone going to get out of grace cafe as opposed to the domestic church?
Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle Ok, the domestic church is a larger book like you said, it has got the places to do the study and I did mentioned briefly earlier that it can be done in a group as well. you know I want to impress upon the listeners side of it that it will be wonderful to get groups in your church or in your home and ensure your insights and faith together in that with using that guide but you can also do it with grace cafe or with some of the other books as well. And grace cafe is a good size book as well about 218 pages and it is packed again with church teachings but woven with real life situations. A lot of it from my own life, a lot of it from you know other catholic families that I know. And the thing about this book that is unique I think is that it is sort of like a cook book for catholic mothers and even have a recipe card at the end of each chapter.
If I flip over to the book and get to the end of the chapter here, which is called blessing vocation of love, and the recipe here is how can I find myself through my vocation of mothering and the answer here on the recipe card says” preparing a blessed vocation of love, mix equal part of prayer to our lord for the grace needed to perform the heroic virtues within my household an awareness of the mission that God has entrusted to me. I will find myself by giving love to others. These were things that were mentioned in that chapter. about giving of ourselves and serving, and finding the awareness of our mission as catholic mothers and I drew a lot from movie stigmata which of course I celebrated earlier this at the Vatican from around the world, called together to speak about the given vocation of women.
Naturally we got ears for that, you know, catholic moms can have all these great teaching but it is not in a dry way, is not as if our teaching is, but it is hopefully light and fun and hear it with the same time just like everyday situations and not pretending that everything is pretty and perfect like Norman Waflaw’s picture perfect, you know which normal daily life is not? So we talked about all kinds of situations so it is a kind of intimate size, it is not as tall as the other book. It is a little smaller so that, it is the kind of book you can curl up with on the couch if you can steal away a few moments. Or at night before you go to sleep if you have some time to read and to feel affirmed as a catholic woman and feel as a sister in the journey and I think I do mention that in my introduction that I feel that woman actually are craving time to be with other Christian women and to share the faith that is why all these catholic blogs are popping up allover the place and all the discussion groups retreats and things.
Chris Cash: I heard recently from someone who had done some research that there were about 1800 catholic blogs this time.
Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle Isn’t that amazing
Chris Cash: As far as they could identify
Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle That is amazing.
Chris Cash: I don’t know how they counted that but…
D: I don’t know, but there must be a way and they figured it out. With all, you know it is just. You can see the need for women to compare notes and to encourage one and other and so I would like to let people know that it is not me up here preaching from a soap box or something like that me saying we are all in this together we are all sisters in Christ so let us help each other along the way. You know, mothers today do not really have any opportunities to receive a pat on the back and not that we are looking for one but unfortunately society has not made it easy for us and we are really bombarded with mixed messages and it is really tough for women sometimes to discern where they should find their place and the culture is really pushing women to feel that they should be accomplishing more outside the doors of the home rather that anything inside the doors of the home. So, I feel like it is my job to make sure that mothers know that you know they don’t have to listen to a culture that dictates to them, to listen to our hearts and listen to our lords speaking to them and to feel content in that kind of raising your children and when you are very very young it has to pass by so quickly the whole life I hate to say to those mothers out there who have their babies in their laps right now.
It does not seem like it is never going to end but they do grow up and I want you to savor all those moments and to really be there for them because they don’t want to look back later on and say I wish I had been there so I am thankful that I dedicated my life to raising my children and I know it is hard these days with the way the economy is and everything but to do your best to be there and to find other like minded women that you know, you can share with and meet together and maybe have a study about your catholic womanhood and really grow in your faith and grow together and really see how you can be an example, and how you can help other women who may be struggling to find their way. So we can all call for that mission and our holy father has constantly said our holy father has said that you know the lady is so important in evangelization and they do that evangelizing, just in an example even in that example of living a good catholic life and raising our family and domestic churches and the help we do in our communities.
These kinds of things can even though we don’t realize we are making an impact, we really are God is through us to others so, if we can get together, in groups or blogs or internet. It’s like what you are doing now Chris though the catholic spotlight. You know wonderful shows we have on EWTN and all kinds of catholic radio. It is just that a wonderful resource for all of us and I am hoping that through these two new books, that I just put out through circle press that these will inspire women allover the world. I have been told that the others have been doing so, I have been very thankful to God. For the grace and the blessings to be able to do this.
Chris Cash: Now, the idea that you put out there that having recipe cards which sounds really neat, is a, have you ever thought about writing a coupon book. It kind of sounds like you know. A coupon book of good things to do for God today.
Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle Well, that sounds really cool. I have a lot of ideas and the things that I have worked for other graces cafe so, for not just mothers but women who may not be mothers just single women you know, who were unable to conceive or unable to adopt.
You know the vocation of womanhood, catholism, womanhood it is like a lot of different ideas for grace’s cafe and for expectant mothers, lots of, lots of things like that. I also have some other things in my work as well, that keeps me going. About the coupon book, that sounds like a great idea, we will see.
Chris Cash: That is right; my realty cheque can be sent.
Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle I will make sure we will have to sit down and talk about this Chris.
Chris Cash: Absolutely. Now, you have a project that is coming out very soon here with Penguin are you allowed to say anything about that yet?
Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle Oh, I did find out that I can mention that, I was not sure, so I checked into that. I am working on, I am very excited, I am working on catholic book for Penguin. Alfa Penguin has just contacted me to write a beautiful large book on catholism that will be out by probably out by September of 2009. So I have a quick turnover not a lot of time to write it. So basically pray for me.
Chris Cash: So, as you write a book about stopping to smell the roses you actually get a chance to do that?
Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle I know, I know, sometimes there is no rest for the weary. Whenever we want to do God’s work we just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Or fingers to keys on the computer or pen to paper. I do try to, I do, I do stop and smell the roses but I don’t really have a lot of time to do it. It is a quick smell a quick sniff ok…. yen…back to work. No, I do enjoy my family and I do make sure I celebrate them. You know we just had a birthday the other day and there are some more coming up. Different things with their colleges and schools and all kinds of things and I make sure that there is that family time that I call them all together for you know special occasions or just everyday things.
You know to stay connected, but I don’t have a lot of free time on my hands to relax right now. So it is more quick work to get this done. So maybe when I finish this one, I can take a breathe, I haven’t taken a breathe in quite a while especially I put two books out at the same time, so, that was a first for me. And I think, I don’t know anybody also, you know. Who has done that? I am sure there are other authors but it is quite a feat, to do two at the same time. And plus that involves a lot of book signing and radio appearances like we are doing now and lots of shows and TV and lots of things
Chris Cash: But at least you get to consolidate and get two interviews for the prize of one right…..
Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle Two for one, that is right, that is right. And I am so excited about these books. If I may say so myself, I mean I wish I had books like this. When I was a younger mother and I used to speak to older mothers too, godmothers and grandmothers and, but, I know that at that time we did not find something worthy to you know really encourage a catholic mom at her vocation. But, by the grace of God, I know we spoke about this before this inspiration came to me during my pregnancy with Mary Catherine who is my 17 year old. When God put me at bed rest, with that pregnancy. And that is when I started writing for mothers and so it has not stopped. So I am very pleased and very thankful to God and very humbled by it too. You know, just asking him to just keep giving me the inspiration, strength to continue.
Chris Cash: Well, thank you very much Donna Marie, it has been a pleasure having you on again and I look forward to hearing about your new book projects when they come out as well.
Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle Thank you so much Chris, it is great to be on your show. Thanks for having me and God bless you in all that you do.
Chris Cash: God bless you too.
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Transcript of Interview with Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle about Grace Cafe and The Domestic Church Room by Room. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com
Listen Now to the audio version of the show.
The Domestic Church Room by Room and Grace Cafe are available at The Catholic Company.
http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1004032/Grace-Cafe/
http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1004041/Domestic-Church-Room-by-Room/