Cincinnati's Catholic Bookstores

New Market for Catholic Faith & Culture
Four Catholic Bookstores in Greater Cincinnati Promote the Faith
(from the March/April 1999 issue)

IF THE MARKETPLACE is any indication, the much touted "Catholic restoration" has finally taken hold in greater Cincinnati. During the past several years the tri-state area has been blessed with several lay Catholic initiatives designed to educate, evangelize, and transmit traditional Catholic culture to Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

While millions of dollars have been poured out in donations by the faithful to fund experimental Catholic movements of the past 35 years—church renovation projects, liturgical expansionism, androgynous ministry, Jungian dream interpretation, homosexual tolerance-training, and the various newfangled educational theories—a few modest lay initiatives are providing an overdue relief to Catholics who have long yearned to taste the solid food of our splendid faith.

Among other noteworthy endeavors of recent years, four Catholic bookshops committed to providing an outlet for faithful Catholic literature have sprung up in the tri-state landscape, two of those in the past six months.

"More and more Catholics are standing up to say to Church leaders: ‘Your experiment has failed’," said Daniel P. Giroux, co-proprietor of The Catholic Shop in Madeira, the youngest of the local bookstores committed to promoting orthodoxy. "We’re interested in promoting the authentic, timeless spirituality of the Catholic faith. There is a real need for that," he says.

Authentically Catholic Books — Covington, Ky.

The "grandfather" of local orthodox Catholic booksellers is Steve DiCarlo, a home schooling father of eight. DiCarlo opened Authentically Catholic Books in Covington five years ago, after serving for five years as a distributor for TAN Books. "After travelling 26 states for several years," he explains, "I felt it was time to open a local store to provide good Catholic reading to area Catholics. There was no competition at the time. The vacuum needed to be filled."

DiCarlo had a difficult time deciding upon a name for his store, but after much prayer and discussion with friends, he decided the name needed to honestly represent his intent. DiCarlo was well aware of the plethora of so-called "Catholic" books on the market—books, he says, that can only be considered inimical to the faith. "I wanted to provide authentically Catholic books," he explains. "What better name then than Authentically Catholic Books?"

DiCarlo’s bookstore serves not only as an excellent source for Catholic books—he carries the full line available from publishers such as TAN, Sophia Institute, Ignatius Press, and Sceptre, to name a few—but also as a general Catholic resource center. One can find gift items, t-shirts, video tapes (for purchase or rental), as well as devotional items such as statues, medals, crucifixes, rosaries, scapulars, and prayer cards.

ACB is perhaps best known, however, for its comprehensive assortment of Catholic home school materials. In addition to selling textbooks, workbooks and children’s readers, DiCarlo has been sponsoring the annual Midwest Home Schooling Conference in Ft. Mitchell, Ky. over the past four years, a tradition he will continue this summer. Each year the conference provides a unique opportunity for home schooling families to come together to discuss their joys, sufferings, and educational endeavors. Previous conference speakers have included the late Dr. William Marra, James Stenson, Anne Carroll, and Father Roger Arnsparger, among others. The conference typically offers seminars on topics such as teaching Phonics, Art, Latin or Spanish, using computers, learning along with your children, and how best to impart religious education and a sound devotional and faith life to your children.

In addition to that annual conference ACB has been hosting the Catholic Speakers Series since 1995. The series is held several times each year at the Drawbridge Inn in Ft. Mitchell, Ky. ACB has presented Count Nero Caponi, Dr. Thomas Droleskey, Fathers Peter Stravinskas, Joseph Fessio, and Kenneth Baker.

DiCarlo says that, although he has had to make many personal and financial sacrifices to continue ACB and its apostolate, it is very much worth the effort. "The greatest part of the business is that we have an opportunity to evangelize here," says DiCarlo. One day two Mormon missionaries even came into his shop, "genuinely wanting to know if what they learned about the Catholic Church was true." Although they didn’t tell DiCarlo what exactly they had learned, "they both seemed genuinely intrigued at what they found on the shelves and tables of the store."

He adds: "I have heard from many customers throughout the past five years that a book we had recommended converted one of their friends or a family member. That’s when I most feel like this work has paid off."

Emmaus Books — Mason, Oh.

Casey Mitchell opened Emmaus Books in Mason in 1993. "At that time I was promoting the feminist agenda, among a slew of other liberal Catholic causes," says Mitchell. "I carried books from radical ‘left-wing’ publishers," she adds, "such as XXIII Publications and Orbis" (who have published works by local hersiarchs such as Dr. Paul Knitter and Sr. Barbara Fiand).

A trip to Rome changed all that. Mitchell says when she and her husband Blair took a tour of Italy, they were blessed with a private audience with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. "After one of the Pope’s general audiences, he met with our small group," she explained. "That’s when he laid hands on me," said Mitchell, who understood that this was a rare privilege.

"When we returned home, I was deeply moved by my meeting with the Holy Father," she says. Over the next year she slowly started to discard some of the "filth" that was littering her shelves, passing as Catholic literature. From 1994 to the end of 1995 Emmaus Books underwent a transition, from a liberal shop to a bookstore concerned with promoting the true traditions and teaching of the Church.

"Business was quite poor," Mitchell muses, "before I got my shop into line with the Church." From that time on, she says, business has been swift. She has heard from several customers recently of a local priest who advises his parishioners not to set foot into Emmaus. "I am told that I only present ‘one side’," says Mitchell. But to her that is a compliment, "because the one side I present is the truth of the Church."

Emmaus Books serves Catholics from Mason, West Chester, Loveland and surrounding communities. In addition to books, Bibles, encyclicals and Catholic periodicals, Emmaus offers a wide selection of crucifixes, medals, prayer cards and gift items. Her husband runs a sister bookstore under the same name in Troy, just north of Dayton.

"When I returned from Rome I began to pray that those who came into my store would find the truth, but instead, I found the truth," says Mitchell. Since that "conversion," Mitchell says that she has developed a real love and devotion to the Eucharist, something she hopes she can promote by her work at Emmaus.

The Catholic Restoration Shop — Milford, Oh.

Although they are often told the shop is "just what we need in this area," proprietors of the Catholic Restoration Shop in Day Heights, just outside Milford, Laurie Balbach Taylor and her husband Tom Taylor, say, "People ask what made us pick this place." When they first spotted the shop, it was available for rent, but they didn't feel prepared to take the steps necessary to set up a store. Soon the rental space became a tattoo parlor. Several months later they drove by and spotted the site again and found it vacant once more, so they prayed a novena to Saint Joseph, then called the rental agency for information. Everything seemed to fall into place after that.

"We need a seriously Catholic presence in the community, and we're just not convinced that parishes are truly doing their part," says Mrs. Taylor. "They might go overboard catering to the material needs—but people also need their souls fed, and that's the primary reason for the Church's existence. If they don't do the spiritual part right, they'll fail at the material part, too, because the motivation will be wrong. Dan Giroux [of The Catholic Shop in Madeira] and I half joked that we should put signs in our windows saying, 'It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it.'"

The Catholic Restoration Shop's founding organization, Hope of Saint Monica, Inc., is an apostolate founded by the Taylors originally to publish (from their home) the book, Mary and the Eucharist, by Father Richard Foley, S.J., of London, England. They later published Christ in the Voting Booth by Dr. Thomas A. Droleskey of Long Island, New York.

Mrs. Taylor says, "We intend to proceed with additional publishing projects as appropriate manuscripts become available. In fact, we already have a few possibilities under consideration. But the store is a way we can increase the availability of good Catholic products, while, in time, generating the revenue needed to publish more books."

Mrs. Taylor also publishes Called to Conversion, an every-other-month newsletter. It addresses practical and political issues Catholics encounter in their everyday lives. Its goal is to present a way of thinking—rooted in Christianity, based on the teachings of Jesus Christ—which helps readers form correct choices, really living as Christians. In addition to her own newsletter, Mrs. Taylor says she considers herself "greatly honored" to serve on the Advisory Board of St. Catherine Review.

The Catholic Restoration Shop opened for business on Tuesday, October 13, 1998 (the 81st anniversary—a novena of novenas of anniversaries—of our Lady's last appearance at Fatima, Portugal), with a blessing conducted by Father Tom Dennemann, pastor of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Mount Repose, Ohio.

The shop carries Catholic Bibles, books, sacramentals, music and spoken audio and video tapes (for purchase and rental), greeting cards and stationery, indoor and outdoor statues, crucifixes, gift items, religious medals and jewelry, software . . . "whatever Catholic families, parishes, institutions, and businesses need," says Mrs. Taylor. And Mr. Taylor is quick to add, "If we don't have it, you don't need it."

The Catholic Shop — Madeira, Oh.

Dan and Jennifer Giroux recently opened The Catholic Shop a few blocks from St. Gertrude Church in Madeira (staffed by the Dominican Fathers). "We’re still a work in progress," says Mr. Giroux, who has recently retired from serving as managing editor of Dr. Thomas Droleskey’s monthly publication Christ or Chaos.

The Girouxs opened shop in December 1998, consecrating their business to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a devotion that they will actively promote there. One step into their front showroom reveals the truth and beauty of the Catholic faith. Crucifixes and "Treasures of the Vatican"—beautifully framed reproductions from the Vatican galleries by the likes of Raphael and Michelangelo—line their walls, along with an assortment of Catholic sacramentals and other devotional items. Brochures outlining the physical and spiritual risks of contraception are prominently displayed on their check-out counter.

"In the way of books, we aim mainly to promote spiritual reading of the Catholic classics," says Giroux, who has been recommending Francis Fernandez’s Conversations With God series this Lent. "Already one customer has returned and told me that the book has changed her life," he says. "That’s a real gift to know because conversion and evangelization is our raison d’etre."

The Catholic Shop offers an extensive selection of Catholic novels, apologetics books, Bibles and biblical commentaries, encyclicals and other official Church documents. But the most impressive collections are housed in two separate rooms. "The Saints Room" is filled with books by and about saints, including hard-to-find books such as The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, a favorite of Pope John Paul II. TCS also boasts a comprehensive selection of books by and about a favorite saint of theirs: Thérèse of Lisieux. An impressive collection of works from the Institute of Carmelite Studies, including other great Carmelite authors such as St. Edith Stein and St. Teresa of Avila, rounds out the Saints Room.

The second room —perhaps the highlight of the shop— Giroux calls "The Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan Room" after a book by the same name, written by Jesuit theologian Father John Hardon, who was scheduled to be at The Catholic Shop for the "official" grand opening celebration and blessing on March 19 (—due to health considerations he may not make the trip). "The book details the Catholic classics that would literally take a lifetime to read, yet are essential for the Catholic who is truly interested in growing in holiness each day," says Giroux. That room will make available every book still in-print on Father Hardon’s list, a claim that no other bookshop can yet make. Giroux estimates that comes to some 400 titles by 104 authors, including (just to name a few) Augustine, Francis de Sales, Newman, Chesterton and Belloc.

"Some of the authors’ works are no longer in print," says Giroux, but as an indication of his commitment to Father Hardon’s reading plan, he says he’s put a trace on these works through used bookstores across the nation. "We think it’s worth it," adds Giroux.

--Michael S. Rose

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