My summer has been a little crazy between, moving twice, a retreat, an academic conference, my parents’ 45th anniversary, a doctoral thesis defense, and prepping to start teaching college theology in late August. In such a situation, I fell a little behind on posting here. While I’ve been busy, Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur at CatholicMom.com and Dave Armstrong at Patheos have reviewed my book, God Loves the Autistic Mind: Prayer Guide for Those on the Spectrum and Those Who Love Us. I will now look at both.
Review on CatholicMom.com
Here are a few lines from Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur’s review:
As. Fr. Schneider points out, autistics often feel like outsiders in the Church. They are nearly twice as likely not to attend church and more likely to be atheists or agnostics. His stated goal in writing God Loves the Autistic Mind is “to help my fellow autistic Christians and their families pray better.” I come to this book as the mother of a young-adult autistic (diagnosed at age nine), who unfortunately falls in that category of having left the Church. […]
Autistics are an underserved segment of the Church community. Fr. Schneider believes the best wants to reach autistics who have left the Church is by having other autistics reach out to them and evangelize to them. God Loves the Autistic Mind is his attempt to do that. I encourage other mothers of autistics to read this book to get a better understanding of how to encourage their children’s prayer lives and to share the parts they feel are appropriate with their children. This book should also be read by those who minister to autistics in the Church.
Read the rest on CatholicMom.com.
Review on Patheos
Dave Armstrong reviewed it on his blog Biblical Evidence for Catholicism. Here are some lines:
In a press release for this book, it was noted that “more than 3.5 million people in the United States live with autism.” One of them is my oldest son, Paul (now 31): a very special, talented, and orthodox Catholic young man who has immeasurably blessed our family and his many friends […]
One of the results of those endeavors is this marvelous book, which is an encouraging resource for autistics, who often feel lonely, alienated, and frustrated in living among those of us whom they charmingly term “neurotypicals.” It’s also a font of useful information for everyone, to better understand and appreciate our autistic brothers and sisters, who are not “abnormal”; just different.
As the subtitle indicates, it’s first and foremost a prayer guide for autistics (said to be the first of its kind). But Fr. Schneider also explains throughout the book what it’s like to be autistic in a non-autistic world: more often than not drawing from his own experience. Everyone can learn and benefit from his insights. I certainly have. I give it my very highest recommendation.
Read the rest on his Patheos blog.
Upcoming
As I am now full-time teaching at Belmont Abbey for the fall semester, I have a bit of responsibility with my community, and I am trying to appear on podcasts, etc. to promote the book, I may not have as much time to post.
