Acknowledgments ix
Foreword Fr. Roderick Vonhogen xi
Introduction xv
Part 1 On Being a Good Neighbor
Chapter 1 Our Neighbors Think We're Nuts 3
Chapter 2 Imperfection Leads to Perfection 11
Part 2 It's a Family Affair
Chapter 3 God's in the Hallway, and He Can Hear Through the Door 21
Chapter 4 NFP for You and Me 31
Chapter 5 We're More Important Than You Are 41
Chapter 6 My Kids Made a Mom Out of Me 55
Chapter 7 What's It Like to Be a Good Catholic Dad? 63
Chapter 8 Catholic Life Is Eucharistic 69
Chapter 9 Squeaky Clean 83
Chapter 10 Family-Rosary Wrestling 93
Chapter 11 The First Teachers 103
Part 3 In But Not of Our Tech-Savvy World
Chapter 12 Here We Are Now; Entertain Us 115
Chapter 13 Good News for Techies 127
Conclusion 135
Afterword 137
In the hands of skilled storytellers, daily life in a young family can be amusing, poignant and, in the case of The Catholics Next Door book, inspiring. The authors, Greg and Jennifer Willits, are more than skilled storytellers. They are multimedia missionaries. Jennifer hosts and Greg records and edits That Catholic Show, a video podcast on the Catholic Church, sometimes referred to as the world’s first Catholic reality show. In addition, they host a daily talk show on Sirius XM Radio, also entitled “The Catholics Next Door.” These are but three of the faith-based projects from the Willits’s, dedicated parents of five children. In their introduction and throughout the book, the couple share their moments of weakness, conversion, joy, and suffering. The book “is about living out our faith in today’s world while constantly stumbling and pushing forward,” they write. Tying in their own experiences they offer accompaniment for all who have struggled with Catholicism, doubted the Church, felt alone, or felt so in love with their faith they “could burst.” In the afterword, they write of the “most difficult, soul-searching, honesty-requiring chapters of this book,” dealing with “being fruitful and multiplying, with all the baggage that accompanies that journey.” Greg explains that when they were married in 1995, Jennifer wasn’t Catholic; he was “doing a lousy job of living out my faith.” By 2001 they had two sons, and Jennifer felt as if their family was complete. They were changed by a homily on the reasons behind Church teaching on contraception and chastity in marriage. After much consideration, the couple signed up for a class on natural family planning (NFP). They describe their reactions to what they were learning, their ultimate buy-in, and the results, including unplanned pregnancies and miscarriages. NFP, they discovered, is not about rules but about cooperating with God. “We open ourselves up to graces and blessings that give us joy in this fallen world and help us get through any challenges that raising children can bring,” writes Jennifer. God will provide for those who trust him in everything, even the area of fertility.
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