By JOHN TUTTLE
The twenty-first century is a period of human development in which sexuality is terribly disfigured, misunderstood, and exploited. This breeds a confusion among many men and women in regards to their own identity and their relation to their brothers and sisters.
Sam Guzman’s The Catholic Gentleman is one of a number of books to have been written in recent years which addresses men’s longing for authenticity, true love, and masculinity. Guzman’s message is never sugarcoated or watered down. On the contrary, he challenges his readers because life, in practically every respect, is constantly an uphill struggle.
The author’s style is one which is easily digested, quickly understood, and not without its own literary merit: a fine work geared for today’s reader confronting both age-old struggles as well as modern occasions of sin.
In The Catholic Gentleman, several addictions are discussed with appropriate remedies suggested. Among them is the increasing dilemma of pornography. When he comes to it, Guzman makes sure to make it crystal clear that the utter essence of mainstream pornography is the victimization of women.
Porn models are treated poorly. The product itself dehumanizes them. Ultimately, it trains the male mindset to see its female counterparts as mere playthings sought only for self-indulgent pleasure. It is one of the chief exploitations of the human person. Entire books, such as The Porn Myth, have been written on the subject.
It only makes sense that, in trying to mold men into genuine gentlemen, Guzman addresses one of the gravest obstacles to the purity of heart and to authentic love. In one of the tables at the end of the book, he offers the proper masculine gesture toward the opposite sex, that we are to “honor women, acknowledging their great dignity as daughters of God.”
The book delves into a broad array of topics concerning men, family life, and spiritual life. Because of that variety, it makes a good read for men ranging from their teens through their early years of marriage. Aside from addressing the vocation of priest, prophet, and king (which, in some sense, is the calling of all men as the head of a family), Guzman rarely focuses on sacramental priesthood. It isn’t like To Save a Thousand Souls; its primary focus is the layman, though it is filled with plentiful points which would be beneficial to all men seeking purity and a deepening of their spiritual life in Christ.
In addition to its smooth reading, The Catholic Gentleman is quite personal at times. We glimpse into the genuine humanity of the author. This is a conversation — man to man. We get to see a bit of Guzman’s taste in pop culture. He knows his Church fathers. But he is also a connoisseur of poetry, classic cinema, and eighties TV shows. Surely, the Star Trek references grab our attention.
But it is by no means the constant feel-good book either. We begin to see where men have failed in their responsibility to God, to their wives and families, and to themselves. Back in the garden, Adam should have come to Eve’s defense, but he failed even in this. Our fallen nature does not lend itself to being virtuous in an easy fashion. It takes effort.
Christ, who overturned original sin and Adam’s lack of action, sacrifices Himself for the safety of His own Bride: the Church. It is through His Passion and Resurrection that we have been given the graces to stand up to the occasion, to be real men. And, as Guzman shows us, this takes persistence and perseverance, humility, and repeated conversion. A relationship with, rather a consecration to, the Virgin Mary is also stressed as it is through the Mediatrix, Christ’s Mother, that we inevitably come to Christ.
Featuring a stupendous foreword by Dale Ahlquist and including a variety of prayers for various circumstances, The Catholic Gentleman is a thoroughly enjoyable book worth reading and worth referencing.
(John Tuttle has written for various online and print publications, including Catholic Insight and Those Catholic Men.)
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