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- Saturday Dad Reads Week of July 12
Saturday Dad Reads Week of July 12
Religious history, Relics and Future Dad vs. Food Challenges
Welcome to this week’s edition! Here’s what we’ve got lined up:
📕 This week’s Book Summary and Review: The Fifth Gospel
🧑🦰 Author Bio: Ian Caldwell
💣️ Dad’s Knowledge Bomb: Saint Anthony’s Church, Pittsburgh: A Relic Lover’s Paradise
🎮️ This week’s Dad Rant: Competitive Eating: One Dad’s Thoughts
Summary
Father Alex Andreou is a rarity in Vatican City: a Greek Catholic priest. He takes more after his Orthodox counterparts with his long beard, cassock, young son, and estranged wife (Greek Catholic priests are permitted to have families provided they are married before being ordained). He’s a devoted father, supportive brother, and trying to figure out where his marriage went wrong.
He’s also friend to a biblical scholar named Ugolino Nogara who believes he has made an amazing discovery in his research that is about to be on display in the Vatican: a discovery that has the potential to rock Catholicism to its core. Then, on the eve of the unveiling of the exhibit, Nogara is found dead.
Father Alex is thrown into the maelstrom surrounding the death, tasking himself with bringing Nogara’s killer to justice and clearing the name of his family when his brother, Simon (a Roman Catholic priest), is accused of the murder. Deeper still, Father Alex must race against time to figure out Nogara’s discovery before it goes on display. If Nogara ended up dead having made the revelation, what other implications could it hold?
📕 Review
Ian Caldwell is a genius for this one. The Fifth Gospel is what you get when you take a relatively unknown religious denomination (Greek Catholic), a murder mystery, a theological bombshell, court room procedure, and family drama and roll it into ball of yarn. Then, you take that ball of yarn and try to navigate it through the twists and turns of a maze. There’s so much to unpack with this one, that I think it’s best to break things down with some headings and subheadings.
Here’s the things that worked for me:
The Religious History: Without getting into spoilers, know that The Fifth Gospel involves the following items from Christian/Catholic history: The Shroud of Turin, the Diatessaron (an obscure Gospel translation), and the year 1204. Give me one or more of these nuggets, and you’ve got me hooked. Figure out a way to tie them all together like Ian Caldwell does, and I’m all in.
The Theology: As I read The Fifth Gospel, I couldn’t help but think about a book I read years ago titled, Misquoting Jesus by Bart D. Ehrman. In it, Ehrman brings to light the problematic nature of the New Testament Gospels and their translations (in short, we can’t ever be sure of the original text because there are so many translations and alterations over the years - we don’t even have copies of the copies of the copies of the originals). I loved how this concept takes center stage in The Fifth Gospel as a main plot point involves Ugolino Nogara’s work with the obscure Diatessaron and translations of the word “cloth” and its plural “clothes.” Caldwell also indirectly raises questions to the reader and forces them to think about how the Gospels are all different and why the Gospel of John (THE most different), constantly uses symbolism to connect Jesus to the Old Testament personage of Moses. There’s also a side tangent, on the saga of “Doubting Thomas” (can’t get into that more without inadvertently giving away some spoilers).
If Ian Caldwell had just stopped there and wove a story from the above, it would’ve worked for me. However, there was more that worked:
The Procedural: Father Alex’s quest to find Ugolino Nogara’s killer and clear his brother’s name is nothing short of a logical masterpiece on par with a great detective novel. Full of twists, turns, and bombshells, just when you think Father Alex has hit a dead end or is finished, he finds another gear or makes a breakthrough. Further from a crime procedural standpoint, we also get to see the workings of a court tribunal within the Vatican legal system, a process that is opaque in its dealings at best.
Although, The Fifth Gospel wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. There were a few things that didn’t quite work for me:
The Family Dynamic: Father Alex’s wife, Mona, and his son, Peter, were nice additions to the overall story to round out his character, but in the long run I just didn’t get it. It felt forced as if Father Alex had to have a wife and son just because he was a Greek Catholic priest. Yes, this marked him as different in the confines of the Vatican, but I honestly just felt sorry for Peter the whole time and felt that his and Mona’s inclusion in the story was time that could’ve been spent elsewhere given the portrait of brotherly love Caldwell paints of Alex and Simon. I won’t even mention Uncle Lucio other than his inclusion in the story just felt too convenient for what had to happen. In all, I think Caldwell could’ve written just as strong a story without the inclusion and dynamics of Peter, Mona, and Uncle Lucio.
In all, I’m willing to look past the family dynamic because The Fifth Gospel was so well written otherwise. I blew through it relatively quickly because I got the Audible version and had a hardcopy. I could listen on my commute and read more when I got home. I highly recommend for a late summer beach read!
Rating: ☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️
Ian Caldwell has two major titles to his name: The Fifth Gospel (2015) and The Rule of Four (2004). You can find Ian Caldwell on Facebook.
💣️Knowledge Bomb: Saint Anthony’s Chapel: A Relic Lover’s Paradise
As The Fifth Gospel concerns itself with perhaps the most important and sacred relic in Catholicism, The Shroud of Turin, I thought it would be interesting to do a little searching on religious relics. As it turns out, Pittsburgh, PA is a must visit place for those interested in seeing and venerating some of the thousands of relics in Catholicism.
One might expect to find the world’s largest collection of Catholic relics to be in a city that boasts a massive population with a high percentage of Catholics. For me, cities like New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago all come to mind. However, what I found was that Pittsburgh, PA is home to the largest collection of relics outside of Vatican City and nearly all of those relics can be found in one place: Saint Anthony’s Chapel.
The working class neighborhood of Troy Hill is located on Pittsburgh’s North Side. Troy Hill is known for its narrow streets, densely pack row houses, and incredibly steep streets. On Harpster Street, stands Saint Anthony’s Chapel, a seemingly innocuous church whose facade fits in with the local scenery. However, the inside of the church is an absolute marvel to behold in terms of the relics to be found there as well as the stunning artwork.
In total, Saint Anthony’s houses nearly 5,000 relics ranging from particles of the True Cross to the full skeletal remains of Saint Demetrius. Visitors can find relics attributed to Saint Mary Magdalene, Saint Stephen and Saint John the Baptist, among others.
It’s absolutely breathtaking in its grandeur and scale and knowing now that it is 10 minutes from my house, I am going to make it a point to pay a visit.
My words don’t really do it justice. Check out the clip here to get a visual sense of Saint Anthony’s Chapel in Pittsburgh, PA.
Dad Rant: Competitive Eating - One Dad’s Thoughts
Some may find it repulsive and disgusting, but I truly enjoy competitive eating. I look forward to watching Joey Chestnut dominate the “Nathan’s Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest” and will always watch a rerun of Adam Richman on Man vs. Food.
That being said, I have attempting (not necessarily finishing) a competitive eating challenge on my bucket list; the kind of challenge where you get enshrined on a wall of shame or fame and/or get a t-shirt.
In college, my friends and I went to a spot in Scottdale, PA called Carson’s Tavern. They didn’t have a food challenge per se, but they did have a 3 pound cheeseburger on the menu. And yes, I did order it, however, in full transparency, I failed to finish it. There was one other challenge that I’d come across locally, but never made the move to do it. In Pittsburgh’s North Hills, there used to be a restaurant named Kretzler’s Tavern. Once upon a time, they had a challenge called the “Buzzy Dunkel Schnitzel Burger.” All I remember was that it was a massive burger and I’m unsure of the toppings. Those who paid the $25 cost and finished it, got a t-shirt that said something to the effect of “I conquered the Buzzy Dunkel at Kretzler’s".” That challenge is gone now. A victim of the restaurant going out of business after 2020.
However, I’ve got my eyes set on three potential challenges for the near future. All of which are local to me:
Frank’s Pizza - Pizza Eating Competition at Millvale Days - Every September, a local borough, Millvale, puts together a 3-day long street fair/boozefest. One of the events that takes center stage is the pizza eating competition sponsored by the local joint, Frank’s. Contestants have 5 minutes to see how much pizza they can consume. Sign me up.
Sidelines Bar and Grill - “Rebecca’s Revenge" - I can best describe this as a meat stack. Multiple massive burger patties stacked together and smothered with cheese and served up on a pizza tray loaded with fries. Clean your plate and you walk away with a free meal. Fail to finish and you’re out $40.
Benny Fierro’s - The pizza joint on Pittsburgh’s South Side has a 28” pizza challenge. You have to call ahead to schedule your time, sign a waiver, and pay $40. You then have 28 minutes to eat the entire pizza with the beverage of your choice (finishing the drink is not required). Winners get a check for $280.00, a t-shirt, and their picture posted next to their official time inside the store.
I’m going to do one or more of these in the next year. Success or failure will make great fodder for a future rant.
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Saturday Dad’s Rating System
I’m not a published author. Therefore, I’m never going to shit all over something that someone poured themselves into. That being said, each book will be rated on a scale of 3-5 coffees. Here’s what that means:
☕️ ☕️ ☕️ - You’re going to want to get comfortable and fill that cup up 3 times. This one’s solid!
☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ - You’re going to want to give yourself a few hours of alone time. Fill that bad boy up 4 times and buckle up.
☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ - Send the kids to grandma’s house and call off work. You’re not going to be able to put this one down. Make a whole pot and settle in for the long haul!