What's New?!

We are constantly trying to add "things" to do or see at St. Mary's so that our customers can visit and have maybe a little different experience than they've had on a previous visit or in another store or even online. This summer we have been full of new ideas that have been fun for us and that have truly been a hit with customers.

One such idea is a display in a small section of the store which includes book recommendations from the priests in our diocese as well as some of those who work in the Pastoral Center, Joan Watson from Adult Formation and Bill Staley from the Youth Office. I love to hear the comments from the "out of towners" who begin with, "Wow! Your priests give book recommendations?! That's awesome." And I agree. It is awesome. We are so fortunate to have such an amazing group of men who are willing and anxious to feed our spiritual lives. We have put the names of the priests inside the books along with a list of the books they recommend. Ideally, you love one recommendation and come back for another. Also, people like to see who recommends what. Of course, there are some duplicate recommendations, especially in the classics category but for the most part, it's a great mix. The titles will change about every three months. The guys need time to read!

So we invite all who have not been down lately or who are just curious for a little more, to come visit. Stay awhile. Drink a cup of Mystic Monks coffee. Sit in St. Luke's Loft and chill. We'd love to have you. Oh, and I'll have even more on the changes in the next few weeks so stay tuned.

Great Adventure

Couple of things. Many days I just walk around the store and snap pictures of the merchandise and the displays that my mom and sister and coworker Cathy so beautifully put together. Ya know. Just in case I ever need the info or the images. Last week on my mom's birthday, my daughter posted a beautiful tribute on our St. Mary's Bookstore facebook page and at dinner that night I read her all the wonderful, kind words from our friends and customers. That morning, she said, "I woke up and said, 'It's my birthday. What do I want to do?' and she thought, I want to go do displays at the Bookstore, I want to go to noon Mass and I want to paint." So, that's what she did as well as join a small bit of her family for dinner. As I was thinking about posting the new Great Adventure Bible and Walking with God books, I noticed my mother's cane in my picture which she parks when she's doing displays. I find it's not by chance that her cane sits beneath the title, "Walking with God."  (story of her life). And without being too corny, I'm sure she'd say it's been a Great Adventure! And, the adventure continues...

The Great Adventure Bible is an awesome new tool to learn Scripture. It is color coded to help with the timeline and event coded to pull out key milestones on the narrative. Other features include Christ's words in red, color maps and pull out charts that tell about the history of the people, rulers and geography. The links above will give you more descriptions and information about the Bible, the Children's Book and Walking with God. And to add to our amazing new Scripture study helps, our local author Sonja Corbitt has published Fulfilled: Uncovering the Biblical Foundations of Catholicism. Check them out. The pictures can't possibly tell the entire story. Come visit. It's always a great adventure.