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Foreword

Success in one of America’s largest television markets had been suffocating Teresa Tomeo’s once lively Catholic faith. She had grown inconsistent in Mass attendance, indifferent to virtue, and thoroughly uninterested in entering more deeply into the mysteries of the Faith. Ironically, under the hot camera lights, her faith had grown lukewarm, even cold. Sure, she still thought of herself as part of the Catholic tribe. Once a Catholic always a Catholic. It’s like race or ethnicity, right? You may not go to Oktoberfest, but you are still German. Similarly, she still identified as a Catholic. But no jury would have convicted her of being one. Her Catholicism had become cultural, not personal.

Spiritual directors know this ailment as the common cold of Catholic minimalism and religious indifference. In Teresa’s case, the cold was evolving into a fatal spiritual infection. She was close to drifting away from the Church altogether.

She wasn’t alone. A vast number of American Catholics never develop a faith that flowers into more than obligatory Sunday Mass attendance. Many stop attending Mass altogether. Reasons abound: Mass is irrelevant and boring. Rather than feel hypocritical about inconsistent Mass attendance, it’s easier not to go at all. Many would rather be shopping, golfing, visiting the grandkids, reading The New York Times, watching the Sunday news programs. Mass is hard to understand. Many don’t fully believe the Creed we recite each week. Many do not feel fully a part of their parish family, and maybe they don’t really want to feel that way. Over the last generation, more and more Catholics have drifted away, until “former” or “ex”-Catholics constitute the second-largest religious body in America.

When Teresa’s marriage came under threat, she finally recognized the spiritual dimension of her problem. She wasn’t interested in scolding priests, bishops, her husband, relatives, or friends. She took responsibility for her spiritual life. In her job, she had grown into a mature, respected journalist carefully practicing the tools of her trade. But in the most important area of her life, her soul, she had remained a baby Christian whose head was filled with childish beliefs and whose conscience remained unformed and flabby. She knew she needed more.

Her personal renewal and revival led to a reformation and rebuilding of her life. She is passionate to share the insights that transformed her life and marriage, and turned her career into a ministry. When she finally decided to reconsider what Christ teaches through his Body, the Church, she discovered the great adventure of going beyond Sunday as a Catholic. She found that she had been called and gifted for service. God promised that if she went deeper, her service would grow wider.

First, she focused on forming a disciple’s heart. Revival began within herself. Reform continued in her home and marriage. But God wasn’t stopping there. Teresa discovered the joys of Catholic service in her own backyard, in her local church community. And, in time, through her apostolic labors, in tandem with her now deacon husband, Dominick, she ministered to the worldwide Catholic communion. Christ was faithful, even when she had been faithless. He not only healed her marriage but formed a servant’s heart within her.

We may not all be called to worldwide ministry. But we are all called to live a distinct Catholic way of life, a life that reflects the priorities of the kingdom of God. Teresa knows you can only find that way of life by going beyond Sunday. In this book and program, you’ll be challenged to get real and take a spiritual inventory of your current wants and needs.

What can you legitimately expect God to do in your life? You’ll learn that spiritual disciplines are not burdensome. Did you know that something as simple as reading a short chapter of Scripture a day will immediately begin to enrich your life? Would you like to converse with God? Would you like to actually pray and not just “say prayers”? Not just talk, but listen? Beyond Sunday will show you how. Teresa’s breezy and candid style highlights a host of practical points designed to transform you into a 24/7 Catholic, a disciple, a learner in the school of Jesus Christ. He designed you to flourish for eternity. So why not start today by going beyond Sunday?

— Al Kresta CEO of Ave Maria Radio, host of Kresta in the Afternoon, apologist, author, and speaker