I have been a cartoon aficionado since I was a little kid! I'm a senior citizen now, but still love cartoons. I had dog-eared copies of Archie comics, read over and over again. I loved the Sunday comics, too, with "The Peanuts gang" (brought to us by Charles M. Schulz) being my favorite. My mom often bought gifts for me of hardbound, Peanuts cartoon collections. Those were well-read, too, until the hardcovers were worn down, and sometimes even torn. I still have most of those books in my attic, because I just can't bear to part with them. Not unlike the things uncovered in Fr. Otto's overcrowded shed, in one of the Catholic Cartoon sequences!)
I still enjoy reading the Sunday comics, so when I saw this book called "The Catholic Cartoon," it got my attention right away. I just had to see what this was all about.
I read through this cartoon collection once, then started over and read it all over again!
I found it delightfully and innocently funny, and entertaining (and I hope that Mr. Masterson will not mind if I also call it "cute!")
The comics made me smile, chuckle, and also reflect upon the teachings of the Catholic faith. The main Character, Fr. Otto (who's referred to most often as just "Father,") is a holy priest , but also not above playing a rousing game of whiffle ball with the school kids, or stopping mid-conversation with a fellow priest to go gaze upon a newly discovered turtle with the school children.
Father has the heart and the innocence of a child, and the children recognize that. He's also got his own, funny oddities and habits, that just prove to make him even more likable.
Father Otto also keep a dog and a cat in the rectory, who are very Catholic in their thinking, which adds another dimension to the laughter.
Masterson is not above making fun of the parishioners of Fr. Otto's parish, and making us laugh about the odd things we sometimes say and do to our priests. And the children definitely add a lot of childish kind of humor, all very believable (and probably experienced in our own lives.) The questions they ask, and the silly things they do, along with their thoughts about Guardian Angels and other aspects of the faith that are hard for little kids to understand, is definitely part of the fun!
Pick up a copy of this book, and see for yourself how good it is to laugh. And, especially, how good it is to laugh at good, "clean," fun! (With a large dose of Catholicism mixed in!
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