February 2011

In 1983, Father Joseph Girzone published a story about a gentle woodcarver and carpenter named Joshua (the name of the carpenter, and the name of the book). The story was a retelling of the story of Jesus, only set in modern times (the name Jesus and the name Joshua are the same in Hebrew). It let to a whole series of books about this particular character, selling more than 5 million copies.

I feared that The Third Miracle was going to be a real groaner when I read the initial sentence of the inside book cover: “Part detective story and part courtroom drama–with a touch of the supernatural–The Third Miracle exposes, for the first time ever, the secret rituals and investigations the Catholic Church today undertakes to determine sainthood”.

Secret rituals? Really? You mean the rules published on-line on the Vatican website?

Let me begin this book review by giving away the ending: I really enjoyed this book, and got a lot out of it. Now, on to the review…