Description: On title page, the words "awesome" and "beautiful" are crossed out.
Brief description: Pat Gohn is a Catholic writer, retreat leader, conference speaker, catechist, and author of the award-winning book Blessed, Beautiful, and Bodacious.
Host of the Among Womenpodcast, she also is a frequent guest on Catholic radio and television. Her writing has appeared in a number of Catholic publications and blogs, including Catholic Digest, Catechist, CatholicMom.com, Patheos, and Amazing Catechists. Gohn also has contributed to eight books in recent years, including Walk in Her Sandals, The Catholic Mom's Prayer Companion, and Word by Word. She is the editor of Catechist magazine. Gohn earned a master's degree in theology and certificates in adult faith leadership, theology of the body, and spiritual direction. She and her husband, Bob, are empty nesters in Massachusetts.Review Quotes: "Johnson, host of the popular podcast Catholic Weekend and blogger at CatholicMom.com, offers readers an exploration of inspiring women past and present who challenged the status quo, served Christ wholeheartedly, and continue to inspire women today. She blends her own story with those of courageous women who became saints, who will likely become saints, and who arguably ought to be saints. She explores such virtues as courage through the lives of WWII spy Nancy Wake and St. Joan of Arc; perseverance through author Flannery O'Connor and St. Margaret of Antioch; peace via Immaculee Ilibagiza and St. Rita of Cascia; and virtue through the most virtuous of all, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Every story challenges, informs, and encourages as Johnson interweaves discussions about how we can live and thrive similarly to these women today. Chapters end with questions and an action step; the book ends with a six-week guide for further study. Catholics--and women everywhere--will find something to love." (Dec.)--Publishers Weekly 10/12/2015
"Maria Morera Johnson's My Badass Book of Saints delivers a heavyweight message of holiness with the lightest of touches and somehow manages a knockout punch. Her entertaining list of modern women of faith and their saintly counterparts exhorts women toward sainthood and says, 'Yes, this can be you, too, if you want it.' It's the wanting, after all--the pursuit of sainthood despite obstacles malicious or well-meant--that brings out the badass fearless trust that hones a saint." --Elizabeth Scalia, Catholic blogger and author of Strange Gods "Each of us has an opportunity to be a beacon of hope to those around us. Thank you, Maria, for writing and sharing this remarkable collection of courage and inspiration." --Immaculee Ilibagiza, Rwandan holocaust survivor and author of Left to Tell "In pages riddled with humor and gripping stories, I was shocked to realize that I shared qualities with great women I always thought were out of my league. In the lives of these ordinary, sometimes feisty, women I found my story, and as many of them are now saints, I found an incredible conviction to live my ordinary life loving God and allowing him to do extraordinary things through me . . . with a little help from my new friends!" --Kelly Wahlquist, Founder of Women In the New Evangelization and author of Created to Relate "This is a book that's not afraid to talk of the beautiful mess, where faith meets real life, where saints and mortals coexist, one cheering the other on to glory." --Pat Gohn, Author of Blessed, Beautiful, and Bodacious "Maria Johnson is a badass. As she shares herself in these pages, her stories--and those of these courageous women--inspire us to believe that our own sometimes seemingly ordinary lives and what we do with them can be enough. For ourselves and for God." --Shelly Henley Kelly & Lisa Henley Jones, Catholic bloggers and contributors to CatholicMom.com