Our children need better Catholic fiction to help solidify their formation in the faith

Donal Anthony Foley• March 9, 2025

There is a real need for more Catholic literature for young (and not so young) people. But the reality is that in comparison with the past, relatively few books aimed at Catholic teenage and young adult readers are being published. The present focus of the current young adult book scene is on worldly, secular and romantic fiction or magical and occult stories; there is very little in the way of wholesome modern literature for this age group.

There are some Catholic children’s books available, but most of these seem to focus on younger children. There are some outlets which reprint out-of-copyright children’s books, which are also available as e-books or PDFs online, but in terms of up-to-date works there is a definite scarcity. Sometimes it seems that the Catholic faith is not being passed on to young people, whose worldview is influenced more and more by modern secular media.

Obviously there is a great need for both good catechesis and good example in forming active young believers, but there is also increasingly a need to promote good reading in Catholic families if there is to be a real chance of young people retaining their Catholic identity into adulthood. The same is true of the need for more TV programmes, films and Catholic material on the internet aimed at young people.

The worrying thing is that there are virtually no Catholic publishers producing fiction for young people – as opposed to young children – that is to say, new books which can compete with all the secular material that is out there, and which is promoted with such skill and ingenuity. Perhaps this explains, at least in part, why so many young Catholics are lapsing, since there is very little Catholic fiction for them to read, and thus also a lack of any opportunity for them to develop a healthy “Catholic imagination” – clearly an important factor in having a fully Catholic identity.

It’s good and necessary for young Catholics to have knowledge about Catholic teaching, but if their minds are otherwise full of essentially secular imagery, then the doctrinal material will tend to take second place. There are other factors involved in this process, of course, but the lack of modern Catholic fiction for young people is significant, especially given the importance of developing their imaginative powers in a positive way.

This was not the case a hundred or more years ago, when, for example, Catholic publishers such as Benziger Brothers in the United States and Burns & Oates in England had long Catholic fiction lists, including many books for young people. Those fictional works were not afraid to promote a very strong Catholic world-view, in which good and evil were clearly distinguished, the moral law emphasised, and in which the consequences of transgressions of this law were dramatically and powerfully portrayed.

Thus children at that time were able to learn the Faith not only on a catechetical, doctrinal level – one where you needed to know the answers to definite questions – but the catechesis they received could be supported by the reading of imaginative works which reinforced it through moral and often exciting stories in which good triumphed over evil, even if suffering had to be endured along the way. The children who read those books grew up to become the strongly Catholic generations that preceded and followed the Second World War.

There is also a need for literature which focuses on “heroic” figures, who can act as role models for young people and inspire them in both a cultural and moral way. If instead they are only presented with celebrities – as is frequently the case in the media – they will have little to aspire to except wealth, fame or being conventionally attractive.

The situation may be compounded if children are confronted with characters who are morally compromised to a greater or lesser extent, but are nevertheless portrayed as “good”. Then not only are they presented with an essentially worthless role model, but one which is actually harmful.

This is the sort of thing found in the Twilight series of vampire novels, which feature “good” and “bad” vampires, whereas previously, vampires would have been regarded as wholly evil. The goalposts have been shifted; while adults may be able to cope with such moral ambiguity, the same is not necessarily true of younger readers, who haven’t had the chance to develop a mature Christian worldview strong enough to stand up to such beguilement.

The end result of the great popularity of books like these is the formation of an effectively naturalistic, anti-Christian mindset among many of the readers who have been brought up on them, and who are now gradually assuming positions of power and influence in society. And so standards are continually lowered as society gradually reverts to a form of paganism.

The good news is that there are apparently many good new Catholic authors writing, including children’s authors, so the present situation is an opportunity for Catholic publishers to produce fiction for young adults. It is also in their interests to do so, since it would be a way of gaining new readers who would be quite likely to graduate to their adult book list in due course.

Books featuring young people as the main characters have proved very popular over the years, with Treasure Island and works by Dickens such as Oliver Twist or David Copperfield being prime examples. The market for such works is bigger than might be imagined.

There is something wonderful and captivating about being immersed in a good book. The reader finishes it reluctantly and the characters and images it portrays often remain with them long after. Unfortunately, the same is true of bad books, and, given fallen human nature, we are much more drawn to the latter than the former.

Apart from the points made above, there is a long tradition within Christianity of storytelling in the broadest sense, whether it be the Bible stories of the Old Testament, or Christ’s parables in the New. This tradition even carried on when people were largely illiterate – in stained-glass windows and the medieval miracle and mystery plays – before resurfacing in a written form with the advent of printing in the 15th century.

The imagination of a young person is a beautiful thing, but it needs to be nurtured in the right way – and good Catholic fiction is an excellent way of doing it. 

Donal Foley is the author of the Glaston Chronicles series of books for young adults.