The Family Room (The Quest)
Daniel Fitzpatrick, husband, father, teacher, and author
Drawing from the rich cultural heritage of his Louisiana hometown, Daniel Fitzpatrick saw a stark contrast between the rhythmic nature of Catholic life in New Orleans and the hustle-bustle of other cities. In New Orleans, time followed the liturgical seasons of the Church. In other places, each Sunday felt the same, often fostering a sense of obligation and melancholy.
Wanting to highlight the essence of Catholic life as the source of our contentment, Dan set out to discover why Sunday lost its meaning for the majority of Catholics. Going back to Church Fathers like Augustine and Aquinas gave him the clues necessary to adapt his own thinking about how we can capture the importance of the Sabbath, cementing Sunday as the proper anchor to our week.
In his book, Restoring the Lord’s Day: How Reclaiming Sunday Can Revive Our Human Nature, Dan lays out five ways we can reorder our Sunday activities in order to restore the Sabbath’s holiness and learn to live each day in restful surrender to God.
Daniel Fitzpatrick lives in New Orleans with his wife and four children, and he teaches English at Jesuit High School of New Orleans.
Resources
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Restoring the Lord’s Day: How Reclaiming Sunday Can Revive Our Human Nature
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Another novel by Daniel Fitzpatrick: Only the Lover Sings
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Daniel’s verse translation of The Divine Comedy was published in 2021 in honor of the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death.
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Daniel Fitzpatrick is also the editor of Joie de Vivre, a journal of art, culture, and letters for South Louisiana.
