Jon M. Sweeney

Jon M. Sweeney (born July 18, 1967) is an American author. His most frequent subjects are Catholic, particularly St. Francis of Assisi, about whom Sweeney has written The St. Francis Prayer Book, Francis of Assisi in His Own Words, When Saint Francis Saved the Church, The Complete Francis of Assisi, and The Enthusiast.

A series of young reader fiction, The Pope's Cat, was begun, the first of which published on March 1, 2018, before the fifth anniversary of the papacy of Pope Francis.

Sweeney was codirector of The Lux Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies at Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wisconsin. He is religion editor at Monkfish Book Publishing in Rhinebeck, New York, and editor of Living City magazine, published by the Focolare in North America.

Life

Sweeney was born on July 18, 1967, in St. Charles, Illinois. His father Mark Sweeney was a youth pastor at and mother Janet stayed at home with his older brother. Soon after he was born, Sweeney's family relocated to Oregon, where his parents had been married in 1964. The family returned to Wheaton in 1969 and Sweeney resided there until college.

Sweeney converted to Catholicism after spending twenty years as an active Episcopalian, on the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi in Woodstock, Vermont, in 2009. He is married to Michal Woll, a rabbi, and has four children. Sweeney and Woll were profiled in "When a Jew and a Catholic Marry" by Mark Oppenheimer in America (magazine) in August 2017..

Education

Sweeney attended Carl Sandburg Elementary School, Monroe Junior High (now Monroe Middle School), and Wheaton Christian High School (now Wheaton Academy). He graduated high school in 1985. He attended Moody Bible Institute for one year and then transferred to Wheaton College where he majored in philosophy and Medieval studies, graduating in 1989. While at Wheaton, he was a teacher's assistant in the philosophy department and research assistant to the philosophy chair, Arthur F. Holmes, one of two professors to whom he dedicated his book, The Complete Francis of Assisi.

While at Moody, Sweeney arranged to serve as a summer missionary in Batangas City, Philippines, an experience that he later wrote about in his memoir, Born Again and Again. After finishing at Wheaton, Sweeney was an M.Div. and then an M.A. student at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago. Eventually, Sweeney left seminary without earning a degree.

Literary career

Sweeney began his career as a bookseller, first in Chicago, and then managing a theological bookstore in Central Square, Cambridge, MA. He became a trade sales representative for Augsburg Fortress Publishing and later moved his family to Minneapolis. Leaving there in 1997, Sweeney moved to Vermont to join Jewish Lights Publishing. After seven years as vice-president of marketing and sales and co-founding SkyLight Paths Publishing, also in Woodstock, Vermont, as its associate publisher and editor-in-chief, Sweeney became editor-in-chief and publisher at Paraclete Press in 2004, in Orleans, Massachusetts. He left there in 2015. After working at Franciscan Media as editorial director for one year, he became executive editor for trade books at Ave Maria Press in Notre Dame, Indiana.

In December 2016 Sweeney was elected to the board of the Catholic Publishers Association.

Sweeney's books about Francis of Assisi have focused on debunking myths that he believes persist from films and novels of the 1960s and 1970s, such as the image of the "hippie" Francis that endures from "Brother Sun, Sister Moon," Franco Zeffirelli's 1972 movie.

Sweeney's projects include a book of short excerpts of the medieval, Dominican Order mystic, Meister Eckhart, retold as blank verse, coauthored with Mark Burrows; and a history of the rift between Bernard of Clairvaux and Peter Abelard in the 12th century, titled The Saint vs. the Scholar. He has also published a biography of his friend and colleague, Phyllis Tickle.

Critical reception

Sweeney's 2005 memoir about growing up in evangelicalism was praised by Betty Smartt Carter in the evangelical journal, Books & Culture: "To his credit, Sweeney examines his story and its meaning with unusual humility. He doesn't claim superiority to the people he came from, only an inability to accept all that they taught him." Graham Christian said of The Complete Francis of Assisi, in a Library Journal review, "It is immensely valuable to have in one volume the key writings by and about Francis and his first disciples; essential for libraries and individuals looking to expand their knowledge of this influential saint."

In a 2016 interview for The Irish Catholic magazine, Mags Gargan describes The Enthusiast: "Blending history and biography, Sweeney’s book reveals how Francis and Elias rebuilt churches, aided lepers and entertained as ‘God’s troubadours’ to the delight of the ordinary people who had grown tired of a remote and turbulent Church."

When Saint Francis Saved the Church won second place in the history category in the 2015 Catholic Press Association Awards for excellence. Sweeney was also among five reviewers who received a first place award for best review section in America magazine for its "Fall Books 1" entry.

Phyllis Tickle: Essential Spiritual Writings was named a finalist for a 2016 award from the Religion Newswriters Association for Religion Reporting Excellence.

Author and activist Dan Savage mentioned having The Pope Who Quit on his coffee table in a 2013 New York Times "By the Book" interview.

The Chicago Tribune reviewed Meister Eckhart's Book of the Heart together with poet Mary Oliver's Devotions in November 2017 and said of Sweeney's work, "A sure-footed path toward mastering one of the great masters of the last millennia."

Publishers Weekly in December 2017 reviewed Sweeney's biography, Phyllis Tickle: A Life, giving it a starred review and concluding, "This loving biography impressively captures the grace Tickle demonstrated during a long, dedicated life." In May 2018, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel named the book as one of the "85 books for summer reading."

Publishers Weekly in January 2018 reviewed Sweeney's collection, What I Am Living For, which includes essays by writers Pico Iyer, Sylvia Boorstein, James Martin, and Robert Barron (bishop), saying, "Timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Trappist monk Thomas Merton’s death, this compilation of essays edited by Sweeney (A Course on Christian Mysticism) provides a space for modern Christian writers to reflect on the ways Merton’s life and writings have influenced their spiritual thinking."

Also in January 2018, the website CatholicMom.com recommended Sweeney's forthcoming fiction for young readers, The Pope's Cat, saying: "The book is a great read for many reasons: first, the story of the independent cat is entertaining as she provides for herself. Second, the book is filled with good facts to teach children about the papacy and it makes the pope relatable to them. The illustrations are entertaining as well and are very large, so they’re easy for children to enjoy."

Bibliography

• Praying With Our Hands: 21 Practices of Embodied Prayer from the World’s Spiritual Traditions (2000)
• The St. Francis Prayer Book: A Guide to Deepen Your Spiritual Life (2004)
• Born Again and Again: Surprising Gifts of a Fundamentalist Childhood (2005)
• The Lure of Saints: A Protestant Experience of Catholic Tradition (2005)
• Strange Heaven: The Virgin Mary as Mother, Woman, Disciple, and Advocate (2006)
• The St. Clare Prayer Book: Listening for God’s Leading (2007)
• Almost Catholic: An Appreciation of the History, Practice, and Mystery of Ancient Faith (2008)
• Cloister Talks: Learning From My Friends the Monks (2009)
• Beauty Awakening Belief: How the Medieval Worldview Inspires Faith Today (2009)
• Verily, Verily: The KJV – 400 Years of Influence and Beauty (2011)
• Light in the Dark Ages: The Friendship of Francis and Clare of Assisi (2012)
• The Pope Who Quit: A True Medieval Tale of Mystery, Death, and Salvation (2012)
• Mixed-Up Love: Relationships, Family, and Religious Identity in the 21st Century (2013)
• The Age of the Spirit: How the Ghost of an Ancient Controversy Is Shaping the Church (2014) [with Phyllis Tickle]
• Inventing Hell: Dante, the Bible, and Eternal Torment (2014)
• The Complete Francis of Assisi: His Life, The Complete Writings, and The Little Flowers (2015)
• When Saint Francis Saved the Church: How a Converted Medieval Troubadour Created a Spiritual Vision for the Ages (2015)
• The Enthusiast: How the Best Friend of Francis of Assisi Almost Destroyed What He Started (2016)
• The Saint vs. the Scholar: The Fight between Faith and Reason (2017)
• The St. Francis Holy Fool Prayer Book (2017)
• Meister Eckhart’s Book of the Heart: Meditations for the Restless Soul [with Mark S. Burrows] (2017)
• Phyllis Tickle: A Biography (2018)
• The Pope's Cat (for children), illustrated by Roy DeLeon (2018)
• Margaret's Night in St. Peter's: A Christmas Story (for children), illustrated by Roy DeLeon (2018)
• Margaret's First Holy Week (for children), illustrated by Roy DeLeon (2019)
• Meister Eckhart's Book of Secrets [with Mark S. Burrows] (2019)
• St. Francis of Assisi: His Life, Teachings and Practices (2019)
• James Martin, SJ: In the Company of Jesus (2020)
• Margaret and the Pope Go to Assisi (for children), illustrated by Roy DeLeon (2020)
• Nicholas Black Elk: Medicine Man, Catechist, Saint (2021)
• Thomas Merton: An Introduction to his Life, Teachings, and Practices (2021)
• Feed the Wolf: Befriending Our Fears in the Way of Saint Francis (2022)
• Sit in the Sun: And Other Lessons in the Spiritual Wisdom of Cats (2023)
• Meister Eckhart's Book of Darkness and Light [with Mark S. Burrows] (2023)
• My Life in Seventeen Books (2024)

As editor

• The Road to Assisi: The Essential Biography of St. Francis – Paul Sabatier (2003)
• Ireland’s Saint: The Essential Biography of St. Patrick – J.B. Bury (2008)
• The Road to Siena: The Essential Biography of St. Catherine – Edmund Garratt Gardner (2009)
• Francis of Assisi in His Own Words: The Essential Writings - Francis of Assisi (2013)
• Three Simple Men: And Other Holy Folktales – Leo Tolstoy (2015)
• Phyllis Tickle: Essential Spiritual Writings - Phyllis Tickle (2015)
• Ralph Waldo Emerson: Essential Spiritual Writings - Ralph Waldo Emerson (2016)
• A Course in Christian Mysticism - Thomas Merton (2017)
• What I Am Living For: Lessons from the Life and Writings of Thomas Merton (2018). Contributors include James Martin, Robert Barron (bishop), Sue Monk Kidd, and Pico Iyer.
• A Course in Desert Spirituality - Thomas Merton (2019)
• Jesus Wasn't Killed by the Jews: Reflections for Christians in Lent (2020) with contributors Amy-Jill Levine, Walter Brueggemann, Massimo Faggioli, and Rabbi Abraham Skorka