The Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada have granted an award to John Wijngaards during their National Convention in Philadelphia, May 21 - 25 1996. His book, How to Make Sense of God, placed third in the 'Popular Presentation of the Catholic Faith' category of the 1996 CPA Journalism Awards. The book had been entered into the competition by Sheed & Ward, the publishers for the USA.
The companion film to the book, Journey to the Centre of Love, for which Wijngaards was the scriptwriter, won the Grand Prix Award at the Warsaw International Catholic Film Festival in 1995. The book and the film are the two main components of the video course How to Make Sense of God.
Fr. Wijngaards said he was delighted. "In How to Make Sense of God I present my reasons for believing in God. Though I was baptised a Christian the day after I was born, faith has always been a search for me, and it continues to remain so. From when I was a teenager I have felt a tension between my passionate hunger for God and my unconditional enthusiasm for modern values such as scientific truth."
Bishop David Konstant, patron of Housetop Centre, welcomed the award. "The book deserves it", he said. "It is packed with telling arguments and illustrations. Fr. Wijngaards offers a persuasive and cogent defence of Christian beliefs in terms that are readily accessible to all."
The book How to Make Sense of God is presented in 65 readable chapters. The text is illustrated with 50 cartoons by the professional cartoonist, Tom Adcock.
The argument moves through five stages:
For a detailed description of How to Make Sense of God, click here.
