Why the Poor Catholic

For over 33 years, Paul Ramunni has worked as an accountant and CPA helping people work out their financial issues and problems. As is the case with accountants and financial advisors, much of the advice given to people to help cure their financial challenges usually includes solutions such as better budgeting, debt consolidation, refinancing mortgages, filing for bankruptcy and/or divorce and similar other plans. Paul reached a point in his career when he felt that these kinds of techniques and solutions seemed to not go far enough. They would appear to work for a while but then many people would tend to make the same mistakes over again and have another set of problems similar to the earlier ones. In a sense he felt he was placing band aids on serious problems that needed more permanent solutions.

Realizing that many of our problems are the result of our poor decisions and choices, Paul began to look for answers on the spiritual side of our lives. He reasoned that many of us make our decisions based on how we interpret facts, feel at a given moment, our attitudes, morals and other similar personal concepts. All of these things are in turn affected by our core values and those items that we believe in the most. While considering all of this, Paul could not ignore the importance of one's faith and how it can shape our beliefs and attitudes and therefore our decisions. This process even led him to rediscover his own faith in God. Once he uncovered the direct, practical link between his faith and his decisions, he felt the need to tell others.

Over the years of growing up as a Catholic, Paul had the feeling that something important was missing in the spiritual part of his life. He couldn’t identify it specifically and it wasn’t until later in life when he became very dissatisfied with his work and life in general, that what was missing became obvious to him.

His relationship with God had become stale, boring and without any real meaning. Paul explains his in-depth feelings in The Poor Catholic , and describes how he had become a "mechanical Catholic". The solution was to find God directly and agree to allow Him into his life on a personal level. Once he did this, everything began to change including how he viewed the people around him. Paul came to realize that they are all his brothers and sisters, since God sees each and every one us as His children. He also learned that the greatest concern God has is that we should all return home to be with Him in eternal life. For Paul, loving God and others took on a new and relevant meaning.

It was early in 2003 when Paul felt that he was supposed to compose a book that talked about the reality of God, how He does exist here in this world and wants nothing more than for us to allow Him to help us with our every day challenges. He began writing without a formal outline, and the bulk of The Poor Catholic , over 50,000 words plus the related Scriptures, was on paper in just two weeks time. As Paul describes it, he felt as though he took a 10,000 piece puzzle and every time he picked up a piece, he immediately found its correct place in the puzzle picture.

But most important of all, The Poor Catholic was written because it became evident that there are many Catholics and other Christians who have not, as of yet, found the enjoyment and peace that comes from developing a close personal walking faith with Jesus Christ Himself. In that sense they have become “poor Catholics” because they lack that special and necessary closeness with God that we all need to gain eternal life and peace in this life. He felt that many, like him, have grown up only coming to know God from a corporate viewpoint, as is commonly experienced in church every week. Too many of us do not realize that this is only the beginning of the relationship and that church is where most Catholics should start on their journey with God. Instead, we think that this is all there is and miss out on the very best and most necessary part.

Paul wanted to write a book that not only chronicled his walk with God but also explained what he found to be true about having a personal and intimate relationship with the God of the Universe. He wanted to communicate this message in simple and practical terms so that it would be clear, understandable and that people could see it as an effective way to approach their real life problems.