College Regent Inspires, Encourages Parents with New Book

“Many Catholics don’t understand that at critical times in their lives, doing God’s will means choosing Christ over the comforts and approval of the world,” says Kimberly Begg. The mother of five, veteran attorney, and member of Thomas Aquinas College’s Washington, D.C., Board of Regents hopes to encourage fellow Catholics to “act like Catholics in the world” with her new book, Unbreakable: Saints Who Inspired Saints To Moral Courage, available July 25.

“Unbreakable is unique because it’s not just a book about the lives of saints,” explains Mrs. Begg. “It’s a book about saints inspiring saints.” While researching for a project about Bl. Jerzy Popieluszko, a Polish priest martyred for his resistance to Communism, she learned that Bl. Jerzy’s favorite saint, from boyhood onward, was St. Maximilian Kolbe, the Franciscan martyr of Auschwitz. “The idea for the book grew out of that discovery.”

Recounting the lives of four saints (St. Joan of Arc, St. José Luis Sánchez del Río, Bl. Jerzy Popiełuszko, and St. Teresa of Calcutta), Mrs. Begg examines how each of these holy men and women nurtured their faith by imitating their forebears in sanctity. “I believe the saints in the book chose me, not the other way around,” she reflects. “I believe they wanted their stories to be told in a way that honored their favorite saints and highlighted moments of courage in their lives — not to glorify their own efforts, but to inspire Catholics to suffer and sacrifice for Christ, joyfully.”

But Unbreakable is more than a celebration of the Church’s heroic men and women: It is a call to action. Mrs. Begg wants to embolden Catholic families to “live their faith confidently and courageously as they make their way on the narrow path that leads to heaven.” In particular, she hopes that the book will help Catholic parents “to be more intentional about filling their children’s imaginations with good stories intended to inspire greatness; stories that make children want to ‘be perfect, just as [their] heavenly Father is perfect’ (Matt. 5:48).”

If advance praise is any indication, Unbreakable: Saints Who Inspired Saints To Moral Courage will resound in readers’ hearts. “Begg’s book encourages every pilgrim pursuing holiness to be inspired by the true friendship we can have with the saints even now as we long to join them in the eternal happiness of God,” says Rev. Thomas Petri, O.P., president of the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. Adds Dr. Michael Pakaluk of The Catholic University of America, “The text springs from Begg’s own deep faith, evident on every page, and she urges us to see the nature of spiritual parenthood: become a saint, because saints give rise to saints!”