Breakfast with the Pope | Susan Vigilante

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Readers LOVE having Breakfast with the Pope!

“grabbed my heart and didn't let go.”

—S. Bengston (Plymouth, MN)

“She says things everybody feels, but nobody says.”

—BB (Hawaii, USA)

“deeply personal portrait of John Paul II”

—MG (Reston, VA)

“hilarious, and heart-wrenching”

—Chris (Oregon, USA)

“To experience that with her, it was very healing…. It made me feel ‘I will get through that too.’ ”

—“Stackey” (“North of 694”)

“Alternately charming and harrowing, a memoir of a series of trials that an extraordinarily honest and talented woman undergoes while . . . transformed by a series of encounters with one of the great figures of the last century, John Paul II. . . . modern, funny, Italy-loving, urbane, unflappable -- and painfully honest.”

—Mark Rutherford (New York)

“raw, real.. A real page turner for me”

—Lisa (Crystal, MN)

“I felt like I was in Rome with her”

—SB (USA)

“It made me love my holy father that much more”

—Julie, (Maple Grove)

“Every once in a while a book comes along that my wife and I want to read together. This was one. . . it turned out to be another Story of a Soul, but modern Manhattan style. Not the innocence of St. Therese, but the psychological damage of modern life and ultimate triumph through the life of faith. . . I looked forward to that time together that week while we tore through the book.”

—Jay (Sterling, VA)

“Warm, serious, engaging, beautifully written”

—Rosalind (Arlington, VA)

“one woman's spiritual journey through some of life's most vexing challenges - alternately moving and hilarious. Vigilante's vivid prose brings each scene to life, whether it's set at Castel Gandolfo, the Pope's summer residence, or a swank cocktail party in an apartment overlooking Central Park in Manhattan.

—Kate (USA)

“... heartwarming, deep, soul searching, irreverent, and often hilarious true story is a testimony to human spirit, friendship, love and deep faith. I am not Catholic, but . . . her life struggles are the ones we all must grapple with. I read without stopping and wished there were 100 more pages!”

—Kate Feldman (Hesperus, CO)

“You will read this book cover to cover. An honest Catholic living her faith in the midst of the world's challenges.”

—Kim (Plymouth, MN)

“The most irreverent, reverent book I have read in a long time. Best enjoyed when read aloud to close friends—you’ll get closer!”

—Ashby (Jackson, MS)

“gut-wrenching . . . honesty and great humor. . . . Another excellent part of the book is her experience in celebrating Mass with the Holy Father. What she had to say about the Pope and the Eucharist seems so true to me it is something I will always associate with Pope John Paul II.”

—Jeffrey Miller "The Curt Jester" (Jacksonville, FL)

“A powerful book ... great scenes throughout, but the ending is the best part.”

—Katy (USA)

Breakfast with the Pope?

Susan Vigilante, an average Catholic wife from Long Island, woke up one morning in the romantic Italian hillside near the ancient village of Castel Gandolfo and had breakfast with Pope John Paul II.

How did she get here? And what does she think she is doing!

Breakfast with the Pope is the funny, endearing, searing, and relentlessly honest story of a woman on a pilgrimage. Under the hot Italian sun Susan wrestles with the great questions: the meaning of love in the face of betrayal, the agony of childlessness, and how a God of love can answer prayers with heartbreak.

Beautifully set in locales rocketing from Manhattan’s tony upper-east side to the summer palace of the Popes, from working class Queens to the splendors of renaissance Rome and the sublime spirituality of medieval Umbria, this is a book you will never forget. This is an often hilarious, always deeply moving spiritual memoir about seeking creativity in the midst or barrenness, faith in the midst of doubt and compassion in the midst of suffering, and above all choosing love even knowing it never comes without a price. For Vigilante seeks not contentment but truth, even when it hurts.

Order your signed, personalized copy direct from the publisher today.

You can also get unsigned copies from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Help Build a School in Cambodia

“Pope” Author Pledges Royalties to Build Pope John Paul II School in Cambodia

Goal: keep girls in school, away from human traffickers

Special signed copy program doubles aid for Cambodia’s poorest

For Immediate Release--Thanksgiving Day, 2010:

Susan Vigilante, author of Breakfast with the Pope, announced today that she is using her book royalties to help build a school in Cambodia to be named after Pope John Paul II.

Breakfast with the Pope, Vigilante’s “alternately moving and hilarious” spiritual memoir, which has been called “A Christian Eat, Pray, Love” culminates with the adoption of her daughter Sophia in Cambodia. “In Cambodia we saw eight year old girls begging in the street. We’ve wanted to do something about this ever since,” Vigilante says. “Now Breakfast with the Pope gives us the vehicle.”

In Cambodia trafficking of girls remains a terrible plague among the poor. Illiterate girls are lured from their homes with false promises of jobs and forced into sex work or exploited as virtually captive factory workers.

“American Assistance for Cambodia runs two wonderful programs,” says Vigilante. “The Rural School Project can build a village school with a donation of just $13,000” thanks to matching grants from institutions. “But just as important is to get girls to come to school and away from the human traffickers. These families are so poor the girls feel they must work which is where the danger comes in.”

To address that problem Vigilante touts the “Girls Be Ambitious” program, also run by AAfC. “It’s great”, says the author. “For every month of perfect school attendance a girl’s family gets a stipend of $10,” In Cambodia that allows a family keep its girls in school.

Vigilante’s goal is to raise $25,000 to build and equip the school and to fund the stipends. The author has several projects planned to raise the money but is committing all her royalties until the goal is reached. Vigilante has also announced that purchasing signed copies directly from the publisher effectively doubles the amount donated with each book. “Publishers take in more on direct sales, allowing my publisher, who also happens to be my husband, to match my contribution of 100% of my royalties until we complete the project.”

Vigilante loves that under the AAfC program sponsors can name their school. “Of course we would name it after John Paul! Who else!” Breakfast With the Pope, set in the Italian hill town of Castel Gandolfo, the summer residence of the Popes, includes a “deeply personal” portrait of the late Pope, who figures largely in Vigilante’s spiritual journey.

Vigilante hastens to say she is not affiliated with or endorsed by American Assistance for Cambodia but says the group gets good recommendations from others in the field.

Vigilante will be signing copies of her book at a “morning coffee” at the Barnes & Noble at Har-Mar Mall in Roseville, MN on Wednesday December 8, from 9 to 11 AM.

Signed, personalized copies of Breakfast with the Pope build the John Paul II School twice as fast! Learn More.

Signed copies build the John Paul II School—and help keep Cambodian girls away from the human traffickers—twice as fast. Why? Simple economics. When we sell a book direct (rather than through a bookstore or Amazon) my publisher, AKA my husband Richard, nets almost twice as much. Of course selling direct is expensive so that’s not all gravy. But the extra margin is enough for him to match my own pledge of 100% of my royalties. That means for every book sold we can make double the contribution to the Cambodia project!

It’s easy: just click here to order. I’ll sign your book and add a little personal message. If the book is a gift, please mention the recipient’s name that in the “Comments” box you before you complete your order here.

Thanks so much,

Love,
Sue