By Amanda Hudson | The Observer
(Photo provided)
Kevin and Mary O’Neill are lifelong Catholics and parents of nine children. Kevin was part of St. Margaret Mary Parish in Algonquin, while Mary grew up at Holy Family Parish in Rockford. They met through her brother when he was youth minister at St. Margaret Mary Parish.
Nowadays, they live in Harvard and attend St. Peter Church in Volo, which is staffed by the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius.
The couple has written two longer books, which Kevin calls a “labor of love” for his children. The O’Neills chose a graphic novel style for their books using photos of settings they designed and built out of Legos®, adding in dialogue balloons, all of which provides a comic book look for serious, faith filled topics. “We illustrate our graphic-novels by building, designing, and photographing intricate sets — built with your child’s favorite building block toys,” they say.
Sophia Institute Press has acquired the O’Neill’s entire Building Blocks of Faith series. Their 2022 book, “The Holy Mass: On Earth As It Is In Heaven,” has an imprimatur from Rockford Diocese’s Bishop David Malloy. It is 240 pages long and sells for $34.95.
In 2018 the O’Neill’s created a “Catechism of the Seven Sacraments” book, which they say “makes profound theological concepts accessible to both the Catholic and the curious, the child and the adult.” That book has an imprimatur from Archbishop George J. Lucas of the Archdiocese of Omaha. It has 290 pages and costs $34.95.
The couple also has authored three pocket guides: about the rosary; about sacramental reconciliation and about the Stations of the Cross. All are part of their Building Blocks of Faith series. The materials are available through Sophia Institute Press, Amazon, The Catholic Company, Holy Heroes, Trinity House as well as the O’Neill’s website: uponthisblock.com (Note: Both Sophia Institute Press and the Amazon site allow potential customers to look inside the first few pages of the books.)
“We are a Catholic homeschool family on a mission to fulfill our calling, by the grace of God, to be the “Ecclesia Domestica” (domestic church),” says the O’Neill’s website. “The Building Blocks of Faith Series works to create and share solidly orthodox materials to help families build their own domestic churches, so in turn to build and strengthen the Body of Christ,” they add.
Their prayer for their work, the O’Neill’s say, is: “May God use us to help spread His Gospel, help the Faith come alive, create disciples, and help with the call to evangelization, as we do our part to build His kingdom. Amen.”
