Dan Martin had always loved reading about the Catholic Church and the faith.
The father of three and Christchurch North parishioner loved discovering more about Jesus, the Church’s evolution, the Old Testament, the saints, as well as “private revelations”, that he opened a second-hand Catholic bookshop some years ago at the pastoral centre next to the church.
“The specific inspiration to start a second-hand Catholic bookshop took place one time at Mass. There was a spare room in the foyer of Christ the King church, and after enthusiastic approval from our parish priest, Msgr Rick Loughnan, we started to convert the room and advertised for donations of books,” he said, noting that there were a lot of Protestant book shops in their area, but no Catholic one.
The shop was named after one of the most prolific writers in the Catholic Church, St Augustine.
On September 23, 2023, the book shop held its first annual book sale, which was a highly successful event that saw a profit of $2000.
“It was great seeing families come in and buy a bunch of good books for $20. The money was donated to the John Paul II Centre for Life,” Mr Martin said.
He said that, before the book sale, people were asked to donate their old books to the shop. They received more than 1000 books.
The recently donated books, added to their current stock of books, meant they were able to offer more than 2000 books for sale at an average cost of $2.
“I was surprised that a lot of the books donated were relatively new. It is always nice to get older ones that you don’t see around much, especially the classics,” he said.
Mr Martin said that they have a lot of Catholic books available.
“We have 25 categories, including books on the Saints, Church History, Prayer, Mary, Theology, Catechisms, Apologetics and Children Books, with most books selling for $5-$8 each,” he said.
Mr Martin said that the reason they decided to open a bookshop was because there are many people who have Catholic books and are downsizing, or there is a loved one who owned the books had passed away.
He added that religious orders had big libraries from the 1950s to the 1970s, but a number of these religious orders have closed down.
“I didn’t like the thought of them [Catholic books] being chucked out. Also, there are people who would like to purchase cheaper books about the faith that is easily accessible. So St Augustine’s Bookshop makes a connection between these two needs,” he said.
Mr Martin, a data analyst in marketing, added that although e-books and audiobooks have become popular over the past few years, there will still be a healthy demand for physical books.
“I think there will always be strong demand for books as they give us a break from the digital screen. As well as that, the physical experience of holding a book and turning the page while being engrossed in the text is quite satisfying in itself,” he said.
“The advantage of a bookshop is that it also allows people to browse different books which searching for a book online can’t quite match. I often learn quite a lot by simply skimming books on the shelf that I wouldn’t otherwise look at,” he said.
Mr Martin said that he is happy to help people in other parts of the country interested in setting up their own second-hand bookshops. He said it is easier to maintain than a library.
“The biggest thing is getting volunteers to help in. It’s a real ministry. Some people love it, even though some days you don’t get any and other days, we get people just looking for a book. Or a new Catholic (would come in) ,” he said. “It’s a joy to help them (customers).”
Mr Martin can be contacted on his email, [email protected] for advice and assistance.
Reader Interactions