In this episode of The Catholic Bookworm, Kiki Latimer interviews Kevin Wells on his book Coached by the Curé: Lessons in Shepherding with St. John Vianney (July 16, 2025)
Kevin Wells, nephew of a holy Catholic priest murdered for standing up against clergy corruption, has written an unforgettable book—a humble yet urgent plea through the voice of the greatest priest-saint in history, St. Jean-Marie-Baptise Vianney. In Coached by the Curé: Lessons in Shepherding with St. John Vianney, Wells pulls the revered French saint from his tomb and hands him his pen, where the country curé begins to speak to the heart of today's parents.
In this powerful departure from Wells's usual memoirs and biographies, he steps aside to allow Vianney to carry the weight. Coached by the Curé is a book unlike any you’ve read, a piercing love letter written from paradise to the millions of suffering moms and dads who’ve lost their children to a world clouded by secularism, godlessness, and sin. The Curé’s words offer a sacred blueprint of timeless wisdom for parents to both guard—and shepherd back—the souls of their lost children and loved ones. With so few clergy regarded as beacons of hope, Vianney—the patron saint of parish priests—reminds parents of their sacred role as the primary priest of their homes.
In an imaginative narrative shift reminiscent of C.S. Lewis’s storytelling, Vianney finds himself thrust into a frank and unfiltered dialogue in heaven. His muse, the teenage martyr St. Philomena, calls together ten of the Church’s holiest figures—priests, popes, martyrs, and missionaries—who gather to reflect on the shortcomings, fear, and betrayal of many members of the modern clergy. God the Father observes wordlessly as Damien the Leper, Maximilian Kolbe, Pope Peter, Padre Pio, St. Patrick, and others offer their insights on what they believe is a re-engineered landscape of the modern ministerial priesthood.
After the dialogue, God confers on the Curé a new title: Patron Saint of the Domestic Priesthood. St. Philomena urges him to teach and guide parents how to reclaim their sacred role in raising children in the Catholic faith: “Jean-Marie, countless parents mourn for their lost children... you must teach them how to reach and save them.”
Coached by the Curé is the voice of Vianney, raised from the dead to aid parents in stopping their children from being pulled into a world where God seems to be vanishing amid the drowning waves of technology, modernism, and our long moral winter. He tenderly recalls his years in Ars, where he writes of how his French farming village became transformed from a spiritually impoverished backwater into a town of willing martyrs.
The beauty of Wells’s writing is his knack for turning true stories of Vianney’s life into whimsical and practical solutions to succor today’s parents, clergy, and laity. Chapter after chapter, Vianney’s virtues shine—his humility, his ability to withstand Satan’s relentless attacks, his deep Eucharistic love, his devotion to Mary, his courage, contemplative prayer, and unwavering commitment to penance and sacrifice.
Vianney reveals his shepherding principles that revived his village and France after the devastation of Robespierre's bloody Revolution. His sacred way in the mid-18th century illuminates the path for today’s Catholic parents and anyone who seeks to help bring others back to the light of Christ. Readers are taken down a spiral staircase deep into the past to see the heart of a saint who sacrificed everything for the salvation of even a single soul.
Recognizing the pressing need for support among today’s clergy, Wells (through Vianney) calls on parents to take full ownership of their role as domestic priests in their homes. As the priesthood struggles to regain its footing in the wake of scandals, parents must step forward to fill the gap. It is through taking responsibility for their children’s spiritual well-being—rather than relying solely on a parish priest or bishop—that parents will find the strength to bring peace and holiness into their homes. If you are a parent struggling to bring your children closer to Jesus, the faith, or have lost them to the world, Coached by the Curé was written for you. St. John Vianney’s heartfelt letter delivers the guidance parents need to bring their lost lambs back to the lasting embrace of God and His Church.
Coached by the Curé: Lessons in Shepherding with St. John Vianney: Kevin Wells: 9781594175527: Amazon.com: Books
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