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Author’s book sales benefit ambulance service

BROOKLINE – When Carmen Chimento was a young seminarian in Washington, D.C., decades ago, he had a vision of God.

That vision changed the way he viewed his faith and caused conflicts between his new beliefs and what he was studying on his path to the priesthood.

He left the seminary and began writing instead, authoring his first book on rational theology, called “The Vision of God,” in 1979, and releasing an adaptation of that text this year, titled “Seven Paths to Glory.”

In addition to his goal to help today’s society embrace a higher power, Chimento’s book will also help raise money for the Brookline Ambulance service, with 15 percent of all book sales from the Brookline Village Store going to the department.

“Seven Paths of Glory,” Chimento said, does its best to describe God to the average person, as well as answer theological questions many people often ask: What is heaven like? If God exists, then why is there evil in the world?

Chimento said while there are many religious and theological books coming out every year, many of them discuss God and religion in terms only a theology expert could understand. The ideas are complex and the terminology used even more confusing.

Chimento wanted to create a book he felt could help all readers, no matter what their experience with religion or their level of education.

“I look around and I see all these horrible things going on, like in Africa and Syria,” he said, sitting in his historic Brookline home where he has lived for the past 40 years. “Even close to home, you have depression and suicide and crime. I wonder what’s wrong.”

Chimento said he believes some people who suffer from drug and alcohol addictions, or who become involved in crime, are looking for something to fill a hole in their lives. If more people could better understand God, he said, that hole might be filled before resorting to a vice.

He said he also hopes his book could help veterans coming home from war, who have seen horrible things and often struggle for years to deal with the trauma. His brothers and cousins served in World War II and other wars, he said, and he has a special place in his heart for the military.

“I wrote this book in the hope that one person or many people would look at it and say, ‘Gee, life is worth living,’?” Chimento said.

He has sent letters to English-language newspapers around the world, he said, in hopes of advertising his book and helping to reach as many people as possible. If the world is going to become more peaceful, Chimento said, people need to start thinking less about having power over others and more about helping each other.

“What I’m trying to do with this book is get it into enough hands that seeds of love begin to get out and begin germinating,” he said. “There’s always going to be seeds of hatred, so we need to decide which side we want to be on.”

He said he decided to use his book to help raise money for Brookline Ambulance because he believes its members show the kind of love and compassion he hopes to bring to his readers.

Chimento has taken care of his sick sister and brother at his home before, and the ambulance workers have always been ready and willing to help at a moments notice, he said.

“They were always attentive and kind,” Chimento said. “They’re well-deserving of some assistance. Hopefully people will see this and not take for granted that there are people in Brookline that are serving others. We need to let them know that we care.”

Ambulance director Wes Whittier said the department, which is run solely on tax dollars and does not charge for its services, is always looking for donations to pay for equipment and training.

He said Chimento’s donation will be greatly appreciated and immediately thought of two ways any money used could be raised.

The department has been wanting to upgrade its defibrillators, he said, which are 10-year-old models. The department is also looking to purchase a LUCAS tool, which is attached to a patient and does CPR compressions with battery power.

While old-fashioned CPR is always an important skill in an emergency, Whittier said that as an individual tires, compressions by hand can become erratic. This tool would ensure every patient receives consistent CPR.

Chimento’s book can be purchased at the Brookline Village Store and Toadstool Bookstore in Milford, or online at www.thespiritualhouse.com. E-books can also be purchased for Kindle and Nook.

Danielle Curtis can be reached at 594-6557 or dcurtis@nashuatelegraph.com. Also follow Curtis on Twitter (Telegraph_DC).