Teaches us how to speak personally and with confidence in prayer to God, who, the Saint says, will not "speak" to us unless we first speak to Him. We can approach God as His friends, with confidence and boldness. (5-2.00 ea.; 10-1.75 ea.; 25-1.25 ea.; 50-1.00 ea.; 100-.75 ea.).

In the inspiring new book, 21 Ways to Worship, best-selling author, Vinny Flynn, shares his favorite ways to pray in Eucharistic Adoration. Written in the author's personal, conversational style, complete with puns and other bits of humor, 21 Ways to Worship is an easy to read, practical guide, jam-packed with inspiring ideas, techniques, and prayers to help you make the most of your Holy Hour. It's a perfect resource for the beginner wondering what Adoration is all about, and for the veteran adorer looking for additional ideas.

In this magisterial volume Charles E. Curran surveys the historical development of Catholic moral theology in the United States from its 19th century roots to the present day. He begins by tracing the development of pre-Vatican II moral theology that, with the exception of social ethics, had the limited purpose of training future confessors to know what actions are sinful and the degree of sinfulness. Curran then explores and illuminates the post-Vatican II era with chapters on the effect of the Council on the scope and substance of moral theology, the impact of Humanae vitae, Pope Paul VI's encyclical condemning artificial contraception, fundamental moral theology, sexuality and marriage, bioethics, and social ethices. Curran's perspective is unique: For nearly 50 years he has been a major influence on the development of the field and has witnessed first-hand the dramatic increase in the number and diversity of moral theologians in the academy and the Church. No one is more qualified to write this first and only comprehensive history of Catholic moral theology in the United States.

No matter where you are on your journey of faith, God wants you to be freer. There is always more freedom, more grace, more forgiveness, more mercy, more God, Father Dave Pivonka says.

During his lifetime, the Jesuit priest Robert Persons (1546-1610) was arguably the leading figure fighting for the re-establishment of Catholicism in England. Whilst his colleague Edmund Campion may now be better known it was Persons's tireless efforts that kept the Jesuit mission alive during the difficult days of Elizabeth's reign. In this new study, Person's life and phenomenal literary output are analysed and put into the broader context of recent Catholic scholarship. The book bridges the gap between historical studies, on the one hand, and literary studies on the other, by concentrating on Persons's contribution as a writer to the polemical culture of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. As well as discussing his wider achievements as leader of the English Jesuits - founding three seminaries for English priests, corresponding regularly with Catholic activists in England, writing over thirty books, holding the post of rector of the English College in Rome, and being a trusted consultant to the papacy on English affairs - this study looks in detail at what is arguably his greatest legacy, The First Booke of the Christian Exercise (more commonly known as the Book of Resolution). That book, first published in 1582, was to prove the cornerstone of Persons's missionary effort, and a popular work of Catholic devotion, running to several editions over the coming years. Although Persons was ultimately unsuccessful in his ambition to return England to the Catholic fold, the story of his life and works reveals much about the ecclesiastical struggle that gripped early modern Europe. By providing a thorough and up-to-date reassessment of Persons this study not only makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the polemical context of post-Reformation Catholicism, but also of the Jesuit notion of the 'apostolate of writing'. This book is published in conjunction with the Jesuit Historical Institute series 'Bibliotheca Instituti Historici

Karl Rahner, a German Jesuit, was probably the most prominent and influential Catholic theologian of the twentieth century. In the 1950s, he was on the margins, his orthodoxy questioned and his work censored. Yet a decade later he was a key theological adviser at the Second Vatican Council and, in almost all accounts but his own, one of the shaping influences upon it. Heavily influenced by Aquinas, his work sought to reconcile Christian faith with contemporary thought and the revelation of God in human experience. Here, Karen Kilby makes Rahner's often dense and difficult thinking accessible to a wide audience. She sketches a few of the central themes of Rahner's thought and gives the reader both a feeling for the way he approaches problems and some sense of the breadth of his work. This revised and expanded edition is an ideal introduction to Rahner for students and the general reader.

Do you have a child who is into everything? Your energetic, bubbly child is often the center of attention and sometimes in the middle of trouble

Or perhaps you have a child who is just the opposite: quiet, studious, and slow to warm up in social situations.

Art and Laraine Bennett provide an accessible synthesis of classical wisdom, modern counseling, science, Catholic spirituality, and wonderful storytelling to the four basic temperaments that serve as the foundation of one's personality and approach to life. This is the authors third book on the topic of temperaments, sharing not only their professional expertise but also their personal life experiences. They have been married for thirty-four years and have four children one each of the four temperament types

Dr Georg Eder was an extraordinary figure who rose from humble origins to hold a number of high positions at Vienna University and the city's Habsburg court between 1552 and 1584. His increasingly uncompromising Catholicism eventually placed him at odds, however, with many influential figures around him, not least the confessionally moderate Habsburg Emperor, Maximillian II. Pivoting around a dramatic incident in 1573, when Eder's ferocious anti-Lutheran polemic, the Evangelical Inquisition, fell under sharp Imperial condemnation, this book investigates three key aspects of his career. It examines Eder's position as a Catholic in the predominantly Protestant Vienna of his day; the public expression of Eder's Catholicism and the strong Jesuit influence on the same; and Eder's rescue and subsequent survival as a lay advocate of Catholic reform, largely through the alternative protection of the Habsburgs' rivals, the Wittelsbach Dukes of Bavaria. Based on a wide variety of printed and manuscript material, this study contributes to existing historiography by reconstructing the career of one of late sixteenth-century Vienna's most prominent figures. In a broader sense it also adds significantly to the wider canon of Reformation history by re-examining the nature and extent of Catholicism at the Viennese court in the latter half of the sixteenth century. It concludes by emphasising the importance of influential laity such as Eder in advancing the cause of Catholic reform, and challenges the prevalent portrayal of the sixteenth-century Catholic laity as an anonymous and largely passive group who merely responded to the ministries of others.

"[A] distinguished contribution. . . Hill brings a remarkable breadth of scholarship to his historical overview of classical Trinitarian theology. He reviews the biblical sources for the doctrine, traces its gradual development among the Latin and Greek fathers, and analyzes carefully the Trinitarian theology of Augustine and Aquinas."--The Journal of Religion Among the doctrines and symbols of Christianity perhaps none has been as subject to theological neglect as that of the Trinity. Recently, however, there have been stirrings in the theological world seeking to remedy this neglect. The present volume, a historical and systematic investigation of the doctrine of the Trinity, is intended as one contribution to this renewed theological discussion of the trinity of God. In the first part, the author examines the New Testament matrix of an emerging trinitarianism, the shaping of the tradition by the Greek fathers, and the systematization of the doctrinein Augustine and medieval Scholasticism. The second part explores the post-Enlightenment understanding of the Trinity in Schleiermacher and Hegel and the twentieth-century interpretation of Barth, Tillich, Rahner, Pannenberg, Moltmann, Muhlen, Whitehead, and others. The historical and critical parts lay the foundation for the third part of this study, a contemporary reinterpretation of the Trinity which complements Aquinas's metaphysical concept of "person" with psychological and subjective dimensions brought out by contemporary thinkers. The result of the rethinking of the Trinity is an understanding of God not as self-enclosed Absolute but as self-communicating personal deity. William J. Hill, O.P., is Professor Emeritus of Theology at The Catholic University of America. He received his S.T.D. degree from the University of St. Thomas (Angelicum), Rome, and has taught at the Dominican House of Studies of Washington, D.C. He has written numerous articles on theology and religion, and is author of Knowing the Unknown God.

Henri Nouwen was a spiritual thinker with an unusual capacity to write about the life of Jesus and the love of God in ways that have inspired countless people to trust life more fully. Most widely read among the over 40 books Father Nouwen wrote is "In the Name of Jesus." For a society that measures successful leadership in terms of the effectiveness of the individual, Father Nouwen offers a counter definition that is witnessed by a "communal and mutual experience." For Nouwen, leadership cannot function apart from the community. His wisdom is grounded in the foundation that we are a people "called." This beautiful guide to Christian Leadership is the rich fruit of Henri Nouwen's own journey as one of the most influential spirtiual leaders of the 20th century.

Now available in English for the first time, Gunpowder and Incense (translated from the Spanish La PA3lvora y el Incienso) chronicles the role of the Church in Spanish politics, looking in particular at the Spanish Civil War.

Unlike most books on the subject, Hilari Raguer looks beyond the traditional explanation that the war was primarily a religious struggle. His writing presents an exemplary "insider's" perspective, and is notable for its balance and perception on the role of the Catholic Church before, during and after the War.

The material is presented in a lucid, elegant manner - which makes this book as readable as it is historiographically important. It will be vital reading for students and scholars of European, religious and modern history.

This comprehensive collection offers a concise introduction to the institutional framework of the Holy See, conceptualizing papal agency and positions from a range of international theory perspectives. The authors - international scholars from political science, history, and religious studies - explore multiple fields of papal and Vatican influence, ranging from spy networks and inter-religious dialogue to social doctrine and religious freedom. This book demonstrates that, contrary to secularization theory, the papacy is not in decline in world politics. Since World War II, the Holy See has played a steadily increasing role in international relations. Globalization supports the role of the Catholic Church as a transnational actor not only in the advanced industrial societies of the West but also increasingly across the Global South. In this volume, the authors document the legacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI as well as the current pontificate of Pope Francis from a range of contemporary perspectives. This book comprises research articles and commentary essays on the papacy in world politics originally published in The Review of Faith & International Affairs.

This expanded edition of Catholic Answers to Fundamentalists' Questions has been updated in light of the changing social landscape and is written for Catholics as well as questioning Christian Fundamentalists. It offers clear, accurate, and easy-to-read answers to many questions that sincere Christians ask about the Catholic faith.

This collection of testimonies by people who've found new life in the Catholic Church gives you an insider's view of the weaknesses in the belief systems that beckon unwary Catholics every day: Fundamentalism, New Age paganism, Mormonism, and many others.

These converts will also convince your wavering Catholic friends to stay Catholic, and they'll even bolster your own faith when anti-Catholic arguments start to make you doubt. You'll come away with new gratitude that God has given you the Faith and with a strong new tool you can use to stand for that Faith.

Augustine's vision at Ostia is one of the most influential accounts of mystical experience in the Western tradition, and a subject of persistent interest to Christians, philosophers and historians.
This book explores Augustine's account of his experience as set down in the Confessions and considers his mysticism in relation to his classical Platonist philosophy. John Peter Kenney argues that while the Christian contemplative mysticism created by Augustine is in many ways founded on Platonic thought, Platonism ultimately fails Augustine in that it cannot retain the truths that it anticipates. The Confessions offer a response to this impasse by generating two critical ideas in medieval and modern religious thought: firstly, the conception of contemplation as a purely epistemic event, in contrast to classical Platonism; secondly, the tenet that salvation is absolutely distinct from enlightenment.

In the history of the attempted restoration of Roman Catholicism in the England of Mary Tudor, the contribution of her husband Philip and his Spanish entourage has been largely ignored. This book highlights one of the most prominent of Philip's religious advisers, the friar Bartolome Carranza. A leading Dominican, Carranza served the emperor Charles V, whom he represented at the earlier sessions of the Council of Trent, and then Philip II of Spain, who brought him to England. Even before Mary's death, Fray Bartolome left for the Low Countries, and then returned to Spain, where, as archbishop of Toledo, he was arrested for 'heresy' by the Spanish Inquisition. His trial, first in Spain and then in Rome, lasted from 1559 until shortly before his death, partially rehabilitated, in Rome in 1576. The book contains papers on the activity and intellectual character of the English Church under Mary, on Carranza's eventful life, particularly his activity in England, and on his often close collaboration with his friend Cardinal Reginald Pole, set in the wider context of sixteenth-century Catholicism. Attention is also drawn both to Carranza's perhaps surprising subsequent fame and influence in the Spanish Church, and to the common ground which, despite obvious differences and subsequent divisions, did indeed exist between reformers in Spain and England.

A fascinating examination of alleged demon possession and witchcraft in a seventeenth-century convent in Carpi, Italy. In 1636, residents at the convent of Santa Chiara in Carpi in northern Italy were struck by an extraordinary illness that provoked bizarre behavior. Eventually numbering fourteen, the afflicted nuns were subject to screaming fits,throwing themselves on the floor, and falling abruptly into a deep sleep. When medical experts' cures proved ineffective, exorcists ministered to the women and concluded that they were possessed by demons and the victims of witchcraft. Catering to women from elite families, the nunnery suffered much turmoil for three years and, remarkably, three of the victims died from their ills. A maverick nun and a former confessor were widely suspected to be responsible, through witchcraft, for these woes. Based primarily on the exhaustive investigation by the Inquisition of Modena, The Scourge of Demons examines this fascinating case in its historical context. The travails of Santa Chiara occurred at a time when Europe witnessed peaks in both witch-hunting and in the numbers of people reputedly possessed by demons. Female religious figures appeared particularly prone to demonic attacks, and Counter-Reformation Church authorities were especially interested in imposing stricter discipline on convents. Watt carefully considers how the nuns of Santa Chiara understood and experienced alleged possession and witchcraft, concluding that Santa Chiara's diabolical troubles and their denouement -- involving the actions of nuns, confessors, inquisitorial authorities, and exorcists -- were profoundly shaped by the unique confluence of religious, cultural, judicial, andintellectual trends that flourished in the 1630s. Jeffrey R. Watt is professor of history at the University of Mississippi.

Taken over a period of two to three years, these are the accounts of children, now as adults themselves and in their own words, of a childhood blighted by the violation and horror of sexual abuse at the hands of a member of the Catholic clergy. From countless interviews, emails and phone conversations they recall their experiences of an abuse of power - be they priest, monk, or nun - which has followed them into their adult lives.

As with Muslims today, Catholics were once suspected of being antidemocratic, oppressive of women, and supportive of extremist political violence. By the end of the twentieth century, Catholics were considered normal and sometimes valorized as exemplary citizens. Can other ethnic, racial, and religious minorities follow the same path? Minorities and Reconstructive Coalitions provides an answer by comparing the stories of ethnic Catholics' political incorporation in Australia, Canada, and the United States. Through comparative and historical analysis, the book shows that reconstructive coalitions, such as labor and pan-Christian moral movements, can bring Catholics and Protestants together under new identities, significantly improving Catholic standing. Not all coalitions are reconstructive or successful, and institutional structures such as regional autonomy can enhance or inhibit the formation of these coalitions. The book provides overviews of the history of Catholics in the three countries, reorients the historiography of Catholic incorporation in the United States, uncovers the phenomenon of minority overrepresentation in politics, and advances unique arguments about the impact of coalitions on minority politics.