Peer through the stained glass and get an inside look at Christianity's most popular religion Catholicism can seem a bit mysterious to non-Catholics--and even Catholics. Embrace your curiosity and turn to Dummies for answers! Full of fascinating facts and written in a friendly style, Catholicism For Dummies explains the basics of Catholic beliefs like the importance of Sunday Mass; the seven sacraments; the purity of the Blessed Virgin Mary; heaven, hell, and purgatory; the Trinity; and so much more. You'll learn about the Catholic perspective on women as priests, saints as examples of how to live, and prayer as the basis of a relationship with God. This easy-to-read resource offers an overview of a rich and diverse faith. You'll also discover: The ins and outs of living as a Catholic and why followers of the faith observe traditions like attending Mass on certain days of the year, praying the rosary, and not eating meat on Fridays Information on what the pope does, how he is selected, the history of the Vatican, and what it's like to be a priest in today's society Details about the church's position on modern social issues, like poverty, abortion and the death penalty, same-sex marriage, and contraception Whether you're a cradle Catholic or just curious about the world's second largest religion, Catholicism For Dummies has the answers you're seeking to a faith that's been around for thousands of years. Order your copy today.

A distinctive and modern telling of the history of the Society of Jesus in America The history of America cannot be told without the history of religion, the history of American religion cannot be told without the history of Catholicism, and the history of Catholicism in America cannot be told without the history of Jesuits in America. Jesuits in the United States offers a panoramic overview of the Jesuit order in the United States from the colonial era to the present. David J. Collins, SJ, describes the development of the Jesuit order in the US against the background of American religious, cultural, and social history. He investigates the relationship of Jesuit activities in America to those in Europe and, by the twentieth century, to those around the world as US Jesuits are increasingly assigned to “foreign missions” and the political and religious connections between the US and the world, especially Latin America, grow. He covers the papacy’s suppression of the order and its restoration period. He also reflects on the future of the order in light of its past. Readers familiar with the Jesuit tradition and those who are new to it will learn from this book’s distinctive and modern perspective—using twenty-first century scholarship and opinions on Jesuit slaveholding, the sexual abuse crisis, and other contemporary issues—on 500 years of Jesuit history in the United States.

The first examination of predictive technology from the perspective of Catholic theology Probabilistic predictions of future risk govern much of society. In business and politics alike, institutional structures manage risk by controlling the behavior of consumers and citizens. New technologies comb through past data to predict and shape future action. Choosing between possible future paths can cause anxiety as every decision becomes a calculation to achieve the most optimal outcome. Tomorrow's Troubles is the first book to use virtue ethics to analyze these pressing issues. Paul Scherz uses a theological analysis of risk and practical reason to show how risk-based decision theory reorients our relationships to the future through knowledge of possible dangers and foregone opportunities-and fosters a deceptive hope for total security. Scherz presents this view of temporality as problematic because it encourages a desire for stability through one's own efforts instead of reliance on God. He also argues that the largest problem with predictive models is that they do not address individual reason and free will. Instead of dwelling on a future, we cannot control, we can use our past experiences and the Christian tradition to focus on discerning God's will in the present. Tomorrow's Troubles offers a thoughtful new framework that will help Christians benefit from the positive aspects of predictive technologies while recognizing God's role in our lives and our futures.

Starting from what was, at its time, the most important vision of the Virgin Mary ever to take place in Western Europe, The Virgin and the Pentacle gradually uncovers a virtually unknown war that has been taking place across 1,700 years. This is the story of the battle between the orthodox Catholic Church and Freemasonry, itself the most modern manifestation of a much older religious conflict between patriarchal and matriarchal views of the godhead. Erupting occasionally in violence it is strikingly seen in the opposing visions of the Virgin Mary in the 19th century, which defined the conflicting theological parameters and led to the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception in the 1850s. Underpinning Freemasonic practice is a fraternity that has been active in Europe and beyond since the 4th century. At the heart of the Craft is a very specific social, economic and religious imperative, known only to the highest aspirants. The Virgin and the Pentacle cuts through the accusations that have been showered upon Freemasonry and shows what it's true objectives have been from the start. Reading like a whodunit, it is a story of dirty tricks that have included false visions, subterfuge and even murder. The conclusions are stunning and far reaching.

In the past 200 years, the Catholic Church has approved a series of private revelations with a deeply apocalyptic undercurrent. But what have the popes taught concerning these times? In this ground-breaking book, Stephen Walford uncovers the astonishing truth that the successors of St. Peter have together warned of the rapidly approaching final coming of Jesus Christ.

By unearthing a great variety of magisterial documents, the author sheds light on a number of mysteries: how Fatima relates to the definitive coming of the Kingdom at the end of the world; how Vatican II was a prophetic council oriented towards the return of the Lord; and how the popes have consistently linked the era of peace to the definitive renewal of the world after the Last Judgement--and how they have discerned that our own times are ripe for the persecution of the Antichrist. Heralds of the Second Coming lifts the veil on the last stage of salvation history, as proclaimed by the popes from Pius IX to Benedict XVI.

Reformation in Britain and Ireland is an innovative volume which studies the coming of reform in the sixteenth century more broadly than do traditional national narratives of religious change. It argues for an interactive and comparative understanding of this crucial dimension of British and Irish history. Through the examination of political choices, of ecclesiastical structures, and of individual religious attitudes, it seeks to explain the success or failure of Protestantism in these islands.

This volume deals with the problem of State and Church in the Middle Ages from a new angle. It not only shows how and why the medieval popes pursued a policy of world domination, but also discloses the ideas by which the papal monarchs were primarily influenced.