Investigating Vatican II is a collection of Fr. Jared Wicks' recent articles on Vatican II, and presents the Second Vatican Council as an event to which theologians contributed in major ways and from which Catholic theology can gain enormous insights. Taken as a whole, the articles take the reader into the theological dynamics of Vatican II at key moments in the Council's historical unfolding. Wicks promotes a contemporary re-reception of Vatican II's theologically profound documents, especially as they featured God's incarnate and saving Word, laid down principles of Catholic ecumenical engagement, and articulated the church's turn to the modern world with a new "face" of respect and dedication to service. From the original motivations of Pope John XXIII in convoking the Council, Investigating Vatican II goes on to highlight the profound insights offered by theologians who served behind the scenes as Council experts. In its chapters, the book moves through the Council's working periods, drawing on the published and non-published records, with attention to the Council's dramas, crises, and breakthroughs. It brings to light the bases of Pope Francis's call for synodality in a listening church, while highlighting Vatican II's mandate to all of prayerful biblical reading, for fostering a vibrant "joy in the Gospel."

Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) wrote almost four hundred epistles in her lifetime, effectively insinuating herself into the literary, political, and theological debates of her day. At the same time, as the daughter of a Sienese dyer, Catherine had no formal education, and her accomplishments were considered miracles rather than the work of her own hand. As a result, she has been largely excluded from accounts of the development of European humanism and the language and literature of Italy. Reclaiming Catherine of Siena makes the case for considering Catherine alongside literary giants such as Dante and Petrarch, as it underscores Catherine's commitment to using the vernacular to manifest Christ's message and her own. Jane Tylus charts here the contested struggles of scholars over the centuries to situate Catherine in the history of Italian culture in early modernity. But she mainly focuses on Catherine's works, calling attention to the interplay between orality and textuality in the letters and demonstrating why it was so important for Catherine to envision herself as a writer. Tylus argues for a reevalution of Catherine as not just a medieval saint, but one of the major figures at the birth of the Italian literary canon.

Taking stock of the present moment and the challenges of the future, a host of leading spiritual writers reflect on the most pressing spiritual questions of our time. Whether the focus is on nurturing consciousness, building community, or transforming global structures, the answers provide a road map for personal, ecclesial, and social change.

Compiled in honor of Benedictine writer Joan Chittister, the volume concludes with a moving autobiographical reflection by Chittister herself, "The Power of Questions to Propel".

After the conquest of the Americas in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Roman Catholic clergy developed graphic catechisms to use for the conversion of native inhabitants in Latin America. This book presents and analyzes a mid-nineteenth century Andean pictographic catechism produced for speakers of Quechua. A facsimile of the original pictographs is accompanied by supporting text in English (translated from the original Spanish) and Quechua.

The editors provide an introduction that outlines the origin and uses of this catechism as well as the similarities and differences between it and catechisms written for other indigenous groups in Latin America during the colonial period. Endnotes and suggested readings provide further understanding and context for this and other pictographic catechisms from Latin America.

This is the powerful and moving story of the remarkable Jewish woman who converted to Catholicism, gained fame as a great philosopher in Germany, became a Carmelite nun, and was put to death in a Nazi concentration camp. Recently beatified by Pope John Paul II, Edith Stein was a courageous, intelligent and holy woman who speaks powerfully to us even today.

Catechisms and Women's Writing in Seventeenth-Century England is a study of early modern women's literary use of catechizing. Paula McQuade examines original works composed by women - both in manuscript and print, as well as women's copying and redacting of catechisms - and construction of these materials from other sources. By studying female catechists, McQuade shows how early modern women used the power and authority granted to them as mothers to teach religious doctrine, to demonstrate their linguistic skills, to engage sympathetically with Catholic devotional texts, and to comment on matters of contemporary religious and political import - activities that many scholars have considered the sole prerogative of clergymen. This book addresses the question of women's literary production in early modern England, demonstrating that reading and writing of catechisms were crucial sites of women's literary engagements during this time.

Containing substantial new studies in music, liturgy, history, art history, and palaeography from established and emerging scholars, this volume takes a cross-disciplinary approach to one of the most celebrated and vexing questions about plainsong and liturgy in the Middle Ages: how to understand the influence of Rome? Some essays address this question directly, examining Roman sources, Roman liturgy, or Roman practice, whilst others consider the sway of Rome more indirectly, by looking later sources, received practices, or emerging traditions that owe a foundational debt to Rome. Daniel J. DiCenso is Assistant Professor of Music at the College of the Holy Cross; Rebecca Maloy is Professor of Musicology at the University of Colorado Boulder. Contributors: Charles M. Atkinson, Rebecca A. Baltzer, James Borders, Susan Boynton, Catherine Carver, Daniel J. DiCenso, David Ganz, Barbara Haggh-Huglo, David Hiley, Emma Hornby, Thomas Forrest Kelly, William Mahrt, Charles B. McClendon, Luisa Nardini, Edward Nowacki , Christopher Page, Susan Rankin, John F. Romano, Mary E. Wolinski

Contemporary Catholic higher education finds itself at a crucial crossroad. The issues are many and complex. How is the Catholic character of the university to be preserved and fostered while avoiding secularization on the one hand and insular sectarianism on the other? Must a majority of the faculty in a college or department be Catholic? How is Catholic to be defined in terms of culture, belief, or practice? What is the level of commitment to intellectual inquiry and the possibility of dissent that must be present on a Catholic campus? These are some of the issues that prompted Fr. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., to write a position paper and invite 29 distinguished members of the faculty and administration at the University of Notre Dame to address as they strive to envision and create a great Catholic university. The contributors explore these issues from a wide variety of religious and academic perspectives, and although their backgrounds and fields of study differ widely, they agree on a number of points. First, a great Catholic university must begin by being a great university that is also Catholic. Second, the catholicity, or universality, of a Catholic university fosters the centrality of philosophy and particularly theology as legitimate intellectual concerns, especially as they challenge the disintegration and turmoil of our modern predicament. Finally, how a Catholic university is seen as a community of service is also examined in both its intellectual and practical applications. Throughout, these essays describe a university community where reason and faith intersect and reinforce each other as they grapple with all the problems that face the transmission and growth ofknowledge and the multiplication of new and complex moral problems.

Pope John Paul II proclaims a sense of urgency in challenging moral darkness with the light of truth.