In fact, it's just gotten harder. With the recent election of our current Pope, a new wave of attacks is under way by the enemies of the Catholic Church. From this point forward, every Catholic will come face-to-face with the vicious anti-Catholic attacks that are being launched against the faith. Here at Catholic Answers, the most effective products for countering attacks and clearing up misunderstandings have been our tracts. They've been around since the beginning of the apostolate and have resulted in many thousands of conversions. These tracts provide a real point of contact for someone in discovering the truths of the Catholic faith. We've decided to compile seventy of the best tracts into one cohesive, comprehensive book that can be used by anyone, anytime, anywhere to defend the Catholic faith. "The Essential Catholic Survival Guide" is indexed according to topic in a unique question-and-answer format that allows the reader to find the right answer to any question instantly. It covers the questions and misconceptions people have about the Catholic faith on a variety of topics, including: * The Church and the papacy * Scripture and Tradition * Mary and the saints * The sacraments * Salvation * Last things * Morality and science * Anti-Catholicism * Non-Catholic churches and movements * Practical apologetics It's the essence of Catholic apologetics - all rolled up into one attractive, easy-to-use manual that is destined to become the most effective tool of its kind.

    Mary's Church in Greenville, South Carolina; the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and G.K. Chesterton's favorite pub; the grave of a modern martyr in Warsaw, and the Sistine Chapel. Weaving together insights from history, literature, theology, and music, Weigel uses these touchstones to illuminate the beliefs that have shaped Catholicism for two thousand years.With clarity and conviction, Weigel examines the foundations of Catholic faith and explores the topics of grace, prayer, vocation, sin and forgiveness, suffering, and-most importantly-love. Putting a dramatic face on this invitation to Catholicism, Weigel introduces some of the figures who have shaped his faith and thought-Michelangelo and Fra Angelico; Evelyn Waugh and Cardinal John Henry Newman; Father Jerzy Popieuszko and Pope John Paul II; Edith Stein and Mother Teresa-as he also shares anecdotes from his own Catholic life. To a world that sometimes seems closed and claustrophobic, he suggests, Christian humanism offers a world with windows and doors-and a skylight.In these letters, George Weigel conveys the power of a faith that is at once personal and universal, timely and eternal. His book will inspire not only the young generation of Catholics whose World Youth Day celebrations have launched an era of renewal for the Church, but also the faithful, the doubtful, and the searchers of every age.

    But when he realized he was gay, those hopes were called into question. The Bible, he’d been taught, condemned gay relationships. Feeling the tension between his understanding of the Bible and the reality of his same-sex orientation, Vines devoted years of intensive research into what the Bible says about homosexuality. With care and precision, Vines asked questions such as: • Do biblical teachings on the marriage covenant preclude same-sex marriage or not? • How should we apply the teachings of Jesus to the gay debate? • What does the story of Sodom and Gomorrah really say about human relationships? • Can celibacy be a calling when it is mandated, not chosen? • What did Paul have in mind when he warned against same-sex relations? Unique in its affirmation of both an orthodox faith and sexual diversity, God and the Gay Christian is likely to spark heated debate, sincere soul searching, even widespread cultural change. Not only is it a compelling interpretation of key biblical texts about same-sex relations, it is also the story of a young man navigating relationships with his family, his hometown church, and the Christian church at large as he expresses what it means to be a faithful gay Christian.