Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church


The Boston Globe - 2002
    With this exposé, the Boston Globe presents the single most comprehensive account of the cover-ups, hush money and manipulation used by the Catholic Church to keep its history of sexual abuse secret.

The Spiritual Combat and a Treatise on Peace of Soul


Lorenzo Scupoli
    First published in 1589, it was the favorite book of St Francis de Sales. Vigorous, realistic and full of keen insight into human nature, this volume consists of short chapters based on the maxim that in the spiritual life one must either "fight or die " It shows clearly how the Christian must combat his passions and vices in an intelligent method, in order to arrive at victory, rather than running around blindly beating the air. Fr Scupoli explains how to concentrate one's energies in order to make constant progress in acquiring virtue, with particularly specific advice for overcoming the vices of impurity and sloth. The Spiritual Combat is one of the greatest and best known classic on the spiritual life that will inspire and instruct readers of today just as it has for over 400 years.

Trusting God with St. Therese


Connie Rossini - 2014
    Therese teach you perfect trust. Learn how Therese of Lisieux trusted God through tragedy, scruples, spiritual darkness, and physical suffering. Connie Rossini pairs episodic stories from the saint’s life with memories of her own quest to trust. With Sacred Scripture, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and insights from psychology, Rossini leads readers to surrender their lives completely to Jesus.Practical and accessible, Trusting God with St. Therese includes questions for reflection that make it perfect for book clubs and faith-sharing groups.

Teachings of the Book of Mormon: Part 2


Hugh Nibley - 2004
    The subject of the class is The Book of Mormon. Professor Nibley has an unequaled knowledge of ancient scripture and their translations.

The Bad Catholic's Guide to Good Living: A Loving Look at the Lighter Side of Catholic Faith, with Recipes for Feast and Fun


John Zmirak - 2005
    Both a comical read, as well as an indispensable resource for observing the Feast Days of the Saints, The Bad Catholic's Guide to Good Living is for anyone who is interested in celebrating the history and humor behind the Catholic faith.

Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace: Living in the Spirit of the Prayer of St. Francis


Kent Nerburn - 1999
    Francis of Assisi. The Prayer of St. Francis boldly but gently challenges us to resist the forces of evil and negativity with the spirit of goodwill and generosity. And Nerburn shows, in his wonderfully personal and humble way, how we each can live out the prayer's prescription for living in our everyday and less-than-saintly lives. "Where there is hatred, let me sow love...Where there is injury, let me sow pardon..." Expanding upon each line of the St. Francis Prayer, Nerburn shares touching, inspiring stories from his own experience and that of others and reveals how each of us can make a difference for good in ordinary ways without being heroes or saints. Struggling to help a young son comfort his best friend when his mother dies, moved by the courage of war enemies who reconcile, being wrenched out of self-absorbed depression by responding to someone else's tragedy, taking a spirited old lady on a farewell taxi ride through her town-these are the kinds of everyday moments in which Nerburn finds we can live out the spirit of St. Francis.By incorporating the power and grace of these few lines of practical idealism into our thoughts and deeds, we can begin to ease our own suffering-and the suffering of those with whom we share our lives. And, remarkably, find a way to true peace and happiness by tapping into our basic human goodness. As we open our hearts and embrace his words, St. Francis "touches our deepest humanity and ignites the spark of our divinity."Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.Where there is hatred let me sow love, Where there is injury let me sow pardon, Where there is doubt, faith, Where there is despair, hope, Where there is darkness, light, And where there is sadness, joy...In this beautifully written book, Kent Nerburn leads us into the heart of the St. Francis Prayer and line by line demonstrates how St. Francis's words can resonate in our lives today.

The Imitation of Christ


Thomas à Kempis
    This meditation on the spiritual life has inspired readers from Thomas More and St. Ignatius Loyola to Thomas Merton and Pope John Paul I. Written by the Augustinian monk Thomas à Kempis between 1420 and 1427, it contains clear instructions for renouncing wordly vanities and locating eternal truths. No book has more explicitly and movingly described the Christian ideal:

The Autobiography of St. Margaret Mary


Margaret Mary Alacoque - 1698
    Written under obedience to her superiors, St. Margaret reveals the intimate spiritual life of a magnificent saint to whom Our Lord gave the famous revelations regarding the love of His Sacred Heart. Our Lord guided her from her earliest childhood and indicated to her how He cannot tolerate the slightest fault. He revealed to her the absolute sanctity of His love, and urged her not to resist His Holy Will in any way. She writes how God gave her a supernatural desire for great and continual suffering and love of the Cross. She tells us of angels appearing to her and how on another occasion she was given a mystical crown of thorns which caused her intense pain for the rest of her life. In sum, this is a powerful antidote to our natural tendency to reduce, in our own thinking, the Divine Majesty to strictly human dimensions. A spiritual jewel!

Miracles Do Happen: God Can Do the Impossible


Briege McKenna - 1987
    For over 25 years, since she was healed of crippling arthritis, Sister Briege has ministered hope and healing to countless people all over the world, from huge rallies in Latin America to retreats in Korea. Miracles Do Happen tells the story of Sister Briege's encounter with the healing power of God. It also shares her insights about faith, the power of the Eucharist and the importance of prayer. Most of all, it points the way to a closer relationship with Jesus, greater knowledge of his love, and deeper faith in his power to do the impossible. A Servant Book.

Letter to a Suffering Church: A Bishop Speaks on the Sexual Abuse Crisis


Robert Barron - 2019
     It's been a diabolical masterpiece, one that has compromised the work of the Church in every way and has left countless lives in ruin. Many Catholics are understandably asking, “Why should I stay? Why not abandon this sinking ship before it drags me or my children under?" In this stirring manifesto, Bishop Robert Barron, founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, explains why this is not the time to leave, but the time to stay and fight. Reading the current crisis through the lenses of Scripture and Church history, Bishop Barron shows that we have faced such egregious scandals before; that the spiritual treasures of the Church were preserved by holy men and women who recommitted themselves to fighting evil; and that there is a clear path forward for us today. For Catholics questioning their faith, searching desperately for encouragement and hope, this book will offer reasons to stay and fight for the Body of Christ.

Standing For Something More: The Excommunication of Lyndon Lamborn


Lyndon Lamborn - 2009
    After a highly publicized and controversial exit from Mormonism, Lamborn intertwines the story of his awakening with psychological aspects of religious belief.

Sisters: Catholic Nuns and the Making of America


John J. Fialka - 2003
    Nuns were the first feminists, argues Fialka. They became the nation's first cadre of independent, professional women. Some nursed, some taught, and many created and managed new charitable organizations, including large hospitals and colleges. In the 1800s nuns moved west with the frontier, often starting the first hospitals and schools in immigrant communities. They provided aid and service in the Chicago fire, cared for orphans and prostitutes in the California Gold Rush and brought professional nursing skills to field hospitals run by both armies in the Civil War. Their work was often done in the face of intimidation from such groups as the Know Nothings and the Ku Klux Klan. In the 1900s they built the nation's largest private school and hospital systems and brought the Catholic Church into the civil rights movement. As their numbers began to decline in the 1970s, many sisters were forced to take professional jobs as lawyers, probation workers, managers and hospital executives because their salaries were needed to support older nuns, many of whom lacked a pension system. Currently there are about 75,000 sisters in America, down from 204,000 in 1968. Their median age is sixty-nine. In "Sisters, "Fialka""reveals the strength of the spiritual capital and the unprecedented reach of the caring institutions that religious women created in America.

Men and Women Are From Eden: A Study Guide to John Paul II's Theology of the Body


Mary Healy - 2005
    Maybe you've never heard of it until now and are asking, theology of the what? Maybe you're already familiar with the basics and are ready to incorporate this teaching on sex, love and marriage into your own life. Whatever your level of understanding, you're probably ready for some good news about sex in a culture littered with the bad news of divorce, adultery, sexually transmitted disease, heartache and loneliness. This guide is designed to help you appropriate the Pope's astonishing message: True, lasting love—that which humanity enjoyed in the beginning, before the Fall—is possible here and now. In nine straightforward lessons, Men and Women Are from Eden introduces the reader to the pope's warm, deeply biblical understanding of God's original plan for men and women, a plan that brings with it healing of mind in regard to sexuality and the body.

From Islam to Christ: One Woman's Path through the Riddles of God


Derya Little - 2017
    After her parents' divorce, she rejected her family's Islamic faith and became an atheist. During her stormy adolescence, she tried to convince a Christian missionary that there is no God but was converted to Christ instead.Her winding path through the riddles of God was not over, however. While attending a Turkish university and serving as a Christian youth minister, Derya began to compare the teachings of Protestantism and Catholicism, and during her doctoral studies in England, she entered the Catholic Church. Ultimately, she ended up in the United States, where she has become a citizen and has settled down to raise a family.Derya's story provides a window into both Islam and modernity. It shows that the grace and the mercy of God know no bounds.  Rather, the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ reaches souls in the most unlikely places.

The Wellspring Of Worship


Jean Corbon - 1988
    In his modern classic work The Wellspring of Worship, Fr. Jean Corbon explores the meaning of the Liturgy as the "wellspring" or source of the Church's life and worship of God. The Liturgy itself is a sharing in the mystery of the Triune God and in the Incarnation, Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus. Corbon writes that it is "the mystery of the river of life that streams from the Father and the Lamb", into which believers are to be drawn. In this way, the divine river waters their entire lives, renewing and transforming them.The Wellspring of Worship is a masterful reflection on the mystery of God's Trinitarian life and how the Church's members participate in that life through the Liturgy.