The Gospel and Catholic Church


Arthur Michael Ramsey - 1936
    Although some of the book is dated, its conviction that the church's meaning lies in its fulfillment of the sufferings of Christ and that every part of its history is intelligible in terms of the Passion remains perceptive and challenging.Examining Scripture, doctrine, and history, Ramsey paints an intricate portrait of the church as an example of Christ's death and resurrection. He explores Eastern Orthodox doctrine; explains the purposes and preconditions of the Reformation; and calls for a renewal of liturgical worship and reconciliation within the communion of the saints.Originally published in 1936 while he was serving as sub-warden of Lincoln Theological College, this was Ramsey's first book. After more than seventy years, its wisdom concerning the relationship between Catholic and Evangelical, and the underlying complementarities and tensions which characterize the Anglican tradition, remains theologically sound and biblically astute.

A Biblical Defense of Catholicism


Dave Armstrong - 2001
    With a mastery of Scripture equal to that of the most committed Protestants, author David Armstrong shows that the Catholic Church is the "Bible Church par excellence," and that many common Protestant doctrines are in fact not biblical.

The Road to Assisi: The Essential Biography of St. Francis


Paul Sabatier - 2003
    Reissue.

Jesus the Bridegroom: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told


Brant Pitre - 2014
    In this thrilling exploration, Pitre shows how the suffering and death of Jesus was far more than a tragic Roman execution. Instead, the Passion of Christ was the fulfillment of ancient Jewish prophecies of a wedding, when the God of the universe would wed himself to humankind in an everlasting nuptial covenant. To be sure, most Christians are familiar with the apostle Paul’s teaching that Christ is the ‘Bridegroom’ and the Church is the ‘Bride’. But what does this really mean? And what would ever possess Paul to compare the death of Christ to the love of a husband for his wife? If you would have been at the Crucifixion, with Jesus hanging there dying, is that how you would have described it? How could a first-century Jew like Paul, who knew how brutal Roman crucifixions were, have ever compared the execution of Jesus to a wedding? And why does he refer to this as the “great mystery” (Ephesians 5:32)? As Pitre shows, the key to unlocking this mystery can be found by going back to Jewish Scripture and tradition and seeing the entire history of salvation, from Mount Sinai to Mount Calvary, as a divine love story between Creator and creature, between God and Israel, between Christ and his bride—a story that comes to its climax on the wood of a Roman cross. In the pages of Jesus the Bridegroom, dozens of familiar passages in the Bible—the Exodus, the Song of Songs, the Wedding at Cana, the Woman at the Well, the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, and even the Second Coming at the End of Time—are suddenly transformed before our eyes. Indeed, when seen in the light of Jewish Scripture and tradition, the life of Christ is nothing less than the greatest love story ever told.

Lourdes: Body and Spirit in the Secular Age


Ruth Harris - 1999
    Reprint.

Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II


George Weigel - 1999
    With unprecedented cooperation from John Paul II and the people who knew and worked with him throughout his life, George Weigel offers a groundbreaking portrait of the Pope as a man, a thinker, and a leader whose religious convictions defined a new approach to world politics—and changed the course of history. As even his critics concede, John Paul II occupied a unique place on the world stage and put down intellectual markers that no one could ignore or avoid as humanity entered a new millennium fraught with possibility and danger.The Pope was a man of prodigious energy who played a crucial, yet insufficiently explored, role in some of the most momentous events of our time, including the collapse of European communism, the quest for peace in the Middle East, and the democratic transformation of Latin America. With an updated preface, this edition of Witness to Hope explains how this “man from a far country” did all of that, and much more—and what both his accomplishments and the unfinished business of his pontificate mean for the future of the Church and the world.

The Reed of God: A New Edition of a Spiritual Classic


Caryll Houselander - 1944
    British Catholic writer and artist Caryll Houselander lovingly explores Mary’s intimately human side, depicting Our Lady as a musical instrument who makes divine love known to the world. This refreshed edition is rich and rewarding reading for all Christians who wonder what Mary was really like.While the Second Vatican Council led to a renewed interest in the theology and person of Mary, Caryll Houselander offered a simple yet profound reflection on the Mother of God almost fifteen years before the council began.Confronting the static, surreal “Madonna of the Christmas card,” Houselander provides instead an intuitive, warmly human, and approachable image of the Mother of God. Through the central image of a reed that is played for music, Houselander demonstrates how Mary chose to make herself an instrument for the divine plan, giving her inmost being to the proclamation of God’s greatness. In sharing her distinctive vision of Mary, Houselander offers the Mother of God as a model for all people seeking to be instruments of the Divine.The essays and poems in The Reed of God also reflect on the mysteries of Mary’s life and her impact on salvation history. In the book’s four parts, Houselander explores key events of Mary’s life, including her fiat, finding Jesus in the Temple, and the Assumption, as well as the themes of fruitful emptiness and the eternal search for union with God.

St. Maria Goretti: In Garments All Red


Godfrey Poage - 1950
    Describes her virtuous life, poverty, holiness, valiant resistance, heroic and lingering death, conversion of her murderer and canonization in 1950 with her mother, her murderer and over 500,000 present. This is the famous, popular, classic biography! This is a good book to read to children, so they have someone worthwhile to imitate. By having Maria put before them as a model, they will learn to appreciate the virtue of purity. For a child to imitate the saints, he or she must first love them -- which in turn requires knowing them. Get your children acquainted with one of the greatest saints of the twentieth century!

Full of Grace: Women and the Abundant Life


Johnnette S. Benkovic - 1998
    —from Chapter Eight What happens when women give their lives over to God? They become vessels of grace, bearers of healing, consolation, encouragement and strength to a troubled world. Far from being passive, the woman of grace will actively embrace God's will, actively seek out the suffering and lost, and actively bring God's healing love to others. If she accepts God's call to authentic womanhood, her role, in the words of a closing speech at Vatican Council II, becomes nothing less than to "aid humanity in not falling." Full of Grace will empower all women to fully embrace their God-given identity. This edition of Full of Grace is now correlated to The Women of Grace® Foundational Study Series. A Servant Book. "A beautiful woman-to-woman book on the way to holiness for Catholic women. A book for all ages."—Ronda De Sola Chervin, Ph.D., author and speaker "Johnnette Benkovic masterfully combines the teachings of Scripture and the Church with a down-to-earth program for the way to holiness, upholding the mission of Christian women in the world today."—Father George T. Montague, S.M., author of The Woman and the Way "Well-written, well-researched and filled with spiritual insight, this spiritual manual is a true aid to those who seek holiness."—Monica Migliorino Miller, Ph.D., author, The Authority of Women in the Catholic Church "A glowing account flowing out of a maternal heart that illuminates the glorious mission God has confided to women in the world and in the Church."—Alice von Hildebrand, Ph.D., author and speaker

Mere Fundamentalism: The Apostles' Creed and the Romance of Orthodoxy


Douglas Wilson - 2018
    This is the romance of orthodoxy." In this book, Douglas Wilson combines G.K. Chesterton-like prose with the Apostles' Creed, and explains such doctrines as the Trinity, creation, fall, salvation, Scripture, and the church with clarity and imagination. Rather than seeing fundamentalist doctrines as a narrow and confining straightjacket, Wilson sees them as the only way for people to find true freedom and joy.

The Mass of the Early Christians


Mike Aquilina - 2001
    Using the words of the early Christians themselves -- from many documents and inscriptions -- Aquilina traces the history of the Mass from Jesus' lifetime through the fourth century. That the Mass stood at the center of the Church's life is evident in the Scriptures, as well as the earliest Christian sermons, letters, artwork, tombstones, and architecture. Even the pagans bore witness to the Mass in the records of their persecutions.These legacies from the early Church bear witness to the same worship Catholics know today: the altar, the priest, the chalice of wine, the bread, the Sign of the Cross ... the "Lord, have mercy" ... the "Holy, holy, holy" ... and the Communion.

Faith Beyond Resentment: Fragments Catholic and Gay


James Alison - 1997
    For James Alison, a gay Catholic theologian, the key to moving beyond resentment is a radical re-conversion to the gospel message of God’s love and understanding that even those in power are our brothers and sisters.

On Prayer and The Contemplative Life


Thomas Aquinas - 1914
    

Why I Am Catholic (and You Should Be Too)


Brandon Vogt - 2017
    (First Place). With atheism on the rise and millions tossing off religion, why would anyone consider the Catholic Church? Brandon Vogt, a bestselling author and the content director for Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, shares his passionate search for truth, a journey that culminated in the realization that Catholicism was right about a lot of things, maybe even everything. His persuasive case for the faith reveals a vision of Catholicism that has answers our world desperately needs and reminds those already in the Church what they love about it. A 2016 study by the Public Religion Research Institute found that 25 percent of adults (39 percent of young adults) describe themselves as unaffiliated with any religion. Millions of these so-called “nones” have fled organized religion and many more have rejected God altogether. Brandon Vogt was one of those nones. When he converted to Catholicism in college, he knew how confusing that decision was to many of his friends and family. But he also knew that the evidence he discovered pointed to one conclusion: Catholicism is true. To his delight, he discovered it was also exceedingly good and beautiful.Why I Am Catholic traces Vogt’s spiritual journey, making a refreshing, twenty-first century case for the faith and answering questions being asked by agnostics, nones, and atheists, the audience for his popular website, StrangeNotions.com, where Catholics and atheists dialogue. With references to Catholic thinkers such as G. K. Chesterton, Ven. Fulton Sheen, St. Teresa of Calcutta, and Bishop Robert Barron, Vogt draws together lines of evidence to help seekers discover why they should be Catholic as an alternative.Why I Am Catholic serves as a compelling reproposal of the Church for former Catholics, a persuasive argument for truth and beauty to those who have become jaded and disenchanted with religion, and at the same time offers practicing Catholics a much-needed dose of confidence and clarity to affirm their faith against an increasingly skeptical culture.

I Loved Jesus in the Night: Teresa of Calcutta -- A Secret Revealed


Paul Murray - 2008
    The media focused attention at once on the unexpected phenomenon of darkness in the life of the saint, the astonishing revelation that, for decades, Mother Teresa had struggled mightily with belief in God. To some, this seemed to lend support to the arguments of the “new atheists.” But what we are offered in this beautiful book is, at last, a serious grappling with the deeper meaning of her darkness, a work of sharp and unusual insight, written by someone who knew her.In this intimate look at her “private writings,” Paul Murray illumines the meaning of a life which is only now beginning to be understood.I Loved Jesus in the Night is one priest’s compelling account of meeting with the saint of Calcutta. Sharing anecdotes and first-hand experiences, Paul Murray offers a glimpse into why Mother Teresa could declare, in one of her letters, that if ever she were to “become a saint,” she would surely be one of “darkness.”This very personal yet powerful book is an attempt to come to terms with the dark night experiences endured by Mother Teresa in the light of the Gospel and the mystical teachings of St John of the Cross. And something else as well...revelations of Mother Teresa’s sense of humor!