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The Radical Christian Life: A Year with Saint Benedict

ISBN: 9780814633656 (Liturgical Press)
ISBN: 9780814633656 (John Garratt Publishing)
Author(s): Joan Chittister OSB, Publisher: Liturgical Press

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Very little in this world stays fresh and life-giving for 1,500 years. But when that happens we should ask ourselves why and what that had to do with us.

In this book, The Radical Christian Life: A Year with Saint Benedict, Joan Chittister encourages us to look at that question. In an introductory essay she examines how the insights and values of the sixth-century visionary Saint Benedict can illuminate today's search for a meaningful life. Then she leads us through the year, reflecting on twelve stories from Benedict's life, anecdotes that give us glimpses into his soul. More than that, she draws from these stories daily thoughts for the development of our own spiritual lives in this day and age.

Joan Chittister, OSB, is a Benedictine sister and international lecturer who has been a leading voice in spirituality for more than thirty years. She has authored over forty books, most recently Uncommon Gratitude and The Monastery of the Heart, part of a program she is helping to develop to enable lay groups to live Benedictine spirituality in a contemporary way.
 

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God's Tender Mercy

ISBN: 9781920682231
Author(s): Joan Chittister Publisher: John Garratt Publishing

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Sister Joan Chittister is a bestselling author for a very good reason. She takes difficult and even mysterious concepts and 'breaks them open' for us. Here she tackles the virture of mercy and its connection to forgiveness. She challenges us to stop judging, accusing, and criticising those we label 'sinners' and to see ourselves in their number. She invites us to be realistic about our own actions before we 'throw that first stone' at another. This is spiritual reading at its very best.

Sr Joan taps into the contemporary global mood in which minorities are being condemned, harassed and persecuted. Instead of leading the cause of love and respect for all, many conservative Christian churches are failing to demonstrate love, understanding and compassion.

In her discussion of guilt and conscience, she commends both as healthy aspects of human responsibility. She also writes about the power of forgiveness to free us from the burden of anger: 'What I refuse to forgive continues to harm me. It consumes my heart, poisons my mind, drains my energies and cements my soul.' Forgiveness does not tolerate revenge and that is a lesson that is slowly becoming appreciated.
 

Listen to an interview Sr Joan gave about her new book

In the closing chapter of this profoundly prophetic book, Chittister calls us to the spiritual practices of weeping and healing. Of the first, she comments, 'Weeping is a very life-giving thing. It wizens the soul of the individual and it sounds alarms in society. The Book of Ecclesiastes may be nowhere more correct than here. There is definitely a time for weeping. If we do not weep on the personal level, we shall never understand other human beings.'

The spiritual practice of weeping softens our hearts and opens us to the suffering of others and it blesses us with a keen sense that we are all flawed creatures in the same world. Chittister concludes that we cannot heal ourselves by clinging to our wounds. And neither can we contribute to the repairing of the world without practicing forgiveness again and again.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Sr Joan Chittister, is a Benedictine nun and author of numerous books, including The Breath of the Soul: Reflections on Prayer, and other books that have a profound influence on the contemporary religious world.


REVIEWS:
"Joan's is a prophet's voice telling us that when love breaks through in even one person, the effect for the world is immense. Weep and heal, she writes, willing us to to find, through courageous self reflection and forgiveness, the fullness of our humanity and in that, the kind of love that will lift this world." ...Paula D'Arcy, author of Waking Up to This Day

"I'm sure Sister Joan is tired of being called a prophet. Identifying her message as prophetic leaves the rest of us off the hook as just ordinary souls with considerably limited vision and ambition. This plain-speaking little book on forgiveness will not give the reader that satisfaction, however. She challenged me to reconsider the brazenness of God's mercy, the necessity of my guilt, and the value of continuing to cry — until none of us has anything left to cry about." ...Alice Camille, co-author of The Forgiveness Book with Paul Boudreau
 

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Uncommon Gratitude

ISBN: 9781920682132
Author(s): Joan Chittister & Rowan Williams, Publisher: John Garratt

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams often says that, no matter what, the proper stance of the Christian in the world is one of gratitude. In this book, Sister Joan Chittister OSB, and Archbishop Rowan Williams offer us a sweeping set of things and circumstances to be grateful for—things for which we can sing "alleluia," "praise and thanks be to God."

Some are things we naturally feel grateful for: God, peace, wealth, life, faith, and unity. But when these are set alongside other things we would never think to sing alleluia about—death, divisions, sufferings, and even sinners—we begin to see, as Joan Chittister says in her introduction, that "Life itself is an exercise in learning to sing 'alleluia' here in order to recognize the face of God hidden in the recesses of time. To deal with the meaning of 'alleluia' in life means to deal with moments that do not feel like 'alleluia moments' at all."

In this series of reflections it becomes clear that singing "alleluia" is not a way to escape reality but receptivity to another kind of reality beyond the immediate and the delusional, of helping us understand what is now and what is to come.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Joan Chittister OSB, is a Benedictine nun and international lecturer who has been a leading voice in spirituality for more than thirty years. She has authored forty books, including her most recent, The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life, published by Thomas Nelson.

Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, is acknowledged internationally as an outstanding theological writer, scholar, and teacher. He has been involved in many theological, ecumenical, and educational commissions and has written extensively across a wide range of fields of professional study — philosophy, theology, spirituality, and religious aesthetics. He has also written on moral, ethical, and social topics and, since becoming archbishop, has focused more intently on contemporary cultural and interfaith issues.
 

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Called to Question: A Spiritual Memoir

ISBN: 9781580511438
Author(s): Joan Chittister, Publisher: Oxford: Sheed and Ward, 2004

REVIEW [from www.journeywithjesus.net]
In this her most recent book, Sister Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun and author of twenty-five books, continues to think out loud about just what it means to know, love, and follow Jesus in our crazy, contemporary world. This is the third book by her that I have read, and I have come to appreciate her spirit and gift to do what good writers do, which is to connect with the every day experiences and aspirations of her readers. Using her own spiritual journal entries from across a four year period, she pushes, pokes and prods at the various dimensions of Christian living. In particular, I appreciated three themes from this book that also recur in her other works.

Chittister writes from very much "inside the box," the box that is the Roman Catholic Church. But no one likes to be boxed in, much less a feminist like her, and so one theme from this book is what I would call institutional frustration with the church. Our Christian institutions and churches often purvey a sort of "god of the system" that asks us at some level to sublimate our deeply personal identities to the group identity. But then we risk forfeiting conscience and becoming what she describes as "institutional robots." So, we try, often with very limited success, to change the institution for the better. Others just want to leave the church out of frustration. In the end, Chittister pictures herself as a "loyal member of a dysfunctional family" (p. 135).

A keen scholar like Chittister is also full of provocative questions about important issues like women's ordination, the place of gays in the church, global justice, and, as a member of a Benedictine community, obedience to the institutional church. But critical questions are just what the church often suppresses, obscures, or responds to with superficial and ideological answers. We can acquiesce to this, too, out of fear of being wrong or even punished. But Chittister does not want to live the Christian life asking other people's questions or accepting their answers, so she keeps asking, seeking, and knocking: how does the Christian relate questions of personal conscience and intellectual integrity to churchly fidelity?

Personal failure and struggle are also prominent themes for Chittister. The problem, it would seem, is to foolishly accept perfection as our standard or goal. But that goal is an oppressive one, and a set up for failure, for no Christian this side of heaven will ever reach it: "The problem, of course, is that we fail. We know ourselves to be weak. We stumble along, being less than we can be, never living up to our own standards, let alone anyone else's. We eat too much between meals, we work too little to get ahead, we drink more than we should at the office party. We're all addicted to something. Those addictions not only cripple us, they convince us that we are worthless and incapable of being worthwhile. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy of the worst order because it traps us inside our own sense of inadequacy, of futility, of failure" (p. 195). Instead, we ought to view failure as "among the best friends of the soul" (p. 91). Rather than subscribe to the unattainable, we should come to appropriate the "sanctifying nature of mistakes and calculations" (p. ix).

Chittister begins her book with a well known story of the seeker who asked the monk just what they did in the monastery: "Oh, we fall and we get up, and we fall and we get up, and we fall and we get up again." Beyond the institutional frustrations, the stymied but important questions, and the realization of but limited progress, she encourages us to hear God's voice to keep going, to "find the me in me" (p. 111), and to cultivate a sense of being at home with yourself because of the extravagant love and grace of God.

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The Breath of the Soul: Reflections on Prayer

ISBN: 9781920682057
Author(s): Joan Chittister Publisher: John Garratt Publishing

BOOK DESCRIPTION
This simple little book from a great spiritual giant attends to what we human beings are most inclined to forget; preparing for and engaging in prayer. It is an examination of what we ourselves must bring to the discipline of prayer — whatever form it takes — in order to make prayer authentic and real, a deep and profound part of our lives.

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Welcome to the Wisdom of the World and Its Meaning For You

ISBN: 9780802828941
Author(s): Chittister, Joan, Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Certain questions are common to all of us as human beings. Why was I born? How do I know the right thing to do? What's wrong with me – why can't I change? Such questions are so deeply human that they transcend time and place, religions and cultures. Chittister presents the insights of different cultures to these same questions, from all major religious traditions – Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. Chittister shows how each spiritual tradition brings a special gift to the art of living a meaningful, spiritually aware life.

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The Story of Ruth : Twelve Moments in Every Woman's Life (Hardcover)

ISBN: 0802847420
Author(s): Chittister, Joan D., Swanson, John August, Publisher: Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Co

Through twelve texts and complementary pictures, Chittister and Swanson explore a series of defining moments in every woman's life — moments of loss, change, transformation, ageing, respect, independence, recognition, insight, invisibility and fulfilment.

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The Case for God

ISBN: 9781847920355
Author(s): Karen Armstrong Publisher: Random House

An essential book for our times: Karen Armstrong answers bestselling atheists Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens and argues that faith still has a fundamental role in the modern world.

BOOK DESCRIPTION
The enormous popularity of books by Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and others shows that despite the religious revival that is under way in many parts of the world, there is widespread confusion about the nature of religious truth. For the first time in history, a significantly large number of people want nothing to do with God. In the past people went to great lengths to experience a sacred reality that they called God, Brahman, Nirvana or Dao; indeed religion could be said to be the distinguishing characteristic of homo sapiens. But now militant atheists preach a gospel of godlessness with the zeal of Christian missionaries in the age of faith and find an eager audience. What has happened?
Karen Armstrong argues that historically atheism has rarely been a denial of the sacred itself but has nearly always rejected a particular conception of God. During the modern period, the Christians of the West developed a theology that was radically different from that of the pre-modern age. Tracing the history of faith from the Palaeolithic Age to the present, Armstrong shows that until recently there was no warfare between science and religion. But science has changed the conversation. The meaning of words such as belief, faith, and mystery has been entirely altered, so that atheists and theists alike now think and speak about God - and, indeed, reason itself - in a way that our ancestors would have found astonishing.
Why has the modern God become incredible? Has God a future in this age of aggressive scientific rationalism? Karen Armstrong suggests that if we draw creatively on the insights of the past, we can build a faith that speaks to the needs of our troubled and dangerously polarized world.

REVIEWS
"The best sort of popularizing: there is no sacrifice of integrity and no dumbing down" ...Edward Norman, Literary Review
"A remarkable history... fascinating and highly readable... profoundly relevant" ...Julie Wheelwright, Independent
"This book deserves nothing but praise" ...Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times
"A subtle and funny memoir" ...Sunday Telegraph
"An exceptionally impressive autobiography. Karen Armstrong's account of her spiralling journey provokes thought and inspires respect" ...Daily Telegraph

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The Battle for God

ISBN: 9780006383482
Author(s): Karen Armstrong Publisher: Harper Collins

BOOK DESCRIPTION
Britain's greatest religious historian chronicles the rise and rise of fundamentalism.
One of the most potent forces bedevilling the modern world is religious extremism, and the need to understand it has never been greater. Focusing in detail on Protestant fundamentalism in the United States, Jewish fundamentalism from sixteenth century Spain onwards and Muslim fundamentalism over the last four hundred years, Armstrong examines the patterns that underlie fundamentalism. These evolve from the clash between the conservative pre-modern mind that is governed by a love of myth, and the progressive rational society that relishes change.

Fundamentalists view the contemporary world with horror, rejecting its claims to truth, and a state of war now exists over the future of our culture. They are not terrorists, rather, they are innovative, existing in a symbiotic relationship with an aggressive modernity, each urging the other on to greater excess. The Battle for God is original in its thesis and in its understanding; as a history of religious ideas it is fascinating, and as an explanation of one of the most destabilising forces at large in the world today it is extraordinary.

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Visions of God: Four Medieval Mystics and their Writings

ISBN: 9780553351996
Author(s): Karen Armstrong Publisher: Bantam/Random House

BOOK DESCRIPTION
The mystics of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were, writes Karen Armstrong, like "the astronauts of our own day. They broke into a new religion, blazed a new trail to God and to the depths of the self, a trail far from the beaten pilgrimage paths of Chaucer and Langland." Mysticism is a spiritual mystery shared in some form by all faiths; it has a supernatural quality that extends beyond the given boundaries of religious creed and may be experienced by any lay person. The thrilling intensity of a mystical experience, as represented in this volume by the writings of four mystics of the Middle Ages, can inspire other spiritual seekers with its insight into the limitless wonder of both human and divine experience. Dissatisfied by the strictures of dogma and a religion that failed to quench the human thirst for knowledge of a mystical order, these four mystics—Richard Rolle of Hampole, Walter Hilton, Dame Julian of Norwich, and the unknown author of The Cloud Of Unknowing—communicate an intense and passionate experience of faith rare in any time. Because of their unique beliefs and spiritual strength, their knowledge and writings have proved timeless, and in this beautiful volume show contemporary seekers important new insights into the nature of divine love.

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In the Land of Lark and Heroes; Australian Reflections on St Mary MacKillop

ISBN: 9781921511998
Author(s): Alan Cadwallader (Editor) Publisher: ATF Press

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
The object of this book is to provide an opportunity for voices of other religions to be heard as Australia celebrates its first Catholic saint — Mary MacKillop of the Cross. It is the first publication that seeks to bring together a representative collection of contributions. Here are reflections on sainthood and heroes of faith from within different religious traditions and different Christian denominations. The direction given to contributors was that they illustrate how holy persons and heroes are esteemed in their own tradition and how this might frame that tradition's appreciation of Mary MacKillop. From this, it is hoped that the collection will provide an example of how she might contribute to the wider Australian religious landscape.

Herein, the reader will find critical yet appreciative reflections from Catholic and Seventh Day Adventist to Jewish and Muslim writers. Some have taken the brief as an opportunity to reveal more of the heroes and saints of their own tradition and how they came to be esteemed. Others have directly described how their own tradition esteems saints and heroes in general in order to bring distinct and evocative appreciations of Mary MacKillop, now given hues from a Protestant, Orthodox or Lutheran palette. But whether Baptist or Anglican or traditions beyond Christianity, the writers have extended the capacity of Australians to appreciate Mary MacKillop as an Australian saint and hero.

THE AUTHOR and CONTRIBUTORS:
Rev Dr Alan Cadwallader is an Anglican Priest and Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies, in the School of Theology, Australian Catholic University (ACU), Canberra Campus. Dr Cadwallader introduces the essays by Ismail Albayrak, Islamic scholar; John Chryssavgis, Greek OrthodoxL Mary Cresp RSJ, Catholic; Allie Ernst, Lutheran, Richard Ferret, Seventh Day Adventist; Robert Gribben, Uniting Church of Australia, Merrill Kitchen, Churches of Christ; Rachael Kohn, Jewish scholar; Marita Munro, Baptist; Lynlea Rodger, Anglican; John Skrzypaszek, Seventh Day Adventist.

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Soul Searching: The Journey of Thomas Merton (Paperback)

ISBN: 9781920721817
Author(s): Edited by Morgan Atkinson with Jonathan Montaldo, Publisher: John Garratt Publishing

Containing a considerable amount of rich material unused in the documentary, Soul Searching is alive with the narrative of those who either knew Merton well or passionately care about him: Father Daniel Berrigan, Rosemary Ruether, Martin Marty, Paul Elie, and many others. A companion to award-winning producer Morgan Atkinson's documentary of the same title, this work draws us into the geographical landscape of Thomas Merton's life in America, a landscape that was intrinsic to his spiritual journey. The picture that emerges, through both the narrative and vivid photography, is filled with provocative insights into the interior landscape of one of the spiritual giants of modern times. Also available is the Soul Searching DVD (see the Note below).

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Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church : Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus

ISBN: 9781920721473
Author(s): Bishop Geoffrey Robinson Publisher: John Garratt Publishing

BOOK DESCRIPTION
Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church is now in its fourth reprint! The book has been published in the UK, USA, and in translated into other languages.

Drawing on his own experience in responding to abuse, Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, in this explosive work, methodically offers a critique of the church's use and misuse of power, from the pope proclaiming infallibly down to the preacher claiming a divine authority for every word spoken from the pulpit. Going back to the bible and, above all, to the teaching of Jesus, he presents an approach to sexual morality that is profound, compassionate and people-centred. He stresses the priority of the hierarchy of holiness over the hierarchy of power. He offers nothing less than a vision for a church of the third millennium — a church that wants to see in its members the responsibility appropriate to adults rather than the obedience appropriate to children, and wants to help all people to grow to become all they are capable of being.

Readers will love or hate this book, but will not be able to be neutral.

Each chapter ends with a relevant meditation. Click here to read the introduction.

New thought-provoking questions ideal for individual reflection or small groups. To view click here
 

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Love's Urgent Longings

ISBN: 9781920682217
Author(s): Bishop Geoffrey Robinson Publisher: John Garratt

BOOK DESCRIPTION
Love's Urgent Longings is the story of a journey, a spiritual journey made over the past few years by Bishop Geoffrey Robinson. In seeking for answers to the urgent longings of the title he goes back to basics to encounter the spiritual, to consciously respond to the force of his deepest desires and to understand the ways that they move him towards higher goals. This sounds like a very personal journey, and so it is. However it is also a journey that will resonate with a great many Catholics. Geoffrey Robinson asks questions that every thinking Catholic asks at some stage on the journey: Do I really belong in the church? Is there any realistic chance that it will ever change to become the kind of church I could give myself to without reservations? What do I do in the meantime? And questions that every thinking, searching spiritual person asks at some stage in their life: Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going? What is the purpose and meaning of my existence? Geoffrey Robinson's journey is your journey; it is our journey as a church and as believers. His questions are your questions. Above all this is a positive story. Bishop Robinson is not trying to reject all that is past and, as he puts it 'construct a new building from the foundations up'. He does not wish to believe in nothing or become vaguely 'spiritual'. He says: 'If I must leave something behind, I want to do so only because I have found something of equal value to put in its place'. Love's Urgent Longings is a journey, a story, a testament — both a personal one and a dialogue with and for those, both old and young, who are wrestling with belief in today's church.
 

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My Brother's Eyes: The true story of Surviving 16 Years in a Destructive Cult

ISBN: 9781920721923
Author(s): David & John Ayliffe, Publisher: John Garratt Publishing

'My Brother's Eyes' tells the sad but true story of a dangerous religious cult that operated in NSW. David and John Ayliffe wrote the book together as they believe people need to know how secretive religious groups operate and the damage they cause to families.

In fact David was involved with the group from his late teenage years and didn't leave until his early 40's. Called Zion Full Salvation Ministry, the cult began as part of an inner city Anglican Church in Sydney NSW. It was founded by a woman who claimed to have Christ's stigmata and to be the embodiment of God on earth. When the woman died 16 years later, most of the 70 odd congregation had been stripped of their finances and investments and in many cases their self esteem too.

'My Brother's Eyes' is a troubling story but at least it has a happy ending as it tells the story of the separation of the brothers and then their eventual restoration.

Already the book has attracted a lot of media interest.

"True insight into the psychology of a sect both from the inside and the out is very rare. This account by two brothers is illuminating, fascinating and intelligent." ...Bryce Courtenay

"The Ayliffe saga is gripping, baffling, horrifying, and, most importantly, redemptive." ...Phillip Yancey

Listen to David and John being interviewed by Phillip Adams on the ABC Radio National. Click on this link: Radio National

"What makes this book extraordinary is that it is told by two brothers from two perspectives, one from within a cult and the other from without. The soul-baring, honest narrative is often painful to read as it details a brother's despair as his sibling is drawn further and further beyond his reach, entrapped in a net of emotional blackmail, manipulation and greed. It makes for compelling and frightening reading." ...Derek Hansen

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Reach for the Stars: NSW Knights of the Southern Cross (1919-2009) Bold Men of Faith, Hope and Charity

ISBN: 9781921421280
Author(s): Cliff Baxter Publisher: Connor Court Publishing

Did you know?

• The Knights of the Southern Cross of New South Wales are NOT secret "Catholic Masons".
• They once gave a Pope record egg-laying hens.
• Why Catholic schools went on strike.
• How Sir Henry Parkes wore a gun to protect himself against Irish Aussies.
• Why the KSC used passwords and took on Freemasons, bigots, communists, atheists and discriminating capitalists.
• The reasons behind strict secrecy and ritual.
• The Pioneer Knights and how they fought those who held power in politics and business.
• Why the Knights never apologize for defending Pope and Mother Church.
• How they serve Australia.
• Their role in the Labor Party split.

In this history Cliff Baxter lifts the veil of secrecy on the Knights and tells for the first time the stories of the Knights of the Southern Cross in New South Wales over ninety years.

Cliff Baxter B.Ed., author, journalist, broadcaster and adult educator, a native of New South Wales, is a graduate of the University of Technology, Sydney and won the UTS Mechanics Institute Medal in 2003.

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After the Heart of God : The Life and Ministry of Priests at the Beginning of the Third Millennium

ISBN:9781921421228
Author(s): Bishop Julian Porteous Publisher: Connor Court Publishing

What sort of priest is needed for the third millennium? The cultural and ecclesial landscape has changed so dramatically over the past fifty years. There are new and challenging forces at work influencing the direction of culture and many forces bearing in on the Church. The priest is at the cutting edge of the intersection of these forces as they play out in the lives of Catholics. It is timely to look again at the identity, spirituality and pastoral orientation of priests. This book is written firstly for priests, especially diocesan priests. Priests are vital for the life of the Church at the local parish level.

The author has been a diocesan priest for thirty four years. More recently he has been Rector of the Seminary of the Good Shepherd, Sydney. His role as Rector raised the question of the identity and mission of the priest in the contemporary setting. This book is a fruit of living the priesthood and of a reflection on the future of the priesthood as he focussed on the formation of seminarians.

The book begins with an examination of the factors in society and changes in the Church that bear in on priestly ministry. It considers new signs of hope emerging in the Church in recent times and it looks at the way in which the Church itself has responded to some of the challenges that priests have faced. The book then moves to examine the identity and character of the priest, considering the human reality, the pastoral orientation and the spiritual life of the priest.

Bishop Julian Porteous is Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of Sydney and former Rector of the Seminary of the Good Shepherd. He is Episcopal Vicar for Renewal and Evangelisation within the Archdiocese. He has had extensive experience in the area of Evangelisation and has worked closely with the new Ecclesial Movements.

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How God Acts: Creation, Redemption and Special Divine Action

ISBN: 9781921511868
Author(s): Denis Edwards Publisher: ATF Press

BOOK DESCRIPTION
How does the Christian doctrine of creation square with the picture of an evolving universe we receive from science today? How do the badly predatory behavior and wasteful extinction of whole species fit in with a Christian understanding? How does miraculous divine action, pictured so vividly in the biblical narratives, square with the inexorable march of the laws of physics? How does a God of love permit so much death and destruction?

These and a host of related questions raised by ordinary experience are tackled in this important and original work from theologian Denis Edwards reconceiving divine action. From providence and miracles to resurrection and intercessory prayer, Edwards shows how a basically noninterventionist model of divine action does justice to the universe as we know it and also to central convictions of Christian faith about the goodness of God, the promises of God, and the fulfillment of creation. Here is wonderfully lucid theology supporting a vision of how God is at work in the universe.

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Church : Living Communion (Engaging Theology: Catholic Perspectives series)

ISBN: 9780814659939
Author(s): Paul Lakeland Publisher: Liturgical Press

BOOK DESCRIPTION
Drawing on the wisdom and teaching experience of highly respected theologians, the Engaging Theology series builds a firm foundation for graduate study and other ministry formation programs. Each of the six volumes — Scripture, Jesus, God, Discipleship, Anthropology, and Church — is concerned with retrieving, carefully evaluating, and constructively interpreting the Christian tradition. Comprehensive in scope and accessibly written, these volumes, used together or independently, will stimulate rich theological reflection and discussion. More important, the series will create and sustain the passion of the next generation of theologians and church leaders.

Paul Lakeland's recent award-winning books on the place of the laity in the contemporary Roman Catholic Church have prepared him well to take on this "ecclesiology from below." While paying close attention to the classical "marks of the Church," Lakeland's focus is on what we can learn about the nature of the Church as living communion by examining the values and practices of ordinary believers. Following the advice of Bernard Lonergan, Lakeland adopts a resolutely inductive approach to ecclesial reflection. He explores ten questions that the Church must address, both those that affect the internal workings of the faith community and those that have to do with its relationships to other groups, religious and secular. Finally, he offers a constructive proposal for a contextual ecclesiology of the U.S. Catholic Church that utilizes the images of hospice, pilgrim, immigrant, and pioneer.

Paul Lakeland is the Aloysius P. Kelley S.J. Professor of Catholic Studies, and director of the Center for Catholic Studies at Fairfield University. He is active in the American Academy of Religion, the Catholic Theological Society of America, and the Workgroup for Constructive Theology. His two most recent writings, both winners of Catholic Press Association awards, are The Liberation of the Laity: In Search of an Accountable Church and Catholicism at the Crossroads: How the Laity Can Save the Church.

REVIEWS
"Paul Lakeland's brilliant account of ecclesiology may well come to be recognized as the first truly twenty-first-century analysis of the Church. His study addresses the events and insights of the last decade and then transposes into a new key historical-critical readings of the New Testament, themes from Vatican II, ecumenical consensus statements, Lonergan's methodology, and postmodern concerns. In an engaging, refreshing style, he also faces up to the Church's failings in hard-hitting language, marked by stark realism. Finally, he gently poses ten challenges to the Church, which he deems eternal." ...Michael A. Fahey, SJ, Professor, Boston College

"This is a teaching moment in the Church and this is a teachable book on the Church. In this eminently readable book, Paul Lakeland offers his readers only what they need to know to think and talk intelligently about the identity and mission of the Church. With honesty, he describes the challenges facing the Church that perplex and polarize in a way suitable for debate in the classroom and in reading groups. He invites his readers to develop an inductive approach to ecclesiology, and in the process he promotes the cultivation of practical wisdom that can help communities respond to these challenges with genuine hope." ...Bradford Hinze, Professor of Theology, Fordham University

"Paul Lakeland's Church: Living Communion seizes the moment of a church on the brink of change and points the direction forward. He defines the church realistically through its marks, and leads us through the serious internal and external challenges to its authentic witness. Attentive to the laity, he then builds a practical strategy for moving beyond survival to revival. All this in limpid accessible prose: brilliance in simplicity. This authoritative book will appeal to everyone who has a stake in the Catholic Church in North America today." ...Roger Haight, SJ, Scholar in Residence, Union Theological Seminary

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Cardinal Mahony: A Novel

ISBN: 9780964664296
Author(s): Robert Blair Kaiser, Publisher: Humble-bee Press

As serialised on Catholica. An excellent Christmas gift for a friend.
BOOK DESCRIPTION
An American bishop gets kidnapped outside his cabin in the High Sierras one snowy morning in November 2008 by three liberation theologians who look like terrorists. They take him off to southern Mexico in his own helicopter and put him on trial for his sins in front of an international television audience. A jury of his peers, six retired Latin American bishops, find him guilty, and give him a surprising sentence. The bishop falls in love with his kidnappers and leads the American Catholic Church into a radical new way of being, still Catholic but aggressively accountable to the people, which is to say, aggressively American. Now Available for only $22.25!

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Soul Searching: The Journey of Thomas Merton DVD

ISBN: 9781920721633
Author(s): Morgan Atkinson, Publisher: John Garratt Publishing

REVIEWS:
"Soul Searching is a powerful, rich and rewarding meditation on the life of Thomas Merton. It not only provides valuable insights into who Merton was and why he wrote as he did, but invites viewers to look deeply inside themselves as well, using Merton's words and the reflections of both scholars and those who knew him personally." ...Paul Wilkes, Writer, Director, Co-Producer of the 1985 PBS documentary "Merton: A Film Biography"

"Soul Searching is a film that integrates Merton's life and his important insights as highlighted by many people in the film who truly understand that message. It could only have been produced by someone who 'gets it' — someone who is soul searching and on the journey himself. Atkinson is representing all those people whose lives have been influenced or changed by Thomas Merton, and as such, 'Soul Searching' is a both a work of gratitude and a gift to those who will discover Merton's transforming vision through this film." ...Robert Toth, Executive Director, The Merton Institute for Contemplative Living
 

"With grace and candor, Morgan Atkinson captures the diverse — sometimes contradictory — aspects of Thomas Merton's personality and life in this thorough and moving portrait of the brilliant Trappist monk whose writing continues to attract and influence readers around the world." ...Dianne Aprile, author of "Gethsemani, Place of Peace and Paradox"

"Viewing Morgan Atkinson's film on Thomas Merton proved to be a profoundly religious experience. It brings out so well the paradoxical character of Merton, the monk, poet, peace activist, and spiritual writer who influenced the lives of so many during his short life. Highly recommended." ...Br. Patrick Hart, monk of Gethsemani and Merton's last secretary.

"Thomas Merton could easily be called the greatest spiritual writer of the 20th century in English-speaking America" ...Lawrence Cunningham.

"I find Merton, not so much a relic of the '60s, rather I don't know if we've caught up with him yet." ...Sr. Kathleen Deignan
 

DVD DESCRIPTION
Thomas Merton — Trappist monk, 'believing beatnik', brilliant author of books, essays and poetry, all rooted in his lifelong search for meaning. He is one of the most authentic and enduring voices of the 20th century, a man who truly lived the search he writes about.

Now here is the documentary that goes to the heart of Merton's spiritual journey. Award-winning producer Morgan Atkinson spent years researching Merton's work, as well as interviewing Merton friends, scholars and authorities on the spiritual life. Atkinson's cameras reveal life at the Abbey of Gethsemani, Merton's home of 27 years, as well as Merton's path in New York City, Redwoods Monastery (California) and Christ in the Desert Monastery (New Mexico). The picture that emerges from Atkinson's study provides provocative insights into the interior landscape of one of the spiritual giants of modern times while capturing the haunting physical beauty of the geography that both nurtured and shaped Merton.

Soul Searching provides provocative insights into the interior landscape of one of the spiritual giants of modern times while capturing the haunting physical beauty of the geography that both nurtured and shaped Merton.

Those interviewed on the DVD include Fr. Daniel Berrigan, Anthony Padovano, Michael Mott, Dom John Eudes Bamberger, Br. Paul Quenon, Lawrence Cunningham, Paul Elie, Christine Bochen, Robert Inchausti, Martin Marty, Sr. Elena Malits, Colman McCarthy, Jonathan Montaldo, Fr. John Dear, Sr. Kathleen Deignan and others.

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