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Pope John Paul II is a man who can 'only be known from within', as he himself said. Through his story, this book uncovers the spiritual message of the life of Karol Josef Wojty¿a. Often called 'John Paul the Great' - and Time magazine's 'Man of the Century' - he had a truly remarkable pontificate: the collapse of Communism as a power-block, the introduction of World Youth Days, the teaching on the Theology of the Body, the missionary journeys to country after country. Now declared a saint, he joins the ranks of those canonised by the Church: in exploring his spiritual life, we can learn what inspired and nourished this great man and share the spiritual journey with him.Karol Wojty¿a was a very private person and rarely spoke of his interior life. Though deeply rooted in Poland, he was heavily influenced by Spanish mysticism. This is a not a man easily categorised - an intellectual giant, a philosopher of brilliance, a widely read academic - and we will never know the battles he had in co-operating with God's grace.Pope John Paul II's exhortation 'Do not be afraid!' with which he opened his pontificate alluded to a simple self-giving to God. Christ was at the centre of John Paul's being. He was able to inspire and uplift people on an extraordinary scale, because he lived with daily faith and courage. Studying the inner life of this most remarkable man - philosopher, poet, playwright, priest, Pope - we come to understand that at its heart were simplicity and joy.

One of the most hotly-debated topics today in the Catholic Church concerns the role of women. Jane Coll upholds as binding the Church teaching that they cannot be ordained as priests. She then explores whether women could be ordained deaconesses. The author takes a new look at this issue and seeks an answer that is compatible with the teachings of Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium. She has based her work on the premise that the Church cannot introduce any changes that contradict the deposit of Revelation. By discussing the meaning of the Sacrament of Ordination and the role of women in the Church under the teachings of Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium she indicates that, while the Church could not ordain women as priests, it could ordain them as deacons. However, are such deaconesses part of the sacrament of Order or are they sacramentals? Could the whole issue of women's ordination be side-stepped by creating an order of non-ordained deaconesses with wide parish responsibilities? This book attempts to answer these questions as well as a host of others on this fascinating and topical theme.

In historical studies of English Catholicism, the eighteenth century, described as a period of 'persecution without martyrdom', has been largely passed over. That neglect is wholly unwarranted. The foundation of the modern Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales dates to 1688 and over the next century and a half Catholic recusants overcame discrimination and oppression to win full citizenship; and, by degrees, the mission emerged from its seclusion in rural backwaters to take a prominent place in the cities and towns. Moreover, the defining characteristics of the old recusant community changed almost completely, amounting to nothing less than a radical transformation of their social structure and outlook. This is an important study of post-Reformation English Catholic history in one of the traditional strongholds of recusancy. It consists of a careful and extensive survey of both laity and clergy and shows how they bravely held their own in the wider society of the north-east despite their deprivations. A major feature of the book is the collection of the individual histories of all the chapels and churches in the region from their foundation. Such a comprehensive account has not been attempted before, and is therefore a major contribution to the narrative of the development of English Catholicism.

When in 1993 Aidan Nichols revived the long-dormant idea of an Anglican Uniate Church, united with the See of Peter but not absorbed, the reaction of many was incredulity. The ideal of modern Ecumenism was, surely, the corporate reunification of entire Communions. This he roundly declared to be unrealistic, for the Protestant and Liberal elements in Anglican history (and Anglicanism's present reality) could never be digested by Roman stomachs. What was feasible was, rather, the reconciliation of a select body Catholic enough to be united, and Anglican enough not to be absorbed. Just over a dozen years later Pope Benedict XVI, responding to the petitions of various Anglican bishops, promulgated the Apostolic Constitution Apostolorum coetibus and the deed was done. The three 'Ordinariates' now established for 'Catholics of the Anglican Patrimony' in Britain, Australia and North America have been described as the first tangible fruit of Catholic Ecumenism. In this short book Nichols reflects on the historical, theological, and liturgical issues involved. He also shows the congruence of the new development with Benedict's wider thinking, and outlines a specific missionary vocation for reconciled Anglicans in England.

In Christifideles Laici (1988), Pope John Paul II exhorts his readers to recognize that "The inviolability of the person, which is a reflection of the absolute inviolability of God, finds its primary and fundamental expression in the inviolability of human life." For this great champion of life, "the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights ... the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture-is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination." This is the conviction that prompted Edward Short to write Culture and Abortion, a study which looks at how our own culture betrays the inviolability of life by invoking what feminists call 'reproductive rights' to justify killing children in the womb. Examining the scourge of abortion from a cultural perspective, Edward Short draws on history, literature and the encyclicals of popes to show how defending the right to life can help us to reaffirm an understanding of culture that is based not on human pride or human power but on what Pope Paul II calls the "civilization of life and love." Wide-ranging and incisive, Culture and Abortion takes a fresh and provocative look at the often unacknowledged evil that continues to define our culture of death.

JULIAN OF NORWICH, England's greatest mystic, became the first woman to write in the English language when she recorded her Sixteen Showings revealing an intimate message of God's love and well-being for his human family. In the week of May 8, 1375, she suffered a series of visions centring on the final sufferings of Christ. Following this overwhelming experience, she became an anchorite in a cell attached to the tiny church of St Julian in the city of Norwich. And here she spent more than twenty years in prayerful contemplation, eventually recording her Showings. The first woman to write in the English tongue, her writings only came to the fore at the beginning of the twentieth century; they have gained a growing audience worldwide ever since.John Skinner's modern translation, A Revelation of Love (published by Gracewing in 2004), with its inclusive language offered a fresh approach to Julian's powerful message of God's love for his human family. The aim of his latest work is to enable newcomers to Julian to understand her complex theology and penetrate her deepest meaning. Using the major part of his original translation, Skinner inserts commentary and interpretation into the text. The result is a flowing account of Julian's work where her voice is to be heard ever more clearly.

The Servants of God Mother Riccarda Hambrough and Mother Katherine Flanagan, English women called to serve the Church as Bridgettine nuns, provided a courageous witness during the Second World War, sheltering Jews from Nazi persecution. Their story is the story of many religious in wartime Italy, and it provides a special insight into the role of the Church, often much misunderstood, and of Pope Pius XII himself. Here is a clear account of the inspirational lives of these two holy women, and of the heroic stance of the Pope himself. Mother Riccarda is remembered especially for helping to hide about sixty Italian Jews from the Nazis during the Second World War in her Rome convent, the Casa di Santa Brigida. Born in 1887, she was baptised at St Mary Magdalene's Church, Brighton, at the age of four after her parents converted to the Catholic faith. The parish was then in the Southwark diocese. She was guided towards the Bridgettine Order by Father Benedict Williamson, who was the Parish Priest of St Gregory's Parish, Earlsfield, between 1909 and 1915. Sister Katherine Flanagan was baptised at St Gregory's Church, Earlsfield. She too, was guided by Fr Benedict Williamson and joined the Bridgettine sisters. She spent many years at the Bridgettine convent in the Piazza Farnese, Rome, and later became the Mother Superior to various Bridgettine communities: Lugano (1928), England (1931), and Vadstena (1935).

After a first part, which is critical of a philosophical vision and which leads from the search for a provisional morality to a morality provisional by nature, this work analyzes the problem of moral and social values in an attempt to arrive at a social morality shared by all. A series of premises is discovered, and they are inalienable - such as work, the person, responsibility, pluralism, the ethics of conflict, the right to truth, a sense of limits, faith in society, citizenship, brotherhood, and their corollaries: freedom, dignity, equality, justice, solidarity, and others, as well - which are the cornerstones of a social life in which all people can fulfil their own, most legitimate aspirations. These social values, in a climate of growing security, make the development of intelligence and growth of culture possible. These aspirations are what characterize human nature.The book concludes with a very brief itinerary for an historical analysis, a draft to enable further research, with the intention of bringing out the fact that despite some recurring pessimistic views, the pathway of humanity is accompanied by a constant effort to improve, even though at times it is strewn with frustrations and dangerous phases of political abnormality.

Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890) was one of the most eminent and controversial figures of the nineteenth century. His influence spread far beyond the country of his birth, the century in which he lived, and the Church in which he ended his life: he is not only of great importance in the history of religious thought but is known to a much wider circle for his hymns, his books, the text of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius and the Oratories he founded in Birmingham and London. His religious thought laid the foundations for the second Vatican Council. He is widely loved and remembered¿by Catholics and non-Catholics alike¿as a saintly and gentle figure: yet his conversion to the Church of Rome sparked off one of the bitterest and more divisive controversies of the Victorian age, and one which lost him friends and respect, and was to sever him from his beloved University of Oxford. Brian Martin's sympathetic study combines biography with a critical assessment of Newman's achievements. He takes us through from Newman's birth in London and his school-days in Ealing to his death in the Birmingham Oratory, by way of his brilliant university career in Oxford, his leading part as an Anglican clergyman in the Oxford Movement, his conversion to Roman Catholicism, his involvement in the foundation of the National University of Ireland, and his eventual elevation to the Cardinalate. Unlike previous biographies, Dr Martin has made full use of the extensive Letters and Diaries so as to bring out the human side of this saintly man. His major works, such as his great autobiography, Apologia pro Vita sua, and his novel, Loss and Gain, are discussed in the context of his life.

Teresa of Avila was an intensely loving person. The deeper her union with God, the more resolute her devotion to others. Most of all she loved her young spiritual director Gracián. This gave rise to all kinds of envy and misunderstanding in the Order. The saint herself wrote imperiously: 'I can permit myself, my father, to show you a great deal of love, but not all nuns may do this.' Yet after the death of Teresa, Gracián, 'Father of the Reform' of the Carmelite Order, went through very hard times: exclusion from the Order, imprisonment by the Moors, homelessness. Posterity has felt obliged to pass over the life of this prudent and lovable priest in silence.This book compares the intensity of feeling reflected in the letters of the Saint, who wrote almost every day to 'her father' and superior, with Gracián's thoughts about Mother Teresa and her love as recorded in his own often-humorous accounts of his adventures and misfortunes. Looked at through the lens of a sensitive interpretation, these writings (which do not include his letters to the Mother of the Order, now lost) give us a nuanced and very human picture of Teresa, a picture that is deeply moving.

Jeannie and Geraldine were excited to be moving house and going to a new school - but then a surprise visit from their aunt menat that everything had changed. Aunt Win, a teacher, had suddenly been left a big old hotel that she couldn't sell. And she had pupils in Switzerland waiting for her to start a course of private English lessons, and a soldier husband who was about to lead a big expedition to Africa. But one thing was clear - Aunt Win had no intention whatever of starting a school ...Come and meet Aunt Win, and Amamda and Alison, and the twins, and Shelley and Gabriele and Renuka - and discover the adventures at Four Winds!Julia Blythe is a pen-name of the well known Catholic journalist and broadcaster Joanna Bogle. A frequent guest on EWTN, she lectures regularly in the USA and Australia, as well as to schools, colleges, women's organisations and other groups in Britain. She is married to a lawyer and they live in London.

This Homiliary provides a comprehensive guide to doctrinally based preaching for the entire Church year, presented in the Dominican tradition: a preaching of Scripture which takes doctrine as guide to the clarification of the Bible's main themes. Doctrine is necessary to preachers because in its absence the Scriptural claims and themes do not easily hang together. The grace the Word imparts always has a reference to the Mystical Body which mediates all the grace that is given by Christ as the Head. So, precisely as a fruit of grace, preaching is necessarily related to ecclesial awareness. Doctrine ensures that preaching does not fall short of its true dimensions - expressing the biblical revelation, the faith of the Church. The second, third, and fourth volumes of Year of the Lord's Favour cover between them the Temporal Cycle of the Church of the Roman rite: this fourth volume furnishes texts for Weekdays through the Year; the second for the Privileged Seasons - Advent, Christmastide, Lent and Eastertide; the third for Sundays through the Year. Preaching about the lives of the saints provides the subject matter of the first volume of the Homiliary.

This Homiliary provides a comprehensive guide to doctrinally based preaching for the entire Church year, presented in the Dominican tradition: a preaching of Scripture which takes doctrine as guide to the clarification of the Bible's main themes. Doctrine is necessary to preachers because in its absence the Scriptural claims and themes do not easily hang together. The grace the Word imparts always has a reference to the Mystical Body which mediates all the grace that is given by Christ as the Head. So, precisely as a fruit of grace, preaching is necessarily related to ecclesial awareness. Doctrine ensures that preaching does not fall short of its true dimensions - expressing the biblical revelation, the faith of the Church. The second, third, and fourth volumes of Year of the Lord's Favour cover between them the Temporal Cycle of the Church of the Roman rite: this third volume furnishes texts for Sundays through the Year; the second for the Privileged Seasons - Advent, Christmastide, Lent and Eastertide; the fourth for Weekdays through the Year. Preaching about the lives of the saints provides the subject matter of the first volume of the Homiliary.

This Homiliary provides a comprehensive guide to doctrinally based preaching for the entire Church year, presented in the Dominican tradition: a preaching of Scripture which takes doctrine as guide to the clarification of the Bible's main themes. Doctrine is necessary to preachers because in its absence the Scriptural claims and themes do not easily hang together. The grace the Word imparts always has a reference to the Mystical Body which mediates all the grace that is given by Christ as the Head. So, precisely as a fruit of grace, preaching is necessarily related to ecclesial awareness. Doctrine ensures that preaching does not fall short of its true dimensions - expressing the biblical revelation, the faith of the Church. The second, third, and fourth volumes of Year of the Lord's Favour cover between them the Temporal Cycle of the Church of the Roman rite: this second volume furnishes texts for the Privileged Seasons - Advent, Christmastide, Lent and Eastertide; the third for Sundays through the Year; the fourth for Weekdays through the Year. Preaching about the lives of the saints provides the subject matter of the first volume of the Homiliary.

This Homiliary provides a comprehensive guide to doctrinally based preaching for the entire Church year, presented in the Dominican tradition: a preaching of Scripture which takes doctrine as guide to the clarification of the Bible's main themes. Doctrine is necessary to preachers because in its absence the Scriptural claims and themes do not easily hang together. The grace the Word imparts always has a reference to the Mystical Body which mediates all the grace that is given by Christ as the Head. So, precisely as a fruit of grace, preaching is necessarily related to ecclesial awareness. Doctrine ensures that preaching does not fall short of its true dimensions which expresses the biblical revelation, the faith of the Church. Preaching about the lives of the saints is a partial exception to these principles - every saint throws light on some aspect of the mystery of Christ and the Church - and provides the subject matter of the first volume of Year of the Lord's Favour. The second, third, and fourth volumes of the Homiliary cover between them the Temporal Cycle of the Church of the Roman rite: the second volume furnishes texts for the Privileged Seasons - Advent, Christmastide, Lent and Eastertide; the third for Sundays through the Year; the fourth for Weekdays through the Year.

Fr John Edwards offers us answers to the ancient questions about God's existence and His will. In exploring the process known as 'discernment of spirits' he draws on the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola.One of the merits of this useful book is that it takes seriously what we are as human beings, created by God, and shows how living in Christ enables us to express our true humanity in the way we live. Its practical advice will be especially useful to priests called to guide others in the spiritual life, while it will also give great help to those who are perplexed about their beliefs. In both respects Fr John Edwards shows himself aware of the way in which people are affected by contemporary secular thought and its inadequacy to take account of human nature and its real needs.'It is good to have these important truths put before us in a clear and uncluttered way. I welcome Fr Edwards' approach warmly'. Archbishop Mario Conti'Having made a thirty-day retreat some years ago, I recognise in Fr Edwards' book the pure well-spring of Jesuit spirituality. If you thirst for water of the spirit, you will find here an oasis in the desert. I thoroughly recommend it.' Sr Briege McKenna OSC

Ways of Praying provides a thorough introduction to the many different methods of prayer in the Christian tradition, and allows the reader to understand their own prayer practice ¿ and go deeper. For over thirty years this little book has provided sure and helpful guidelines for developing a personal life of prayer."This book should prove a useful and easily available reminder to priests, religious and laity, and especially to young people, of the vital importance of prayer. Personal prayer is possible for everyone and is an indispensable means of fostering a close relationship with Christ Our Lord. I am particularly pleased to see the emphasis given to the reception of the sacraments, especially the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and also the part played by sacramentals in prayer. I hope that Ways of Praying will be read and used regularly by all those who desire to grow in the spiritual life." Cardinal Basil Hume

When asked to comment on this, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) remarked: '...it is a fact that the choice of "little things" and "little people" is characteristic of God's dealings with humanity. We see this characteristic first of all in the fact that God chooses the earth as his theatre of action, this grain of dust in the universe; and in the fact that there Israel, a virtually powerless people, becomes the vehicle for his own action; and again in the fact that a completely unknown village, Nazareth, becomes his home; finally, in the fact that the Son of God is born at Bethlehem, outside the village in a stable. All of this is consistent' (God and the World, p. 213).Francis and Thérèse Great 'Little' Saints expresses how this 'characteristic of God's dealings' with men and women is at the heart of the spiritual life of Francis of Assisi and Thérèse of Lisieux. If Baptism plunges us into the Paschal Mystery of Christ, this man of the thirteenth century and this woman of the nineteenth expressed its energy of dying to self and rising to life in Christ through a path of littleness. The Poverello, 'Little Poor One', wanted his brothers and sisters to live among their peers by a comparative adjective minor (lesser) that would challenge them always to be the least. Centuries later Thérèse recognized herself as a 'little flower' and described her journey of the spiritual life as the petite voie (little way). Both chose that same characteristic of God's dealing with our humanity to deal with his divinity. This book pursues growth in an awareness of being little, of focusing on the little people, the little things, and the little actions of daily life! This is the challenge of being lesser before others as we are before God! Such is the energy of Francis and Thérèse that needs to be revitalized so that the hands of those of us in the twenty-first century may join theirs in making the world a new Bethlehem.

Is it still possible to say something new about love? Although we all claim to know what love is, the great variety of meanings that the word has makes it difficult to say what it really is. In this book, the author offers an attractive and clear exposition of the essential elements of love.When we try to understand what love is, we do it in the hope that it will help us improve our relationships and our lives. To go through life without knowing what love is, is like driving in the city of Los Angeles without a map-one gets lost. The chapters of this book are like a "map of life," in the sense that they deal with such important issues as the nature of love, the nuptial meaning of the body, the meaning of loyalty to our commitments, the connection between love and excellence, the importance of forgiveness, and the relationship between love and freedom.

Los siete sacramentos están en el centro de la vida y de la experiencia cristiana, porque por medio de ellos la Santísima Trinidad, alcanza la vida y el corazón de las personas. Actualmente este libro es uno de los pocos que ofrece una síntesis global de los temas principales del misterio sacramental, en el cual el universo humano y divino, material y espiritual, están íntimamente ligados. Paul Haffner ilustra el hecho que los sacramentos tienen un significado central en la Iglesia, pues con ellos el pueblo de Dios se reconcilia con el Padre, mediante Su Hijo, por obra del Espíritu Santo. El libro propone algunas cuestiones clásicas, como las condiciones para la validez y la eficacia de los sacramentos, desarrolla los temas del ministro, el receptor y los efectos de estos misterios sacros, asimismo trata algunas particulares problemáticas, como la necesidad del bautismo, el carácter sacrificial de la Eucaristía y la naturaleza del matrimonio. En el análisis de cada sacramento, el autor explora también las nuevas cuestiones ecuménicas y su influencia sobre la comprensión sacramental cristiana. Este libro, escrito originalmente en inglés, ha sido también publicado en idioma italiano y ruso.

Gavan Duffy's book is a first of its kind. It deals specifically with the development of Catholic Social Thought in its application to the rights and duties of labour. Beginning with sacred Scripture, it discusses those passages of both the Old and New testaments, which evidence biblical teaching in respect of what we would today call " the worker". The biblical attitude to the worker can be condensed to two words, "justice and fairness". The book discusses the institution of slavery in the ancient world, and shows how the advent of Christianity and its tenets, had the effect of ameliorating the condition of slaves throughout the Roman Empire. Labour and Justice then traces the evolution of slavery to serfdom during the early medieval period and the development of the "guild system" in which the Church was a major participant. The book discusses the decline of the guilds following the Reformation, the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the rise of the Proletarian class, and consequent division of society into Capitalist and Proletarian classes. The book discusses how Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum, promulgated in 1891, was in many ways the Church's answer to The Communist Manifesto of Marx and Engels published in 1848. Beginning with Leo XIII, often called the 'workers' pope', the Church has built a body of teaching on labour and capital through the encyclicals and statements of successive popes, up to the present time. This body of teaching has been augmented by Gaudium et Spes, one of the documents of Vatican II, by Vatican submissions to international forums ,and by the declarations of episcopal conferences. Gavan Duffy discusses the application and interpretation of the encyclicals Rerum Novarum and Quadragesimo Anno by those notable men of letters, Hilaire Belloc and Gilbert Keith Chesterton, whose writings have had a profound influence on Catholic social thought since the late 1920s. In the later chapters of the book, the author examines at length, the antinomy between Catholic social thought in its application to the employee, and many of the practices of what he terms 'Neo liberal capitalism', or, in its global application, the philosophy of 'Globalism'. He argues that the ascendancy of the neo-liberal philosophy has resulted in a regression of employee rights, as many of the 19th century attitudes to labour re appear. He says that once again, labour is increasingly regarded by capital and government, as merely one more factor in the processes of production. This, he argues, is contrary to Church teaching. Gavan Duffy raises the question as to whether the modern corporation, has departed from the model so ardently supported by Adam Smith, and raises the need for greater accountability by corporations to "the people," who originally conceded the benefits which corporations take for granted. The book examines work structures in which the employees are recognised as partners in the enterprise. It also looks at cooperative structures, such as those in the Mondragon region of the Basque country in Spain, as alternatives to traditional work structures. Labour and Justice: The worker in Catholic Social Teaching is a valuable addition to the literature on the social teaching of the Church - George Cardinal Pell, Archbishop of SydneyGavan Duffy was born in India in 1946 emigrated to Australia in 1951 with hisparents. He became involved in Catholic Action when a student of eighteen years of age, and has maintained that involvement for the greater part of his life. He was admitted to the Bar in 1974. His previous book, Demons and Democrats (2003), is a study aof the events leading up to the split in the Australian Labour Party of the 1950s.