Carl E. Olson's Blog, page 246

"Just a beginning of new vitality in religious life"

"Just a beginning of new vitality in religious life" | Ann Carey

A Catholic World Report interview with Mother Clare Millea, ASCJ, about the now completed apostolic visitation of U.S. women religious

The apostolic visitation of U.S. women religious that was initiated by the Vatican on Dec. 22, 2008, to study the quality of life of U.S. sisters has entered a new phase. A January 9, 2011, press release (available as a PDF file) from the visitation office announced that Mother Mary Clare Millea, ASCJ, has given the Vatican an overall summary of her findings as well as most of the reports on individual orders.

Mother Clare, who is superior general of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, had been appointed apostolic visitator by Cardinal Franc Rode, then-prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL), who initiated the visitation. Mother Clare invited superiors of all U.S. women's apostolic orders to contact her, and she requested each order to return a comprehensive questionnaire about the order.

Mother Clare also appointed visitors to call on about 100 religious orders, nearly one-third of all the orders of women religious in the U.S. The 74 visitors were all Americans who are members of religious orders themselves, and mostly sisters. To insure confidentiality, the identity of the visitors was revealed only to the congregation receiving the visit.

U.S. religious now await consideration of the reports by CICLSAL, which has a new prefect—Archbishop João Braz de Aviz—and a new secretary—Archbishop Joseph Tobin, CSSR, an American. The Vatican has declined to offer a timeline for those deliberations or to give any hint about what decisions might emerge from the apostolic visitation.

Catholic World Report was able to reach Mother Clare by e-mail even though she is traveling out of the country on business for her order. She could not discuss any of the contents of her reports, but did respond to questions about some other aspects of the visitation.

Catholic World Report: The visitation was initiated by Cardinal Franc Rodé. He has since retired, and CICLSAL now has a new prefect and secretary. Is it your sense that they will give the visitation reports their close attention?

Mother Clare: Both Archbishop João Braz de Aviz, prefect of CICLSAL, and Archbishop Joseph Tobin, secretary, have consistently

shown great interest in the apostolic visitation. My impression is that they and their staff are carefully studying the submitted reports.

Catholic World Report: Some critics of the visitation have charged that women religious will get no feedback from the visitation, but you had said at the beginning of the visitation that every order would receive a report back from the Vatican. Is that still correct?

Mother Clare: At the beginning of the apostolic visitation, Cardinal Rodé assured me that the religious institutes would receive feedback from the dicastery. The current officials have expressed their intentions to do so as well.

Catholic World Report: Americans joke that the Vatican thinks of time in terms of decades or centuries, while we Americans think in terms of days and months. Naturally, people are anxious to receive some feedback on the visitation. Is it your sense that an effort will be made to give that feedback within the next couple of years?

Read the entire interview at www.CatholicWorldReport.com...

New: "Christianity and Democracy" (2nd edition) by Jacques Maritain

New from Ignatius Press:

Christianity and Democracy: The Rights of Man and The Natural Law (2nd Edition)

by Jacques Maritain

Few political philosophers have laid such stress upon the organic and dynamic characters of human rights, rooted as they are in natural law, as did the great 20th century philosopher, Jacques Maritain.

As this important work reveals, the philosophy of Maritain on natural law and human rights is complemented by and can only be properly understood in the light of his teaching on Christianity and democracy and their relationship. Maritain shows that Christi­anity cannot be made subservient to any political form or regime, that democracy is linked to Christianity, and that in order for democracy to thrive, it must reflect certain values historically derived from the Gospel.

He also argues that personalist or organic democracy provides a fuller measure of freedom and fulfillment, and that it takes shape under the inspiration of the Gospel. Even the modern democracies we have, with all their weaknesses, represent an historic gain for the person and they spring, he urges, from the very Gospel they so wantonly repudiate!

"Maritain was one of the pioneers of the Catholic human rights revolution, which changed the course of 20th century politics. While helping the Church through a genuine development of social doctrine, Maritain helped forge some of the tools that eventually broke through the Berlin Wall."

-George Weigel, Ethics and Public Policy Center

"In these passionate words one encounters the mind of Maritain in all its vigor and variety. His reflections on the challenges facing the world's democratic experiments-starkly realistic yet infused with Christian hope-are as timely today as they were seventy years ago."
-Mary Ann Glendon, Harvard University

"This has been one of my all-time favorite "Samson books" - those little books that take down Goliaths. Almost single-handedly, Maritain launched an hypothesis on the Christian (and Jewish) origins of the foundational axioms of democracy, of which many atheists are now coming to admit the truth. The sheer power of his hypothesis is more evident with every passing year. The republication of this classic is therefore bound to kindle longing for a deeper, more just reevaluation."
-Michael Novak, American Enterprise Institute

"Maritain's achievement as a political thinker was to show that rightly understood, democratic liberty depends on faith, and that to lose God is to lose Man himself. Maritain's argument is needed today more than ever."
-J. Budziszewski, University of Texas

"Maritain was the most well-known Catholic philosopher who sought to reconcile the "rights" and "democracy" principles of the modern state with classic western philosophical traditions. He was a man of true wisdom."
-James V. Schall, S. J., Georgetown University

"The decision to reissue the single-volume edition of Maritain's classic works could not have come at a more urgent time, a time when, perhaps as never before, the future of democracy hangs in the balance."
- Raymond Dennehy, University of San Francisco

Jacques Maritain, a highly regarded French philosopher, teacher and writer in the 20th century, was one of the principal exponents of Thomism and an influential interpreter of the thought of St Thomas Aquinas. He lived for many years in the United States, and taught at Princeton University and Columbia University. After WWII, he served as the French ambassador to the Vatican. He also helped draft the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).

Lighthouse Catholic Media and the New Evangelization

An introduction to the good work being done by Lighthouse Catholic Media to share, explain, and pass on the Catholic Faith:

"A prophet without a gospel is worse than a rebel without a cause."

That is just one of several great quotes from Russell Kirk (made back in 1957) that are presented by Dr. Brad Birzer, Russell Amos Kirk Chair in American Studies and Associate Professor of History at Hillsdale College, in a post on The Imaginative Conservative blog:

The following quotes are all taken from: Kirk, "The Spi'led Praist and the Stickit Minister," The Newman Review (Michaelmas, 1957): 4-8. Apologies for any typos.

"'He that lives in a college, after his mind is sufficiently stocked with learning,' Edmund Burke wrote while he was still a young man, 'is like a man who, having built and rigged a ship, should lock her up in a dry dock.' Now I submit that the principal threat to academic freedom in the United States comes from the dry-docked minds; the minds of ideologues within the walls of the Academy." (4)

"To feel one's self a prophet, but at the same time to insist, 'I am, and none else beside me,' is to indulge a most dangerous mood. A prophet without a gospel is worse than a rebel without a cause." (5) "For the intolerant zealot within the Academy, having denied the existence of a supernatural order and enduring Truth, takes it for his whole duty to turn society upside down. His evangelical zeal is diverted to the demolition of received opinions and things established. He conceives it to be his mission to gnaw at the foundations of society; to convert his students to a detestation of whatever is old and enervated; to elbow out of the Academy all those among his colleagues who will not conform utterly to his own boasted secular 'non-conformity' . . . . He is a bulldozer in a black gown." (5)

"The end of a university or college education is the apprehension of norms. The norm does not mean the average, the median, the mean, the mediocre, although positivistic pedants and ill-informed journalists would have endeavored to corrupt the word 'norm' to that usage. . . . A norm is an enduring standards. It is, if you will, a natural law, which we ignore at our peril. If is a rule of human conduct and a measure of public virtue. It is not, some professors of education to the contrary, merely a measure of average performance within a group. There is law for man, and law for thing; and it is through the apprehension of norms that we come to know the law divinely decreed for man's self-governance." (5) ...

"If a man depends altogether on the private bank and capital of his petty private reason, he is risking his nature at the Devil's chess-game. But if a man fortifies himself within the disciplines of humane learning, he draws upon the wealth and power of the ages, and so is a fit match even for a diabolical adversary." (8)

Read them all: "The Christian Humanist: Neither Stickit Minister nor Sp'iled Praist".

Secular Theocracy: The Foundations and Folly of Modern Tyranny

Secular Theocracy: The Foundations and Folly of Modern Tyranny | David J. Theroux | Ignatius Insight

Part 1:

We live in an increasingly secularized world of massive and pervasive nation states in which traditional religion, especially Christianity, is ruled unwelcome and even a real danger on the basis of a purported history of intolerance and "religious violence." This is found in most all "public" domains, including the institutions of education, business, government, welfare, transportation, parks and recreation, science, art, foreign affairs, economics, entertainment, and the media. A secularized public square policed by government is viewed as providing a neutral, rational, free, and safe domain that keeps the "irrational" forces of religion from creating conflict and darkness. And we are told that real progress requires expanding this domain by pushing religion ever backward into remote corners of society where it has little or no influence. In short, modern America has become a secular theocracy with a civic religion of national politics (nationalism) occupying the public realm in which government has replaced God.

For the renowned Christian scholar and writer C.S. Lewis, such a view was fatally flawed morally, intellectually, and spiritually, producing the twentieth-century rise of the total state, total war, and mega-genocides. For Lewis, Christianity provided the one true and coherent worldview that applied to all human aspirations and endeavors: "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." (The Weight of Glory)
In his book, The Discarded Image, Lewis revealed that for Medieval Christians, there was no sacred/secular divide and that this unified, theopolitical worldview of hope, joy, liberty, justice, and purpose from the loving grace of God enabled them to discover the objective, natural-law principles of ethics, science, and theology, producing immense human flourishing. Lewis described the natural law as a cohesive and interconnected objective standard of right behavior:

This thing which I have called for convenience the Tao, and which others may call Natural Law or Traditional Morality or the First Principles of Practical Reason or the First Platitudes, is not one among a series of possible systems of value. It is the sole source of all value judgements. If it is rejected, all values are rejected. If any value is retained, it is retained. The effort to refute it and raise a new system of value in its place is self-contradictory. There has never been, and never will be, a radically new judgement of value in the history of the world. What purport to be new systems or (as they now call them) "ideologies," all consist of fragments from the Tao itself. Arbitrarily wrenched from their context in the whole and then swollen to madness in their isolation, yet still owing to the Tao and to it alone such validity as they possess. If my duty to my parents is a superstition, then so is my duty to posterity. If justice is a superstition, then so is my duty to my country or my race. If the pursuit of scientific knowledge is a real value, then so is conjugal fidelity. (The Abolition of Man)

And in his recent book, The Victory of Reason, Rodney Stark has further shown "How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and the Success of the West." Similarly and prior to the rise of the secular nation-state in America, Alexis de Tocqueville documented in his 1835 volume, Democracy in America, the remarkable flexibility, vitality and cohesion of Christian-rooted liberty in American society with business enterprises, churches and aid societies, covenants and other private institutions and communities.

Read the entire essay on Ignatius Insight...

On Saint Anthony and the beginnings of monasticism, by Peter H. Görg

Originally posted last September, but perfectly appropriate for this day, the Feast of Saint Anthony, the Founder of Monasticism.

The Gospel and the Origin of Christian Monasticism | The Introduction to The Desert Fathers: Saint Anthony and the Beginnings of Monasticism | Peter H. Görg

"They build houses as though they were going to live forever, and they eat as though they were going to die tomorrow!" This description of his fellow citizens goes back to one of the Greek philosophers of antiquity, but it could just as well have originated in our day. At the same time it expresses something of the general human endeavor to settle down in this world and not to miss anything. What matters, supposedly, is not the number of years but rather the intensity of one's life, by which is generally meant in turn the greatest possible potential for experiencing pleasure. Since this attitude can be found in all ages and in all places, the very existence of the Christian monk represents a protest. This protest is directed against a hedonistic society that sees its sole purpose for existence in maximizing pleasure and in fun, and likewise against a form of narrow-minded bourgeois existence that is satisfied with managing a pleasant life in this world. From this perspective the monk is countercultural, someone who is striving precisely for another sort of life.

The very term "monk" can be interpreted in several ways, which at the same time reflect the living reality. Whereas the translation "alone" (in Greek mónos) reminds us more of the hermit, we can also speak—as John Cassian, for example, does—about someone who leads a "singular" or "uncommon life". The Christian monk knows only one goal: the absolute submission of his whole being to God by imitating Christ. This imitation assumes its concrete form chiefly in following the so-called evangelical counsels of obedience, poverty, and celibacy [Ehelosigkeit]. So as to be able to live out this imitation of Christ radically and totally, the monk leaves the "world". He renounces all natural ties and at the same time frees himself from those temptations that accompany material possession.

The origin of Christian monasticism can be seen in the Gospel itself, in Christ's invitations to leave everything for his name's sake (cf. Mt 19:29), and likewise in the example of the Redeemer, of the God-man who in his earthy life modeled the aforementioned counsels. And already in the Acts of the Apostles we encounter monastic elements, when it is reported about the early Christian community that they were united in personal poverty, in fellowship, and in the praise of God (cf. Acts 2:42-47; 4:32). Here we find also the beginnings of a special virginal state of life (Acts 21:9) and the first indications of asceticism. The ascetical way of life was realized in the first two Christian centuries chiefly in two forms. First there was itinerant asceticism, which was based primarily on the Scripture passages about the sending forth of the first disciples (see Lk 10:1-12) who roamed the world on missionary journeys. These ascetics are said to have been influential well into the early medieval period, although they were not always regarded favorably by the Church because of their sometimes disorderly way of life. The other and most common form was exemplified by those ascetics who lived in the family and the Christian community and formed, so to speak, their inner circle and spiritual center. They led an unmarried life, ready to give to the poor and to the community everything beyond what they needed to support themselves. Abstinence from wine and meat can be found in this early phase also, and among the ascetical women, who probably originated with the enrolled widows, one can discern a special vow of continence. As time went on, this asceticism, which consisted in renouncing food, sleep, and other amenities of life, naturally required reflection and correction again and again to keep it from falling short of its actual goal of perfection and becoming an exercise in hostility to the body.

It was not until the third century that a movement began in which the ascetics increasingly detached themselves from their social surroundings and separated themselves spatially from the world so as to lead the life of a hermit. This was the origin of eremitical monasticism, which was already accompanied by a certain monastic garb that was distinguished by its simplicity. The designation "hermit" comes from the Greek. Whereas the corresponding adjective eremos means "solitary" or "living in seclusion", the noun is used for both "solitude" and "desert", which brings us directly to our topic. In Latin the loan-word eremita acquired the meaning "recluse", which is familiar to us. Early on these hermits also recognized the need for a spiritual father so as not to go astray in their asceticism and spiritual life. He acquired the Greek title "Abbas", which in the time of Jesus was used to address the father of a family. Among the Desert Fathers one figure was especially preeminent: Abbas Anthony, who is also known as Anthony the Hermit [and Anthony the Abbot and Anthony the Great].

In the year 2006 the Church observed the 1650th anniversary of the death of the saintly hermit and abbot Anthony. Because of his greatness and importance he exemplifies the beginning of monastic life. This book is meant to contribute in some small way toward making Anthony the Great better known again to twenty-first-century Christians as well. Hence the focus of this presentation is the life and work of the saint. Incidentally from time to time there will be explanatory remarks to make it easier for the reader to understand the unfamiliar world of the ascetic. Moreover, in presenting the life of Anthony it will be necessary to call to mind again truths of the faith that have almost been buried in the sands of time, for instance, with regard to the possibility of miracles or the existence of purely spiritual beings. In order to corroborate the credibility of miraculous events we will refer in the appropriate places to similar incidents in the lives of modern saints. This presentation thereby clearly sets itself apart from many publications in recent decades that either completely deny the possibility and factuality of God's miraculous intervention in our world (in other words, the irruption of transcendence into immanence), or interpret it in purely symbolic terms, or else relegate it to the realm of psychology.

Scarcely any other saint has fascinated and inspired the artists of all ages as much as the Egyptian hermit. Painters such as Hieronymus Bosch, Matthias Griinewald, Pieter Brueghel, Lukas Cranach, or even Salvador Dali and Max Ernst repeatedly dealt with motifs from the life of the Abbot, and in literature there are numerous references and allusions to this great man, who was the bedrock of asceticism. Being an important saint of the Church he can help the faithfuldespite or precisely because of the strangeness of his foreign extraction, his way of life, and his thought-as a model along the path to sanctity. His experiences in the spiritual life and the ideas derived from it have a timeless beauty and validity.

For many centuries, furthermore, Christians in the East and the West have confidently turned to this saint and have experienced the help of his intercession. This book is meant to encourage all its readers to do so also, especially those, of course, who honor the hermit as their patron saint (Anthony, Antoinette, Anton, Toni, and so forth) or the patron of their parish.

The second part of this book presents other great figures who either were themselves among the Desert Fathers or were inspired by them. We will hear about the primordial hermit, Paul of Thebes, who is said to have sought seclusion in the desert many years even before Anthony. We will learn how real monasteries developed under the direction of Pachomius and how the monks discovered life in community as cenobites. The story of Syrian monasticism and of its particular exponents, like the pillar dweller Simeon, will be related, as well as the history of the monks in Asia Minor, headed by the great theologian and bishop Basil.

Although we then turn also to the further development of monasticism and thus leave the desert behind, it always remains in the background, because the entire monastic movement relied again and again on its sources in the desert. Indeed, the great promoters of monasticism and asceticism in the West often had one thing in common: in their early years they visited the monks in Egypt and Palestine. They set out on the arduous journey to visit the Desert Fathers and their disciples. And we too want to set out now on that journey.

More about the book:

The Desert Fathers: Saint Anthony and the Beginnings of Monasticism
by Peter H. Görg

• Also available in electronic book format

In the late third century, more and more people withdrew to the radical seclusion of the desert so as to live entirely for God under the direction of a spiritual father. Among these "Desert Fathers" one figure is especially preeminent: Saint Anthony the Hermit.

This book takes the reader back to the hour when monasticism was born and describes the life of those revolutionary Christians who sought God in the Egyptian desert. The focus of the book is the life and work of Saint Anthony, whose experiences of the spiritual life have a timeless beauty and validity, even for those not called to live as a monk.

The second half of the book presents other Desert Fathers, such as Paul of Thebes, Pachomius, and Simeon Stylites, as well as the great founders of the monastic communities in Western Europe who were inspired by them: John Cassian, Columban, and Benedict, for example.

"The monk's self-denial begins radically in precisely those departments of life which have perennially seemed to be the most important: ownership, self-determination and sexuality. At the same time those who admonish so uncomfortably become the salt that lends Christianity its original flavor. . . . Just as the saints are God's specific answer to the needs of a given time, so too are the religious orders that have been founded over the course of the centuries."
- Peter Görg

"These are the men who taught the world to pray - really pray. They fled to the desert to avoid the crowds, yet drew disciples from everywhere. They still do. They're drawing you and me, right now, to join them in the greatest adventure. Our desert begins in these beautiful pages by Peter Görg."
- Mike Aquilina, Author, The Fathers of the Church

Peter H. Görg studied philosophy and theology in the German universities of Vallendar, Fulda and Augsburg, where he received his doctorate in dogmatic theology in 2007. Dr. Görg is an assistant professor of systematic theology at the University of Koblenz. He has written numerous articles and reviews for theological journals.

Twelve bishops to take part in the Walk for Life West Coast 2012...

... event, which will be taking place this Saturday, January 21st. The California Catholic Daily reports:

San Francisco's 8th Annual Walk for Life West Coast on Jan. 21 should be the largest yet. It has certainly attracted the largest number of Catholic bishops ever.

Preceding the rally and Walk, 12 Catholic bishops will concelebrate the 9:30 a.m. Mass at San Francisco's Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption. Joining Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco on the altar will be Bishops William Justice, Robert McElroy, and Ignatius Wang of San Francisco; Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland, Robert Vasa of Santa Rosa, Stephen Blaire of Stockton, Rutilio del Riego of San Bernardino, Jaime Soto of Sacramento, Thomas Daly of San Jose, Daniel Walsh (emeritus) of Santa Rosa, and Tod Brown of Orange.

Speakers for the 2012 Walk include Dr. Lori Hoye of the Issues4Life Foundation (wife of pro-life hero Pastor Walter Hoye); pro-life OB-GYN Dr. Vansen Wong; abortion survivor Jacqui Stalnaker; and one of America's great orators, the Rev. Clenard Childress.

The piece also reports that Fr. Aris P. Metrakos, proto-presbyter of San Francisco's Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, will also be taking part in the event.

An estimated 50,00-0+ attended ast year's event.

The Walk for Life West Coast website states, "Once again this year EWTN will be broadcasting the event live via satellite on TV and Immaculate Heart Radio will be broadcasting the event live on the radio." And:

Due to a scheduling conflict, the Walk for Life will be unable to follow its familiar route from Justin Herman Plaza and along San Francisco's waterfront to Marina Green. Instead, we will be gathering at Civic Center Plaza at 11:00 am for the Info Fair to be followed by the rally at 12:30 pm. At 1:30 we will start walking down Market Street to Justin Herman Plaza. There will be no additional events at Justin Herman Plaza.

For more information, visit www.WalkForLifeWC.com.

God's Ecumenical Co-Pilot

God's Ecumenical Co-Pilot | Michael J. Miller | Catholic World Report

Cardinal Kurt Koch has been very busy since being named President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in July 2010.

During a lecture in Rome on December 15, 2011, the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity likened ecumenical dialogue to air travel: the Holy Spirit is the pilot, and you hope and pray that the plane lands safely.

Cardinal Kurt Koch, formerly Bishop of Basel (Switzerland), has been jetting around Europe since his appointment to his present position in the Roman Curia in July 2010. He accompanied the Holy Father during his recent pastoral visit to Germany and at the ecumenical service in Erfurt on September 23 read the Gospel passage containing Christ's prayer, "That all may be one." On October 3 in Heiligenkreuz Abbey near Vienna, he lectured on "The Ecumenical Dimension of the New Evangelization of Europe" at the Philosophical-Theological College named after Benedict XVI.

In Assisi later that month he introduced the sign of peace at the conclusion of the Day of Reflection, Dialogue and Prayer for Peace and Justice in the World. From November 12 to 16 he participated in a conference in Minsk (Belarus) on the contribution of Christian ethics to the formation of Europe. Then in Istanbul he personally delivered to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople the Pope's traditional greetings to the Orthodox Church on the Feast of St. Andrew, their patron.

In his lecture on December 15, Cardinal Koch put these wide-ranging efforts in a broader perspective. The talk might be described as his end-of-the-year, "State of the Reunion of Christians" message. In it he identified several changes and challenges in the Church's ecumenical dialogue:

For example in several churches we have a new reflection on their own confessional identity. That can be a great advantage, because one must have a clear identity in order to be in dialogue. It can also happen, though, that a group distances itself somewhat from ecumenism.

A second challenge is that the actual goal of ecumenism is becoming increasingly unclear. We have various concepts of unity, but we have no common goal. And that makes it difficult. After all, we cannot act according to the motto of the [late] Viennese comedian [Helmut] Qualtinger: "Well, I don't know where I'm going, but that way I get there sooner." Instead we must seek anew what the real goal is. And the reason why we have no common goal is actually because each church has its own notion of the unity of its church, and therefore it is necessary for us to reflect on what the nature of the Church really is.

The third challenge is presented by the new dialogue partners of the Catholic Church.

Read the entire piece on www.CatholicWorldReport.com...

New and upcoming Spring 2012 books from Ignatius Press

Here is a listing of books newly available or coming soon from Ignatius Press, with links and short descriptions:

Exodus (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible), by Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch. Available January 2012. Based on the Revised Standard Version - Second Catholic Edition, this volume leads readers through a penetrating study of the Book of Exodus using the biblical text itself and the Church's own guidelines for understanding the Bible.

The Gospel of John, 2nd Ed. (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible), by Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch. Available now. Ample notes accompany each page, providing fresh insights by renowned Bible teachers Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch, as well as time-tested interpretations from the Fathers of the Church.

10 Habits of Heathy Mothers: Reclaiming Our Passion, Purpose and Sanity, by Meg Meeker. Available now. Dr. Meeker puts her twenty-five years' experience as a practicing pediatrician and counselor into a sound, sane approach to reshaping the frustrating, exhausting lives of so many moms.

Saints Are Not Sad: Short Biographies of Joyful Saints, compiled by Frank Sheed. Available January 2012. What is a saint? One way to answer is to analyze sanctity, theologically and psychologically. Another way, which is the path Frank Sheed chose in creating this volume, is to show you a saint—or rather, since no two saints are alike—to show you a number of saints.

Thomist Realism and The Critique of Knowledge, by Étienne Gilson. Available January 2012. The highly regarded French philosopher brilliantly plumbs the depths of Thomistic Realism, and false Thomisms as well, in this answer to Kantian modernism.

Christianity and Democracy: The Rights of Man and The Natural Law (2nd Edition), by Jacques Maritain.  Available January 15, 2012. Maritain shows that Christi­anity cannot be made subservient to any political form or regime, that democracy is linked to Christianity, and that in order for democracy to thrive, it must reflect certain values historically derived from the Gospel.

Life Out Of Death: Meditations on the Paschal Mystery, by Hans Urs von Balthasar. Available February 2012. Death and dying are inseparably linked with life. They are self-evident and at the same time cannot be grasped by reason alone - they are ordinary, and yet so incredible. In these meditations, the acclaimed theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar investigates this great mystery.

Holy Men and Women From the Middle Ages and Beyond, by Pope Benedict XVI. February 2012. Pope Benedict XVI continues his exploration of the greatest teachers and role models in the history of the Church with these sketches of twenty-six men and women from the Middle Ages and beyond.

Saint Helena and the True Cross, by Louis de Wohl. Available February 2012. Set against the colorful background of power struggles in imperial Rome and battling Roman legions, this is the exciting story, written for young people, of St. Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, who found the Cross of Christ in Jerusalem.

Indivisible: Restoring Faith, Family and Freedom Before It's Too Late, by Jay Richards and James Robison. Available February 2012. Many books have been written on conservative politics. Many more have been written calling Christians to holiness and spiritual renewal. Very few, however, have managed to combine a clear explanation of the conservative political perspective with its corresponding personal and spiritual virtue.

Shadows and Images: A Novel, by Meriol Trevor. Available February 2012. This is the story of a Protestant young woman and her journey to the Roman Catholic Church. The fascinating novel is set in nineteenth-century England-a time when Catholicism was regarded with suspicion and prejudice against Catholics was commonplace.

Adam and Eve After the Pill: Paradoxes of the Sexual Revolution, by Mary Eberstadt. Available February 2012. Adam and Eve after the Pill goes beyond individual stories to examine as no book has before the effect of the revolution on social mores.

The True Icon: From the Shroud of Turin to the Veil of Manopello, by Paul Badde. Available March 2012. In this lavishly illustrated book, best-selling author Paul Badde sets out on a journey through Europe and the Holy Land as he traces the rich history of the Shroud.

When Hitler Took Austria: A Memoir of Heroic Faith by the Chancellor's Son, by Kurt & Janet von Schuschnigg. March 2012. Schuschnigg's memoir is a tribute to the faith, hope and perseverance of his family and the many people who took great risks in order to help them survive Nazi rule and the Second World War.

We Have Found Mercy: The Mystery of God's Merciful Love, by Christoph Cardinal Schoenborn. Available March 2012. The message of Divine Mercy as communicated through Sister Faustina is both a starting point and a recurring theme for Cardinal Schönborn's discussion of God's merciful love.

My Brother the Pope, by Georg Ratzinger. Available March 2012. This book is a unique window on an extraordinary family that lived through the difficult period of National Socialism in Germany. Those interested in knowing more about the early life of Benedict XVI will not be disappointed.

Fundamental Speeches from Five Decades, by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. Available March 2012. "When we read through [these speeches] again, we were surprised by their lasting relevance and are therefore presenting them as...fundamental speeches that display the breadth and core of the theological thought of Pope Benedict XVI." — Dr. Florian Schuller, Editor & Director of the Catholic Academy of Bavaria
 
The Voice of the Church at Prayer: Reflections on Liturgy and Language, by Fr. Uwe Michael Lang. Available March 2012. Pope Benedict XVI has made the liturgy a central theme of his pontificate, and he has paid special attention to the vitally important role of language in prayer. This historical and theological study of the changing role of Latin in the Roman Catholic Church sheds light on some of the Holy Father's concerns and some of his recent decisions about the liturgy.

Benedict XVI's Reform: The Liturgy Between Innovation and Tradition, by Nichola Bux. Available April 2012. A professor of theology and liturgy, the author of this book explains the motives behind the Pope's decision to allow two forms of the Mass.

Ignatius Critical Editions:

A Tale of Two Cities (Ignatius Critical Editions), by Charles Dickens. Available for pre-order. Edited by Michael D. Aeschliman, Professor of Education at Boston University, Professor of English at the University of Italian Switzerland.

Julius Caesar (Ignatius Critical Editions), by William Shakespeare. Available for pre-order. Edited by Joseph Pearce, Writer in Residence and Associate Professor of Literature at Ave Maria University in Florida, editor-in-chief of Sapientia Press.

Dracula (Ignatius Critical Editions), by Bram Stoker. Available for pre-order. Edited by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson, who edited the Ignatius Critical Editions publication of Mansfield Park (under her maiden name, Donlon).

Loss and Gain (Ignatius Critical Editions), by John Henry Newman. Available for pre-order. This novel about a young man's intellectual and spiritual development was the first work John Henry Newman wrote after entering the Roman Catholic Church in 1845. Edited by Trevor Lipscombe, the director of The Catholic University of America Press.

The Red Badge of Courage (Ignatius Critical Editions), by Stephen Crane. Available for pre-order. Edited by Mary R. Reichardt, Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

The Consolation of Philosophy (Ignatius Critical Editions), by Anicius Boethius. Available for pre-order. Edited by Scott Goins, Ph.D., Professor of Classics and Director of the Honors College at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Children's Books:

My First Catechism: The Catholic Faith for Little Ones, by Christine Pedotti. Available now. Youngsters ages 2 and up can learn the fundamentals of the Catholic faith with this charming board book.

The Illustrated Parables of Jesus, by Jean-Francois Kieffer and Christine Ponsard. Available now. Selected parables from the Gospels are told in a youthful yet tasteful comic-book style. The simple words and beautiful, brightly colored illustrations will captivate children whether they read the book on their own or with their family.

My First Pictures of Jesus, by Maïte Roche. Available now. Introduce your toddlers to Jesus with this attractive board book with rounded corners by the best-selling author and illustrator Maïte Roche

My First Pictures of Easter, by Maïte Roche. Available now. The moving events of Holy Week and Easter are tenderly told and illustrated for toddlers by the best-selling children's author Maïte Roche.

Our Lady of Guadalupe: A Pop-Up Book, by Francisco Serrano. Available now. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the most important religious icon in the Americas. This lavish, colorful pop-up book tells her story and that of Juan Diego, the humble Mexican peasant to whom she appeared on Tepeyac hill in Mexico.

Choirs of Angels: Coloring Book, by Katherine Sotnik. Available for pre-order. Lovely line drawings based on paintings by great masters grace every page of this coloring book.

Who cares about eternity and damnation when there is "history" to be made?

This lede, from the January 14, 2012, edition of Fort Myers News-Press, is both humorous and very sad:

Judy Beaumont plans to take a historic step Saturday, one that will jeopardize her immortal soul.

Before even reading the rest of the completely unbiased, uncommonly objective, and smartly reported article (cue body-quaking laughter), I'm fairly certain I can guess the basics:

• Judy, a 60+-year-old grandmother, is going to be "ordained" a Catholic priest.
• Church officials note that she, in fact, cannot be ordained.
• But she presses on, believing she was called by God as a young girl to be a priest.
• She will be "ordained" in a local Episcopalian/Methodist/Presbyterian building.
• And while she is making history, dozens of other women have also been "ordained".
• There will be something about how being excommunicated isn't applicable to her, or that excommunication is something she thumbs her nose at with a clean conscience.
• They are portrayed as ordinary but brave and bright women standing up to bigotry, chauvinism, and centuries of antiquated, anti-modern traditon.

How'd I do? Here are a few quotes:

• "Beaumont, 74, of Fort Myers, is defying centuries-old doctrine in becoming the first woman in Southwest Florida to be ordained a Roman Catholic priest. The church decrees this role is reserved for men. Bishop Frank Dewane of the Diocese of Venice, which oversees the Catholic faithful in 10 counties, including all of Southwest Florida, has warned her not to cross that patriarchal line." Ah, clever: a clueless feminist line about "that patriarchal line".

• "Beaumont says she will follow her conscience and take the consequences. The ordination will be held at 3 p.m. at Lamb of God Church, a Lutheran-Episcopal congregation on Cypress View Drive in Fort Myers." Oh, "Luthern-Episcopal". Didn't see that coming.

• "'Of course, we all reject that excommunication, because it's a man-made rule that does not really follow what we know of Jesus, what Jesus would do,' said Beaumont, who entered the convent at 17 and was a Benedictine nun for 35 years. 'How can any group of human beings say to God, 'You can't call a woman.'?" Goodness, I didn't see the former nun angle coming either. Nice touch.

• In a video interview on the WINKnews.com site, Beaumont says, "God speaks through the people. The people have called me." Those "people" apparently don't include all Catholics faithful to Church doctrine, including the Pope; it likely consists of a handful of folks who just happen to agree with Beaumont (ya think, Carl?).

And, of course, there are the usual suspects quoted in the News-Press piece: National "Catholic" Reporter, Bridget Mary  Meehan ("a woman Catholic bishop"), "Jesuit scholar Gary Macy" (who is married, so is not a Jesuit, at least not now; it's not clear if he ever was a priest), Rev. Roy Bourgeois (shocker!), The Rev. Walter Fohs (an "Evangelical Lutheran senior pastor at Lamb of God Church"), and The Rev. Anne Robbins, "an Episcopal priest who serves as pastoral assistant at  Lamb of God", who provides a most revealing quote:

Robbins was ordained a priest in 1983, but women have been serving as Episcopal priests since 1977, she said.

"I don't think that God discriminates against women and I think that sometimes we have to do things that are not strictly legal in an organization in order to help it move forward, and that is what happened in the Episcopal Church," she said.

And that's not all that's happening in the Episcopal Church.