This is the best biography I have read in years!  What a glorious testament to the fruitfulness of the Benedictine rule and how it transforms lives.  Mother Dolores Hart brings to us a generous sharing of her life experience and the joy found in the peace and stability in the living with her monastic community.  How could a woman walk away from “having it all”?  Mother Dolores discovered the “pearl of great price”, and she found it by listening to the “ear of the heart”.  An absolutely fantastic read and spiritually fulfilling work.  A must read!!!!  This conversation will go down as one of my favorites of all time!!!  Thank you God!!!

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“What a joy to be in the company of Mother Dolores Hart. She is a compassionate narrator, from her childhood days, darkened by parental alcoholism, to her Hollywood career and her calling as a Catholic nun. Mother Dolores talks candidly about the difficulty of becoming a cloistered, Benedictine nun. The struggle with years of discipline and the rigorous farm work at the Abbey of Regina Laudis. We learn there was something in her deepest heart she sought.” — —-Pia Lindstrom, television journalist, daughter of Ingrid Bergman

“Listen and attend with the ear of your heart.”
Saint Benedict

“Mother Dolores Hart is a remarkable woman with a remarkable story-one of love, devotion and faith.”
–Maria Shriver, bestselling author of Just Who Will You Be?

“The Will of God: Finding and Fulfilling Your Purpose in Life” is a great book which uses the great Psalm 119 to help us in the area of discernment.  Taking a lifetime of steeped  in prayer and sound theology, Fr. Baker gives us a unique and penetrating resource to aid in our growth in the areas of contemplation and discernment. Father Baker was the editor of Homiletic & Pastoral Review for more than 40 years, and currently serves as Editor Emeritus of the online edition.  He was a joy to talk with and to learn from….not to be missed for the discerning heart!

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“Father Baker helps us to discover God’s will and, what is even more, important how to live God’s will! He uses the Holy Scriptures,the teaching of the Church and the saints to help us become holy and transformed into the saints that God created us to be. Read this book and discover what God wants you to do!” –Fr. Larry Richards, Author, Be a Man!

“The Devil You Don’t Know: Recognizing and Resisting Evil in Everyday Life” is not about some “sensationalistic” overview of the “creepy”, instead it is a solid resource for those seeking to vanquish the ordinary means in which evil disrupts and damages our spiritual lives.   Highly recommended, I’ve passed this book along to many.

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Publisher’s Weekly says it well:

In some ways, it’s easy to believe in a devil who makes heads spin round and enables people to levitate. Ubiquitous movies and books about possession and exorcism have trained spiritual seekers to identify evil by its expected Hollywood conventions. By contrast, Rev. Louis J. Cameli, nationally renowned pastoral leader and priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, paints a challenging, unsettling portrait of the devil as a formidable adversary who works great harm, often in quiet, less-seen ways.

While remaining a fixture of popular culture, the devil has–until now–been largely ignored in contemporary spiritual writing. Cameli exposes the devil’s tactics of deception, division, diversion, and discouragement, in individuals and also in institutions. This thoroughly biblical, deft exploration considers the personal and social dimensions of sin, and offers both enlightenment and hope in the power of Christ at work to overcome evil.

I cannot recommend a book more highly than this,  ”Answer Your Call: Reclaim God’s Purpose For Faith, Family, and Work” is OUTSTANDING! The combined gifts of  Dick and Martha Lyles have brought us must a gem which serves as a practical everyday guide for prayer and discernment.  The book description below and the interview I have with Dick can provide just some of the reasons why this work is so important, but neither really goes far enough.  I have heard from so many men and women looking for spiritual directors, guides, mentors, anyone or anything that could help them to respond to that “still, small voice” deep inside themselves; here is the book I’ll now tell them to start with.  While this isn’t the answer to all questions and quests, this is work offers a great start and foundation.  Great for individual study, as well as for groups.  For pastors, deacons, pastoral ministers, parents, but most importantly, for the every day man or woman trying to “answer God’s call”!

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From the book description:

Answer Your Call helps Christians discern their purpose from a Catholic perspective—think of it as a Catholic response to The Purpose Driven Life. Building on the premise that every person has a unique set of natural gifts meant to be used in concert with God’s supernatural graces, readers will find practical insights on what prevents someone from hearing and responding to God’s call, as well as how to reclaim and live their calling in the home, workplace, and community. Answer Your Call goes beyond mere theory, using key questions, short quizzes, and practical exercises to help the reader implement the material. You’ll learn:

• What causes us to lose sight of God’s presence
• How we lose touch with our natural gifts
• The three dimensions of our divine call
• Understanding discernment in relation to purpose and call
• How you can plan to implement your call

Interspersed with Scripture and Catechism quotes, as well as wisdom from popes and saints, Answer Your Call will guide you to carry out God’s purpose in every dimension of your life.

What a sheer delight to talk with Pat Gohn about “Blessed, Beautiful, and Bodacious:  Celebrating the Gift of Catholic Womanhood”!  This book is a tour de force of insight on the unique gift of  the authentic feminine nature.  Pat has an engaging writing ability which richly and warmly blends the teachings of the Church and the Saints with her personal experience and witness.  She is informative, sensitive,  affirming and challenging; in her you will find the best qualities of the maternal nurturing nature.  Pat Gohn can be considered a trusted spiritual mentor for the seeking hearts of women.  After reading this book, if a woman is ever asked “Do you believe you are a beloved daughter of God?” she will more than likely be compelled to answer beautifully and bodacciously, “YES”!

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Be sure to visit Pat Gohn’s wonderful website found here

“In a simple and heartfelt manner, Pat Gohn breaks open the meaning of being a woman, offering insights and encouragement from her own experience. In a world filled with messages distorting the real beauty of womanhood, Blessed, Beautiful, and Bodacious is a breath of fresh air. Inspirational, yet very practical!” –Anastasia Northrop, President of Theology of the Body International Alliance, Founder of the National Catholic Single Conference

“Pat Gohn makes a convincing argument that–contrary to most media messaging–the Catholic Church has been sharing a view of the fullness of feminine genius, strength, and beauty that is downright holistic at its well-rounded depths. Blessed, Beautiful, and Bodacious is such a perfectly-timed (and sanely, gently offered) look at the ‘being’ part of modern womanhood that I cannot help but think the Holy Spirit wants this message out!” –Elizabeth Scalia, Author of Strange Gods: Unmasking the Idols in Everyday Life

“Americanization ” is a very important concept to comprehend when trying to understand the state of the Roman Catholic Church in America. In “American Church: The Remarkable Rise, Meteoric Fall, and Uncertain Future of Catholicism in America”  offers that many of the benefits of cultural assimilation exprienced by Catholic immigrants to the U.S.,  around the turn of the last century, were good.  However, the secular culture has threatened the “Catholic identity” of millions of faithful and of their institutions, such as schools, universities, and hospitals.

Rich in in history, which points potentially to the future, Russell Shaw helps us to see the disturbing aspects of the Church in America today, while offering hopeful outcomes for the future.  A very important book, indeed!

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“Russell Shaw is one of the best informed and most articulate observers of the American Catholic experience; a writer of elegant clarity, fairness and impeccable research. If you want to understand the Church in the United States and the challenges she now faces, American Church should be on the short list of books you need to read.”
+Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Philadelphia

“The new bull-in-the-china-shop of U.S. Catholic history, Russell Shaw upends pedestals, reimagines story-lines, and invites all of us to think again about the roots of the severe challenges — and great opportunities — facing the Church in the United States in the first decades of the third millennium.” –-George Weigel, author of Evangelical Catholicism: Deep Reform in the 21st-Century Church

 

Joseph Pearce is one of my all time favorite writers!!!  What a joy to speak to him about “Candles in the Dark:  The Authorized Biography of Fr. Richard Ho Lung and the Missionaries of the Poor”.    Fr. Ho Lung is a fascinating figure:  poet, teacher, mystic, and musician (reggae, no less).   The child of Chinese Buddhist immigrants, this Jamaican priest is the founder of one of the fastest-growing religious orders in the world, whose mission is to serve the poorest of the poor.  With all those elements found in his story, Joseph Pearce, once again, paints an incredibly compelling portrait.  As demonstrated in his numerous other biographies, which include the lives of Oscar Wilde, J.R.R Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton and others (my favorite is “Old Thunder” on the life of Hilaire Belloc), Joseph captures the passion found in the heart of his subject.  This work is highly recommended!

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From the book description:

Pearce takes us from his childhood in Jamaica, the son of impoverished Chinese immigrants, to his education and ordination as a Jesuit priest. He shows us the glamour of Fr. Ho Lung’s life as a celebrity musician, and the deadly danger of missionary work in Kingston s grittiest ghettos. He tells the story of one who has ascended the heights of worldly success, descended into the depths of suffering and discovered a joy there that none can take away.

In the tradition of Malcolm Muggeridge s classic documentary of Mother Teresa,Something Beautiful for God,Candles in the Dark takes us to a place of unimaginable poverty…and shows us the joy that comes from sacrifice, the irresistible attractiveness of holiness, and the power of God still at work in the world today.

Dr. Benjamin Wiker once again brings to us a fascinating, well-researched, and informative historical review of the multiple factors which have brought us to the rise of  ”secular liberalism” in the United States.  This is not book about political parties, but rather the overall mindset that has infected every fabric of our society. He demonstrates the interplay between ideas and events. By looking at the teachings of certain influential philosophers (Machiavelli, Hobbes, Spinoza, Rousseau, and Locke) he demonstrates the “step-by-step” descent  which has led us to  point where various aspects of our culture lift up the “belief of unbelief”, a strange paradox which ultimately undermines the integrity of the moral life of a society.  Dr. Wiker is delightfully engaging to talk with.  I always look forward to reading his books…over and over again.

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“Benjamin Wiker’s book is the most forthright and unblinking analysis yet published of the ubiquitous assault on religion in American society. Not only every religious believer but every believer in religious liberty should read it.’

James Hitchcock, Professor of History, St. Louis University and author of What is Secular Humanism?, The Recovery of the Sacred, and The Supreme Court and Religion in American Life.

What a delight to talk once again to Joan Wester Anderson. It would be hard to find a more gracious soul than Joan’s, and to have a chance to have a conversation about the angels…well it doesn’t get much better! Joan is the author of a dozen or more books (many bestsellers!), and her work making known the angelic relam are always a delight.  It was difficult to choose which one to discuss first, but we gave it go.  I’ve never been disappointed in her writing, and I highly recommended any of the titles found in this post (and yes, I’ve read them all…over and over again).

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“Married Priests? 30 Crucial Questions about Celibacy” is the go to book when seeking answers to just about everything related to the  Church’s teaching and exprience in regards to priestly celibacy.  With Fr. Joseph Fessio S.J., editor and founder of Ignatius Press the publisher of this work, we discuss several of those questions.  Why do Catholic priests not marry? How can celibacy possibly be so important to the Church, if Jesus did not even require it of his apostles?   How does this discipline play into the discernment for this particular vocation?  We also discuss the vocation of Marriage, and the state of Church in America from Fr. Fessio’s prespective.  It is always a joy to have the opportunity to talk with Fr. Fessio.

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From the book description:

In recent years the arguments in favor of openness to married priests seem to be multiplying. Some object that celibacy is not a dogma but only a discipline that originated in the Middle Ages; that it is contrary to nature and hence harmful for a man’s psycho-physical equilibrium and the maturation of the human personality. And then, if priests could marry, there would be an increase in vocations.

In this book, seventeen various experts make contributions, responding to these and other burning objections, allowing the reader to discover the value that celibacy has today in the lives of thousands of priests and seminarians.

Among the key topics this book discusses are: History of Priestly Celibacy, What Theology Says on the Celibacy, Emotions and Sexuality, Discerning and Fostering a Vocation, Celibacy in the Life of a Priest, Celibacy and Inculturation, Papal teachings on Celibacy from Pius XI to Benedict XVI.

So good to talk once again with Dr. Taylor Marshall.  This time he offers us his insights on the newly elected Pope Francis.  We discuss the surprise of his selection and some of the anxiety some people are having about this “unknown” cardinal from Argentina…will he continue the legacy of Bl. John Paul and Pope Benedict or will he journey on another path?  Dr. Marshall explores several issues that conservatives, traditionalists, as will as liberals and progressives, may have with our Holy Father;  he expresses the importance of trusting the Holy Spirit and allowing the Father in Heaven to reveal His plan for us…receive the peace of Christ Jesus.  Dr. Marshall explores the love Pope Francis has for the Blessed Mother and why it was significant that one of  the Holy Father’s first stops was to the crypt of St. Pius V the day after his election.  He then shares with us the devotion to Mary, Untier of Knots, promulgated by Pope Francis while he served as a cardinal.  Then Dr. Marshall talks about what can be learned by the “New Evangelization”  by looking at the “Old Evangelization”.  Great insight once again by the good doctor, Taylor Marshall.

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Be sure to visit Dr. Marshall’s excellent Catholic Blog “Canterbury Tales”

It was wonderful to talk with Deacon Keating about his book “Spousal Prayer:  A Way to Marital Happiness”.  Filled with practical suggestions, it never “dumbs” the importance of the message by presenting to us yet another “self-help” book, but rather it elevates our understanding and experience of true martial intimacy.  A small book, filled with tremendous potential for couples in any stage of their relationship, if they are willing to enter into the union Christ has waiting for them. Don’t miss this gem.

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From the description:

Deacon James Keating’s newest book, Spousal Prayer: A Way to Marital Happiness affirms that the sharing of hearts is a necessary commitment in both marriage and prayer. If we can learn what the key elements to sharing the heart are and equally what the key elements to receiving the heart of another are, then we will know the greatest of intimacy in both prayer and marriage. The mingling of the love of spouse with and in the love of God is and has always been the foundation for a life of peace, creativity, and vibrancy, not to mention sanctity. In fact, we cannot even understand what marriage is unless we look at how Christ loved His Bride, the Church, till the end (Jn 13:1). For the baptized, Christ has joined His love for the Church to the Sacrament of Marriage and Marriage, to His love for the Church. Each couple is called to allow Jesus to bring them into this great love of His. The couple is not supposed to do all the work of love; they are called to let Jesus gift them with His own spousal love. In other words, couples should let Jesus live His spousal love for the Church over again in their own love for one another. They do this by simply asking Him in prayer to do so and by sharing their needs and desires with Him. Marriage is not a self-help relationship; it is a deep partnership with Christ.

What a glorious opportunity to discuss “Truth” with the one and only Dr. Peter Kreeft.  I have to admit, one must be on their toes when discussing any topic with the good doctor, he is one of the great intellects and authors of our time, period.  He is always patient, kind and just downright fascinating in this conversation;  Dr. Kreeft  engages the imagination and guides us deeper into the reality of Divine Revelation.  ”Jacob’s Ladder: 10 Steps to Truth” is an absolutely splendid voyage to undertake;  put on your thinking caps, dive in to the ocean of your heart, and be prepared to be awed and delighted.  A must have book for anyone who is seeking Truth.

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From the book description:

Among the topics, or “steps”, that Kreeft’s characters delve into include:

Do you have the passion to know?
Does truth exist?
What is the meaning of life?
What is love, and why is it so important for our lives?
If there is a God, what proof is there for his existence?
Has God revealed himself to us in a personal way?

 

 

Yet another very special conversation with good friend and Discerning Hearts contributor, Dr. Matthew Bunson about his new book “Pope Francis”.  He once again demonstrates why he is one of our leading Church historians! No one articulates a moment with more grace and vision, than Dr. Bunson. More than just a “biography” of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina (which is offered beautifully in this volume), he places, in context, the extraordinary events and emotions leading to the election of the 265th successor of St. Peter…Pope Francis. The who, what, where, why and how are offered in vivid compelling detail. From the moment of Pope Benedict XVI’s earth shaking resignation and its implications, to the Holy Spirit led deliberations of the Cardinals, Dr. Bunson masterfully sets the stage for the first presentation to the world of Pope Francis on the loggia of St. Peter’s. We get the first in-depth look at the life and times of this “son of St. Ignatius”, the challenges, controversies, triumphs of his life thus far, and what we might expect given Bergoglio’s response to his election as the “bishop of Rome”. Matthew Bunson is a joy to read…don’t miss this definitive account of this truly remarkable story.

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From the book description:

Get inside access to the entire history-making event, from the startling resignation of Pope Benedict through the gathering of Cardinals for the Conclave and the installation of this Pope of the people.

Examine Pope Francis the man – his background, his ideas, his mission, and his challenges and opportunities as our new pope – including 16 pages of full color photos from Pope Francis’ past and present.

“I want to ask you to walk together, and take care of one another …We need to see the light of hope and to be men and women who bring hope to others.” Pope Francis

It was a delight to once again talk with Sr. Janice McGrane S. S. J., this time about her book “Saints for Healing:  Stories of Courage and Hope”.  In this, her second book, she  offers  a short biography of the lives of 11 saints,  their background on relevant cultural issues, and a reflection.  Each saint has a special connection to “healing”…some are expected, some are a wonderful surprise.  Sr. Janice has introduced us to special companions who can walk with us on the journey to our ultimate destination….an encounter with the Divine Physician.  Marvelous, simply marvelous.

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From the book description:

With grace and insight, McGrane tells us also about healing that occurs on a larger scale: Joan of Arc healed the morale of France in its most dire hour, Edith Stein and Maximilian Kolbe offered comfort and consolation in the midst of the horror of Auschwitz, Henriette DeLille transceneded the racism of her time to minister with slaves, Hildegard of Bingen shared her knowledge of herbs to heal others, Catherine of Siena helped repair a divided and corrupt church, Damien ministered to the lepers of Molokai. These stories and those about Teresa of Avila, Dorothy Day, Mother Teresa, Archbishop Romero, and Fr. Mychal Judge lead us to these healing saints for compaionship and inspiration when we, too, hurt.