Mark is a good Catholic boy. He goes to church, says his prayers, and spends too much time worrying about hell. When Mark realizes he has a crush on another boy in his school, he struggles to reconcile his feelings with his faith as the weight of centuries of shame and judgment -- and his fear of his parents' response -- presses on his shoulders. Mark seeks advice from his priest, as well as a local drag performer, but also receives unexpected input...

These essays explore the coming together of the active and the contemplative life and the relationship of individuals to society. Merton's writing is both lively and profound as he leads the reader through the hard questions of modern existence. "Merton was...one of the most prophetic Catholic writers of our time".

In this book G.K. Chesterton explains how religion-a blend of philosophy and mythology-satisfies both the human intellect and the spirit, and sets man starkly apart from any other living creature. Addressing evolution, feminism, and cultural relativism within the context of religion, the book also examines religious skepticism. According to Chesterton, the shape of the key is not important. What matters is that it fits the lock and opens the door....

Benedictine monastic spirituality has emerged as an antidote to the spiritual and cultural challenges facing people of faith today. In this book, the author focuses specifically on GRACE, and the benevolence of God as it expresses itself in many different ways along our spiritual journey. What is a person likely to experience when beginning to give up him or herself conscientiously to the spiritual journey? In this beautiful guide, gradually, we...

In a bold and moving book that is sure to spark heated debate, the novelist and cultural critic James Carroll maps the profoundly troubling two-thousand-year course of the Church's battle against Judaism and faces the crisis of faith it has provoked in his own life as a Catholic. More than a chronicle of religion, this dark history is the central tragedy of Western civilization, its fault lines reaching deep into our culture. The Church's failure...

From Saint Agnes of Rome, first of the fearless girl martyrs, to Saint Zedislava Berka, who balanced a demanding husband and children with a deep spiritual life, The Big Book of Women Saints will introduce you to more than four hundred courageous Catholic women." "In this book you will meet brilliant scholars, fearless warriors, miracle workers, and tireless toilers for charity. More than one hundred and fifty of them have been canonized or beatified...

The former US Ambassador to the Vatican and the bestselling author of The French Connection join forces to write an unforgettable, compelling novel about a humble fisherman who is elected as the next Pope. Locked in a stalemate after days of voting, the College of Cardinals struggles through the arduous process of electing a new pope after the death of Pope John Paul II. In an effort to break the impasse at the conclave, Brian Comiskey, Cardinal...

"Almost all those who have written concerning the devout life have had chiefly in view persons who have altogether quitted the world; or at any rate they have taught a manner of devotion which would lead to such total retirement. But my object is to teach those who are living in their own households, and whose calling obliges them to a social life, so far as externals are concerned. And so I have shown them that a true steadfast soul may live in the...

"In the late '60s, a small group of elite American women convinced an overwhelming majority of the country that destroying the most fundamental of relationships--that of mother and child--was necessary for women to have productive and happy lives. From the spoiling of this relationship followed the decay of the entire family, and almost overnight, our once pro-life culture became pro-lifestyle, embracing everything that felt good. Sixty million abortions...

It was in the month of July 1842, that I was released, by order of Pope Gregory, from my first imprisonment in the dungeons of the Inquisition. On this occasion, one of the Dominican monks who serve the office of Inquisitor, inquired of me, with a malicious look, whether I, also, intended, one day, to write an account of the Inquisition, as a well-known author had done before me, with respect to Spielberg, in his celebrated work, "Le mie prigioni."...