A Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward


Book Description

Nearly forty years ago, Ralph Martin’s bestselling A Crisis of Truth exposed the damaging trends in Catholic teaching and preaching that, combined with attacks from secular society, threatened the mission and life of the Catholic Church. While much has been done to counter false teaching over the last four decades, today the Church faces even more insidious threats—from outside and within. In A Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward, Martin offers a detailed look at the growing hostility to the Catholic Church and its teaching. With copious evidence, Martin uncovers the forces working to undermine the Body of Christ and offers hope to those looking for clarity. A Church in Crisis covers: -polarization in the Church caused by ambiguous teachings -initiatives that accommodate the culture without calling for conversion -Vatican-sponsored partnerships with organizations that actively contradict the teaching of the Catholic Church -and the recycling of theological errors long settled by Vatican II, Pope St. John Paul II, and Pope Benedict XVI. Powerfully written, A Church in Crisis reminds all readers to heed Jesus’ express command not to lead His children astray. With ample resources to encourage readers, Ralph Martin provides the solid foundation of Catholic teaching—both Scripture and Tradition—to fortify Catholics against the errors that threaten us from all directions.




Crisis and Challenge in the Roman Catholic Church


Book Description

This volume explores the historical, theological, sociological, and ethical dimensions of the current issues threatening the two thousand-year-old Roman Catholic Church. The interdisciplinary analysis contained within the volume exposes the destructive convictions and actions of the Roman Catholic clergy that has produced the current institutional crisis while suggesting options for moving forward. Documenting the cases that constitute the many crises currently surrounding Catholicism, the volume aims to provide clarity and conscience. At the same time, with a constructive vision of an ethics and religious practice rooted in integrity and transparency, the authors offer a path towards holistic and holy reformation by and for Catholics.




The Marian Option


Book Description

This enthralling chronicle of Mary's intercession makes clear that Christ's mother is indeed the most powerful woman in the world, and the answer for how we can save the world and bring us back into her Son's heart. Not only is she keenly interested in assisting Christians, she has the ability to do so, even in the face of the gravest odds. We just have to ask. The Marian Option will leave you with a new perspective on the Blessed Mother and a renewed hope in the future of the Church and the world.




The Meal That Reconnects


Book Description

2021 Catholic Media Association Award first place award in Catholic Social Teaching In The Meal That Reconnects, Dr. Mary McGann, RSCJ, invites readers to a more profound appreciation of the sacredness of eating, the planetary interdependence that food and the sharing of food entails, and the destructiveness of the industrial food system that is supplying food to tables globally. She presents the food crisis as a spiritual crisis-a call to rediscover the theological, ecological, and spiritual significance of eating and to probe its challenge to Christian eucharistic practice. Drawing on the origins of Eucharist in Jesus's meal fellowship and the worship of early Christians, McGann invites communities to reclaim the foundational meal character of eucharistic celebration while offering pertinent strategies for this renewal.




Mary and the Crisis of the Church


Book Description

In light the shock and confusion caused by the clerical scandals of the summer of 2018, Ave Maria University organized a conference offering a response to the crisis. Its aim would be to use Ave Maria University's commitment to serving the Church through faithful scholarship as a platform to offer helpful reflections on what had taken place and how the Church might move forward. As a mission-driven institution, AMU wanted to offer its fidelity to truth as a Catholic university, its Marian identity as "Ave Maria" University, and the learned wisdom of its own professors and scholarly friends as a resource for the faithful and Church leaders to turn to during this time of crisis. The conference, "Crisis in the Church: On the Faith of Mary as the Pathway to Peace," took place on the Ave Maria University campus on January 11-12, 2019. The quality of the papers and the fellowship enjoyed by the participants and attendees exceeded expectations. Sapientia Press of Ave Maria University hopes that by disseminating these conference presentations in book form, many others will also benefit from the wisdom, fidelity, and learning offered by each of the contributors. Book jacket.




Predatory Priests, Silenced Victims


Book Description

The sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church captured headlines and mobilized public outrage in January 2002. But much of the commentary that immediately followed was reductionistic, focusing on single "causes" of clerical abuse such as mandatory celibacy, homosexuality, sexual repressiveness or sexual permissiveness, anti-Catholicism, and a decadent secular culture. Predatory Priests, Silenced Victims: The Sexual Abuse Crisis and the Catholic Church, a collection of groundbreaking articles edited by Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea and Virginia Goldner, eschews such one-size-fits-all theorizing. In its place, the abuse situation is explored in all its troubling complexity, as contributors take into account the experiences, respectively, of the victim/survivor, the abuser/perpetrator, and the bystander (whether family member, professional/clergy, or the community at large). Setting polemics to the side, Predatory Priests, Silenced Victims provides a sober and sobering analysis of the interlacing historical, doctrinal, and psychological issues that came together in the sexual abuse scandal. It is mandatory reading for all who seek thoughtful, informed commentary on a crisis long in the making and yet to be resolved.




Thomas Aquinas and the Crisis of Christology


Book Description

But who do you say that I am? asks Jesus at the decisive turning point in the Gospel. Simon Peter answers correctly at first but is soon corrected when he protests the revelation of the Cross. Christians in every age are called to confess the right faith in Jesus, who suffered, died, and rose for our salvation. Our own period is beset by a crisis of faith in Jesus, which has had manifold deleterious effects on our lives, our Christian communities, and our world. For the sake of addressing this crisis, the Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal at Ave Maria University and the Thomistic Institute of the Pontifical Faculty at the Dominican House of Studies cosponsored an international conference that took place at Ave Maria University under the title Thomas Aquinas and the Crisis of Christology. Beginning with a gripping foreword by Archbishop J. Augustine Di Noia, OP, of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, this volume gathers together several of the excellent conference presentations given by scholars working in North America, South America, Europe, and Western Asia. These studies consider both formulations of who Christ is and of how we are under his judgement. With help from Thomas Aquinas and the Thomistic tradition, this work engages today's crisis of Christology as seen in multiple theological topics and offers models of faith to answer Jesus' question for ourselves, But who do you say that I am?




Mary in Our Life


Book Description

OUR LIFE WITH OUR LADY'S INFLUENCEFor the first time in the history of Marian writing, here is a book that co-ordinates and integrates the dogmatic truths underlying devotion to Mary with a solid, unsentimental, and balanced application of these truths to the life of the soul.The author lucidly demonstrates that, since God has given Mary an all-pervading place in His scheme for the redemption of man, it follows that if we wish to grow in love of God-the goal of all spiritual striving-we will give Mary a corresponding place in our soul-life.This book shows us how to achieve such fusion of God-centered and Mary-informed spirituality. It provides a basic orientation in ascetic principles and explains the classic steps in spiritual and mystical growth, drawing always on the texts of Scripture, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, the great commentators, and the modern papal pronouncements.OUR LADY'S PART IN OUR SPIRITUAL LIFEThis is a fundamental text of Marian spirituality, for private study, for class and study-club use, for aid in spiritual direction. It is at once simple, clear, and logical, yet fortified by rich documentation and reference material. With Index and questions for discussion.




Meet Mary


Book Description

Meet Mary teaches you everything the Bible says about her, what the early Christians believed, and all of the Church's key Marian teachings of 2,000 years.