Download or read book Introduction to the Devout Life written by Saint Francis De Sales and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2015-06-08 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written over 400 years ago, Introduction to the Devout Life is still one of the most popular books for those pursuing holiness. St. Francis de Sales explains how to turn that desire for sanctity into resolutions that yield grace-filled results. Themes include: Pursuing a devout life whole-heartedly Incorporating prayer and sacraments into a busy schedule Growing in virtue Battling wisely against temptation Making spiritual progress through daily, monthly, and yearly exercises Whether you are just beginning your spiritual journey or are more advanced in the spiritual life, you’ll be able to apply this timeless wisdom immediately. Let St. Francis de Sales illumine the path to holiness and strengthen your desire to walk that road with the Lord. St. Francis de Sales (1567–1622) was the Bishop of Geneva and a renowned spiritual director. Preaching during the Counter-Reformation, he is estimated to have converted 70,000 Calvinists in his short lifetime. He was a fervent proponent of the universal call to holiness and spent much of his time guiding lay people on the road to sanctity. Declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius IX in 1877, St. Francis is still helping to form saints through his many writings, of which Introduction to the Devout Life is the most famous.

Download or read book Tar Heel Catholics written by William F. Powers and published by Rlpg/Galleys. This book was released on 2003 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although today the largest religious denomination in the United States, until the 1960s, the Roman Catholic Church represented less than 1 percent of the population of North Carolina. Tar Heel Catholics recounts the story of the Catholic Church in what was long called "mission territory" on the doorstep of a rapidly developing American Catholic institutional presence. The explanation of this phenomenon lies in the history of the Deep South itself, including slavery, segregation, and the overwhelming religious dominance of the Baptist church. Tar Heel Catholics relates the great difficulty early churchmen encountered in attempting to establish Catholicism in an inhospitable environment. It was not until 1924 that North Carolina became the last state in the union to gain the status of a diocese.

Download or read book Gothic Arches Latin Crosses written by Ryan K. Smith and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2011-01-20 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Crosses, candles, choir vestments, sanctuary flowers, and stained glass are common church features found in nearly all mainline denominations of American Christianity today. Most Protestant churchgoers would be surprised to learn, however, that at one time these elements were viewed with suspicion as foreign implements associated strictly with the Roman Catholic Church. Blending history with the study of material culture, Ryan K. Smith sheds light on the ironic convergence of anti-Catholicism and the Gothic Revival movement in nineteenth-century America. Smith finds the source for both movements in the sudden rise of Roman Catholicism after 1820, when it began to grow from a tiny minority into the country's largest single religious body. Its growth triggered a corresponding rise in anti-Catholic activities, as activists representing every major Protestant denomination attacked "popery" through the pulpit, the press, and politics. At the same time, Catholic worship increasingly attracted young, genteel observers around the country. Its art and its tangible access to the sacred meshed well with the era's romanticism and market-based materialism. Smith argues that these tensions led Protestant churches to break with tradition and adopt recognizably Latin art. He shows how architectural and artistic features became tools through which Protestants adapted to America's new commercialization while simultaneously defusing the potent Catholic "threat." The results presented a colorful new religious landscape, but they also illustrated the durability of traditional religious boundaries.

Download or read book Catholicism Today written by Evyatar Marienberg and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-08-07 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Catholics are not Christians. They worship Mary. They do whatever the pope says. They cannot divorce. They eat fish on Fridays. These flawed but common statements reflect a combined ignorance of and fascination with Catholicism and the Catholic Church. Catholicism Today: An Introduction to the Contemporary Catholic Church aims to familiarize its readers with contemporary Catholicism. The book is designed to address common misconceptions and frequently-asked questions regarding the Church, its teachings, and the lived experience of Catholics in modern societies worldwide. Opening with a concise historical overview of Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular, the text explores the core beliefs and rituals that define Catholicism in practice, the organization of the Church and the Catholic calendar, as well as the broad question of what it means to be Catholic in a variety of cultural contexts. The book ends with a discussion of the challenges facing the Church both now and in the coming decades. Also included are two short appendices on Eastern Catholicism and Catholicism in the United States.

Download or read book Seek and You Will Find written by Rhonda Mawhood Lee and published by . This book was released on 2021-10-07 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prayer is a primary way Christians fulfill the Great Commandment to love God, our neighbor, and ourselves, and it's the foundation of everything else we do to show that love. In prayer, we consciously devote time to cultivating our relationship with God, trusting that this relationship can transform our souls, our lives, and the world. Many of us who desire this closer relationship with God may feel unsure about where to start and how to pray. In Seek and You Will Find, Rhonda Mawhood Lee offers an accessible guide to prayer, exploring practices from the Lord's Prayer to praying with the psalms and in song, from the eucharist and the rosary to "moving" prayers offered when walking a labyrinth, doodling, baking, or devoting another activity to God. Scripture and tradition show us that when we seek God through prayer, we will find, by grace, the One who has already reached out to us in love. Seek and You Will Find is a comforting, challenging, and instructive companion in your quest to develop the relationship God deeply desires with you.

Download or read book The Laywoman Project written by Mary J. Henold and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2020-01-30 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Summoning everyday Catholic laywomen to the forefront of twentieth-century Catholic history, Mary J. Henold considers how these committed parishioners experienced their religion in the wake of Vatican II (1962–1965). This era saw major changes within the heavily patriarchal religious faith—at the same time as an American feminist revolution caught fire. Who was the Catholic woman for a new era? Henold uncovers a vast archive of writing, both intimate and public facing, by hundreds of rank-and-file American laywomen active in national laywomen's groups, including the National Council of Catholic Women, the Catholic Daughters of America, and the Daughters of Isabella. These records evoke a formative period when laywomen played publicly with a surprising variety of ideas about their own position in the Catholic Church. While marginalized near the bottom of the church hierarchy, laywomen quietly but purposefully engaged both their religious and gender roles as changing circumstances called them into question. Some eventually chose feminism while others rejected it, but most, Henold says, crafted a middle position: even conservative, nonfeminist laywomen came to reject the idea that the church could adapt to the modern world while keeping women's status frozen in amber.

Download or read book Start with Jesus written by Julianne Stanz and published by Loyola Press. This book was released on 2019-10-15 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2019 Best Book Awards, Finalist: Religion—Christianity 2020 Catholic Press Association, 3rd Place: Future Church 2020 International Book Awards, Winner: Religion—Christianity Take a moment and ask yourself: does every activity in my parish point more deeply to Jesus? Julianne Stanz wants to help you and your parish community make sure the answer to this question is a resounding, "Yes!" Serving parishes in her diocese as the Director of New Evangelization, Stanz has recognized a practical and motivational way to restructure a parish's mission – start with Jesus. Start with Jesus is a book about people, process, and culture, rather than an emphasis on quick fixes or unsustainable efforts. She aims to help regular people be transformed from the inside out by growing in relationship with Jesus Christ through individual and group experiences, thus transforming our parish communities. Start with Jesus will be an essential resource for decision-makers and thought-leaders in parishes, but its true strength lies in its value for the countless Catholics longing for peace, healing, and hope in the context of our parish communities. It will be an inspiration to Catholics who come to Mass each week, parents trying to instill the faith in their children, leaders searching for an effective and sustainable approach to parish renewal, and to all who are curious about developing a relationship with Jesus. ​

Download or read book Called to Love written by Carl Anderson and published by Image. This book was released on 2012-07-31 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thoughtful, accessible work on the beauty of love and the splendor of the body, inspired by Pope John Paul II. Christianity has long been regarded as viewing the body as a threat to a person's spiritual nature and of denying its sexual dimension. In 1979, Pope John Paul II departed from this traditional dichotomy and offered an integrated vision of the human body and soul. In a series of talks that came to be known as “the theology of the body,” he explained the divine meaning of human sexuality and why the body provides answers to fundamental questions about our lives. In Called to Love, Carl Anderson, chairman of the world’s largest catholic service organization, and Fr. Jose Granados discuss the philosophical and religious significance of “the theology of the body” in language at once poetic and profound. As they explain, the body speaks of God, it reveals His goodness, and it also speaks of men and women and their vocation to love. Called to Love brings to life the tremendous gift John Paul II bestowed on humanity and gives readers a new understanding of the Christian way of love and how to embrace it fully in their lives.

Download or read book The Long Shadow of Vatican II written by Lucas Van Rompay and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2015-07-01 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the Second Vatican Council (1962–65), the Roman Catholic Church for the first time took a positive stance on modernity. Its impact on the thought, worship, and actions of Catholics worldwide was enormous. Benefiting from a half century of insights gained since Vatican II ended, this volume focuses squarely on the ongoing aftermath and reinterpretation of the Council in the twenty-first century. In five penetrating essays, contributors examine crucial issues at the heart of Catholic life and identity, primarily but not exclusively within North American contexts. On a broader level, the volume as a whole illuminates the effects of the radical changes made at Vatican II on the lived religion of everyday Catholics. As framed by volume editors Lucas Van Rompay, Sam Miglarese, and David Morgan, the book's long view of the church's gradual and often contentious transition into contemporary times profiles a church and laity who seem committed to many mutual values but feel that implementation of the changes agreed to in principle at the Council is far from accomplished. The election in 2013 of the charismatic Pope Francis has added yet another dimension to the search for the meaning of Vatican II. The contributors are Catherine E. Clifford, Hillary Kaell, Leo D. Lefebure, Jill Peterfeso, and Leslie Woodcock Tentler.

Download or read book Letter to Artists written by John Paul II and published by LiturgyTrainingPublications. This book was released on 1999 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Meeting House Essays in a series of papers reflecting on the mystery, beauty and practicalities of the place of worship. This popular series was begun in 1991, and each resource focuses on a particular aspect of space, design or materials and how they relate to the liturgy.

Download or read book The Church in the Barrio written by Roberto R. Treviño and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2006-12-08 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a story that spans from the founding of immigrant parishes in the early twentieth century to the rise of the Chicano civil rights movement in the early 1970s, Roberto R. Trevino discusses how an intertwining of ethnic identity and Catholic faith equipped Mexican Americans in Houston to overcome adversity and find a place for themselves in the Bayou City. Houston's native-born and immigrant Mexicans alike found solidarity and sustenance in their Catholicism, a distinctive style that evolved from the blending of the religious sensibilities and practices of Spanish Christians and New World indigenous peoples. Employing church records, newspapers, family letters, mementos, and oral histories, Trevino reconstructs the history of several predominately Mexican American parishes in Houston. He explores Mexican American Catholic life from the most private and mundane, such as home altar worship and everyday speech and behavior, to the most public and dramatic, such as neighborhood processions and civil rights marches. He demonstrates how Mexican Americans' religious faith helped to mold and preserve their identity, structured family and community relationships as well as institutions, provided both spiritual and material sustenance, and girded their long quest for social justice.

Download or read book When I Was a Child written by Susan B. Ridgely and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2006-05-18 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Communion is generally understood as a rite of passage in which seven- and eight-year-old Catholic children transform from baptized participants in the Church to members of the body of Christ, the universal Catholic Church. This official Church account, however, ignores what the rite actually may mean to its participants. In When I Was a Child, Susan Ridgely Bales demonstrates that the accepted understanding of a religious ritual can shift dramatically when one considers the often neglected perspective of child participants. Bales followed Faith Formation classes and interviewed communicants, parents, and priests in an African American parish and in a parish containing both white and Latino congregations. By letting the children speak for themselves through their words, drawings, and actions, When I Was a Child stresses the importance of rehearsal, the centrality of sensory experiences, and the impact of expectations in the communicants' interpretations of the Eucharist. In the first sustained ethnographic study of how children interpret and help shape their own faith, Bales finds that children's perspectives give new contours to the traditional understanding of a common religious ritual. Ultimately, she argues that scholars of religion should consider age as distinct a factor as race, class, and gender in their analyses.

Download or read book Catholic and Feminist written by Mary J. Henold and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Catholic and Feminist: The Surprising History of the American Catholic Feminist Movement

Download or read book After the Boxes Are Unpacked written by Susan Miller and published by NavPress. This book was released on 2016-04-01 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An essential relocation guide refreshed and updated for today’s movers. More than 34 million Americans move each year, and studies show it can be one of the heaviest strains on a marriage. For women especially, relocating can be a traumatic event. With true stories, ingenious insights, and helpful hints, this great book makes transitioning smoother so women can get on with their lives. Those who are moving will find this valuable book as important as packing tape. Divided into three sections, After the Boxes are Unpacked helps recent movers focus on letting go of their past, starting over, and moving ahead. Topics include the following: How to manage the emotional stress of leaving family and friends How to support your spouse through a relocation How to build new relationships in a new city How to help children adjust to new surroundings and make friends How to find a new church home How to navigate financial challenges related to moving How to discover God’s will for you and your family in a new city This evergreen book has been a staple for movers for 20 years and has been extensively refreshed with additional content for today’s movers. “Susan is doing a tremendous job of helping women deal with the trauma of transition. This resource will help anyone who wants to move ahead in a healthy way after they’ve experienced a move. I highly recommend this book.” —John Trent, PhD, President of StrongFamilies.com

Download or read book Blessed with Tourists written by Thomas S. Bremer and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2006-03-08 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than a million tourists visit religious landmarks in San Antonio, Texas, each year, observing and sometimes participating in religious activities there. The San Antonio Missions National Historical Park--managed by the National Park Service, in cooperation with the Catholic Church--is one of hundreds of religious places in America and around the world where tourists have become a familiar presence. In Blessed with Tourists, Thomas S. Bremer explores the intersection of tourism and commerce with religion in American, using the missions and other San Antonio sites as prime examples. Bremer recounts the history of San Antonio, from its Native American roots to its development as a religious center with the growth of the Spanish colonial missions, to the modern transformation of San Antonio into a tourist destination. Employing both ethnographic and historical approaches, Bremer examines the concepts of place, identity, aesthetics, and commercialization, demonstrating numerous ways that modern market forces affect religious communities. By identifying important connections between religious and touristic practices, Bremer establishes San Antonio as a distinctive source for anyone seeking to understand the interplay between the religious and the secular, the traditional and the modern.

Download or read book Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence written by Rev. Fr. Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure and published by TAN Books. This book was released on 1984-10 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "To remain indifferent to good fortune or to adversity by accepting it all from the hand of God without questioning, not to ask for things to be done as we would like them but as God wishes, to make the intention of all our prayers that God's will should be perfectly accomplished in ourselves and in all creatures is to find the secret of happiness and content."

Download or read book God Church and Flag written by Donald Crosby S. J. and published by . This book was released on 2011-04 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: God, Church, and Flag: Senator Joseph R. McCarthy and the Catholic Church, 1950-1957