Why Do Catholics Eat Fish on Friday?, by Michael P. Foley; published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2005

When I picked up this intriguingly titled paperback, I expected it to be a zippy read, informative, but light and amusing. It is informative all right, and amusing in parts, but it is anything but light. A quick read only because it is so interesting you don’t want to put it down, this little tome educates as well as entertains, informing the reader, as the book’s subtitle says, of the Catholic origin of just about everything! While that may be a bit of an exaggeration, it certainly is astounding to learn of how many words, practices, and historical developments our Catholic Faith has been responsible for, in whole or in part. Read More »

First published in 1984, and more recently updated, Brother Leonard Mary’s analytical commentary and reference book, The Church of Salvation, is back in print. As a loyal and original disciple of Father Feeney, and, actually, of all the members of the order of Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Sister Catherine excepted) the one who knew Father the longest, Brother Leonard Mary has acquired an abundance of knowledge in his sixty years of religious life and seventy year association with Saint Benedict Center. He relocated to California with one other brother a few years after the death of Father Feeney (1978) and founded what he delighted to call the “Saint Benedict Center, West Coast.” There are now three brothers at that house, and they do excellent work for the Faith. Read More »

(Book Review:  Islam at the Gates:  How Christendom Defeated the Ottoman Turks by Dr. Diane Moczar; Sophia Press.)

It is my habit when I sit down to read a book, with the intention of reviewing it, to take pen in hand in order to mark off the most important, most interesting, and most striking passages. Half a dozen pages into Islam at the Gates this practice became counterproductive. Every page was filled with stars, brackets, exclamation marks and marginal comments, so much so, that my enjoyment of this gem was being hampered by constantly interrupting the reading of it to write some kind of notation. So, I decided that I would give it a reading once through, then return for a reread, making my usual marks at that time. Read More »

“It had great thinkers, great rulers, great teachers, great poets, great artists, great moralists and great workmen. It could not be called the material age in any special degree. It was equally poetic, political, industrial, artistic, practical, intellectual, and devotional. There was one common creed, one ritual, one worship, one sacred language, one Church, a single code of manners, a uniform scheme of society, a common system of education, an ac­cepted type of beauty, a universal art, one common order of ideas — including intellect, moral duty, action and the soul. It may be doubted if that has happened in Europe ever since.” Read More »

Book Review by Eleonore Villarrubia:  Discovering a Lost Heritage: The Catholic Origins of America by Adam Miller

So, you think you know your American history? Well, this little gem of a book, a Catholic history of our country, will probably leave you quivering, both with shock at your lack of knowledge of some of the “true facts” of our past and with indignation that this information is not taught in American schools and is absent from standard textbooks. Read More »

Father Kenneth Baker, S. J., has written a short and delightful review of a recent book on Saint Francis of Assisi: “Preach Christ to the Muslims” The volume in review is St. Francis of Assisi and the Conversion of the Muslims, by Frank M. Rega, S.F.O.

These two excerpts are worth savoring:

Trusting absolutely in God and willing to die for the faith, Francis was at first beaten by the guards but eventually taken to the sultan. Read More »

The Temperament God Gave You: The Classic Key to Knowing Yourself, Getting Along with Others, and Growing Closer to the Lord, by Art and Laraine Bennett. Published by Sophia Press.

The four temperaments: “Catholic astrology” or solid science? In this easy-to-understand, fun to read and often humorous book by a husband and wife team, we learn much about the ancient concept of the four temperaments, how they are, in fact “solid science,” and how they affect our personalities and our interactions with everyone around us. Read More »

When you identify yourself as a “Slave,” you can get some strange looks. But of all the adverse reactions to our name I have ever known, perhaps the most memorable came from a highly educated man who understood the background and purpose of “holy slavery.” Yet, he delicately pointed out that — here in the United States — the word “slave” has a “particularly acerbic connotation.” Read More »

A strange book indeed! It is a novel; yet the author is not a novelist. It is a love story; yet that is the least aspect of it. It is not a horror story; yet it is scary.

Before one can understand what this book really is, he must have some knowledge of its author. Edward Mandell House was the unofficial chief advisor to President Woodrow Wilson in the second decade of the twentieth century, Read More »

Genocide: an ancient crime; a relatively new word; a horrific event in which one group of people attempts to completely eliminate another group; a modern crime.  All of these apply to the word, one of the most awful in human history.

1994, a year within the lifetime of everyone over the age of 15 reading this piece, was the year of the Rwandan genocide.  Read More »