Few novels are rich enough in characters to become a series, but the Lily Trilogy belongs in this rare company. The characters around Lily, a woman with Down syndrome who has a profound affect on the world around her, are so vividly drawn, so realistic and multifaceted, that they become friends with whom you want [...]
Just as it is helpful for women to talk to women now and again regarding the spiritual life, the same holds true for men! David N. Calvillo’s book, Real Men Pray the Rosary: A Practical Guide to a Powerful Prayer, is a forthright conversation with men (and us women who sneak a peek) about his own [...]
Robin Hood is a legendary folk hero who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. He is said to have revolted under a corrupt king (scholars do not agree on which king) by stealing from the rich then redistributing it to the poor. The point of Robin Hood is less about actual history [...]
Imagine giving your mother a gift that is born of the emotions in your own heart and hand-created simply for her, to share not only the love you feel, but the many ways in which she has touched and shaped your life. You may think you’re not creative enough to come up with such a [...]
When you fall in love, you want to spend as much time together as possible and learn all you can about your loved one. For author Chris Stepien, his ebook Three Days: The Search for the Boy Messiah was about love. His love of God led Stepien to want to know him better. His love [...]
What can mothers today learn from a poor Jewish woman who lived two thousand years ago? If the woman in question is Our Blessed Mother, the answer is everything. Marge Fenelon explores ten of these lessons in the new book, Imitating Mary: Ten Marian Virtues for the Modern Mom (Ave Maria Press, 2013). Fenelon writes [...]
Dear God, I Don’t Get It by Patti Maguire Armstrong Liguori Publications, 2013 Why does God answer some prayers and not others? This is a question that plagues even adults. Sometimes, we pray so hard and think we know what God should do in our lives. And then, God does something else or He does [...]
Do you think you would benefit spiritually by spending thirty hours in prayer and meditation? Yeah, right, you are likely thinking. Where would I find time for that? I’m a very busy mother. Motherhood has its ironies. When we are pregnant and feel the need to “rest up,” sleep is often hard to come by. [...]
Wolves prowl the streets of abandoned cities. Only prostitutes are left to take care of the elderly. War is looming. This is 2013 and the global population is aging. These are only a few of the alarming anecdotes retold at a conference last week. Decades of policies to reduce the number of people on our [...]
I do quite a bit of reading. Up until recently, I was convinced that paper books were the way to go. And then I thought an iPad would solve all my “I want to read it electronically” problems. Then, slowly, I started to think about how some of the “just like real paper” e-readers might be [...]
The approach of spring is an excellent time to think of gardening. One of the projects on my bucket list is to create a beautiful flower garden in my “sacred space” near the statue of Our Lady in the forest adjoining our home. As my children were growing, then as I began writing fiction, this [...]
Catholics throughout the world might be familiar with Fr. Donald H. Calloway, MIC as a frequent conference speaker. In many of his talks he shares the story of his radical conversion to the Catholic faith, recounted in another book, No Turning Back: A Witness to Mercy. Due to his frequent conference appearances he has developed a [...]
Dr. Thomas E. Woods, Jr., author of How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization, has re-issued his 2008 book Sacred Then and Sacred Now: The Return of the Old Latin Mass. In this book, Woods writes about Pope Benedict XVI’s famous Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, which allowed for the Roman Liturgy according to the Missal [...]
In every person’s life, there should be a person who, as C.S. Lewis says, “hears the song in your heart and can sing it back to you.” Through this devoted love, one overcomes fears, hurts and selfishness, and the soul expands. For the Lovely family in Sherry Boas’ fictional Lily series, this person is the [...]
In 1999, Tracy Sands was inspired while listening to Christian music at a church event. With only a pen and the program she received at the door to work with, she began sketching quickly. The urge to create was so strong she “felt as though she would pop if she didn’t get the ideas out [...]
How do you present Theology of the Body in a novel that people will not only like, but want to share and passionately recommend? You couldn’t have convinced me that it could be done well until I read the debut novel by AnnMarie Creedon. Angela’s Song is a novel that I should probably categorize as chick [...]
Our present culture does not value and esteem womanhood very much. Catholic writer, speaker, and podcaster Pat Gohn is working to change that. With Blessed, Beautiful, and Bodacious: Celebrating the Gift of Catholic Womanhood (Ave Maria Press, 2013) , Gohn “seeks to celebrate womanhood by exploring a woman’s dignity, gifts, and mission.” As one might [...]
Stephanie Wincik is a registered nurse who doesn’t consider herself pro-life, or subscribe to any particular religious belief, yet after 25 years of working with the medically fragile disabled patients, she stumbled upon an article which galvanized her into writing a pro-life book, Making the Case for Life, which has in its enhanced second edition, [...]
When I was in graduate school studying theology, I took a course on the Trinity. It featured a very large scholarly book and lots of Greek words. I found it fascinating, but understood relatively little. There is a reason why the Trinity is considered a mystery. In The ‘One Thing’ is Three: How the Most [...]
A new book by Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC), challenges the myth that vulnerable people are not at risk under euthanasia and assisted suicide legislation. Using only data gathered from peer reviewed journal articles and studies, Schadenberg proves this assertion false in Exposing Vulnerable People to Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, published in [...]
God does not call the equipped, he equips those he calls. That is, if they answer his call. Mother Angelica used to say that any dodo will do—those not worried about their lack of ability, but willing to say yes to God. She was just such a dodo who volunteered to serve him. In spite [...]
Randy Hain is a model of a man with an “attitude of gratitude,” and his new book tells something of his personal journey from a man with little hope to one with much to be thankful for. Raised a Southern Baptist, he left that church for pursuit of his own worldly goals, but God kept [...]
The narrative some have come to trust from talk radio or from public personalities like Pat Buchanan, Justice Antonin Scalia or libertarians such as Ron Paul and Lew Rockwell, is that it is in our best interest to return to the vision of the American Founding Fathers, who, in their estimate, were God-fearing men, lovers [...]
It started with just one hour of prayer in College Station, TX not even ten years ago. Today, 40 Days for Life has grown to a bi-annual 40 day campaign of prayer, fasting, peaceful vigil and community outreach for more than half a million people in hundreds of cities across America and around the world. [...]
