My Brother, The Pope

My Brother, The Pope My Brother, the Pope
Ignatius Press (March 2012)

It wasn't always the case that Msgr. Georg Ratzinger lived in the shadow of his younger brother, Joseph. Georg was an accomplished musician, who for over 30 years directed the Regensburger Domspatzchor, the world-famous boys choir of the Regensburg cathedral. Brother Joseph was a brilliant young professor, but mostly known in German academic circles.

Now Georg writes about the close friendship that has united these two brothers for more than 80 years. This book is a unique window on an extraordinary family that lived through the difficult period of National Socialism in Germany. Those interested in knowing more about the early life of Benedict XVI will not be disappointed. They will also learn of the admirable character and inspiring example of the parents, and see how the Catholic faith can shape not just a family, but an entire culture-in this case, that of Bavaria.

Georg's reminiscences are detailed, intimate, and warm. And while they begin with the earliest years of the Ratzinger family, they continue right up to the present day.

Reviews

Benedict XVI's Reform: The Liturgy Between Innovation and Tradition

Benedict XVI's Reform: The Liturgy Between Innovation and Tradition Benedict XVI's Reform: The Liturgy Between Innovation and Tradition
Ignatius Press (April 2012)

When Benedict XVI reestablished the celebration of the older Latin Mass, voices of protest rose up from many sides. The widespread fear was-and is-that the Pope had revealed himself as the reactionary defender of tradition that many have accused him of being since he was the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the former Holy Office.

Defenders of Benedict XVI have responded to these objections by explaining that the use of the Tridentine Rite is not a "step backward" to pre-Vatican II times, but rather a step forward. Now the Church can see what the older rite offered in terms of beauty, reverence, and meaning and perhaps desire more of those elements in the ordinary form of the Mass.

A professor of theology and liturgy, the author of this book explains the motives behind the Pope's decision to allow two forms of the Mass. He does this by turning to the Pope's own theological and liturgical writings, but he also draws from his experiences on various Church commissions and in offices of the Roman Curia.

Joseph Ratzinger: Fundamental Speeches from Five Decades

Joseph Ratzinger: Fundamental Speeches from Five Decades Joseph Ratzinger: Fundamental Speeches from Five Decades
Ignatius Press (March 2012)

While a professor of theology and throughout his rise in the Roman Catholic hierarchy, Joseph Ratzinger again and again delivered important speeches over the course of five decades at the Catholic Academy of Bavaria (1963-2004). The broad spectrum of topics from the primacy of the papacy to the moral foundations of western society demonstrated not only his breadth of knowledge but also his prescience, for these issues remain important for both the Church and modern man.

The fundamental speeches in this volume are arranged thematically. And before each one is a brief introduction written by Dr. Florian Schuller, the director of the Catholic Academy of Bavaria in Munich, who also contributed the foreword.

Holy Men and Women Of the Middle Ages and Beyond

Holy Men and Women Of the Middle Ages and Beyond Holy Men and Women Of the Middle Ages and Beyond
Ignatius Press (March 2012)

While a professor of theology and throughout his rise in the Roman Catholic hierarchy, Joseph Ratzinger again and again delivered important speeches over the course of five decades at the Catholic Academy of Bavaria (1963-2004). The broad spectrum of topics from the primacy of the papacy to the moral foundations of western society demonstrated not only his breadth of knowledge but also his prescience, for these issues remain important for both the Church and modern man.

The fundamental speeches in this volume are arranged thematically. And before each one is a brief introduction written by Dr. Florian Schuller, the director of the Catholic Academy of Bavaria in Munich, who also contributed the foreword.

Dogma and Preaching: Applying Christian Doctrine to Daily Life

Dogma and Preaching: Applying Christian Doctrine to Daily Life Dogma and Preaching: Applying Christian Doctrine to Daily Life
Ignatius Press (October 1, 2011)

This volume is an unabridged edition of Dogma and Preaching, a work that appeared in a much-reduced form in English, in 1985. The new book contains twice as much material as first English edition.

"Dogma", for many people, is a bad word. For the well-informed believer, it shouldn't be. Dogmas are truths revealed by God, which should enlighten the minds, guide the choices, and gladden the hearts of Jesus' disciples, including pastors, deacons, and lay teachers. But, as Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), notes in the foreword to this book, "The path from dogma to proclamation or preaching has become very troublesome." Finding ways to relate the content of the Church's dogmas to everyday life can be challenging for today's preachers and teachers. Some people find the task so daunting that they leave dogma out. As a result, they wind up presenting something other than the Church's faith and speak in their own name, offering perhaps unwittingly merely their own, subjective ideas, rather than the Word of God.

In Dogma and Preaching, the theologian and priest Joseph Ratzinger provides (1) a theory of preaching for today; (2) application of this theory to some themes for preaching drawn from the Church's dogmas; (3) meditations and sermons based on the liturgical year and the communion of saints; and (4) some thoughts regarding the decade after the Second Vatican and Christianity's seeming irrelevance. Ratzinger insists that sound preaching should rest on three pillars -- Dogma, Scripture, and the Church Today, the contemporary situation in which the Church finds herself. He shows that the proper understanding of the Church, her dogmas, the nature of faith, and the contemporary world allow the proclaimer-believer to remain faithful to the Church's mission and life-changing message.

Friendship with Jesus: Pope Benedict XVI Talks to Children on Their First Holy Communion

Friendship with Jesus: Pope Benedict XVI Talks to Children on Their First Holy Communion Friendship with Jesus: Pope Benedict XVI Talks to Children on Their First Holy Communion
Ignatius Press (October 1, 2011)

To receive Jesus in Holy Communion is to enter into a lifelong friendship with him.

In this beautifully illustrated book, Amy Welborn, well-known author and blogger, introduces Pope Benedict's profound yet simple answers to various questions put to him by children in Rome who had recently made their First Holy Communion.

Pope Benedict's answers, and the children's wonderful questions concerning this very important spiritual occasion in their young lives, provide inspiring text for this beautiful gift book for First Communion.

Doctors of the Church

Doctors of the Church Doctors of the Church
Our Sunday Visitor (September 27, 2011)

They are saints and teachers, monks, priests, bishops, and nuns. They faced opposition and exile. They lived in periods of confusion and conflict.

Their teachings and insights not only brought peace and understanding to the Church of their time, but continue to anchor the Church of today. They brought clarity to the fragments and simplicity to the complex.

They used speeches, documents, poems, and songs to reach the people of their time. Now Pope Benedict XVI explores the lives and significance of thirty-two of the Doctors of the Church like no one else can. Taken directly from the pope's addresses in his weekly audiences, Doctors of the Church is an incredible journey through time to better understand these individuals who explored and explained the critical questions of the Church.

---Who is Christ?
---How do we know Christ?
---How do we act as Christ's disciples?
---How are we in Christ?

Great Christian Thinkers: From the Early Church Through the Middle Ages

Great Christian Thinkers: From the Early Church Through the Middle Ages Great Christian Thinkers: From the Early Church Through the Middle Ages
Augsburg Fortress Publishers (July 1, 2011)

In brief portraits, Pope Benedict XVI offers engaging, perceptive, and edifying sketches of some of the great thinkers and writers of Christianity, from early Christianity through the high Middle Ages. Pope Benedict discusses notable theologians from East and West but also many figures whose primary witness was as ascetics, poets, mystics, and missionaries. Always with an eye to their deepest religious convictions and struggles, the Holy Father presents these great thinkers importance for the church and for Christian life today.

Holy Women

Holy Women Holy Women
Our Sunday Visitor (June 28, 2011)

Women have always played a unique and critical role throughout Scripture which has continued through today. In his weekly addresses, Pope Benedict XVI expertly and thoughtfully explores the life stories of 17 such holy women.

From St. Hildegard of Bingen to St. Teresa of Avilla to St. Joan of Arc and many more in between, each one brings a fresh experience and example of faith that is still relevant today. These models of prayer, faith, and action will help you gain a fuller understanding of Church history as well as personal faith.

Bring your faith to life with the spark of history as told by the pope himself.

Pope Benedict XVI and the Liturgy

Pope Benedict XVI and the Liturgy Pope Benedict XVI and the Liturgy
Gracewing Publishing (May 2, 2011)

A prominent and inescapable feature of Pope Benedict XVI's pontificate is the importance which has been given to the sacred liturgy, in its actual celebration, as well as in the pope's Magisterium and theological writings. Not only have we witnessed the reappearance of many elements used in older, but recently-abandoned papal liturgies, but also what amounts to be the virtual liberation of the 'Old Latin Mass'. This has come as a great surprise to many people in the Church, some of whom almost regard it, and the pope's liturgical theology, as a betrayal of recent liturgical reforms. On the other hand, others have viewed these liturgical changes, and the emphasis which Pope Benedict places upon the liturgy in the life of the Church, as positive developments, leading to a more correct understanding of the Second Vatican Council within 'the hermeneutic of continuity' and reform, and the notion of 'organic development'. But, in the midst of conflicting interpretations, how are we to understand these developments and Pope Benedict XVI's re-affirmation of what we now call the usus antiquior? In this book Dr Anselm J. Gribbin explores these and other related questions by examining the liturgical theology of Pope Benedict XVI in his magisterial teachings and writings, particularly in the post-synodal exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, and The Spirit of the Liturgy. Gribbin, in an extensive, and detailed analysis, indicates that the liturgical theology of Pope Benedict XVI/Joseph Ratzinger points the way forward for the Church in the field of liturgy. He also addresses the fundamentally important question of the relationship between the liturgical writings of Pope Benedict XVI as a theologian, and his Magisterium as the supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church, and that the latter is best understood with recourse to the former.


Dr Anselm J. Gribbin, O.Praem., was born in Glasgow, and is a religious in the Abbey of Tongerlo, Belgium. He studied at St Mary’s College, Strawberry Hill, Maryvale Institute, Birmingham, and received his doctorate from the University of Cambridge. A specialist in Late Medieval History, he has made a particular study of the Premonstratensians and Carthusians, and the liturgical practices of this period. He is a socius member of the Historical Commission of the Premonstratensian Order, and his publications include a co-edited volume of the acta of the archbishops of Canterbury in the English Episcopal Acta Series.

Great Teachers

Great Teachers Great Teachers
Our Sunday Visitor (March 28, 2011)

Discover the greatest teachers of the Faith as Pope Benedict XVI highlights their essential role during a time of scandal and strife in the Church.

Focusing specifically on the 13th-century founding of the Franciscans by St. Francis of Assisi and the Dominicans by St. Dominic, the pope said personal holiness led the two saints to preach and to help actualize a return to Gospel poverty, a deeper unity with the Church, and a new movement of evangelization, including within the European universities that were blossoming at the time.

The Franciscans and Dominicans followed in the footsteps of their founders and demonstrated that it was possible to live evangelical poverty, to live the Gospel itself, without separating themselves from the Church, he said.

Their example continues to be relevant today as we struggle with a culture that focuses more on having than on being, and look to emulate those holy people who chose to live very simply.

Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection

Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection
Pope Benedict XVI. Ignatius Press (March 10, 2011).

For Christians, Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, who died for the sins of the world, and who rose from the dead in triumph over sin and death. For non-Christians, he is almost anything else-myth, a political revolutionary, a prophet whose teaching was misunderstood or distorted by his followers.

Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, and no myth, revolutionary, or misunderstood prophet, insists Benedict XVI. He thinks that the best of historical scholarship, while it can't "prove" Jesus is the Son of God, certainly doesn't disprove it. Indeed, Benedict maintains that the evidence, fairly considered, brings us face-to-face with the challenge of Jesus-a real man who taught and acted in ways that were tantamount to claims of divine authority, claims not easily dismissed as lunacy or deception.

Benedict XVI presents this challenge in his new book, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, the sequel volume to Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration.

Why was Jesus rejected by the religious leaders of his day? Who was responsible for his death? Did he establish a Church to carry on his work? How did Jesus view his suffering and death? How should we? And, most importantly, did Jesus really rise from the dead and what does his resurrection mean? The story of Jesus raises these and other crucial questions.

Benedict brings to his study the vast learning of a brilliant scholar, the passionate searching of a great mind, and the deep compassion of a pastor's heart. In the end, he dares readers to grapple with the meaning of Jesus' life, teaching, death, and resurrection. Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection challenges both believers and unbelievers to decide who Jesus of Nazareth is and what he means for them.

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Holiness is Always in Season

Holiness Is Always in Season Holiness Is Always in Season
Ignatius Press (March 1, 2011)

For a Christian, the way to reach perfection is to strive for holiness. What is true perfection? Christ's words are clear, sublime and disconcerting: "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." To have God as our model is a dizzying thought! Yet the Church reminds us that, "All the faithful, whatever their condition or state in life, are called by the Lord to that perfect holiness."

The Church teaches us that holiness is not the concern of a privileged few, nor does it only pertain to Christians of the past. Holiness is always a call to every Christian of every age, a challenge for anyone who wants to follow in the footsteps of Christ.

Pope Benedict XVI says: "Holiness never goes out of fashion; on the contrary, with the passage of time it shines out ever more brightly, expressing man's perennial effort to reach God." Mother Teresa of Calcutta wrote: "Holiness is not something for the extraordinary; it is not a luxury of the few. Holiness is the simple duty for each one of us."

The saints are our models and teachers in the ways of holiness. They show us that holiness is possible for us, since they experienced the same difficulties and weaknesses we do, yet persevered in achieving sanctity. The world of saints is a world of wonders, and in this book Pope Benedict XVI helps us to enter into that world.

This inspiring volume presents the Pope's numerous reflections on many saints arranged according to the calendar year. He shows how the life of each saint has something unique to teach us about virtue, faith, courage and love of Christ. Dozens of saints are covered in this wonderful spiritual book. The Pope exhorts us through their lives, "Be holy! Be saints!"

Gained Horizons: Regensburg and the Enlargement of Reason

Gained Horizons: Regensburg and the Enlargement of Reason Gained Horizons: Regensburg and the Enlargement of Reason
Edited by Bainard Cowan.
St. Augustines Press; 1 edition (February 10, 2011)

Gained Horizons takes up Pope Benedict XVI’s invitation, issued in his lecture at the University of Regensburg, to enter into the dialogue of cultures by “broadening our concept of reason” to “once more disclose its vast horizons.” Benedict placed in the foreground the notion of God as acting with reason, and said of “this great logos, this breadth of reason,” that “to rediscover it constantly is the great task of the university.”The contributors to Gained Horizons conduct their inquiries down the paths of their disciplines of thought – philosophy, theology, political thought and literary criticism – examining the broader nature of reason and the forces that oppose it today in politics, culture, and education.

Several of the most distinguished and most stimulating commentators on the public scene come together in Gained Horizons to focus on the challenges and hopes of reason. Jean Bethke Elshtain finds in the conception of a God Who is approachable by reason the root of the subjection of rulers to law, even laws that they themselves have made. To Peter Lawler, Pope Benedict articulates a science adequate to the achievement of the American Founders and thus urgent to recover, since American public opinion tends both to deny reason in the name of freedom and to rigidify reason in the name of democratic science. R. R. Reno looks at the contemporary university and finds not so much a relativism as a loss of intellectual ambition, of the confidence that the disciplines can help us understand how we can live our lives. As Reno points out the dangers of relying on theory without traditional wisdom to solve human problems, Glenn Arbery describes Dostoevsky’s vision of modern man imprisoned in theory and his rescue by reason and grace in the action of Crime and Punishment. Nalin Ranasinghe then sketches out some of the implications of the Regensburg Address for philosophers in particular and the university in general; Pope Benedict challenges the academy to recove the full richness of the gift of reason. These and other contributors combine to launch not only a critique of the contemporary scene but an envisioning of the ever-present sources of logos that stand ready to be regenerated in our time.

Bainard Cowan is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Louisiana State University. He is the author of Exiled Waters: Moby Dick and the Crisis of Allegory and editor of Poetics of the Americas and Uniting the Liberal Arts: Core and Context.

Light of the World: The Pope, The Church and the Signs of the Times

Light of the World: The Pope, The Church and the Signs of the Times Light of the World: The Pope, The Church and the Signs of the Times
Pope Benedict XVI | Peter Seewald. Introduction by George Weigel.
Ignatius Press (November 24, 2010)

Never has a Pope, in a book-length interview, dealt so directly with such wide-ranging and controversial issues as Pope Benedict XVI does in Light of the World. Taken from a recent week-long series of interviews with veteran journalist Peter Seewald, this book tackles head-on some of the greatest issues facing the world of our time. Seewald poses such forthright questions to Pope Benedict as:
  • What caused the clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic Church?
  • Was there a "cover up"?
  • Have you considered resigning?
  • Does affirming the goodness of the human body mean a plea for "better sex"?
  • Can there be a genuine dialogue with Islam?
  • Should the Church rethink Catholic teaching on priestly celibacy, women priests, contraception, and same-sex relationships?
  • Holy Communion for divorced-and-remarried Catholics?
  • Is there a schism in the Catholic Church?
  • Should there be a Third Vatican Council?
  • Is there any hope for Christian unity?
  • Is Christianity the only truth?
  • Can the Pope really speak for Jesus Christ?
  • How can the Pope claim to be "infallible"?
  • Is there a "dictatorship of relativism" today?
Twice before these two men held wide-ranging discussions, which became the best-selling books Salt of the Earth and God and the World. Then, Seewald's discussion partner was Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Vatican's chief doctrinal office. Now, Joseph Ratzinger is Pope Benedict XVI, the spiritual leader of the world's over one billion Catholics. Though Seewald now interviews the Pope himself, the journalist "pulls no punches", posing some of the thorniest questions any Pope has had to address. Believers and unbelievers will be fascinated to hear Benedict's thoughtful, straightforward and thought-provoking replies. This is no stern preachment or ponderous theological tract, but a lively, fast-paced, challenging, even entertaining exchange.

The Theology of Pope Benedict XVI: The Christocentric Shift

The Theology of Pope Benedict XVI: The Christocentric Shift The Theology of Pope Benedict XVI: The Christocentric Shift
by Father Emery de Gaál, Ph.D. Palgrave Macmillan (November 23, 2010)

Many refer to Pope Benedict XVI as “the Mozart of Theology.” Who are the personalities and thinkers who have informed his theology? What events, and which religious devotions, have shaped his personality? What are the central themes of his complex scholarship encompassing more than 1500 titles? This study attempts to shed light on the unifying melody of the policies and positions of a pontificate charged with spiritual and theological depth. Especially in the 1970s an anthropocentric shift had occurred. Emery de Gaál argues that, amid a general lack of original, secular ideas stirring public opinion, Benedict XVI inaugurates an epochal Christocentric shift; by rekindling the Patristic genius, he provides Christianity with both intellectual legitimacy and the scholarship needed to propel it into the twenty-first century.

About the Author

Fr. Emery de Gaál is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of St. Mary of the Lake operated by the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago and located in Mundelein, Illinois. He studied theology in Munich and Pittsburgh and also published Theology: The Art of Equanimity. He is a Catholic priest of the diocese of Eichstätt, Bavaria, Germany.

* * *

“Pope Benedict XVI’s theological work and his pastoral and spiritual writings are here placed in the perspective of the mystery of Christ. Father Emery de Gaal has beautifully and exhaustively clarified the fundamental interpretative key to the Ratzinger texts and to the life of Pope Benedict XVI.”

-- Francis Cardinal George, OMI, Archbishop of Chicago

“He was already one of the most important theologians of the past century before his election to the papacy as Benedict XVI in this century. But now Joseph Ratzinger must count as perhaps the most important postconciliar theologian, bar none. de Gaál gives us the most comprehensive study of the pope’s theology now available. But even more, he places the pope’s thought in the context of the revolution in Catholic theology that started well before Vatican II and has continued on to this day: the revolution that abandoned neoscholasticism and shifted its focus to Christology. That story is indeed a dramatic one, and here it is dramatically and comprehensively told. This book is a ‘must purchase’ for every theological library – and for all admirers of that perhaps greatest of great theologians, Joseph Ratzinger.”

—Fr Edward T. Oakes, S. J., Chester & Margaret Paluch Professor of Theology, University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary

“Father de Gaál’s work is indispensable for anyone who wishes to understand the Christocentric shift in the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI and in contemporary theological anthropology generally. It is the deepest analysis of the topic currently available.”

— Tracey Rowland, Professor and Dean, John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family, Melbourne, Australia

The Virtues

The Virtues The Virtues
Our Sunday Visitor (October 2010)

"...The truly great thing in Christianity, which does not dispense one from small, daily things but must not be concealed by them either, is this ability to come into contact with God."

---Pope Benedict XVI

One of the greatest teachers of our day, Pope Benedict XVI has frequently spoken about the pursuit of virtue. In these selections from homilies and addresses, the Holy Father draws on the lives of saints, the Catechism, and common experiences to bring us into a deeper understanding of the virtues and how to cultivate them in our own lives so that we can grow closer to the Lord.

Allow Pope Benedict XVI to instruct you on nurturing all the basic Christian virtues: Faith, Hope, and Charity, called the Theological Virtues and Prudence, Fortitude, Justice, and Temperance the Cardinal Virtues.

A virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself. The virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory and spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions. Catechism of the Catholic Church (1803)

Heart Speaks to Heart: Sermons and Addresses of Benedict XVI in the UK

Heart Speaks to Heart: Sermons and Addresses of Benedict XVI in the UK Heart Speaks to Heart: Sermons and Addresses of Benedict XVI in the UK

Darton,Longman & Todd Ltd (September 2010)

In advance of his historic visit in September 2010, Pope Benedict XVI prepared several important addresses on religion and society, on education, and on the contribution made by the Catholics of the United Kingdom to the story of the Church.

Heart Speaks to Heart collects together the complete texts of all the sermons, talks and addresses given during his four-day visit to Britain, which reaches its climax with the ceremonies at Cofton Park in Birmingham for the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman.

Benedict XVI: A Guide for the Perplexed

Benedict XVI: A Guide for the Perplexed Benedict XVI: A Guide for the Perplexed
by Tracey Rowland. T & T Clark International (July 2010)

This title presents an upper-level introduction to the thought and theology of Pope Benedict XVI. This Guide provides students of theology with a guide around the theoretical axes upon which the theology of Joseph Ratzinger revolves. It begins with a presentation of the key ideas in the works of his intellectual antecedents and contemporary interlocutors and then moves to an account of Ratzinger's responses to a number of theological crises. The work then moves to an account of Ratzinger's understanding of Christianity as an encounter with the Person of Christ and his placement of Christianity within the context of world religions in general. This theme is spread throughout his publications and recurs in the first encyclical of his papacy, Deus Caritas Est. This first encyclical will be treated in depth along with the second and third encyclicals which form a trilogy on the theological virtues (love, hope and faith). The work concludes with an assessment of the primacy of the transcendental of beauty in the theology of Ratzinger, his affinity with Hans Urs von Balthasar and the Augustinian motif of the relationship between love and reason. "Continuum's Guides for the Perplexed" are clear, concise and accessible introductions to thinkers, writers and subjects that students and readers can find especially challenging - or indeed downright bewildering. Concentrating specifically on what it is that makes the subject difficult to grasp, these books explain and explore key themes and ideas, guiding the reader towards a thorough understanding of demanding material.

Reviews

Benedict XVI and the Sacred Liturgy

Benedict XVI and the Sacred Liturgy Benedict XVI and the Sacred Liturgy

Four Courts Press (June 2010)

Benedict XVI and the Sacred Liturgy is the published proceedings of the first Fota International Liturgical Conference held in Cork, Ireland, in July 2008 and it aims to provide a general overview of some of the more important themes in Benedict XVI’s liturgical writings. It serves as a broad introduction to issues central to Benedict XVI's concern for authentic renewal of Catholic worship, according to the principles set out by the Second Vatican Council, and to his critique of liturgical innovations deviant from those principles. The book explores some of the formative influences on Joseph Ratzinger's liturgical vision and points to the consistent application of those critically assimilated influences over a spectrum of issues facing modern liturgical scholarship: the recovery of the sacred, the cosmic and eschatological dimensions of Christian worship, advocacy of continuity rather than rupture in the liturgical tradition; the need for historical and intellectual honesty in discerning development (as well as in areas such as vernacular translations of the core texts of the Roman Rite); and the renewal of genuine scientific exploration of the sources of the Roman Rite. The book is aimed at a professional and general audience. For the most part, it is easily accessible and plots the map for a series of more specific issues to be dealt with in the Fota Liturgical Conference Series.

Pope Benedict XVI and the Sexual Abuse Crisis: Working for Reform and Renewal

Pope Benedict XVI and the Sexual Abuse Crisis: Working for Reform and Renewal Pope Benedict XVI and the Sexual Abuse Crisis: Working for Reform and Renewal

Our Sunday Visitor (May 17, 2010)

"You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry. I know that nothing can undo the wrong you have endured."----- Pope Benedict XVI

The True Story

Since 1985, the Catholic Church in the United States has been living in the shadow of the clerical sexual abuse crisis. In 2002, revelations in Boston ignited an institutional nightmare. More recently, the scandal erupted in Ireland and spread across Europe. There is now a rush by some, both inside and outside the Church, to place direct blame upon Pope Benedict XVI.

There is no escaping the fact that Pope Benedict, as the former head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and now as pope, has played an historically pivotal and personal role in the Vatican's response to the crisis.

Pope Benedict XVI and the Sexual Abuse Crisis is a groundbreaking, critically objective assessment of the criticism facing the pope as well as a review of his real response to the victims, abusers, bishops, media, and the millions of Catholics worldwide who continue to be justifiably horrified by the scandal. The first and foremost objective for this book is the truth no matter how difficult to face and letting the pope's record speak for itself.

"No one imagines that this painful situation will be resolved swiftly. Real progress has been made, yet much more remains to be done." Pope Benedict XVI.

Review

Church Fathers and Teachers: From Leo the Great to Peter Lombard

Church Fathers and Teachers: From Leo the Great to Peter Lombard Church Fathers and Teachers: From Leo the Great to Peter Lombard

Ignatius Press (May 10, 2010)

After meditating on the Apostles and then on the Fathers of the early Church, as seen in his earlier works Jesus, the Apostles and the Early Church and Church Fathers, Pope Benedict XVI devoted his attention to the most influential Christian men from the fifth through the twelfth centuries. In his first book, Church Fathers, Benedict began with Clement of Rome and ended with Saint Augustine. In this volume, the Holy Father reflects on some of the greatest theologians of the Middle Ages: Benedict, Anselm, Bernard, and Gregory the Great, to name just a few. By exploring both the lives and the ideas of the great popes, abbots, scholars and missionaries who lived during the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of Christendom, Pope Benedict XVI highlights the key elements of Catholic dogma and practice that remain the foundation stones not only of the Roman Catholic Church but of Christian society itself. This book is a wonderful way to get to know these later Church Fathers and Teachers and the tremendous spiritually rich patrimony they have bequeathed to us.

Joseph Ratzinger in Communio: Vol. 1, The Unity of the Church

Joseph Ratzinger in Communio Joseph Ratzinger in Communio: Vol. 1, The Unity of the Church (Ressourcement: Retrieval and Renewal in Catholic Thought)

W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (February 22, 2010)

The Unity of the Church brings together a captivating collection of articles — previously published in Communio — by Pope Benedict XVI. The essays deal with various issues facing the church in the world today, including what divides and unites denominations, the growing crisis facing peace and justice, technological security, and the necessity of ecumenism in the growth of the church. / “Pope Benedict XVI rarely writes on any churchly matter that does not manifest its implications for man and culture, and vice versa,” notes David Schindler in the introduction. This collection is a brilliant expression of that tendency toward interconnectivity. / Dwelling in Love is part of the Ressourcement: Retrieval and Renewal in Catholic Thought series, edited by David L. Schindler.

Heart of the Christian Life: Thoughts on the Holy Mass

Heart of the Christian Life: Thoughts on the Holy Mass
Ignatius Press (March 1, 2010)

The celebration of the Eucharist, in which Jesus Christ becomes present, is the center of the Catholic faith. This volume brings together substantive texts of the Holy Father on the many aspects and dimensions of the Mass and the Mystery of the Eucharist, a rich source for every Christian and a spur to reflection and personal prayer. Delivered in addresses and homilies to a wide variety of audiences , these reflections reveal the depth and breadth of Pope Benedict XVI’s profound and life-long love for the Holy Eucharist. A major theme throughout the works of Joseph Ratzinger, the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is the Church’s source of life, unity and fruitfulness. This theme has been carried deeply into his pontificate, as can be seen in this collection, which challenges the faithful to believe that by receiving Christ in Holy Communion, they are drawn not only into the very life of God, but into the community that is Christ’s Body, the Church.

The Ratzinger Reader

The Ratzinger Reader
Lieven Boeve (Editor), Gerard Mannion (Editor). Continuum (March 2010)

A fascinating and insightful volume collecting together the key writings of Joseph Ratzinger, some of them yet untranslated, from his youthful and more progressive writings, to his ‘transition period’ following his disillusionment with the aftermath of Vatican II, to his time as Prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith down to 2005. The emphasis will be upon Joseph Ratzinger as ‘private theologian’, his many writings released in a personal capacity for such will chart the formation of and comment upon the official statements and texts released under his name in a more informative fashion than the simple inclusion of the formulaic ‘official texts’ themselves.

Following a section providing insight into the fundamental and systematic theological background and development of Joseph Ratzinger’s thought, further thematic sections will also be included, for example, Joseph Ratzinger’s writings on Ecclesiology, on Theology and the Role of Theologians, on the Eucharist, on Religious Pluralism, on Sacramental Theology, Ecumenism, on Truth, on the Contemporary Historical Era, on Magisterium and on Faith Morals etc.

The volume will open with an introductory essay charting the life and career, the achievements of and the controversies surrounding the new pope. Each reading will be prefaced by a brief introduction to its context and themes and will be followed by recommended further reading on its respective subject matter.
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