There are many books on Fatima that tell the story and comment on its historic context. There are others that seek to discern the meaning of Our Lady’s message to the three shepherd children in 1917. However, there are few that delve deeply into the core of the message which is the … Read more
A review of The Age of the Customer: Prepare for the Moment of Relevance by Jim Blasingame, (Florence, AL: SBN Books, 2014). A good book is one that provokes good questions in the mind of the reader. It need not provide all the answers. The important thing is to challenge the person to … Read more
A Review of the Book Bearing False Witness: Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History by Rodney Stark (West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Press, 2016). If you are known to be an observant Catholic, then you have had this conversation. Some question of doctrine comes up—abortion, same-sex “marriage,” divorce and remarriage, or what have you. … Read more
“Happy the man that understands the causes of things,” wrote Virgil. Polish philosopher Ryszard Legutko, who is also a Member of the European Parliament, is one of those deep thinkers who likes to get to the root of matters. He is not content with superficial observations or political platitudes. In his new … Read more
A Book Review of The Virgin Mary by Fr. Raymond de Thomas de Saint-Laurent Spiritual stagnation is not uncommon for those who strive for Christian perfection. The remedy often comes from a book that one just happens to pick up, not realizing that it might become a vehicle for grace. Darkness … Read more
There are many books that discuss the harmful effects of cyber distractions upon society and the individual. Such works offer compelling arguments that contribute to the growing skepticism in the general public about our relationships to our machines. Unfortunately, Cal Newport’s Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World is … Read more
Every one of us will have to face death one day. Dr. Paul Kalanithi gives a stirring account of facing his own mortality in his recently-published, posthumous memoir When Breath Becomes Air. His insights about death and the interesting journey to his chosen profession of medicine make for compelling reading, filled with … Read more
Is the Pope always infallible in everything he says or does? What are the conditions and limits provided by the First Vatican Council for the Pope to exercise the charisma of infallibility? Can Catholic faithful with sufficient doctrinal formation resist documents that clearly contradict Catholic tradition? These are some of the urgent … Read more
If the pace of life seems overwhelming, it might well be because we have assumed so many of the jobs once held by others. This is the position of Craig Lambert in his book, Shadow Work: The Unpaid, Unseen Jobs That Fill Your Day (Berkeley, Calif., Counterpoint Press, 2015). The Harvard sociologist … Read more
In reading David Boaz’s The Libertarian Mind (Simon & Schuster, 2015), one is struck by the difficulty of the task he has undertaken. It is hard enough to define a libertarian since, as Boaz admits, they come in so many brands and flavors. However, it is almost impossible to define the libertarian … Read more