Each chapter includes a history of each pitch, along with interviews with the best hurlers who ever threw them. Russell Shaw is the author of more than 20 books. As a bit of a bonus, moreover, the story’s four central characters are all Catholics–at least, Catholics of a sort. Casey Chalk is a contributor for Crisis Magazine, The American Conservative, and New Oxford Review. A People’s Tragedy – Orlando Figes. While I did find a few minor factual errors (for example, Paul VI, not John Paul II, was the first pope to visit Fatima, while Bishop Pavel Hnilica was a Slovak, not a Czech), he has a fine grasp of Catholicism as well. Thomas P. Harmon is Associate Professor and Scanlan Foundation Chair in Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, TX. War of the Worlds – H.G. And ‘progressive’ Christians are too often uncritical participants in this repudiation of our classical, Christian, and American inheritances. I also love books. How we would react? Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue. Speaking of politics, surely the best political books of the year were Conrad Black’s updated A President Like No Other and Candace Owens’ Blackout, both of which put the beleaguered achievements of President Trump in useful perspective. Vinicius’ irreverent uncle Petronius is one of the most interesting and attractive figures of the book, set in contrast to a Nero who in all his delusions of godhood and aesthetic pretensions seems a caricature of Nietzsche’s ubermensch. Those who have patiently waited for these archives to be opened will be rewarded by reading Dr. Ickx’s scholarly and essential book. Still. Best quote: “Judging by this kind of standard, who can say that George Soros is not a financial terrorist?”. ... Matthew's Top Books of 2020; For Your Parish. Centered on Nature rather than human choices, this study complements the previous title. Edward Short is an author who lives with his wife and two young children in Astoria, New York. A Feast for Hungry Souls: Spiritual Lessons from the Church’s Greatest Masters and Mystics by Dr. Susan Muto (Ave Maria Press, 2020). Some Spaniards entered the conversation. Audrey Donnithorne, academic, economist and expert on China, died shortly after a review copy of China in Life’s Foreground  (Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2020) arrived on my desk. With his outstanding The Strangeness of the Good (Angelico, 2020), James Matthew Wilson continues to prove (and reveal to those who had yet to see) he is the greatest of living poets. Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity – Nabeel Qureshi. Western culture may be going to the dogs, but reading Esolen’s essays on the unreal, or indeed, surreal elements in our contemporary life, gives the reader hope that the spiritual reserves of Christian civilization have not yet been depleted. A GOOD MORNING AMERICA Book Club Pick! A few years back, a Men of St. Joseph dad recommended Meg Meeker. Unlike Rieux, we know that salvation is not too big a word, and that health is not the highest good. Skills trump social media activity and disconnected dreams of “building an online presence.” Newport’s conclusion is simple and much-needed in our time: the standard or paradigm of good, humane work is not your passions or feelings. Having scavenged all the archives, Czaczkowska, one of Poland’s leading Catholic authors, presents a detailed, compelling portrait of one of the spiritual godfathers of solidarity, a pioneer of the new evangelization, and one of the twentieth century’s great churchmen who never compromised with communism and always defended the faith. Walker Percy, Love in the Ruins. For the Right, on the other hand, progress is “beneficial change,” an expression which only means something relative to some objective standard of truth and value. My nuttiness was relieved by reading Douglas Murray’s The Madness of Crowds. Fenelon received the news just as he was about to ascend the pulpit of his cathedral to preach. For a sober and very insightful history of the dawn of science, peruse Marie Boas Hall’s The Scientific Renaissance, 1450-1630, filled with intriguing and wonderful anecdotes. It was written in 1927, just two years after False Prophets, by Fr. I interviewed him, Clemente, and Briel on my blog. Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, by Giles Milton is the true story of the brilliant eccentrics also known as the “Baker Street Irregulars.” Fact that reads like fiction. Stasheff is a currently neglected author who got his start in the 1960s as one of the founders of the science fantasy sub-genre of science fiction. So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love by Cal Newport. In English for the first time are John Paul II’s insights into St. Paul’s balance of faith and reason. Not sure what effect this development would have on my reading productivity, I spent the next couple of weeks juggling the demands of scholarly research with the start-up of distance learning. Warlock, which runs to over a dozen books plus spinoff series, features a mix of mid-century, Captain Kirk-style liberalism, the media theory of Marshall McLuhan, and Stasheff’s own mid-century Catholicism. Newman and Briel thought the most important part of undergraduate formation was literature. Charis in the World of Wonders by Marly Youmans. As a collection of essays, this volume provides a valuable entry into his work while expanding upon the insights of The Modern Philosophical Revolution (2008) and Politics of the Person as the Politics of Being (2015). Sean Salai, S.J. The books produced by Roman Catholic Books … Filip Mazurczak is a journalist, translator, and historian. A work of specialist history of ideas, Simmons book sheds light on the strategy of the great Platonist philosopher, Porphyry of Tyre, in his opposition to Christianity. Jacque Philippe. Where Woke historians see cultural genocide (and genocide unadorned), Repplier and Beer see in the California missions a mix of imperfection and paternalism with kindness, generosity, and a wholly legitimate concern with the well-being of souls. Around that time, Bishop Barron provided this sheltering-in-place suggestion: “Read the great books!” One of his favorites? I’m glad I waited until now because there are insights embedded within this epic chronicle (less a “fantasy” in my mind than a metaphor for reality) that only someone in her or his later season can apprehend. Manent surveys the whole of the modern project in terms of natural law and human rights. After all, what he says of poor Castlereagh can be readily applied to our own political scoundrels: “Hearest thou the festival din/Of Death and Destruction and Sin / And Wealth crying ‘Havoc!’ within? Contains lots of interesting material on Newman including the fact that he thought that the Jesuits were the Spartans and that the Oratorians were the Athenians of the Religious Orders. If Goodman and O’Connor have mastered the novel, Sam Weller, the official biographer of Ray Bradbury, has truly mastered the short story as manifested in his collection, Dark Black (Hat and Beard, 2020), at times terrifying and at times deeply personal, but always profound. So, my conclusion, after reading Chernow’s biography, is that Grant, though he was not perfect, was not only a great General, but that he is also one of America’s greatest presidents – a man of integrity and faith, who pursued justice and the wellbeing of all. Louis de Granada in the two volumes A Sinner’s Guide, Alphonsus Rodriguez in The Practice of Christian and Religious Perfection, and Juan de Castiniza in The Spiritual Conflict and Conquest. To read a Hanson book, or to listen to one of his many public lectures, is almost akin to an education in itself. Carl E. Olson is the editor of Catholic World Report. Much of this brief volume defends the notion of reality as received rather than something man shapes by means of science, technology, or social convention. The best book I read in 2020 was Randall Sullivan’s The Miracle Detective: An Investigative Reporter Sets Out to Examine How the Catholic Church Investigates Holy Visions and Discovers His Own Faith, one of the great conversion narratives of our time. Every essay in this volume is a gem that richly rewards rereading and further reflection. The Advent prayers collected in special Advent prayer books … Monday, May 11, 2020. Prof. Michael P. Foley has given us a gift of a remarkable translation with helpful notes and an insightful commentary. catholic sunday and daily mass readings for 2021: catholic missal with the new order of mass and the principal celebrations of the liturgical year 2021 Catholic Lectionary Press 5.0 out of 5 stars 1 Fans of Balzac will welcome Brooks’ quotes from the novelist. Don wrote the book while in the process of making his way to and into the Catholic Church, and it is a rich volume filled with evangelistic and apologetic tools. William Doino, Jr. has written about religion, history, and culture for many publications, including First Things, the Times of London, The Catholic Herald, National Review, Inside the Vatican, and America. Perhaps there’s a lesson there about how we require an outside observer for an honest appraisal of ourselves. A truly horrifying analysis of this contagious delusion and its enablers. A great Newman scholar, his essays pushed me back to Newman’s practical writings in the posthumously collected My Campaign in Ireland. Here, we learn about Fr. Mark T. Mitchell’s Purity and Power lays out Wokedom’s marriage of Puritanism and Nietzsche. I’m ashamed to say that I have only just discovered the travel books of Fermor. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy has been made and remade for the big and the small screen, and the Smiley books are genuinely great, taken all together. Louis L’ Amour’s Smoke From This Altar is not on anyone’s list of 1000 Books of Poetry to Read Before You Die but it should be. His most recent book is The Next Pope: The Office of Peter and a Church in Mission (2020), published by Ignatius Press. Donald H. Calloway, M.I.C. While the book lags towards the end, Philbrick’s thesis that Arnold’s treason ultimately saved the American Revolution feels a bit forced—it is, in addition to being a compelling read, a reminder that in politics and government, the more things change, the more they stay the same. New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy, by Robert J. Spitzer was my most mentally demanding read in memory, chiefly because of the deep-dive astrophysics. Chernow’s biography brought to life Grant’s personal character as well as his genius as a military strategist. Counterfeit Christs: Finding the Real Jesus Among the Impostors by Trent Horn (Catholic Answers Press, 2019). David MacCullough’s The Greater Journey tells the story of American expatriates in France in brisk style. Home in the Church: Living an Embodied Catholic Faith by Dr. Jessica Ptomey (Morgan James Publishing, 2020). 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