I am happy to let you know of some recently published booklets concerning Catholic faith and Catholic life. These booklets reflect some of the work I did when I worked at the Catholic Information Service (CIS) at the Knights of Columbus. The booklets are free but you are asked to cover postage. You can email Michele at cis@kofc.org or call the CIS at 203-752-4267. Mention that you saw this ad on the Communio blog and that Paul Z. sent you.

Saint Benedict for Busy Parents

Saint Benedict for Busy Parents communicates the beautiful depth of the Rule of Saint Benedict to busy parents to help them in their vocation as mothers and fathers. Part of every parent's responsibility is to teach the child about life and the faith. While the principles of the Rule of Saint Benedict is most often applied to those living in monasteries, the same principles provide a basic framework of practical spirituality for busy parents, indeed,, for all Christians in every age. Father Dwight Longenecker's experience as a parent, priest, Benedictine Oblate and teacher shows the reader that God is at work to bring us to the abundant and full life that He promises to each of his sons and daughters.

Facing Relativism and the Challenge of Truth

Dr. Donald DeMarco wrote Facing Relativism and the Challenge of Truth,  to examine the philosophy of relativism and the nature of Truth, putting them in their proper order. He shows how "unworkable on a practical level and creates immense and unnecessary stumbling blocks in the path of education, democracy, and the implementation of the natural law. In fact, it contributes, significantly, to the Culture of Death." Among the various philosophers and theologians he discusses, DeMarco uses Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's insight to shed light on this subject.

Understanding Stem Cell Research: Controversy and Promise

Dominican Father Nicanor Austriaco, a Professor of Biology at Providence College, presents Understanding Stem Cell Research: Controversy and Promise in which he clearly deals with the controversial yet optimistic topic of stem cell research. The objective of this booklet is to outline the reasons for hope and promise in the stem cell research and the reasons of great concern, indeed, the immorality of human embryonic stem cell research. Father Austriaco expounds on why the Church is not opposed to all forms of stem cell research but is opposed to human embryonic stem research because it "attacks and undermines the dignity of the human person...." This booklet is intelligent, accessible and well-worth the time to read in order to clearly understand a significant moral question of our era.

What Catholics Should Know About Islam

Providence College Professor of Theology,  Dr. Sandra T. Keating, authored What Catholics Should Know About Islam. to help non-Muslims develop a basic overview of the origins of the religion of Islam and its early history. What this booklet offers the reader is a discussion on the central beliefs and practices of Muslims. Keating contextualizes her writing in recent statements made by the Roman Catholic Church concerning its relationship to Islam. The author puts forward what she understands to be fundamental in Islamic belief in contrast to Catholic doctrine.

The Child: Begotten, Not Manmade: Catholic Teaching on In Vitro Fertilization

Kathleen Curran Sweeney examines the realities of the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process in The Child: Begotten, Not Manmade: Catholic Teaching on In Vitro Fertilization. The author takes the reader through the moral, theological and human issues, and the controversy that surround IVF. One can neither debate the pain of infertile couples who desire a child of their own nor resist the feelings of empathy for those who can't bear children. The teaching of the Church is presented here in a clear fashion while reminding us of the need to respond with compassionate love.

For more than 60 years the Knights Columbus has developed an ongoing program to learn the Catholic faith. The Catholic Information Service (CIS) to provide free Catholic publications for parishes, schools, retreat houses, military installations, correctional facilities, legislatures, the medical community, and for individuals who request them. CIS asks that the reader cover the costs of postage. Topics cover many of the key matters of Christian doctrine and life.

Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut is building a new University Chapel and has commissioned a rather unique team of artists to create original works of art for use in the sacred Liturgy.

Jesuit Father Marko I. Rupnik heads the artistic and theological team from the Aletti Center in Rome, Italy. He is a world-renowned artist whose works grace Pope John Paul II's Redemptoris Mater chapel at the Vatican and at the Basilica of Notre Dame du Rosaire, at Lourdes in France (a recent installation). His first work in the USA was commissioned by the Knights of Columbus Supreme Office in New Haven, Connecticut in 2005.

This art doesn't just decorate a space. It is liturgical art that is integrated into a particular space for the celebration of the sacred Liturgy. In relation to the sacred Liturgy, the liturgical art together with word and ritual gesture articulate the Church's interior life of holiness. By this, a church is an ecclesial edifice that not only allows a person to encounter the dynamic work of the Blessed Trinity, but it allows you to pray, think and relate at a real human level about the Divine Presence. The experience of good liturgical art, like the work of Father Rupnik, is not a mere static experience; it is an experience that vivifies our humanity. The artwork Rupnik has created in the Fairfield and in New Haven like that of the works in Rome and other places, is an expression of a dynamic spiritual quest of the divine and human, oriented in Church with a totality and energy of the living Trinitarian love communicated in Christ.

The Aletti Center is animated by a team of Jesuits and religious. The members of the team are specialists in Eastern theology and in related arts brought together to promote and to develop activities for theological-cultural reflection. A well-known member of the Aletti team is Jesuit Cardinal

Tomáš Špidlík from the Czech Republic but who has spent more than 50 years teaching in Rome (pictured in the center). Founded in 1991, the Aletti Center is part of the Pontifical Oriental Institute which specializes in the study and research of the theology of the Eastern Churches.