6/8/2018

Books on saints, secrets, Mary for your children's summer reading

YARDLEY, Pa. (CNS) -- The following books are suitable for summer reading: "Saintly Rhymes for Modern Times" by Meghan Bausch. Our Sunday Visitor. (Huntington, Indiana, 2018). 28 pp., $16.95. Resist the temptation to wince at the possibility of yet another children's book on saints. This one is different and will be a special keepsake for little ones. "Saintly Rhymes for Modern Times" is a compilation of poems featuring 18 holy men and women. The poems are short, sweet and meaningful: They include all the information a child needs to know about that particular saint in a few short few rhyming lines. The saints are paired with beautifully unique illustrations made with overlaying photographs. Ages 2 and up.

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6/8/2018

Book provides detailed look at Confederate leader's religious life

"The Religious Life of Robert E. Lee" by R. David Cox. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2017). 336 pp., $26. More than 153 years after the end of the Civil War, Confederate military leaders are in the news. More precisely, monuments of them are in the news.

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6/1/2018

Priests urge mutual respect in church dialogue with LGBT community

"Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter Into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion and Sensitivity" by Father James Martin, SJ. Harper Collins Publishers, (New York, revised edition, 2018). 190 pp., $14.99.

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6/1/2018

Social scientist addresses question of why people are religious

"Why God? Explaining Religious Phenomena" by Rodney Stark. Templeton Press (Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, 2017). 293 pp., $24.95. "Most humans believe (and hope) that life has meaning." That affirmation appears in the list of basic propositions that form the core around which Rodney Stark, a widely known sociologist of religion, builds his new book, "Why God?"

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5/25/2018

Priest's letters tell sad tale of oppressed Dominican sugar workers

"Slaves in Paradise: A Priest Stands Up for Exploited Sugarcane Workers" by Jesus Garcia; translated by Richard Goodyear. Ignatius Press (San Francisco, 2017). 300 pp., $18.95. Father Christopher Hartley Sartorius is a Spanish priest (English father, Spanish mother) from a well-off family. He decided to become a priest at age 15 and was ordained by St. John Paul II.

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5/18/2018

Book gives grisly narration of Nazi WWII Holocaust of Soviet Jews

"In Broad Daylight: The Secret Procedures Behind the Holocaust by Bullets" by Father Patrick Desbois. Arcade Publishing (New York, 2018). 281 pp., $24.99. This book is chilling reading. One wishes it were a novel rather than a factual recounting of the Nazi World War II slaughter of Jews in what was then the Soviet Union.

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5/11/2018

Discussion of words' origins best taken in small bites

"Angels, Barbarians and Nincompoops: ... and a Lot of Other Words You Thought You Knew" by Anthony Esolen. Tan Books (Charlotte, North Carolina, 2017). 280 pp., $24.95. If you're the type of person to ever wonder why the word "disgruntled" is commonplace, but calling someone "gruntled" decidedly less so, "Angels, Barbarians and Nincompoops" offers a rollicking ride through the forgotten histories of everyday words.

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