Books - (also see Inspirational Books)

What author John J. Pilch did for our understanding of the Sunday readings in his best-selling Cultural World of Jesus Sunday by Sunday series, he now does for the readings of the Triduum and Easter Sunday. Preachers, liturgy planners, musicians, and lyricists will discover the cultural context and meaning of the three Scripture readings for each day. All who participate in the Triduum and Easter Sunday liturgies will gain a deeper understanding of the Scriptures and their application to modern life.

The introduction presents and explains a three-step method commonly used by specialists in cross-cultural communication. Pilch offers suggestions for homilists and reflection questions from historical, liturgical, and cultural perspectives to encourage the reader to explore and master this cross-cultural method for breaking open the Scriptures. This process helps to make the challenge of the Scriptures clearer than ever for the modern reader.

Subtitle: Breaking Open the Scriptures
Author: John J. Pilch

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN: 9780814627273
Details: 56 pgs , 5 3/8 x 8 1/4 
Publication Date: 07/01/2000

These meditations present the mystery of Pentecost, from Luke in Acts, John in his Gospel, and Paul in his Letters. By placing these diverse but complementary points of view together, Cantalamessa provides priests, students, and interested lay people with a "three-dimensional" image of the coming of the Spirit, particularly suited to promote catechesis and devotion. Fr. Cantalamessa originally presented these meditations in his capacity as preacher to the papal household.

Chapters are "And They Began to Speak in Different Tongues: The Lukan Pentecost and the Spirit of Unity," "You Will Receive Power When the Holy Spirit Comes Upon You: The Lukan Pentecost and the Spirit of Prophecy," "He Breathed on Them and Said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit': The Johannine Pentecost and the Spirit of Truth," "But One and the Same Spirit Produces All of These: The Pauline Pentecost and the 'Person' of the Holy Spirit."

Author: Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap.; Glen S. Davis, Translator

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN: 9780814627242
Details: 72 pgs , 5 3/8 x 8 1/4 
Publication Date: 02/01/200

In this book of meditations Father Raniero Cantalamessa reflects on Christ passion, death, and resurrection. First presented as a Lenten retreat in Rome, together with the Good Friday homily in St. Peter Basilica, the result is a rich and multifaceted exploration of this central mystery of the Christian faith. Christ journey to Easter is such an immensely rich source that homilists, liturgists and believers who wants to plumb its depths know the challenge is not about lack of content, but rather where to begin. Like an experienced guide who knows the territory and its many paths, Father Cantalamessa helps readers reach the spiritual center. His varying points of departure become stirring reflections on Easter. They culminate in a powerful meditation on the Servant Song in the light of the Passion narrativesand the message of the victorious Christ.

Subtitle: Meditations on the Resurrection
Author: Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap; Demetrio S. Yocum, Translator

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN: 9780814627068
Details: 64 pgs , 5 3/8 x 8 1/4 
Publication Date: 09/01/2006

Contemporary and complete, The Ministry of Liturgical Environment considers the physical location of our worship, from assembly seating, color usage, and liturgical accouterments to ministers' and assemblys dress. Zimmerman offers a useful, practical guide for those preparing an inviting sacred space that reflects and enhances the community's valued principles.

Includes: Introduction, "The Liturgical Environment,"A Journey Through Space,Things Used for Liturgy, Aesthetics of Sacred Space, A Spirituality for Ministers of the Liturgical Environment, Responsibilities of Ministers of the Liturgical Environment, Enhancing the Environment for Liturgical Seasons and Occasions, and Concluding Thoughts.

Author: Joyce Ann Zimmerman, CPPS

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN: 9780814627051
Details: 96 pgs , 5 3/8 x 8 1/4 
Publication Date: 09/01/2004

Seasons in the Word: Liturgical Homilies Year C is the second of a three-volume collection of homilies covering the Lectionary, including feast days. The book results from decades of prayerful preaching on the Sunday Scriptures by Fr. John Sandell to congregations in the Diocese of Fargo. Useful for priests in their own homiletic preparation, Seasons in the Word is also for lay people who wish to prepare for the upcoming Sunday readings and for individual reflection.

Subtitle: Liturgical Homilies Year C
Author: John Sandell

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN: 978-0-8146-2585-9, 2585
Details: 120 pgs , 6 x 9 
Publication Date: 08/01/2003

The parables of Jesus are puzzling sayings and stories with world-transforming potential. Parables for Preachers offers an understanding of how parables work and a fresh variety of possible meanings not only for Jesus original audience and for the early Christians for whom Matthew, Mark, and Luke wrote but also for contemporary Christians as well. The Gospel parables are analyzed in the order in which they appear in the Lectionary, making this book an indispensable resource for preachers, teachers, catechists, liturgy planners, and Bible study groups.

Subtitle: Year C, The Gospel of Luke
Author: Barbara E. Reid, OP

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN: 9780814625521
Details: 368 pgs , 5 3/8 x 8 1/4 
Publication Date: 08/01/2000

The parables of Jesus are puzzling sayings and stories with world-transforming potential. Parables for Preachers offers an understanding of how parables work and a fresh variety of possible meanings not only for Jesus original audience and for the early Christians for whom Matthew, Mark, and Luke wrote but also for contemporary Christians as well. The Gospel parables are analyzed in the order in which they appear in the Lectionary, making this book an indispensable resource for preachers, teachers, catechists, liturgy planners, and Bible study groups.

Subtitle: Year B, The Gospel of Mark
Author: Barbara E. Reid, OP

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN: 9780814625514
Details: 144 pgs , 5 3/8 x 8 1/4 
Publication Date: 10/01/1999

The parables of Jesus are puzzling sayings and stories with world-transforming potential. Parables for Preachers offers an understanding of how parables work and a fresh variety of possible meanings not only for Jesus original audience and for the early Christians for whom Matthew, Mark, and Luke wrote but also for contemporary Christians as well. The Gospel parables are analyzed in the order in which they appear in the Lectionary, making this book an indispensable resource for preachers, teachers, catechists, liturgy planners, and Bible study groups.

Subtitle: Year A, The Gospel of Matthew
Author: Barbara E. Reid, OP

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN: 9780814625507
Details: 296 pgs , 5 3/8 x 8 1/
Publication Date: 09/01/2001

In Christ in the Gospels of the Ordinary Sundays, Father Brown discusses the Gospels as they are used in "the Ordinary Time." It is the time the Church treats the Gospels consecutively and in detail, with Year A of the three-year cycle taking its readings from Matthew; Year B from Mark; and Year C from Luke.

Father Brown discusses how a Gospel was formed and explains what is distinctive about each of the four Gospels. Then he fits the Sunday readings, one by one, into an overall picture of each Gospel, showing how the Gospel shapes the narrative, its theological emphases, and what it says to readers. With such an overview, the Sunday selections may be read in context and interpreted in their original sequence.

During Ordinary time people turn from reflecting on the mystery of Christ to considering how that mystery affects their lives. In Christ in the Gospels of the Ordinary Sundays, Father Brown provides an overview of the meaning of the Gospels during the many weeks of Ordinary Time.

Chapters are "Understanding How Gospels Were Written and Their Use in the Sunday Liturgy," "The Gospel According to Matthew," "The Gospel According to Mark," "The Gospel According to Luke," and "The Gospel According to John."

Subtitle: Essays on the Gospel Readings of the Ordinary Sundays in the Three-Year Liturgical Cycle
Author: Raymond E. Brown, SS

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN: 9780814625422
Details: 120 pgs , 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 
Publication Date: 09/01/1998

The Symbols of the Church looks both beyond the church building and deep within it to find symbols relevant to Judeo-Christianity. First it recalls those principal sacred symbols sun, moon, stars, architectural figures, time, space which various cultures have made into a permanent and universal religious language and which were known to the Christian Church. Then it presents the evolution of the church building through time, from ancient temples to the modern church. Finally, it explores church furnishings and features the baptistery, the nave, the organ, sacred vessels, the vestiture of church ministers that are "permanent church signs."

Part One: Symbols of the Christian World includes the sections "The World and Its Image," "The Inhabitants of the Heavenly and Terrestrial Worlds," "The World Subject to Humanity," and "Elements, Space, and Time." Topics included in these sections are The Heavenly Circle; The Depths; The Square of the Earth; The Ascent of the Heights; Temple; God of the Universe and Holy Trinity; Jesus Christ, God in our Midst; The World of Humanity; World of the Spirits; The Animal Kingdom; Plant World; Products of the Earth; Objects; Elements; Colors; Numbers; and Time.

Part Two: Church Symbolism includes the section "Evolution of Churches and Their Symbolism." Topics included in this section are: Foreshadowings; The First Places of Worship; The Basilica; Romanesque and Cistercian Symbolism; Gothic Symbolism; Sixteenth-Century Churches; Classical and Baroque; Mid-Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries; Nineteenth Century and First Half of the Twentieth Century; and A Symbolism for New Churches.

Part Three: Permanent Church Signs includes such topics as Consecration and Symbolism of a Church; Surroundings That Are Considered Sacred; The Church in Its Setting; Voices of the Churches; The Gates; The Baptistry, a Door onto Another Life; The Nave; The Organ; The Signs of the Paintings, Stained-Glass Windows and Statues; Sanctuary, Choir; The Celebration of the Word; The Altar; The Luminary; The Reserved Eucharist; Sacred Vessels for the Celebration of the Sacraments; and Liturgical Vestments The Study of Vestments.

Author: Maurice Dilasser, Editor; Mary Cabrini Durkin, OSU, Madeleine Beaumont, and Caroline Morson, Translators

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN: 9780814625385
Details: 168 pgs , 9 1/8 x 11 1/2 
Publication Date: 11/01/1999

The Basic Sixteen Documents

The sixteen official documentsconstitutions, decrees, and declarationsof the Second Vatican Council are now available from Liturgical Press in the most popular and widely used inclusive-language edition translated by Irish Dominican Austin Flannery (+October 21, 2008).

As the worldwide Church continues to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Council (1962-65), there is a great need in college classrooms and parish faith formation groupsas well as for individualsto again have access to these documents in contemporary English. As Flannery wrote in his introduction to the 1996 edition, "The translation of the texts of the Vatican documents in the present volume differs from that in the previous publication in two respects. It has been very considerably revised and, in place, corrected. It is also, to a very large extent, in inclusive language.

"I say 'to a very large extent,' because we have used inclusive language in passages about men and women but not, however, in passages about God, except where the use of the masculine pronoun was easily avoidable."

General Editor: Austin Flannery, OP

624 pgs , 5 3/8 x 8 1/4 Paperback

Publication Date: 05/01/1996

Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Postconciliar Documents is now available in the widely used study edition translated by Irish Dominican Austin Flannery (+October 21, 2008). This is the translation chosen for inclusion in The Catechism of the Catholic Church and the text that both students of the Council and students of the Catechism will want. It contains all sixteen documents of the Second Vatican Council plus the forty-nine later documents from popes and Vatican congregations that implement the details of the Council's decisions.

Subtitle: New Revised Edition
Author: General Editor: Austin Flannery, OP

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN: 9780814624678
Details: 1060 pgs , 6 x 9 
Publication Date: 10/01/1996

Making Good Preaching Better explores not the preaching of ethics but the ethics of preaching. Using sound theology and practical insights, this book shows that by putting themselves in the place of the people in the pews, preachers can improve their sermons and make good preaching better more consistently. Written with the practicing homilist in mind, Making Good Preaching Better helps motivate and sharpen the skills of those in preaching ministry. Laid out as a teaching tool for classroom use, it also makes the work of the homiletic professor easier.

Reverend Rueter explains how the same qualities - visual, oral, cohesive - that make it possible for preachers to remember their sermons also make it possible for parishioners to remember these sermons. He also explores concepts not covered in other homiletics books, such as the legitimate appeal to self-interest as observed in Jesus, Paul, and Moses, how to deal with "hard," controversial topics, and tips for remembering homilies. Reverend Rueter bases his approach on the time-proven step-by-step pedagogy used in the first-century schools of rhetoric. He believes that requiring novices to prepare whole homilies for criticism presents too many possibilities for failure and thus discouragement. With its step-by-step homiletical exercises, Making Good Preaching Better gives students greater possibilities of the joy of success in putting together entire homilies one step at a time.

Making Good Preaching Better offers three-minute oral exercises to be performed before a video camera. Each exercise uses the theological/homiletical principles explained in that chapter and includes suggestions on how to conduct the video lab sessions without provoking dread but rather, by promoting affirmation. Fourteen homilies (by the author and others) are supplied for both professionals and novices to critique. To supplement the instruction, recommendations for additional readings are provided at the end of each chapter. Roman Catholic and Protestant clergy, seminarians, and those in Roman Catholic diaconate formation programs will benefit from this practical textbook.

Subitle: A Step-by-Step Guide to Scripture-Based, People-Centered Preaching
Author: Alvin C. Rueter

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN: 9780814622155
Details: 288 pgs , 6 x 9 
Publication Date: 02/01/1997

This revised and updated edition of Preparing Older Children for Baptism prepares non-baptized children of catechetical age, with the help of a parent, to become full members of the Church. The first section explores the meaning of baptism in the context of salvation history. The second explains the symbols and the ritual of baptism following the three steps on the way to full sacramental initiation as described in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. The third section looks at the Eucharist as the sacrament which nourishes the new life received in baptism. While the content is primarily intended for non-baptized children, it could also be used to help boys and girls already baptized to complete their own Christian initiation through their first Communion.

Author: Sandra Figgess, RSCJ

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN: 9780814621035
Details: 96 pgs , 5 3/8 x 8 1/4 
Publication Date: 09/01/1992

How would the history of Roman Catholic worship look if it were viewed first from the perspective of the "people in the pews" rather than through the deliberations of popes and church councils or the writings of theologians? How did the "common people" down through the ages understand what they were doing when they came together in worship-and was this understanding always the same as the "official" interpretation of the church authorities? In Local Worship, Global Church, Mark Francis explores the history of the liturgy from "the bottom up" rather than from "the top down" and comes to conclusions that complement our understanding of the history of the liturgy and its relationship to faithful Christians from the first century CE to our own time.

Subtitle: Popular Religion and the Liturgy
Author: Mark R. Francis

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN: 9780814618790
Details: 196 pgs , 6 x 9 
Publication Date: 02/06/2014

Homilies for Weekdays: Solemnities, Feasts, and Memorials is a requested and welcome addition to the first two volumes of weekday homilies by Father Don Talafous, OSB. Here, he offers creative homily suggestions for solemnities, feasts, and obligatory memorials that fall on weekdays. Readers will deeply appreciate the faithful representation of the Scripture readings and their practical applications for Christian living.

Subtitle: Solemnities, Feasts, and Memorials
Author: Don Talafous, OSB, PhD

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN: 9780814618714
Details: 96 pgs , 6 x 9 
Publication Date: 10/01/2009

In this volume of weekly reflections on the Sunday Lectionary for Year C, Verna Holyhead moves deftly between the Old and New Testament readings, providing theological context and tying the texts to contemporary concerns. Rich in references to poetry and history, these reflections are infused with the spirit of the Rule of St. Benedict, which invites Christians to take the two Testaments as the truest guides for human life. The supplementary series of conversations between the Liturgy of the Word and the Rule extend the weekly reflection. As a sourcebook for pastoral ministry or a reference for personal or communal reflection, this volume will assist believers who desire to engage more deeply with the Word.

Subtitle: With Burning Hearts
Author: Verna Holyhead, SGS

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN: 9780814618349
Details: 224 pgs , 6 x 9 
Publication Date: 08/01/2006

The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) is too often presented as an abstract ideal, detached from the actual parish settings in which it is implemented. This study takes the opposite approach. Based on data from participant observation and interviews, the authors tell real stories of the initiation process in five U.S. parishes. In doing so, they offer a detailed analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the RCIA process in each of the parishes. From these stories collectively they draw lessons for the RCIA as well as lessons from the RCIA for the church as a whole. Pastors, lay ministers, catechists, and directors of religious education, as well as those in seminaries and dioceses responsible for training them, will find this book helpful in realizing the full potential of the RCIA in general and in particular parish settings.

Subtitle: Lessons for and from the RCIA
Author: David Yamane, Sarah MacMillen, Kelly Culver

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN: 9780814618264
Details: 160 pgs , 6 x 9 
Publication Date: 02/01/2006

Can Catholic parishes become communities of missionary disciples that bear lasting fruit? If so, what does it take to move them in that direction?

Through his years as pastor of Saint Benedict Parish in Halifax, Canada, Fr. James Mallon discovered that the answer to the first question was a resounding yes! Tailored for Catholics, Alpha played a key role in the transformation of the parish he pastored.

Unlocking Your Parish: Making Disciples, Raising Up Leaders with Alphaaims to provide insight into what Alpha can do to help any Catholic parish become a vibrant, mission-focused community. 

Authors: Ron Huntley and Fr. James Mallon

ISBN 978-1-59325-365-3

Binding Softcover

Size 8 x 5.25 Inches 

Drawing on the wisdom of the Second Vatican Council's landmark teaching on the universal call to holiness, Pope Francis addresses all Christian women and men in his latest apostolic exhortation Gaudete et Exsultateand invites them to fully embrace their baptismal call to live the Gospel. Fr. Horan guides readers through Pope Francis's apostolic exhortation with helpful commentary, additional context, and expert insight. Each chapter includes suggestions for prayer and reflection questions, which makes Reading, Praying, Living Pope Francis's Rejoice and Be Glad an ideal resource for adults, students, and faith formation groups interested in learning more about this teaching and exploring their own spirituality. This is the most extensive and helpful commentary on Gaudete et Exsultate available anywhere. It does not include the full text of the apostolic exhortation.

Paperback 96 pgs , 5 3/8 X 8 1/4 
Publication Date: 02/21/2019

The publication of Laudato Sía papal encyclical on a defining issue of our times-was a moment of great importance for Catholics and for the world. Now Fr. Joshtrom Kureethadam, one of the church's top experts on the document, provides a thoughtful, passionate, and highly accessible commentary on its key ideas and themes. Faithfully attentive to the outline of the six chapters of the encyclical, Fr. Joshtrom has also insightfully arranged the book according to the see-judge-act methodology that is increasingly used in spirituality, moral theology, and the social sciences.

If Pope Francis is right when he insists that the solution to our environmental problems cannot be found only in technocratic approaches by governments and institutions, but by a wide and thoughtful embrace by all of us of our common responsibility, then Fr. Joshtrom's book is precisely what we need at this time.

Paperback 240 pgs , 5 3/8 x 8 1/4

Publication Date: 02/15/2019

Easter Vigil Homilies offers readers a unique view into the mind and heart of Pope Francis. Here are collected the homilies he has preached year after year, in Buenos Aires and more recently in Rome, on the most sacred night of the Christian calendar. While Francis's words and convictions on many topics are now widely known, here we see how he understands the very heart of Christian faith and the ways he has helped those he has served-including the elderly, the poor, and those who struggle to make a living and raise children in a busy world-understand it and apply it to their own lives.

This book will be a welcome resource for those who want to better understand the faith that drives Pope Francis, for homilists seeking new inspiration for their preaching, for scholars and others interested in exploring the pre-papal preaching of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, for adult Christians as a resource for meditation and prayer, and for all admirers and fans of this remarkable moral leader.

Paperback 68 pgs , 5 3/8 x 8 1/4

Publication Date: 02/21/2019

Balaam's Donkey is a series of daily reflections based on the homilies preached by Cistercian monk Michael Casey over his fifty years of priesthood. What remained of the original homilies was a large box full of index cards with a few talking points on each. From there, Casey has re-created the homilies and recast them into short reflections, arranged randomly for every day of the year. The range of topics discussed is broad and the approach taken differs with each reflection, most of them colored with a touch of Casey's whimsy and good humor.

Paperback 488 pgs , 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 

Publication Date: 02/28/2019

Fr. Michael White and Tom Corcoran know that the fundamental work of the Church is to evangelize to introduce people to Christ and make them disciples. Still, they"re the first to admit: the difficulty comes when we reach down into the details and get to work.In their barn-burning first book, Rebuilt, White and Corcoran shared their story and vision of building better Catholic parishes. Now, in their eagerly anticipated second book, Tools for Rebuilding, they lay out seventy-five proven tactics for getting the job done.

In Tools for Rebuilding: 75 Really, Really Practical Ways to Make Your Parish Better, White and Corcoran share seventy-five foundational tactics that helped to rejuvenate their parish. Their candid, hands-on advice gives a clear way forward one that will make church matter to the people in the pews and that anyone working in parish ministry can implement.

Authors: Michael White & Tom Corcoran

Format: Paperback

Pages: 320

Trim size: 6 x 9 inches

ISBN: 978-1-59471-444-3

On-sale date: November 25, 2013

Drawing on the wisdom gleaned from thriving mega-churches and innovative business leaders while anchoring their vision in the Eucharistic center of Catholic faith, Fr. Michael White and lay associate Tom Corcoran present the compelling and inspiring story to how they brought their parish back to life.

Rebuilt: Awakening the Faithful, Reaching the Lost, and Making Church Matter is a story of stopping everything and changing focus. When their parish reached a breaking point, White and Corcoran asked themselves how they could make the Church matter to Catholics, and they realized the answer was at the heart of the Gospel. Their faithful response not only tripled their weekend mass attendance, but also yielded increased giving, flourishing ministries, and a vibrant, solidly Catholic spiritual revival. White and Corcoran invite all Catholic leaders to share the vision, borrow their strategies, and rebuild their own parishes. They offer a wealth of guidance for anyone with the courage to hear them.

Authors: Michael White & Tom Corcoran

Foreword by: Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan

Format: Paperback

Pages: 320

Trim size: 6 x 9 inches

ISBN: 978-1-59471-386-6

On-sale date: February 25, 2013

A Concise Guide to Canon Law: A Practical Handbook for Pastoral Ministers

Pastoral ministers are faced with new questions and challenges every day, and answers aren't always easy to find. Canon law can provide the answers to some of the most complicated questions, but busy pastoral ministers don't always know where or how to find those answers. What's needed is a clear, concise, easy-to-use reference guide to church law, one that puts the answers right at your fingertips.A Concise Guide to Canon Law will do just that. This handy reference provides a compact overview of the most important canonical issues facing pastoral ministers today. Arranged by topic, it offers a thorough summary of church law including such topics as the sacraments and church organization and is complete with reference numbers to relevant canons in the Code of Canon Law. Helpful sections of "frequently asked questions and answers" at the end of the chapters make finding answers to the most often-asked questions even easier. With more and more lay people becoming involved with church administration, and with members of parishes and faith communities raising more complex and complicated questions, Understanding church law is vital and A Concise Guide to Canon Law makes it easy.

Author: Kevin E. McKenna

ISBN: 9780877939344

6" x 9" Paperback

128 pages

Great Catholic Parishes: How Four Essential Practices Make them Thrive

Businessman, professor, and philanthropist, William E. Simon Jr. has been highly influenced by the dynamic and inspiring Catholic parishes he has attended for more than 25 years. In 2012, he founded Parish Catalyst, an organization devoted to researching and supporting the health and development of Catholic parishes. Great Catholic Parishes looks at Simons insights and the success stories of 244 vibrant parishes to show what makes them great.

In 2012 and 2013, Simon and his team studied 244 Catholic parishes to determine what made them exceptional. The study found that all of the parishes shared four foundational practices that led to a profound sense of belonging within their parish communities and a deepening commitment to discipleship:

• Share leadership by using clergy and lay staff with the best talents and skills to direct the community
• Foster spiritual maturity and plan for discipleship by offering a variety of formation programs and ministry opportunities to reach parishioners at differing points in their lives
• Excel on Sundays by dedicating significant time, energy, and money to liturgical celebrations that parishioners and visitors find welcoming
• Intentionally evangelize by challenging insiders to look outward and providing service programs, social events, global mission opportunities, and pastoral care at key sacramental moments that focus on inviting outsiders to deeper relationship with Christ and the Church.

In Great Catholic Parishes, Simon shares personal stories such as finding a welcoming parish home and what he learned about evangelizing from a mission trip to Kenya. Pastors from exceptional parishes offer helpful ideas, strategic advice, and practical strategies, as well as anecdotes about lay ministry development initiatives and reworking religious education so that it is family focused and web-based.

You will also learn creative solutions to familiar challenges such as spiritual stagnation among parishioners, reconciling diverse needs in the parish, allowing the pastor to focus on pastoring and preaching, and reaching youth and young adults who leave the Church in disproportionate numbers.

Each chapter closes with either crucial takeaways or a summary of practical challenges that will help pastors and leaders focus on growth and excellence.

Author: William E. Simon Jr.

ISBN: 9781594717413

6" x 9" Paperback

224 pages

On-sale date: September 23, 2016

When Adrien Nocent's The Liturgical Year was published in the 1970s, it was the very first comprehensive commentary on the three-year lectionary in relation to the Sacramentary/Missal as these were revised following the Second Vatican Council. Expressed on nearly every page was Nocent's conviction that the liturgy and the Word of God proclaimed within it have something important to say to real people of every culture and time. He constantly returns to the question: What does this passage have to say to us today?

Now this extraordinary work of applied, postconciliar liturgical scholarship has been revised and annotated by one of today's top liturgical scholars. Paul Turner has provided many helpful explanatory notes on history, culture, language, and, of course, liturgy. He has also updated the liturgical texts to conform to The Roman Missal, Third Edition. The result is a resource that promises to enrich and inspire a new generation of presiders, preachers, liturgy planners, and students.

In honor of the fiftieth anniversary of Vatican II's Sacrosanctum Concilium, encounter the vibrant scholarship and pastoral wisdom of Adrien Nocent's The Liturgical Year again or for the first time!

Volume 3 covers all of the Sundays of Ordinary Time.

Author: Adrien Nocent

Details: 416 pgs, 6 X 9 Paperback

Publication Date: 11/07/2013