Ignatius Press Podcast

A father—the head of the household, as Saint Paul says—has a crucial role and responsibility in his family, not only materially, but spiritually. This is no outdated biblical cliché, but a biological, sociological, and metaphysical reality that we too often fail to recognize. The example of a father can leave an indelible imprint on the character of his children.

In Because of Our Fathers, twenty-three Catholics—including Patrick Madrid, Abby Johnson, Bishop Joseph Strickland, Father Paul Scalia, Jesse Romero, Anthony Esolen, Father Rocky, Christopher Check, and Father Gerald Murray—give portraits of their own fathers as conduits and models of Christian love. Ranging from the heroic to the ordinary, these powerful testimonies will inspire men to consider more deeply the amazing privilege that God has given them to become, despite their imperfection, a living image of our Father in Heaven.

The introduction and conclusion by editor Tyler Rowley serve as a wake-up call. Illustrating the Church’s teaching on fatherhood with current research on the family, he makes clear the urgent need for men who take seriously the God-given, grace-filled task of raising children.

https://www.ignatius.com/Because-of-Our-Fathers-P3642.aspx

Sally Read converted from atheism to Catholicism when her daughter, Flo, was only four years old, but it did not take long for the child to become aware that many friends and relatives did not share her mother's newfound faith. This consciousness of "two worlds" led to a great many doubts in Flo, and some rebellion. Two nights before her First Communion she suddenly questioned whether she should receive the Eucharist.

Sensing the precarious nature of faith in an overwhelmingly secular world, Read began writing down the compelling reasons for holding on to both God and Church. Taking the Annunciation as her template, she explored common experiences of the spiritual life as she meditated on each part of the story recorded in the Gospel of Luke.

Drawing on Scripture, the saints, and the lives of people she has known personally or professionally as a nurse, Read shows how God is with us always—even in suffering, spiritual dryness, and depression. Although inspired by a mother's loving response to a daughter, this book will speak to any believer engaged in the bliss and the bewilderment of a relationship with God.

Annunciation: https://www.ignatius.com/Annunciation-P3361.aspx

Night's Bright Darkness: https://www.ignatius.com/Nights-Bright-Darkness-P3616.aspx

The Founding of the American Republic is on trial. Critics say it was a poison pill with a time-release formula; we are its victims. Its principles are responsible for the country's moral and social disintegration because they were based on the Enlightenment falsehood of radical individual autonomy.

In this well-researched book, Robert Reilly declares: not guilty. To prove his case, he traces the lineage of the ideas that made the United States, and its ordered liberty, possible. These concepts were extraordinary when they first burst upon the ancient world: the Judaic oneness of God, who creates ex nihilo and imprints his image on man; the Greek rational order of the world based upon the Reason behind it; and the Christian arrival of that Reason (Logos) incarnate in Christ. These may seem a long way from the American Founding, but Reilly argues that they are, in fact, its bedrock. Combined, they mandated the exercise of both freedom and reason. These concepts were further developed by thinkers in the Middle Ages, who formulated the basic principles of constitutional rule.

Why were they later rejected by those claiming the right to absolute rule, then reclaimed by the American Founders, only to be rejected again today? Reilly reveals the underlying drama: the conflict of might makes right versus right makes might. America's decline, he claims, is not to be discovered in the Founding principles, but in their disavowal.

https://www.ignatius.com/America-on-Trial-P3479.aspx

How did music shape our civilization, and how was music itself shaped by the Catholic Church? Susan Treacy, Professor of Music Emerita at Ave Maria University, discusses her new book "The Music of Christendom: A History" with Br. Elías Guadalupe Ford, OP.

Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska and author Kevin Wells discuss “In the Eye of the Storm,” the gripping biography of St. Gregory the Great by Sigrid Grabner, available for the first time in English (https://bit.ly/32oRpB4).

Grabner's vivid narrative of the life of a poor monk known now to history as St. Gregory the Great reads like a novel, evoking the landscape of early medieval Italy with humanity and realism. It brings us face to face with a man who, for all his weakness, became an instrument in the hand of God and let himself be made great.

"A Manifesto of the New Traditionalism", published on the Gaudium et Spes 22 blog on December 22 (https://gaudiumetspes22.com/blog/a-manifesto-of-the-new-traditionalism), was co-authored by Sean Domencic, Larry Chapp, and Marc Barnes. Written "Catholic Worker perspective but with an eye toward the broader Church," it addresses four major topics: the nature of the Church, the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas as "a foundation for the valuable 'New Theologies'", how the "natural law and the preferential option for the poor have been united in Catholic Social Teaching", and how the "necessary Liturgical Renewal was begun, betrayed, and left unaccomplished".

Dr. Chapp recently spoke with Catholic World Report editor Carl E. Olson and Mark Brumley, president of Ignatius Press, about the manifesto.

What does the Bible really say about the birth of Jesus? How did the celebration of Christmas become associated with things like Santa Claus and decorated trees? In "The True Meaning of Christmas: The Birth of Jesus and the Origins of the Season" (https://bit.ly/3De1LjI) biblical scholar Michael Patrick Barber offers an inspiring look at the Bible’s accounts of Jesus’ birth and the development of the Christmas season.

Fr. Simeon (formerly Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis) is the author of the landmark work on the Gospel of Matthew, "Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word," the fourth and final volume of which was released this summer (find it here: https://bit.ly/2U5hqBg). He will be speaking with Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ about the books, praying with Scripture, and more.

Fiorella De Maria is the author of numerous books, including works of historical and contemporary fiction and the first three books of the "Father Gabriel" mysteries: "The Sleeping Witness," "The Vanishing Woman," and "See No Evil." She was born in Italy of Maltese parents, and grew up in Wiltshire, England. She attended Cambridge University, where she received a Bachelor’s in English Literature and a Master’s in Renaissance Literature. She lives in Surrey with her husband and children.

Find all of Fiorella De Maria's novels at Ignatius.com: https://bit.ly/3wxis7d