This beautiful new Catechism is truly a gift and a treasure in an era when "new" so often means "bad." Although I have not yet read every word of it (it's quite a big book!) I have had the pleasure of leading Catechism study groups for mothers and found much success in using this text to help some who were previously very lukewarm in their faith to better understand not only what the Catholic Church really teaches, but why these teachings make sense - yes, even in our modern world!

The Catechism is divided into four main sections. The First, the Profession of Faith, covers the basic beliefs and dogmas of the Church - based upon the Creed. Part Two, "The Celebration of the Christian Mystery", discusses liturgy and the Sacraments. Part Three, "Life in Christ", covers moral life - particularly in light of the Beatitudes and the Ten Commandments. Part Four is on Christian Prayer.

The text is both difficult and joyful to read. It is difficult (in some places) because of the unfamiliar vocabulary - catechesis, pedagogy, asceticism, fecundity - these are not part of our every day vocabulary (although many should be learned by high schoolers). Even so, the new edition has an in-depth glossary in the back and these more unfamiliar words come up once every few paragraphs rather than every other sentence. It is joyful to read because it is so rich, so beautiful, so true. Throughout the text, the reader is referred to Sacred Scripture, Church documents and the writings of the Saints. An additional volume The Companion to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, published by Ignatius Press, provides the text from all of the footnotes for easy reference and further study.

A few sample passages:

(407) "The doctrine of original sin, closely connected with that of redemption by Christ, provides lucid discernment of man's situation and activity in the world. By our first parents' sin, the devil has acquired a certain domination over man, even though man remains free. Original sin entails 'captivity under the power of him who thenceforth had the power of death, that is, the devil.' Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action and morals."

(1395) "By the same charity that it enkindles in us, the Eucharist preserves us from future mortal sins. The more we share the life of Christ and progress in his friendship, the more difficult it is to break away from him by mortal sin. The Eucharist is not ordered to the forgiveness of mortal sins - that is proper to the sacrament of Reconciliation. The Eucharist is properly the sacrament of those who are in full communion with the Church."

(2521) "Purity requires modesty, an integral part of temperance. Modesty protects the intimate center of the person. It means refusing to unveil what should remain hidden. It is ordered to chastity to whose sensitivity it bears witness. It guides how one looks at others and behaves toward them in conformity with the dignity of persons and their solidarity."

(2712) "Contemplative prayer is the prayer of the child of God, of the forgiven sinner who agrees to welcome the love by which he is loved and who wants to respond to it by loving even more. But he knows that the love he is returning is poured out by the Spirit in his heart, for everything is grace from God. Contemplative prayer is the poor and humble surrender to the loving will of the Father in ever deeper union with his beloved Son."

Many beautiful writings of the Saints are included (in addition to those which are merely footnoted), such as this passage from St. Ignatius of Loyola (taken from the Spiritual Exercises):

"Every good Christian ought to be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to another's statement than to condemn it. But if he cannot do so, let him ask how the other understands it. And if the latter understands it badly, let the former correct him with love. If that does not suffice, let the Christian try all suitable ways to bring the other to a correct interpretation so that he may be saved."

This book belongs in every Catholic home. It should be read over, and prayed over, and cried over, and smiled over often.
 

Cogent, concise, and coherent, that is The Dawkins Delusion. Written as a response to The God Delusion, Alister McGrath takes Richard Dawkins head on. A former atheist, Alister, along with his wife Joanna, convincingly demonstrate the errors of Richard Dawkins's atheism. Equal to the task, Alister received a doctorate in molecular biophysics and presently is a professor of historical theology at Oxford University (where Dawkins also teaches). An admirer of Dawkins's earlier work, The Selfish Gene, McGrath clearly points out that Dawkins has diverged into new territory with his diatribe against God, resulting in erroneous conclusions. McGrath considers himself an "evidence-based" thinker (like Dawkins), yet ultimately his conclusions are vastly different than Dawkins. Ironically, although Dawkins considers himself an evidence-based thinker, The God Delusion is anything but. As McGrath states, . . ."Dawkins simply offers the atheist equivalent of slick hellfire preaching, substituting turbocharged rhetoric and highly selective manipulation of facts for careful, evidence-based thinking." McGrath goes on to state, "The book [The God Delusion] is often little more than an aggregation of convenient factoids suitably overstated to achieve maximum impact and loosely arranged to suggest that they constitute an argument." Because of this, McGrath says, "Every one of Dawkins's misrepresentations and overstatements can be challenged and corrected." Rather than correct him point for point, McGrath instead chooses to pick "representative points" to discuss. Answering Dawkins's flawed argumentation, McGrath demonstrates that God is not a delusion created by a deluded people, science has not disproved God, that science need not be locked in a battle with religion unto death and that they can actually be compatible with one another, God is not based on superstitious beliefs, not all religions are the same, and that Christianity is not evil. McGrath reminds Dawkins that in our modern times there have already existed societies which have sought to stamp out religion, resulting in great, evil atrocities. Not a heavy handed treatise, but a highly accessible answer to Dawkins's ranting and raving, The Dawkins Delusion? makes for an enlightening, educating, and entertaining read.

The clever, user-friendly layout of this book makes it very practical! In the introduction, author Dave Armstrong explains that he hopes to empower Catholics to be able to defend their faith with the aid of this book: I believe the book is capable of doing just that! Starting a with a Protestant objection to a Catholic teaching, each double page provides a solid explanation of the problems with each objection, supported amply with bible verses. Then a common Protestant follow-up argument follows under the heading A Protestant Might Further Object, followed by the author's counter-replies. At the end a supporting quote, usually from a protestant author, is added. High School students would benefit from this book when studying Apologetics! Topics are divided into sections such as Scripture, the Sacraments, the Church, Salvation, Mary and the Saints, and more.

Passing along to others the concept of such an incredibly personal and delicate matter as the value of suffering can be extremely difficult. It's so easy to come across as heavy-handed, trite or condescending - and many materials do! Here is it presented a loving and very gentle way by means of Our Lady. Mary brought Christ to the world through her faith, love and humility and we are called to do the same. Here are a few quotes to give you the flavor of it:

Sometimes it may seem to us that there is no purpose in our lives, that going day after day for years to this office or that school or factory is nothing else but waste and weariness. But it may be that God has sent us there because but for us Christ would not be there. If our being there means that Christ is there, that alone makes it worthwhile. (pg. 60)

We must be swift to obey the winged impulses of His Love, carrying Him to wherever He longs to be; and those who recognise His presence will be stirred, like Elizabeth with new life. They will know His presence, not by any special beauty or power shown by us, but in the way that the bud knows the presence of the light, by an unfolding in themselves, a putting forth of their own beauty. It seems that this is Christ’s favourite way of being recognised, that He prefers to be known, not by His own human features, but by the quickening of His own life int he heart, which is the response to His coming. (pgs. 62-63)

If such is the beauty of the world to ordinary children, what must it have been to the Mother of God, when her whole being was folded upon the unborn Christ within her? He was completely her own, utterly dependent upon her: she was His food and warmth and rest, His shelter from the world, His shade in the Sun. She was the shrine of the Sacrament, the four walls and the roof of His home. Yet she must have longed to hold Him between her hands and to look into His human face and to see in it, in the face of God, a family likeness to herself Think of that! But perhaps you cannot, unless you happen to be a young priest newly ordained, waiting for the moment when you will hold in your hands the first Host that you have consecrated at your first Mass. … Each work of her hands prepared His hands a little more for the nails; each breath that she drew counted one more to His last. In giving life to Him she was giving Him death. All other children born must inevitably die; death belongs to fallen nature; the mother’s gift to the child is life. But Christ is life; death did not belong to Him. In fact, unless Mary would give Him death, He could not die. Unless she would give Him the capacity for suffering, He could not suffer. He could only feel cold and hunger and thirst if she gave Him her vulnerability to cold and hunger and thirst. He could not know the indifference of friends or treachery or the bitterness of being betrayed unless she gave Him a human mind and a human heart. That is what it meant to Mary to give human nature to God. He was invulnerable; He asked her for a body to be wounded. He was joy itself; He asked her to give Him tears. He was God; He asked her to make Him man. He asked for hands and feet to be nailed. He asked for flesh to be scourged. He asked for blood to be shed. He asked for a heart to be broken. (pgs. 72-73)

If Christ is formed of our lives, it means that He will suffer in us. Or, more truly, we will suffer in Him. “And He was made man.” Our Lady saw at once what was meant in her case: supernaturally, He was made herself. If He is made man in you, He will be made you; in me, me. It is extremely difficult to lay hold of this fact. It is very hard not to think of a kind of mystical Christ just beside us, or just in front of us, suffering with infinite patience and joy, being obedient, humble, persevering, fulfilling His Father’s will. It is really difficult to realise that if He is formed in our life we are not beside Him but in Him; and what He asks of us is to realise that it is actually in what we do that He wants to act and to suffer. (pgs. 76-77)

I read this on retreat about a month ago (a silent, Ignatian retreat and my first retreat in 20 years – it was wonderful!) because my spiritual director had recommended it and I loved how perfectly it tied into the talks on the spiritual exercises and the book I happened to be reading alongside it – Does Jesus Know Us? Do We Know Him? by Hans Urs Von Balthasar.