Books on Modern Problems

How to Find the True, Good, and Beautiful in America A Time to Build Anew: How to Find the True, Good, and Beautiful in America is a book that helps readers take inspired action amidst the nation's current crisis. Written by two All-American brothers, this text is full of real, raw examples illustrating how we can live during difficult times. By touching on subjects such as writing beautiful poems, making art, helping the poor, and forming strong families, A Time to Build Anew seeks to provi...

The Pastoral and Circular Letters of St. Ezequiel Moreno y Diaz St. Ezequiel Moreno-Diaz (1848-1906), bishop of Pasto, Colombia, was at heart a shepherd. This series of writings-published here for the first time in English-is a pastoral theology. Its author addresses the spiritual, philosophical, social, and political problems that he sees his people struggling with. He offers them the teachings and sacraments of the Church as a solution. Perhaps as a witness to the effects of liberalism, Mor...

Forty Tactics to Defeat the Radical Left A retrograde calculates, night and day, how to return the world to: the Old Order of moral and sexual decency, classical masculinity, national sovereignty and national borders, faith and hope and charity, goodness and beauty and truth, Christian civic liberty, and most importantly, the social kingship of Christ. In the words of Shakespeare, a retrograde is one of God's spies.The retrograde has the unique capacity for understanding the stark chasm bet...

Many claim that Catholic Social Teaching implies the existence of a vast welfare state. In these pages, Anthony Esolen pulls back the curtain on these false philosophers, showing how they've undermined the authentic social teachings of the Church in order to neutralize the biggest threat to their plans for secularization the Catholic Church. With the voluminous writings of Pope Leo XIII as his guide, Esolen explains that Catholic Social Teaching isn't focused exclusively on serving the poor. ...

The Last Superstition: A Refutation of the New Atheism offers a timely and thought-provoking rebuttal of modern atheism. In this book, Edward Feser argues that the new atheism which so often dominates discourse is based on an unfounded and mechanistic worldview—one which fails to properly acknowledge the fundamental teleological view of life espoused by the ancient philosophers. Using careful reasoning and logic, Feser refutes the notion of atheism as a valid path in life. He demonstrates why...

-Man is not merely self-creating freedom. Man does not create himself. He is intellect and will, but he is also nature, and his will is rightly ordered if he respects his nature, listens to it and accepts himself for who he is, as one who did not create himself. In this way, and in no other, is true human freedom fulfilled.- - Pope Benedict XVI Daniel Mattson once believed he was gay, but no longer. Raised in a Christian family, and aware of attractions to other boys at age six, Mattson's lif...

From Secularism and the New Age to Christendom Renewed The Cor Jesu Sacratissimum is a book for all generations, as it has the power to open minds and hearts that have been closed to Spiritual truths. Uncovering the bind of materialism, artificiality, and spiritual cynicism, this book offers real insight into how Catholic spirituality can bring new life and openness to those who are in search of more genuine spirituality.Drawing on personal experiences including his own conversion story and i...

What Newsweek calls “the politics of sex” is a force far greater than campaigns to recognize same-sex marriage, liberalize abortion, or admit women and homosexuals to military combat. These debates represent only the tip of a much larger trend, the full dimensions and implications of which we are only now beginning to comprehend. Political scientist Stephen Baskerville argues that at issue is nothing less than the emergence of a new political ideology. It derives its claims to political power...

Well-known in the French-speaking world for his devastating critiques of the decadence of thought in the West since Descartes's Cogito ergo sum, Marcel De Corte published Intelligence in Danger of Death as the final stage of his reflections in 1969. To grasp the profound mutation which man and society have undergone, Marcel De Corte offers a merciless analysis that relies on classical philosophy and insight from Christian Revelation. He outlines the genealogy of contemporary evils and indic...

The Tragic Decline of Catholic Sacred In a world filled with disharmony, the topic of sacred music may seem less than relevant. But the need to restore authentic worship is more crucial than ever. We’ve all experienced it. As we prepare to enter into the silence of the sacred liturgy, banal music peals over the sound system, and we are barraged with irritating strains just as we are trying to quietly, peacefully worship the Lord. When the Harps Went Still, by Aurelio Porfiri, Athanasius Schne...

While dissolute bishops and priests around the world grab headlines for their untoward words and deeds, too many other unfruitful priests minister as little more than glad-handing bachelors doing social service work. Top and bottom, is this the Church that Christ intended? Are these the priests we need? "No!" cries author Kevin Wells in these compelling pages that showcase how heroic priests can faithfully tread the narrow path of holy self-sacrifice first blazed by the apostles themselves. F...

Christians and the New Age is a book that confronts the challenges of our changing world, offering a refreshing perspective on humanity, our relationship with God and how it can be embraced in society. Written by Christopher Dawson in 1931, the book analyzes humanism as a dangerous institution and offers an alternative to the Western culture in hope of restoring Medieval beliefs such as The Economy of Grace and The Great Chain of Being. This text provides insight that is essential for readers...

Tired of the withered fruits of a devastated vineyard, an increasing number of "postconciliar exiles" are making their way, in a pilgrimage of irrepressible curiosity and improbable delight, to the haven of Catholic Tradition--laboring to recover it piece by piece, word by word, rite by rite, chant by chant, devotion by devotion. Tradition and Sanity brings together a round-table discussion, interviews, and imaginary dialogues exploring the depths and shallows of Catholic liturgy, the lyricis...

Is man an isolated, voluntaristic, autonomous individual, as modernity would have him? Or is he subject to natural, social, and transcendent orders? Much has been written since Rerum Novarum in 1891 on the general outlines of Catholic social, economic, and political thought, but what Catholics need today is a sure guide to how to live out these principles in their daily lives. To this end, Brian McCall’s To Build the City of God responds with chapters on marriage and the family, dress, educat...

Christians are the world’s most widely persecuted religious group, according to studies by the Pew Research Center, Newsweek, and the Economist, among others. A woman is caught with a Bible and publicly shot to death. An elderly priest is abducted and never seen again. Three buses full of students and teachers are struck by roadside bombs. These are not casualties of a war. These are Christian believers being persecuted for their faith in the twenty-first century. Many Americans do not unders...

A probing meditation on the nature, value, and beauty of purity, In Defense of Purity is not a book of sexual ethics, nor a "how-to" guide to purity--but for readers with open minds and hearts, the book promises to be transformative. When Dietrich von Hildebrand converted to Catholicism in 1914, he was surprised to find that, despite an abundance of books on the dangers of impurity, there were practically none on the positive values of purity. "So," writes Alice von Hildebrand, widow of Dietr...

The Autobiography of a Latin Mass Exile Fr Bryan Houghton's life was fraught with momentous transitions. As a Protestant child educated in a Catholic school, he gradually awakened to the truth of the Faith and eventually converted. He responded to the call to priesthood, which he understood in its traditional sense as an office of offering sacrifice, reconciling sinners, feeding the spiritually hungry, and preaching divinely revealed truths. When the Second Vatican Council hit, and even more ...

A Brief History of Catholic Traditionalism in the United States, from Triumph to Traditionis Custodes In this compact and informative book, Stuart Chessman tells the tale of the traditionalist movement in the United States of America, from its birth in the era of Triumph (1965-1975) to the mounting tensions with "conservative Catholicism" (1975-1985), to the dawning of hope in the "Indult regime" (1985-2007), leading into the broad daylight of Summorum Pontificum (2007-2021), and then descend...

The startling assertion that "the laity must be apostolic" requires unpacking as the Church becomes more and more confined in modern society. But, as Fr. Francis Wendell shows in this short book, there is a transformative "philosophy of presence that can be exercised only by lay people since they are present in and are of the world." In this short work, Fr. Wendell shows how: - the laity must avoid a purely external living of Christianity - how there is no one-size-fits-all program for the la...

A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, and Meaning Is secularism a positive force in the modern world? Or does it lead to fragmentation and disintegration? In Saving Leonardo, best-selling award-winning author Nancy Pearcey (Total Truth, coauthor How Now Shall We Live?) makes a compelling case that secularism is destructive and dehumanizing. Pearcey depicts the revolutionary thinkers and artists, the ideas and events, leading step by step to the unleashing of secular worldviews...

Communist factory owners; a law-breaking priest; a speed-skating religious sister. These are just a few of the notable characters Roy Peachey meets as he travels around Great Britain and Ireland in search of counter-cultural Christianity, finding groups as diverse as Opus Dei and the Bruderhof, the Catholic Worker Movement and the Transalpine Redemptorists. Part reflection on the Benedict Option and part exploration of what it means to return to orthodox Christian roots, Travels in Radical Ch...

Are you looking to gain an insightful look into today’s current political climate? If so, Why Liberalism Failed, by Patrick Deneen, is an ideal book to read. This powerful and persuasive argument takes us on a journey through the three major twentieth-century ideologies: fascism, communism, and liberalism. With only liberalism left standing in our modern day and age, Deneen provides brilliant insight into this ideology and why it can be seen to stand on contradictory foundations. For example,...

Ivf Is Not the Way: The False Promises of Artificial Procreation In a May 2024 Pew poll, more than two-thirds of Americans indicated they thought that IVF (in vitro fertilization) is good and should be accessible to anyone who wants it. Even among social conservatives -- including the current U.S. administration -- there is a push for wider accessibility for artificial procreation options. But is IVF truly the gift for infertile couples that it's perceived to be? In this thoughtful, eminent...

In 1910, when the industrialists and intelligentsia both promised only “progress,” G. K. Chesterton was among the few in the West who could see the brewing ideological storms that would soon make landfall, not just in the form of world wars and totalitarianism but in the pervasive modern dehumanization that consumes us to this day. More than a century ago, Chesterton perceived the beginnings of “woke capital” and how it aligns with and promotes social progressivism. There is an unspoken allia...

A popular myth put about by secularists is that between the Church and science, the relationship has been, and continues to be, a stormy one. Nothing could in fact be further from the truth. An analysis of historical data shows that modern science developed in the medieval period against a background of Christian faith in the creation. Pope Sylvester II was a brilliant mathematician whose discoveries led to the number system we use today. Pope Innocent III founded a hospital in Rome which was...

A Conversation with Thomas Storck  Exploring deep probing questions, Thomas Storck takes readers through his life in Seeing the World with Catholic Eyes. This book delves deep into this public intellectual’s roots to seek out the determining factors used to shape his life. Temperamentally and politically turbulent events are woven into the journey that shaped this thought leader, allowing them to develop their own brand of Catechism-imbued morality. Storck adds a modern interpretation of Cath...

-- An eye-opening account of the plight of Christians in the Middle East-- The most in-depth work available on the persecution of Middle Eastern ChristiansIn summer 2014, ISIS waged a bloody blitz through Iraq's Nineveh province, crucifying, beheading, raping, torturing, forcibly converting to Islam, and driving out every member of the region's 2000-year-old Christian community. Christian girls, as young as three, were sold at ISIS sex slave markets in Mosul. Ancient churches were burned and ...

Ridding the Church of Abuses of Sex and Power Everything Hidden Shall Be Revealed is an important book tackling the pressing issue of sexual abuse crisis within the Catholic church. It offers necessary changes to revolutionize not just the structures but even theology of the church, ensuring that such abuses never happen again in its history. Strongly rooted in historical references and thology of Eastern Churches, this book is a practical guide to provide powerful and efficient methods to co...

On the Cultural-Historical Place and Premises of the Christian World-Understanding The present volume represents the most substantial theological contribution in Pavel Florensky's great multi-volume "anthropidicy," At the Watersheds of Thought: The Elements of a Concrete Metaphysics. Florensky argues that his epoch (the early 20th century) bore witness to a spiritual shift in the direction of a revitalized Christian world-understanding. In modern times, the Renaissance world-understanding, wh...

One of the most respected journalists in the United States and the bestselling author of The Future Church uses his unparalleled knowledge of world affairs and religious insight to investigate the troubling worldwide persecution of Christians. From Iraq and Egypt to Sudan and Nigeria, from Indonesia to the Indian subcontinent, Christians in the early 21st century are the world's most persecuted religious group. According to the secular International Society for Human Rights, 80 percent of vi...

The Battle Over Sexual Difference In the modern era certain ideologies have appeared with growing rancor that threaten the truth and meaning of human sexuality. Gender ideology is one of the greatest moral errors of our times. It is essentially the mistaken notion that gender is not necessarily connected to the sex of the body, but is a personal construct. The Church in her wisdom has stood up to stem the tide of this harmful new attack. In this book, Dr. Grabowski lays out where gender ideol...

Satan is the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning. Falsity and violence— these two features are only too tragically typical of the present century. And of these two diabolical manifestations, it is arguable that falsity is the more essentially Satanic. We shall here attempt to show why this is so. Contemporary man, confronted by the problem of Satan, is divided against himself by a twofold reaction, apparently self-contradictory. He is on the one hand fascinated by this mysterious...

Peter Kreeft presents a series of brilliant essays about many of the problems that undermine our Western civilization, along with ways to address them. "These essays are not new proposals or solutions to today's problems," he says. "They are old. They have been tried, and have worked. They have made people happy and good. That is what makes them so radical and so unusual today."In his witty, readable style, Kreeft implores us to gather wisdom and preserve it, as the monks did in the Middle Ag...

Conspiracies and secret societies exist because man, wounded by Original Sin, is inclined to evil and his social nature leads him to unite with other men in carrying out evil plans. With typical precision, historian Roberto de Mattei navigates us through this gloomy labyrinth of evil amid congiure, conspiracies, and plots -- terms often used as synonyms but which, through their semantic and conceptual differences, can each assist us in understanding better the hidden dimension of the history ...

The genius of Anthony Esolen, dubbed "the best writer in America," again shines through in these pages. Esolen deftly weaves together literature, history, and contemporary examples to masterfully reveal objective truth to a culture assailed by one fusillade of lies after another. In these incisive pages, containing fresh, logical insights about belief in God, you will rediscover beauty and reason in your life. Through captivating stories and pearls of wisdom, you will see common threads that ...

Prefect of the Papal Household Archbishop Georg Ganswein presents a stirring defense of Catholic theology, Church tradition, and the primacy of the Catholic Faith in his much-anticipated American book debut, How the Catholic Church Can Restore Our Culture. As one of the most distinguished figures in the Catholic Church and the only man to have been in daily interaction with two popes simultaneously, Archbishop Ganswein presents an array of profound observations about the state of the Church a...

Religious indifference is the belief that all religions are equally valid and able to lead people to salvation has rapidly gained global ascendency over the last five decades. It's even infected the Catholic Church, wreaking havoc on her mission to the world. Why is indifference deadly to Catholicism? Because it turns Catholicism into just another religion, it neuters the Church's role as our path to salvation and converts the parish into little more than a social gathering place. The result?...

This book shows from within the damage that the sexual revolution has caused to our bodies, our souls, and our sense of joy. Quoting extensively from testimonies and reports written by the revolution's most outspoken advocates, Nathanael Blake proves that even beyond the question of right and wrong, Christian sexual ethics simply provide a better way to love and live. The sexual revolution offered happiness and great sex--but Americans are increasingly lonely and unhappy, and they even report...

Christopher Caldwell’s The Age of Entitlement offers a sharp, deeply researched examination of how the reforms and cultural revolutions of the 1960s reshaped American life — often in ways no one expected. Caldwell argues that many of the most celebrated changes of the era came with profound costs in freedom, social cohesion, and economic stability, costs that fell unevenly across classes and generations. Tracing the true political and cultural turning points of the last half-century, Caldwell...

This book is the thundering voice of the martyrs of our time. Though mostly overlooked, the harrowing stories of hundreds of thousands of fellow Christians from around the world who gave their lives for the Faith in recent years -- including in full-scale genocides of Christians in several countries -- are a part of our history crying out to be told. Here is that history. Robert Royal chronicles the heartrending stories of heroic priests, religious, and laypeople who are being brutally persec...

"[I]t could be well said that a country, preserved at the sacrifice of all the cardinal principles of liberty, is not worth the cost of preservation." -- The Supreme Court in Ex Parte Milligan, 1866 This firsthand account by Jeffrey M. Trissell, Esq., one of the attorneys who fought on "the front lines" in the heroic legal battles during the 2020-21 COVID-19 pandemic, unravels the controversies surrounding the unprecedented lockdown of churches. He served on a legal team that represented chur...

The End of the Modern World, by the Italian-German priest Romano Guardini, is a somber, even dire, treatise on the future of modernity. Written in the aftermath of the Second World War, it argues that the modern world has emerged from the values of the medieval world, while rejecting the faith that gave rise to those values. For Guardini, we now inhabit a world unhinged and untethered, where ideology and materialism have replaced the meaning and certainty found in Christ. As Frederick Wilhelm...

Paradoxes of the Sexual Revolution Adam and Eve After the Pill by Mary Eberstadt sheds new light on the impact of the Sexual Revolution, with her thought-provoking examination of some of the most significant paradoxes that emerged as a result. Taking a look at no-fault divorce, abortion, pornography, single motherhood and other related topics, Eberstadt shows how modern society has been deeply influenced by these changes. Drawing on research and statistics from sociologists Pitirim Sorokin, C...

Sexual abuse is not the only mistreatment that can happen in the Church. There is also spiritual abuse. Fr. Dysmas de Lassus, superior general of the Carthusian Order, comes out of his silence to denounce the unacceptable behavior of some religious superiors and founders of communities. Rooted in the monastic tradition and the robust theology of religious life, Fr. Dysmas presents elements that will assist everyone in evaluating the dangers of certain spiritual practices and methods of govern...

Not long ago, veteran Youth Minister Everett Fritz counted the number of his former Youth Group members who were still practicing the Faith. The result? Almost all of them had left the Faith! Fritz learned that other parishes reported similar staggering losses, pointing to a grim truth: today's Youth Ministries simply do not form young people into lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ. Not satisfied with these dismal results, Fritz devised a different way of forming young people in the Faith. It...

How Elite Ideologies Are Destroying Lives and Why the Church Was Right All Along  The Sexual Revolution - and the breakdown of the Family - has brought misery to millions. In The Sexual State Jennifer Roback Morse shows that the Sexual Revolution did not just "happen" like a force of nature. Rather, it was deliberately created by "elites," harnessing the power of the State, allowing them to inflict three false and calamitous ideologies - contraception, divorce, and gender - that have led to w...