This is a new, comprehensive and encouraging guide to Catholic pastoral care. With its deep and overt foundations in the ministry and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth and on a Catholic tradition of caring that has marked its identity since the earliest days of Christian community, the book deeply reflects on the meaning of care. It also confronts a challenging question for our time: Why have we lost the ability to care? Thus, the author’s insistence that Catholic pastoral care begins not with those who need our caring, but with our relationship with God revealed in Christ because in Christ we have already experienced and known love and hope, compassion and mercy. Assuming that relationship, the book offers reflections and informed commentary on various models of caring, the reality and meaning of suffering, the qualities of carers, and the need for acceptance (and love!) of oneself as a forerunner to caring for others. Then follows extensive, detailed information and practical guidance on pastoral occasions where care is required in response to the real needs of our fellow humans: times of crisis, serious illness, death and grieving. Behind the text is the assumption that people matter; that current Western society’s emphasis on the material as the primary criterion for valuing individuals is contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. In such a society that measures worth on the criteria of success, wealth and popularity, Catholic pastoral care is counter cultural, whether its focus is young people growing up, discovering what matters in life or older people experiencing the consequences of our ‘throw away’ society that no longer values them. The book is about caregiving that involving physical effort, practical assistance, spiritual wisdom, relationship development, faith nurturing, justice seeking; about growing together and, in the light of the Jesus tradition, making the world we live in a more welcoming, forgiving and caring place.

The Miracle of Love

Ghosn, Margaret

Religion & Spirituality

Coventry Press

On 10th April 2014 the community of the Pontifical Gregorian University was received by the Holy Father Francis in the Paul Vl Hall. 0n that occasion the Pope summarised with a few words the task of theology and the features of a true theologian. According to theology, one should create a true "evangelical" movement which goes from the centre to the peripheries and back (according to the logic of a God who reaches the centre from the peripheries in order to return to the peripheries). 
From this image of theology, which is always moving from the centre to peripheries and back, a new figure of a theologian emerges, one who will be more fruitful and effective, the more fully he is animated by his love for Christ and for the Church, and the more the relationship between study and prayer is strengthened and made harmonious.
Centre and peripheries. Study and prayer.
Here are Nine theologians and their essays have come together to try to answer a fundamental question: Which theology does the Church need?

From The Nail to The Key: The Fundamental Theology of Pope Francis

The meditations brought together in the current volume lead us to the heart of the New Testament message. Cardinal Martini reflects on the account of the Passion in various retreats he based on the canonical Gospels. The fact that they have once more been brought together in a single volume allows our reader to access the lively, humble and at the same time, authoritative prose of a preacher who approaches the subject of his preaching in fear and trembling, thus displaying his sincere empathy with all his listeners. It matters little that there is no clear connection between all the mediations (in fact the material has been drawn from different contexts): a believer among believers, Martini confesses the consternation which overcomes the mind preparing to reflect on the mystery of the Passion, clearly highlighting the seriousness, the dramatic nature of this kind of meditation which, when it occurs truthfully, that is, by seeing the consequences for our life, seems rather like a snare that snatches us and sweeps us up.

The Accounts of the Passion: Meditations (Biblical Meditations)

Martini, Carlo María

The Theme of this volume is the Our Father, which Cardinal Martini tackles at a retreat he gave to priests. The Archbishop of Milan offers a series of reflections to his retreatants on the Prayer which Jesus taught, seeing it, along with Tertullian, as the "summary of the whole Gospel." Though it is true we are talking about a prayer everyone knows by heart, it should not escape notice that the Our Father is "ever new, mysterious, all-purpose". It is indicative of a richness that only Christ could communicate since there we find "a correspondence, a perfect correlation between the Our Father, the teaching of the Gospel, the life of Jesus the Son of God who died and rose for us." The pages are packed with thoughts intended to accompany the reader on a journey. Step by step he reintroduces this journey to us so we can discover the inexhaustible treasures of the believers' best known prayer: the Our Father.

The Our Father: Do Not Heap Up Empty Phrases (Biblical Meditations)

The subject Cardinal Martini develops in this book is that of apostolic consciousness. It is the result of a retreat he preached to seminarians. Following the examples of the Apostles Peter and Paul, every Christian should be aware of being 'sent' by someone else to carry out a work that is not theirs. Christians are not people who roll up their sleeves thinking they have to undertake heaven knows what, organise strategies or believe that everything depends on their ability and efficiency. We are not about pursuing our own pet project. Rather, Christians should experience the excitement of responding to a God who loves them and calls them, and in calling them, sends them into the world, thus having them share in the 'mandate' Christ receives from the Father.
In our time, as Pope Francis has also often insisted, especially in Evangelii Gaudium, it is urgent that our faith matures toward a consciousness of mission which is totally connected with that of the Son. In this sense, Martini's book can be said to anticipate Pope Francis' view of the Church.

The Apostles: Men of Peace and Reconciliation (Biblical Meditations)

This volume brings together in a single text meditations given by Cardinal Martini during two separate retreats based on the Second Letter to Timothy. We are shown the figure of Timothy, Paul’s young and very faithful disciple who is carrying out his service as bishop in the Church at Ephesus in a community that is no longer as joyful and conquering as it was at the beginning. It is weary and caught up in a difficult and confused situation.\nMartini believes that this is the best choice for reflecting on what it means to evangelise today. He offers a continuous reading of one of the most important of Paul’s Pastoral Letters. Cardinal Martini draws out fundamental teachings for today’s Church and society from the Apostle’s life experience and message: the Christian horizon of meaning, the need to preserve the ‘deposit of faith’, to proclaim the gospel of the primacy of grace over law, of the essential over the relative, of the mystery of the cross and the Eucharist, the relationship between the Pastoral Letters and ‘pastoral work’ in our times.

Timothy: Timothy's Way (Biblical Meditations)

Judaism

New Wineskins: Eucharist in Today's Context

O'Loughlin, Frank

Product Description This book asserts and explores the centrality of Christ as the cornerstone of the Catholic school. It is a scholarly invitation into reflection, discussion, integration, collaboration and action for service within the Catholic school, in the Spirit of Christ.The metaphor of cornerstone invites the response as to how the life and message of the living Jesus is mediated through the visible lives of his followers; while the sub-title ‘Encountering the Spirit of Christ in the Catholic school’ reminds us that it is through the Spirit of Christ that the community of the Catholic school draws its life and imagination. This is an imagination that seeks to become present and responsive to the Spirit of Christ in ways that are authentic, comprehensive, personal and practical.Those practical responses are explored in six chapters that combine faithfulness to the Catholic tradition with contemporary insights into the nature of education, how we learn as individuals and communities and how the Spirit of God enlightens our endeavours as Catholic leaders, teachers and educators. The book is sensitive to and reinforces professional practice shaped by a Catholic Christian meaning system; explores this meaning system through spirituality, mission and leadership; and develops ministry as the integrating quality for service and communion within the Catholic school.It integrates contemporary themes from Educational Philosophy, Theology and Spirituality and will be welcomed by all who share a concern for Catholic School Mission and Identity, Catholic School Leadership, Religious Education, Ministry, Evangelisation and Formation.‘This book is a shining light that will become a beacon of hope and possibilities for Catholic leaders and educators who are grappling with challenges and problems within contexts of disruption, uncertainty and rapid change…’Professor Emeritus Patrick Duignan About the Author William (Bill) Sultmann (Dip T, B Ed St, BA, M Ed St, M Ed Lead, Dip Psych, PhD (UQ), PhD (ACU), MAPS, FACE, FILM). Bill is a teacher, psychologist, practical theologian and administrator with expansive executive and governance roles in education, health and welfare. Current responsibilities include Director of Catholic School Identity and Mission, Associate Professor, and Deputy Dean within the La Salle Academy of the Australian Catholic University. He is married to Noelene, lives in Noosa Heads, Queensland and engages fully with family of Clare and Cam Stewart, and grandchildren William, Joseph and Amelia.

Cornerstone: Encountering the Spirit of Christ in the Catholic School

Sutmann, William

Communal Wisdom invites and promotes a Spirit-led Church and builds on the author's conviction that the Spirit of God is ever-present and all-pervading. God's Spirit dwells in all people and all creation - and in the communion of all people and all creation. (Romans 5:5) Many of the movements in our times stem from this truth: the movement towards justice and peace for oppressed peoples, the feminist movement seeking full equality of women and men, and the ecological movement calling for a renewed relationship with the earth.Discernment is the process of listening to this Spirit of God, noticing in one's inner experience the signs of the Spirit's invitation and the signs of the work of any spirits not-of-God, luring us away from God. Traditionally, the term discernment means to separate or sift these signs.Communal Wisdom treats discernment on an individual level, listening to the signs of the spirits in human experience, and then applies this to the parallel work of the spirits in community. The wisdom of a group is not only in the shared contribution of all members but in the group as a whole listening to movements of the spirits in themselves and amongst themselves. Brian Gallagher builds on long experience in group facilitation, offering concise explanations of the ways of God's Spirit and spirits not-of-God in group experience and a step-by-step process for group decision making. Theologian Denis Edwards' Foreword notes that Pope Francis is calling for a more synodal church. This involves participation at all levels of the church, including parish groups, diocesan synods and plenary councils. In these situations, community discernment, communal wisdom, has a fundamental role to play. And Peter Bentley of WellSpring Centre in Melbourne notes that the volume 'is packed with practical insights into discernment processes that promote a contemplative and spiritual approach to decision making within communal contexts'.

Communal Wisdom: A Way of Discernment for A Pilgrim Church

Gallagher, Brian Msc

The Pope is first of all the pastor of the Church and sign of its unity. He can be a theologian professionally, or he cannot be, as it has happened for the majority of popes. ln both cases, in his teaching as well as in the choices he makes or in the orientations he offers, his teaching and his style are imbued with a theological perspective and ask theologians to confront with them.The collection "Pope Francis' Theology", calling upon the expertise of eleven theologians from various Countries of the world, aims at showing us what theology is at the base of such incisive words and such simple gestures with which Pope Francis has made us so familiar.They are eleven easy volumes, written in a captivating way yet able to show in a rigorous way the deep roots of his thought and action. 

Christ, Mary, the Church and the Peoples: Pope Francis' Mariology (Pope Francis' Theology)

Galli, Carlos

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