Reasons to Believe

Reasons to Believe by Adrian Lickorish Published by CTS

This is a very useful and timely booklet. The dominant narrative of our time seems to be that science and reason have supplanted God, that we no longer need God in order to understand reality, and that to cling to the idea of God is somehow anti-intellectual and anti-scientific.

That's all bosh, of course, and real scientists, who are trained to think critically, do not tend to see things that way. But the popularisers of science, and the popular media more broadly, take that narrative for granted, and so it seeps into the cultural zeitgeist and becomes the unspoken assumption of many, without any serious examination.

Adrian Lickorish is a retired lawyer, and brings an analytical mind to the task. He presents, after a brief introduction, twelve reasons to believe. As he notes, 'Different reasons will speak more strongly to different readers, and a different times in their lives;' so for me to say that I found some of his explanations more compelling than others may simply be a reflection of that truth.

He builds on the classical proofs of God, presenting them, and some additional approaches, in a clear, contemporary and intellectually robust way. He also breaks each explanation down into brief paragraphs, outlining the structure of his argument, which makes the whole book easy both to read and to understand.

His twelve reasons are as follows:

Reasons 1 & 2: First and Independent Causes
Reasons 3, 4, and 5: Design
Reasons 6 & 7: Desire and Purpose
Reason 8: Objective Morality
Reasons 9 & 10: Belief and Experience
Reason 11: Life after Death
Reason 12: The New Testament.

He also has a section on the end, addressing some of the problems that people express when struggling to believe: Evil, Hell, Difficulty in Knowing and the Role of Science.

This is a valuable booklet for anyone wishing to understand their own Faith better, and particularly for anyone who ever finds his or her Faith challenged by others as being unreasonable, irrational, or 'medieval.'  I would also strongly recommend it for any teenager heading off to University...

Pier Giorgio Frassati

Pier Giorgio Frassati by Glynn MacNiven-Johnston CTS Great Saints Series

Pier Giorgio Frassati is another modern saint (or technically, beatus, but this is published in the Great Saints Series, and I am sure he is on his way to formal recognition as such).

Born of an influential Turin family (his father owned and ran La Stampa, until forced to sell it for refusing to print pro-fascist articles) he had quite a tough childhood, and yet from an early age developed a very active faith.

Founded in prayer, his life was characterised by an active love of the poor, a cheerful disposition and love of life, and singular generosity of spirit, to the point of heroism.  Like his father, he would have no truck with Fascism and was public in his disdain for it; he even single-handedly chased off a bunch of Fascist thugs who had been sent one night to intimidate his family.

But it was his generosity towards, and solidarity with, poor people that was most notable.  He gave away almost everything, from his clothes and food to his tram pass and his university text books, to people who had less than he had, and clearly did so in a way that was not patronising, for poor people  turned out in huge numbers (to his family's astonishment) to pay their respects to him when he died at the age of 24.

He seems to me to be a model for saints in modern times; and his story is told in a clear and vivid manner in this booklet, which I highly recommend.

Unlike the last CTS booklet I reviewed, this is remarkably free from typos and other infelicities.  In fact I only found one, which was the picture credit for the front cover image: 'A Catholic Man kisses the coffin of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati.' Clearly they changed the cover, but forgot to change this detail.

Gemma Galgani

Gemma Galgani by John-Paul Kirkham CTS Great Saints Series

Gemma Galgani was the first saint living in the 20th Century to be canonised - and is a wonderful saint for the 21st century Christian to contemplate and emulate.

Born in 1878, she died in 1903 a few months before her 25th birthday,  and she was canonised in 1940.

The reason I think that she is a great saint for us to cultivate a devotion to, is that she exemplified so many facets of the Christian life that are currently unfashionable.  She was a stigmatic, she saw and talked with her Guardian Angel, she embraced her suffering, and indeed sought additional mortification, she was humble and obedient.

All this and much more about her life is made clear in this 60 page biography by John-Paul Kirkham, which takes us through her life chronologically, with quotations from the saint at the start and end of each chapter.

Unfortunately, this is one of those CTS booklets that really needed (better) editing. Intrusive apostrophes, capitalisation and the hyphenating of random words, along with syntactical and other grammatical errors combine to distract the reader repeatedly from the text.

Nonetheless, it is well worth reading, and comes highly recommended.

Faith in the Family

Faith in the Family by Anne Burke-Gaffney and Fr Marcus Holden Published by CTS

This is larger than the usual CTS pamphlets, being an A5-sized book, of about 88 pages.

It is designed as a Handbook for parents, and in particular to help them to answer their children's questions, and then use those questions as a starting point for deepening faith.

The book is in three sections: Creation and Created; Knowing God, and Catholic Life and Times. That makes sense, I suppose, but I did think it odd that it did not follow the structure of the Catechism (and the preceding Catechism, from Trent, come to that).  I will return to this point.

Each of these sections has five chapters: so Creation and Created, for example, has chapters on God and Creation, Angels, Saints, Holy Souls and Mary.

Each chapter is made up mainly of the types of questions that children ask, with reasonably full explanatory answers: longer and fuller than the old Penny Catechism, for example.    So the first Chapter, on God and Creation, has questions such as: Who made God? Why did God create Satan, and Why did Adam and Eve spoil everything?  The answers are good: clear and accurate, and suitable for reading to and discussing with children.

Each chapter also includes, at the end, two further sections.  The first is Points to Ponder: these are a few deeper questions for the parents to ask themselves and discuss; the second is Practical Application: a few suggestions for things to do as a family, to build on the lessons of the chapter.

The layout is clear and sensible, and nicely illustrated with children's drawings (so much better than the faux-naif drawings such books occasionally use).

However, I was struck by the huge gaps. In a sense that is inevitable in a work of this size, but I found it very odd that it discusses relative trivia in some detail (Why do we give eggs at Easter?) whilst omitting (for example) anything about the Sacramental system, and so on.  I think this flows from my comment earlier that the authors did not follow the structure of the Catechism. By making their own structure up, the risk was always going to be that some things fell through the cracks.

My other gripe is the lack of an index.  If my child raises a question about baptism, for instance, how do I know if there is anything in here about it.  There is no chapter on the Sacraments; is it in the one about Prayer? Or the one about the Mass?  Or somewhere else?  That seems to me a missed opportunity.  Also, references to Catechism paragraphs would be extremely helpful.

Nonetheless, what is here is good and this is certainly a useful book to have on the shelf; so I recommend it with the caveat that it misses a good deal which you really should teach your children, so you will certainly need other resources (such as the Catechism or Youcat) to supplement it.

Faith by Benedict XVl

Faith by Benedict XVl, edited by Lucio Coco, Published by CTS

This short booklet (40 pages) is a collection of brief points taken from the teaching of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVl when he was Pope.  They are collected from Porta Fidei (which announced the Year of Faith), Homilies, Speeches, Allocutions, Catechesis and so on.

They are arranged thematically in nine chapters, and there is a useful Analytical Index at the back. There is a brief introduction by the editor (or compiler might be more accurate) Lucio Coco.


The chapters are:

1  The Gift of Faith
2  Faith in Jesus
3  Entrusting Ourselves Completely to God
4  Believing With the Church
5  Education in the Faith
6  Faith and Theological Virtues
7  Faith and Reason
8  Witnessing the Faith
9  The History of Our Faith

Regular readers will know that I am a big Fan of Benedict XVl's writing.  I find it lucid, clear, simple and profound.  So I was slightly taken aback on opening this booklet to find that it was such short extracts: following Benedict's reasoning had been so rewarding in previous encounters.

However, I quickly realised that this was a different type of book. In fact, it is more reminiscent of St Josemaria's The Way: a book of short points for meditation.

And that, I think, is the way to use this book: set aside a few minutes every day, during this Year of Faith, and read one point, slowly, and ponder it, pray about it, internalise it, and make a resolution about it.

Some of the points are very short, such as 30 The way: Faith can always bring us back to God, even when our sin leads us astray. (Speech, 26.5.06)

Others are longer: 4 Now and not yet: Faith is not merely a personal reaching out towards things to come that are still totally absent: it gives us something. It gives us even now something of the reality we are waiting for, and this present reality constitutes for us a "proof" of the things that are still unseen.  Faith draws the future into the present, so that it is no longer simply a "not yet." The fact that this future exists changes the present; the present is touched by the future reality, and thus the things of the future spill over into those of the present and those of the present into those of the future. (Spe Salvi, 7)

But short or long, they all merit meditation.

So I heartily recommend this book for the remainder of the Year of Faith, and hope that each timeit is read, our Holy Father Emeritus is remembered in prayer, as well.

Theology of the Body

Theology of the Body by Dominic Baster, Published by CTS

Someone, a while back, reprimanded me in the comments box for writing about subjects of which I was ignorant.

Yet here I go again...

I am no expert on the Theology of the Body, so I cannot vouch for the accuracy of this summary booklet. However, what I can say is that it is well written, clear, easy to read, and intriguing.

The CTS blurb describes Theology of the Body as revolutionary, but I am not sure that I really see that, at least as it is described here.

Certainly the passages about man's original solitude, original unity and original nakedness (ie before original sin) were striking and thought provoking.  But scarcely revolutionary (though in my eyes that is a good thing!).

More ground-breaking, perhaps, is the insistence of Pope John Paul ll on the spousal meaning of the body: but fully to understand that, and its implications, I will have to read all his sermons on the subject, I think.

But the overall message seems to me an unpacking and exploration of much that is already present (explicitly or implicitly) in previous teaching of the Church; new insights, new emphases, a broader canvass - but not revolutionary.

What I particularly like about this booklet is its clarity, both in language and structure, so that you can follow the author's (and assuming he knows his stuff, Pope John Paul's) line of thinking quite readily.  That, and the fact that it made me want to go and read the source material, and really understand what this Theology of the Body (which I have often heard mentioned, both positively and negatively) really says.

So I recommend this as a good read and a clear introduction to the topic, but with the caveat that I am approaching it from a position of ignorance.  But if you read it, and like me, want to know more, then clearly approaching the source is the best next step.

Easter Homilies of Benedict XVl

Easter Homilies of Benedict XVl Published by CTS

As regular readers will know, I am a great fan of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVl's writing. He is a great academic theologian: and one of the hallmarks of his greatness is his ability to write sermons that are both profound and accessible.

In this volume, there are 8 Easter sermons, delivered between 2006 - 2012.  I would not say that Benedict XVl has much in common with P G Wodehouse; but like a book of Wodehouse short stories, one can say of this collection that each is the best.

He writes about the reality, meaning and implications of the resurrection, dismissing the idiotic German theologian who quipped that a miracle of a corpse returning to life would not be relevant to us, even if it had happened, by pointing out the absolute relevance of the Resurrection.

He writes about the signs and symbols of Easter, light, water and song, and illuminates them in a fresh way, making links and exploring meanings that were certainly new to me.

He writes about our destiny and how Christ seeks us out to lead us into it.

He writes about salvation history and how it all leads up to, and is completely transformed by, the Resurrection of Christ.

And in every case, his language is as simple as his wisdom and insight are profound.  Time and again, in clear and easy steps, he leads us to new perspectives and insights.

I realise that Laetare Sunday is a little early to be talking about Easter, but I chose to review this now, so that you have time to get a copy and have it ready for your Easter treat.

Highly recommended!

Year of Faith Stations of the Cross

Year of Faith Stations of the Cross by Rev Professor Brendan Leahy Published by CTS

This is a new publication for the Year of Faith, and does not yet seem to be on the CTS www site (hence the lack of cover photo).

We all have our own favourite versions of the Stations, I imagine; and I am no fan of novelty for its own sake. My taste in liturgy is very conservative: I believe it should not draw attention to itself, but rather be transparent, so that we may see God through it.

That said, I do think there is a place for new meditations for the Stations.  They are not liturgical in the same way that the Mass is; indeed they are a meditative devotion, designed to make us reflect afresh each time we participate in them: that is a major part of their purpose.

So that is what I like about these Stations: Fr Leahy provides a fresh and generally inspiring set of meditations,  each one followed by a reflection taken from the Catechism.  And yet, I do feel ambivalent about them, too; largely, I think, for reasons of style, but I think style also communicates.

Since Stations are such a personal devotion, I think the best way to give you an idea of the particular tone of this version, and thus some sense of whether it is one that you will find fruitful, is to quote one meditation in full, and use it to illustrate both what I like and what I am less happy with.  I will take the first: Jesus is condemned to Death.

After the traditional antiphonal start ('We adore you...' etc) there is a quotation from St John:

'Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.' (Jn 13:1)

That is followed by this meditation:

Straightaway death is put before us in the First Station.  It was always the horizon towards which Jesus walked. He moved towards "his hour" as John's Gospel calls it.  The moment of death's "announcement" will come to all of us.  So it is good, in imitation of Jesus, to decide to accept our death, whenever, wherever and however our Lord wants. We can get ready for "our hour" by dying to ourselves at least a little every day.

Then there is a Reflection:

'Remembering our mortality helps us realize that we have only a limited time in which to bring our lives to fulfilment... The Church encourages us to prepare ourselves for the hour of our death... to ask the Mother of God to intercede for us "at the hour of our death" in the Hail Mary; and to entrust ourselves to St Joseph, the patron of a happy death'.
(CCC 1007 and 1014.  See further, CCC 1005- 1019)

That is followed by the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be, then:

V: Have mercy on us O Lord.
R: Have Mercy on us.

May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Each Station follows that pattern.  I like the overall structure, the choice of biblical quotation is often apt, the meditations normally have a useful, and often original, insight for meditation, the quotations from the Catechism are well-chosen and link each Station to the whole body of the Church and Her Faith, and the concluding prayers are suitable. (One could always add the Stabat Mater as one moved between Stations.)

The niggles are small, but they are there.  I would prefer the traditional formulation: We adore Thee...  (we still do not avoid thee and thou in the Our Father or Hail Mary, after all!)  I do not like the New Jerusalem Bible translations of Scripture.

In the meditation, I like the use of our Lord towards the end, and would prefer that throughout, rather than the frequent use of the Holy Name.  I particularly dislike the phrase 'as John's Gospel calls it' and  would prefer 'as St John calls it.'  I am not happy with 'The moment of death's "announcement" will come to all of us.' I see what he's getting at, of course (though I am not sure it is actually true: sudden unannounced death is a real and terrible possibility) but the phrase sounds odd, and the inverted commas don't help.

But I realise that all of these are very personal niggles: I mention them as much so that you can dismiss them as anything.

By and large, the editing at CTS is getting better: I did not spot any typos in this booklet.  However, there is still room for improvement: a footnote in the introduction tells us the source of the Biblical quotations - but there have been none in the paragraph, nor even the section, to which the footnote is appended.  Also, it seems that nobody has thought how easy it will be to read these meditations aloud, which is surely at least one way in which they are intended to be used: punctuation is often lacking, which will make for unclear reading, and we have usages such as 'me/us' which are fine when one is reading to oneself, but harder to make sense of when one reads aloud.

So overall, I conclude that this is well worth getting, particularly if you are less bothered than I am by what I see as the infelicities of language and style; but even if you share my foibles, there is much here to meditate on fruitfully, and that, surely, is the principal criterion.

CTS New Catholic Bible

CTS New Catholic Bible 

The version I am reviewing is the new paperback edition, which does not (yet) feature on the CTS website.  I assume the hardback versions are the same inside, but do not have a copy to check that.

On opening this, the first thing I noticed was that the inside cover flaps serve as an index: listing the books of the Old Testament (inside front cover) and the New (inside back cover) along with the page number on which each book starts.  That is one of those simple ideas that is very helpful and practical.

The next thing one encounters is a set of coloured maps: Old Testament maps (Near East and Palestine) at the front, New Testament maps (Palestine and 'The Cradle of Christianity') at the back.

After a full index (including all the additional matter, as well as the books of the Bible) there is an introductory section: Scripture in the Life of the Church.  This is in fact a resumé of Dei Verbum. This is followed by a brief preface to the biblical text, explaining a little of the background (the Greek and Hebrew texts, the translation, etc).  In fact the translation used is the one the Church uses liturgically: that is the Jerusalem Bible, with the Grail translations of the Psalms.

Each individual book of the bible is then introduced with a brief (typically 1 or 2 page) essay, setting the book in context, and giving an overview of the structure of the book.  I have not yet read these, which have been written specially for this edition, but they look to be very helpful.

At the end of the Bible are some useful appendices. The first is a historical framework, showing the history of the bible, and in effect Salvation History, chronologically with approximate dates.  This is followed by a brief note about wights, measures and money, and then an extensive index to the notes in the text, from Abba to Yahweh.

The next appendix is Scripture and Catholic Liturgy, and explains both the Sunday and the Weekday Lectionary, including tables showing the Sunday and Weekday readings for the whole cycle.  There is also a fascinating table showing the readings for Mass in Biblical Order.  It claims to exclude the Gospels and the Acts, but in fact includes the Acts, excluding only the Gospels (which is a shame - although they are read pretty well chronologically, it would still be useful.)  There is a further appendix on Lectio Divina, a further table or scripture readings relevant to the other sacraments, and references for a scriptural rosary.

All in all this is a very comprehensive Bible; the typeface and layout are clear and the binding looks as though it should last well.  So if you want a Bible that uses the same translation as the Lectionary I recommend this highly.