Pope: Contemplate greatness of God's love in simplicity of a crèche

(CNS photo/courtesy New City Press)

By Cindy Wooden | Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS)—Whether simple or elaborate, the same every year or constantly changing, a Nativity scene echoes “the beauty of our faith,” Pope Francis wrote.

Marking the 800th anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi putting together the first Christmas crèche in a cave in Greccio, Italy, the Vatican publishing house compiled texts by Pope Francis about Nativity scenes and asked him to write a special introduction.

A key message of the Nativity scene is that the mystery of Christmas “loves to hide within what is infinitely small,” the pope wrote in “Christmas at the Nativity,” which was released in English in the United States by New City Press.

'Hello Beautiful': A novel for complicated families

(OSV News photo/Megan Marley)

This photo was taken at a Barnes & Noble in Overland Park, Kan. 

By Cecilia Cicone | OSV News

When it comes to matters of the heart, blood may not be thicker than water.

“Hello Beautiful” is a rare work of fiction that mirrors real life so closely as to inspire readers to address challenges in their own relationships. Through relatable characters, pages filled with drama, and just a touch of humor, Ann Napolitano’s latest work is destined to be a classic.

The novel follows the Padavanos, a Chicagoan Italian-American family, made up of a mother, Rose, a father, Charlie, and their four daughters, Emeline, Cecelia, Sylvie, and Julia, as they come of age in the 1980s and the decades that follow.

Searing novel explores ‘Christ-haunted’ American south

(OSV News photo/courtesy Flatiron Books)

By Cecilia Cicone | OSV News

Flannery O’Connor described the American south as “Christ-haunted.” Her analysis, juxtaposed against a society that claims to be Christ-centered, comes alive in S.A. Cosby’s newest novel, “All the Sinners Bleed.”

The book opens with an overview of the history of Charon County, Virginia, a place where white landowners ran the last remaining indigenous inhabitants out of town by setting fire to their land. Residents would describe Charon County as a quiet community with minimal problems, despite the fact that drugs have ravaged the community’s poorest families.

Carlo Acutis: New biographies showcase a teen’s spirituality

By Mike Mastromatteo | OSV News

Two recent releases on the life and work of Blessed Carlo Acutis bring very different perspectives yet tell us similar things about faith and holiness. In this case a little repetition becomes a helpful thing.

Carlo Acutis, beatified by Pope Francis in 2020, is the 15 year-old Italian millennial who is almost single handedly leading his generation into Eucharistic appreciation; his fascination with miracles associated with the holy Eucharist becomes a moving witness to the truth that a Christ-centered life is available for the asking.

Blessed Carlo died of leukemia in 2006 but not before convincing just about everyone who came into his life of the beauty of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, and their understated importance in extending divine grace to believers.

(Photo/Leaflet Missal)

With “My Son Carlo,” Acutis’ mother Antonia Salzano Acutis outlines how her son’s humble example not only rekindled her faith and her spiritual practices, but also influenced those fortunate enough to encounter him. “It was he who brought us close to God. It was not that we were opposed to faith. We were just used to living without it,” Antonia writes. “The arrival of Carlo in our lives was like a prophecy, an invitation to look at things from a different angle, to be different, to dive deeply.”

The Acutises were materially well-off, able to provide good schools and frequent travel opportunities for their spiritually precocious son. Antonia relates how the young Carlo developed an immediate love for the daily Mass, and — from an early age — seemed to stand apart from his contemporaries. Like another Italian young man from a prosperous family, Pier Giorgio Frassati, Carlo eschewed material possessions, often organizing collections for the poor and homeless in his neighborhood.

'Gift and Grit' makes case for counter-cultural detachment

(OSV News photos/
courtesy Ascension Publishing)

By Mike Mastromatteo | OSV News

Andrew Swafford is an associate professor of theology at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. His wife, Sarah, is author of the book “Emotional Virtue: A Guide to Drama-Free Relationships.” For over 15 years they have worked as a team in youth ministries, and now they have collaborated on a book. “Gift and Grit: How Heroic Virtue Can Change Your Life and Relationships” effectively combines male and female perspectives on issues important to all Catholics, but especially young Catholic adults.

Much of the content in “Gift and Grit” is taken from a St. Benedictine College student retreat in Florence, Italy, and led by the authors. While there, participants experienced “Srodowisko,” a Polish term for “environment” or “milieu” that also refers to friendship anchored by a common pursuit of transcendent good. “It means friendship enhanced and illuminated by the light of faith, walking together with mission and purpose, and supporting one another along the way,” the authors explain.

Feels Like Home: A book for every Catholic bookshelf

(Photos provided)

By Sister Beth Murphy, OP | 
Communications director of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield

Though I’ve been quite aware of the shortage of Catholic sisters in the United States for some time, an experience last year took me by surprise. Our vocation director Sister Denise Glazik and I were at my alma mater—Eastern Illinois University—for a Busy Persons Retreat at the Newman Center where my religious vocation was nurtured 40 years earlier. It was Catholic Sisters Week, and I had a brilliant idea: We’d invite the students to create selfies for social media with posters that included a shout-out to their favorite Catholic sisters.

“I’m not sure that will work,” Sister Denise calmly remarked. “I don’t think the students have much contact with sisters.” She was correct. An informal poll that day uncovered two students among 30 or so who had a relationship with a Catholic sister. Two.

Catholic author’s values shine in suspenseful sci-fi read

(OSV News/courtesy Thomas & Mercer Publishing)

By Mike Mastromatteo | OSV News

Since publishing his first book in 1968, bestselling author Dean Koontz has been described as a horror genre specialist, a sci-fi writer with a yen for the paranormal and a master of the suspense novel. More recently, critics have recognized a subtle but persistent Catholic flavor in his work.

Koontz’s latest release, “The House at the End of the World,” might be categorized as “any or all of the above.” Catholic readers are certain to pick up on such faith-related themes as the salvific power of suffering, and the need to stay vigilant against the forces of evil.

“The Beast of Bethulia Park”: A Catholic tale for summer

(OSV News photo/courtesy
Gracewing Publishing)

By Elizabeth Scalia | OSV News

A few years ago, while musing on the Catholic imagination and the deep need for Catholic literary fiction that goes beyond pious themes with predictable outcomes, I encouraged creative Catholics to expose the faith to an increasingly jaded world by branching out into comics, or cartoons, song lyrics, games and puzzles. 

I made an especial appeal to writers, noting that every Catholic novel needn’t be the equal of Walker Percy’s or Graham Greene’s work — that indeed, regard for such literary luminaries may be intimidating some Catholic writers who believe they have a story worth telling, but fear comparisons to those greats. “It needn’t be world class, you know, to move a soul, somewhere,” I had written, concluding, “As Chesterton himself wrote, ‘Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.’ Let’s do our badly best.”

By my lights, any resurgence in marketable Catholic creativity should certainly be permitted to embrace more populist fare, including the sort of summer beach reads meant to be consumed lightly — enjoyably picked up and put down as leisure permits.

Easter and baseball and Duncan's 'The Brothers K'

(Photo/Goodreads)

By Kenneth Craycraft | OSV News

Baseball is the only major team sport in which “sacrifice” is an official statistic. Other sports may have occasions in which a player will be called to subordinate his statistical interest in favor of a team goal, but only in baseball is a player sent onto the field of play for the purpose of sacrificing his opportunity for the greater good. 

Batters only get about four chances per game to get a hit; to give up one of those chances is no small matter.

I thought of this as I revisited David James Duncan’s 1992 novel, “The Brothers K” — a story about baseball, God and politics, in no particular order. 

Catholic literary novel may shock and satisfy

(Photo/ OSV News)

By Elizabeth Scalia | OSV News

“To love, it is the most creative and godlike act of all.”

In Anthony Mancini’s “Ashes,” the line is uttered by Concetta, a Sicilian woman living in post-war Taormina. It is 1949, and she has spoken those words to a German Jesuit priest, Father Anton Weiss, who has recently retired from ministry and moved into a rectory in this picturesque town with plans to “write and meditate.”

Though uncertain of what he will write, Father Weiss — who spent decades producing scripts for Vatican Radio in Rome — has faith that something will come out of his journaling.

Irish migration, faith tracked in thorough history book

(CNS photo/ courtesy Basic Books)

By Daniel S. Mulhall | OSV News

The Catholic Church throughout much of the world was shaped by the Irish diaspora, the migration of 8 million Irish men and women that took place (mostly) between 1760 and 1960.

As the Irish left their native soil to escape poverty and find new opportunities, they were followed by priests and bishops, and religious sisters and brothers who provided the sacraments, taught in their schools, provided health care and nurture, and cared for those who were poor and indigent.

The story of this great migration of Irish men and women and the faith they brought with them is told in Sean Connolly’s captivating new book, “On Every Tide: The Making and Remaking of the Irish World.”

Travel books offer insights on American Catholic sites

(CNS photo/ courtesy Ave Maria Press)

By Mitch Finley | OSV News

The Catholic Church in the United States is nothing if not loaded with history. New books provide marvelous and weighty resources for any who would travel in pursuit of historical insights into Catholic history.

These books provide a wealth of information for even the most amateur of armchair travelers.

Historian Kevin Schmiesing’s “A Catholic Pilgrimage through American History” is designed to give the reader many insights into Catholic individuals and events that have had a profound impact on American history.

The prayers of Bakhita, the hope and help of a book

(Photo/ Voyage Comics and Publishing)

By Elizabeth Scalia | OSV News

When she was canonized by Pope St. John Paul in 2000, Josephine Bakhita immediately became the patron saint of survivors of human trafficking.

Even a quick read of her story more than explains why. Kidnapped from the Sudanese village where her father was a chieftain and ironically renamed “Bakhita” (Arabic for the “lucky” or “fortunate” one) by her captors, Josephine endured such sustained trauma that she forgot her own name. 

She was bought and sold five times, the last being to an Italian vice consul, Callisto Legnani, who apparently treated Josphine humanely enough that when he was required to return to Italy she begged to be taken, too. 

Graphic novel style, Catholic topics

(Photo provided)

By Amanda Hudson | The Observer

Kevin and Mary O’Neill are lifelong Catholics and parents of nine children. Kevin was part of St. Margaret Mary Parish in Algonquin, while Mary grew up at Holy Family Parish in Rockford. They met through her brother when he was youth minister at St. Margaret Mary Parish.

Nowadays, they live in Harvard and attend St. Peter Church in Volo, which is staffed by the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius.

The couple has written two longer books, which Kevin calls a “labor of love” for his children. The O’Neills chose a graphic novel style for their books using photos of settings they designed and built out of Legos®, adding in dialogue balloons, all of which provides a comic book look for serious, faith filled topics. “We illustrate our graphic-novels by building, designing, and photographing intricate sets — built with your child’s favorite building block toys,” they say.

Book presents Advent in past, present and future

(Photos provided)

By Megan Peterson | The Observer

Mike Pacer, a member of Holy Cross Parish in Batavia, knows a little something about looking for different perspectives. The father of four, including diocesan priest Father Nathan Pacer, spent 14 years as a successful trial lawyer in Chicago — and then left.

He had heard a call from God to “just leave.”

So he and his wife Lori stepped out in trust to look at life through God’s lens and led their family in faith and service to the Church. As they taught their children, they saw a need for instilling faith-filled traditions like those their parents had taught them during Advent.