‘The Vatican Diaries’ Last Book for Year of Faith, Meeting Oct. 30 at CherryVale Barnes & Noble

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When John Thavis gathered with fellow journalists at the Catholic Media Conference in June, he told them the book has some of the stories he couldn’t put in the Catholic News Service articles he was filing from Rome.
Thavis is the now-retired Rome bureau chief for Catholic News Service, and his book, “The Vatican Diaries,” does live up to its subtitle — “A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Power, Personalities and Politics at the Heart of the Catholic Church.”
Released last spring, “The Vatican Diaries” is the final selection for The Observer Book Club during the Year of Faith.
It came out just about the time Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI announced his retirement. That earned Thavis a spot as a “talking head” on several network news shows, sharing his  Vatican insights with television audiences across the U.S.

'The Vatican Diaries' goes beyond ‘papabili’ with insider’s look

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John Thavis, now-retired Rome bureau chief for Catholic News Service, removes any doubt that “The Vatican Diaries” would, in fact, live up to its entire title, when he writes in the introduction: “The real Vatican is a place where cardinals crack jokes and lose their tempers, where each agency of the Roman Curia jealously guards its turf, where the little guys and big shots may work at cross-purposes and where slipups and misunderstandings are common.”

When it comes to power, personalities and politics, “Diaries” is reminiscent of Father Andrew Greeley’s “Making of the Pope 1978” and Peter Hebblethwaite’s “The Year of Three Popes,” both published in 1979. However, where they differ is that the people to whom Thavis introduces readers go beyond “papabili,” i.e., those who could be elected pope.

Msgr. Barr's book wins Readers Favorite award

Msgr. Eric Barr, vicar general of the Rockford Diocese, is a silver medalist in the 2013 Readers Favorite book awards.The book won in the Christian Fantasy/Sci-Fi category.

Writing as E.R. Barr, his Roan: The Tales of Conor Archer, Volume One, (Telemachus Press, ISBN 978-1937387662), twines Celtic and Native American myths to tell the tale of Conor Archer. (See our May 8 blog posting for more.)

The Readers Favorite awards will be presented in November in Florida. 

Read more about the book at www.erbarr.com.

Summer reading: Book brings new information to arguments against capital punishment

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In the foreword to "Where Justice and Mercy Meet," Sister Helen Prejean, the Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet famous for "Dead Man Walking," promises that readers will learn new information in every chapter.
She is not exaggerating; every chapter drives home with documented data the need to abolish the death penalty once and for all in the United States. The text examines the death penalty from every conceivable angle, presenting arguments from history, sociology, Supreme Court decisions, economics, Scripture, church teachings, international thought and stories. The information is profoundly impressive and should convince even the most ardent supporters of the death penalty to change their position.
The intellectual arguments against capital punishment are laid out clearly and logically; it would be difficult, if not impossible, to argue against them.

Summer reading: Dialogues between rabbi, new pope tell much about church's future

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The publication of a book of informal yet profoundly thoughtful dialogues between a cardinal and a rabbi was a rare event when this book was first published in Buenos Aires in 1995. When the cardinal became Pope Francis, "On Heaven and Earth" became a historic document, the first such open-ended dialogue between a pope and a rabbi in the history of Judaism and Catholicism.
Both then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio and Rabbi Abraham Skorka are scholars, not only in theology and rabbinic studies, respectively, but in science. It is natural that their discussion revolves around the classic issues of faith and reason, religious truth and scientific inquiry.
The authors take a pastoral view, concerned with the day-to-day problems and dilemmas, hopes and fears shared by all of us as ordinary human beings.

Summer reading: Storyteller McKenna challenges readers to really hear, live Gospels

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Megan McKenna is convinced that "the word of God in the Gospels" encounters strong resistance in the faith community. Over time, we have become "adept at using the Gospels to subvert Jesus' revelation of God among us and what is demanded of those who follow in Jesus' footsteps," she writes.
McKenna is a widely known Catholic author, lecturer, theologian and storyteller. With this, her 50th book, she encourages believers not to "short-circuit the power of Jesus' words." A quotation she includes from Trappist Father Thomas Merton helps to illustrate her purpose.
Father Merton once wrote: "Let us not be too sure we know the Bible ... just because we have learned not to have problems with it. Have we perhaps learned ... not to really pay attention to it?"

Summer reading: Books offer practical guidance on living the Catholic faith

"As Faith Matures" by Mary Beth Werdel, "Answer Your Call" by Dick and Martha Lyles and "Louder Than Words" by Matthew Leonard all address first-half-of-life issues and practical ways to live the Catholic faith.

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Werdel specializes in pastoral care, counseling and campus ministry. "As Faith Matures" explains the problems involved in relying on a child's concept of the divine -- a "Sunday God" -- when facing adult experiences of tragedy, mystery and mortality. The author's loss of her brother on an Arctic expedition propelled her to seek God on a deeper level.