4 books found
The Anglican Bishop George Bell (of Chichester) and the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, Willem A. Visser’t Hooft (of Geneva) exchanged hundreds of letters between 1938 and 1958. The correspondence, reproduced and commented upon here, mirrors the efforts made across the ecumenical movement to unite the Christian churches and also to come to terms with an age of international crisis and conflict. In these first decades of the World Council, it was widely felt that the Church could make a noteworthy contribution to the mitigation of political tensions all over the world. That’s why Bell and Visser’t Hooft talked not only to bishops and the clergy, but also to the prime ministers and presidents of many countries. They raised their voices in memoranda and published their public letters in important newspapers. This was the World Council’s most successful period.
Pope John Paul II's apostolic letter, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, confirmed that conferring Holy Orders on men only is a matter pertaining to divine revelation that has consistently been taught by the universal and ordinary Magisterium of the Church, and hence is to be definitively held by all the faithful. Thus, the Church's practice is not a concession to the customs of an age, but is founded upon a theology of the sexes, which is based on the relationship of man and woman originating in creation itself. This relationship is sanctified to the utmost in the Sacrament of Matrimony, as the concrete symbol of God's love for mankind. God's own self-communication is inscribed in this marital consecration when Christ, being the representative of the Father, presents himself as the Bridegroom of the Church, his Bride. Furthermore, this spousal relationship between Christ and the Church is reflected in the Sacrament of Holy Orders and the male recipient's relation to the Church, which stands in relation to him as a feminine reality. This book thoughtfully explores the Church's understanding of the ministerial priesthood and the diaconate. Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller, formerly the Bishop of Regensburg, is now Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He has written and edited much on this topic as a member of the International Theological Commission. His writings on this subject have been combined in this present volume into a systematic presentation, expanded and updated. "Muller offers us an irrefutable case, based on theological sources, for the Church's teaching and practice since the time of the Apostles of conferring the sacrament of Holy Orders on baptized males only." -Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J., Editor, Homiletic & Pastoral Review
A revealing account of Hitler’s thoughts and actions throughout World War II from one of his closest aides. Major Gerhard Engel was Hitler's army adjutant from 1938 to 1943. During his years with Hitler, Engel kept a diary. After the war, he added material to shed further light on certain events, military and political decisions, and Hitler's attitude to particular problems. His diary covers the decision-making process behind crucial military actions, including the annexation of Austria, the invasion of Czechoslovakia, and the war against Russia. He also addresses intrigue within Hitler's inner circle and his casual conversations with other key Nazi figures. At the Heart of the Reich sheds important light on the Fuhrer's core beliefs. It includes the statement made by Hitler in 1941, “I am now as before a Catholic.” It also details his views on German Jews and dwells on the extent to which they served in the Wehrmacht. Engel also addresses the deportation of Jews from Salonika and Hitler's order to Himmler to select a destination, the details of which Hitler was apparently unconcerned with. The final part of the diary is mostly devoted to the war against Russia. Engel's reports confirm that the master plan was to take Leningrad and Rostov, then close pincers behind Moscow. The plan was frustrated by senior army commanders'’ lack of enthusiasm and Hitler's failure to exert firm leadership. Engel depicts Hitler as a vacillating, contrary man. It is not unlikely that this encouraged his generals to impose themselves and argue their plan to rush Moscow, which ultimately contributed to the defeat of the Third Reich. Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
ಜToday, the family is in crisis it is in crisis worldwideಝ, Pope Francis has said. ಜYoung people donಙt want to get married, they donಙt get married, or they live together. Marriage is in crisis, and so the family is in crisis.ಝ The main problem with the family in the Church today, contends Gerhard Cardinal Müller, is not the small number of civilly remarried divorced Catholics who want to receive Holy Communion. It is the large number of Catholics who live together before marriage, who marry civilly, or who do not even bother with marriage, as if these choices were sound options for Catholic living. Furthering the problem is the widespread failure of married Catholics to understand marriage as a way of Christian discipleship. In this engaging conversation, Cardinal Müller, one of Pope Francisಙ top advisers in the Vatican, addresses the challenges facing marriage and family life today. The loss of faith in many traditionally Christian societies has led to a crisis. In turn, cohabitation, civil marriage, and divorce and civil remarriage, further undermine faith because they harm the family as the ಜdomestic Churchಝ and the place of initial evangelization. Thus, the Church must undertake a robust new evangelization of the family: sharing the fullness of truth about marriage and family in Christ, encouraging families to worship and to pray together, and helping them to witness by their lives the joy of the gospel. Cardinal Müller stresses mercy and compassion in pastoral ministry with struggling Catholics, but he does so without either contradicting the teaching of Jesus about divorce and remarriage or minimizing the power of grace to transform lives. In this way he proclaims hope for the family rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ.