Three decades ago in a cordoned-off corner of the developing world an angry Catholic priest armed only with pencil, paper, and crayons, declared a revolution. From a shanty school shared with Buddhists and Muslims in Bangkok's squatter slums, Father Joe Maier began his advance on abject poverty. Today, his Human Development Foundation and Mercy Centre charity is responsible for thirty-two preschools that have taught more than twenty thousand children how to read and write. Despite the crippling neglect found in impoverishment, he is raising international scholars and injecting a sense of purpose into shantytowns and squatter camps that used to have neither.

A key comic writer of the past three decades has created his most heartfelt and hard-hitting book. Father Joe is Tony Hendra’s inspiring true story of finding faith, friendship, and family through the decades-long influence of a surpassingly wise Benedictine monk named Father Joseph Warrillow. Like everything human, it started with sex. In 1955, fourteen-year-old Tony found himself entangled with a married Catholic woman. In Cold War England, where Catholicism was the subject of news stories and Graham Greene bestsellers, Tony was whisked off by the woman’s husband to see a priest and be saved. Yet what he found was a far cry from the priests he’d known at Catholic school, where boys were beaten with belts or set upon by dogs. Instead, he met Father Joe, a gentle, stammering, ungainly Benedictine who never used the words “wrong” or “guilt,” who believed that God was in everyone and that “the only sin was selfishness.” During the next forty years, as his life and career drastically ebbed and flowed, Tony discovered that his visits to Father Joe remained the one constant in his life—the relationship that, in the most serious sense, saved it. From the fifties and his adolescent desire to join an abbey himself; to the sixties, when attending Cambridge and seeing the satire of Beyond the Fringe convinced him to change the world with laughter, not prayer; to the seventies and successful stints as an original editor of National Lampoon and a writer of Lemmings, the off-Broadway smash that introduced John Belushi and Chevy Chase; to professional disaster after co-creating the legendary English series Spitting Image; from drinking to drugs, from a failed first marriage to a successful second and the miracle of parenthood—the years only deepened Tony’s need for the wisdom of his other and more real father, creating a bond that could not be broken, even by death. A startling departure for this acclaimed satirist, Father Joe is a sincere account of how Tony Hendra learned to love. It’s the story of a whole generation looking for a way back from mockery and irony, looking for its own Father Joe, and a testament to one of the most charismatic mentors in modern literature.

Discovering Motherhood is a warm, friendly, profound account of the mundane and the mystical in the life of a mother. Somehow, amid the dirty tube socks, the trail of Legos and the baby's mashed bananas, God is present. Annemarie Scobey takes us on a daunting journey that has no map. It is a high-energy trek with ups and downs and bumps in the road. The price of admission is three a.m. feedings, endless diapers changes and lost sleep. But the payoff comes in the profound relationships of mother and children, and in the love that gives life its luster. Scobey has recorded the journey with insight, humor and a sure sense of the Divine in the turmoil, troubles and triumphs of everyday life.

In this definitive collection of essays spanning fifteen years, R. Stephen Warner traces the development of the "new paradigm" interpretation of American religion. Originally formulated in the 1990s in response to prevailing theories of secularization that focused on the waning plausibility of religion in modern societies, the new paradigm reoriented the study of religion to a focus on communities, subcultures, new religious institutions, and the fluidity of modern religious identities. This perspective continues to be one of the most important driving forces in the field and one of the most significant challenges to the idea that religious pluralism inevitably leads to religious decline. A leading sociologist of religion, Warner shows how the new paradigm stresses the role that religion plays as a vehicle for the bonding and expression of communities within the United States--a society founded on the principle of religious disestablishment and characterized by a diverse and mobile population. Chapters examine evangelicals and Pentecostals, gay and lesbian churches, immigrant religious institutions, Hispanic parishes, and churches for the deaf in terms of this framework. Newly written introductory and concluding essays set these groups within the broad context of the developing field. A thoughtfully organized and timely collection, the volume is a valuable classroom resource as well as essential reading for scholars of contemporary religion.

Life at La Bonne Vie Plantation is finally peaceful. Desirée and her rock star husband are on a world tour with his band, Nicolas has settled down on a farm in Kenya, and though his heart still aches for Desirée, he finds solace in raising his four year old daughter Jolie. Life is good ... isn’t it? Desirée, apathetic and longing for home and family, leaves the tour and flies home only a few months before it ends, causing questions she isn’t prepared to answer because she’s looking for answers herself. Her childhood sweetheart, Rory Duval, doesn’t make things any easier. Her old feelings for him flare up anew, and finally true happiness is within Desirée reach. When Nicky discovers Desirée is divorcing Antoine, he and Jolie go back home for the holidays, planning to get Desirée back and take her to Kenya, fulfilling the dream they once had. He arrives and is blindsided by Desirée and Rory’s engagement. Antoine wants his wife back, and he, Nicky and Rory collide in a determination to have the woman they all love. Meanwhile, Uncle Virgil is busy researching the dark mysteries of the family’s past. With Desirée’s help, answers are discovered in bits and pieces, finally coming together in a startling revelation. At last, things come around right and there is truly peace for the Duval/Leveque family.

This fascinating book explains that the gospel is about the restoration of "cracked Eikons" (fallen humans) so that humans can be in union with God and in communion with the saints. In the candid and lucid style that has made McKnight's The Jesus Creed so appealing to thousands of pastors, lay leaders, and everyday people who are searching for a more authentic faith, he encourages all Christians to recognize the simple, yet potentially transforming truth of the gospel message: God seeks to restore us to wholeness not only to make us better individuals, but to form a community of Jesus, a society in which humans strive to be in union with God and in communion with others.

Author Robert A. Parker has compiled here his critique of hundreds of novels he has read. This is the third of six volumes that cover authors alphabetically, in this case from George Gissing to Milan Kundera. More than 85 authors are represented, including Greene, Hawthorne, Hemingway, Hersey, Horgan, James, Joyce, Kazantzakis Kafka, Kennedy, and King. They reflect a broad range of writing styles, cultural influences, and moral philosophies. All works are rated on their literary achievement, the effectiveness of plot, character, and setting, plus their recognition of the moral, ethical and spiritual values of mankind. Here is a unique critical perspective that measures the meaning of literature against the meaning of life.

The trilogy begins in March of 1968, when the CIA and U.S. Army INSCOM (Intelligence Security Command) learn that the Soviet Union has developed a psychic program to conduct espionage on the U.S. intelligence community. To counter this threat, they begin forming their own psychic program from the research of a similar experiment, conducted two years prior at the University of Illinois by Dr. Albert Silvers. The task of bringing this program together is put upon Director Henry Miller, a CIA veteran, and Colonel James A. Stewart, the officer in charge of INSCOM and the military liaison officer to a multitude of Department of Defense contractors, located at Johnsville Naval Air-Warfare Development Center, in Warminster, Pennsylvania. Director Miller appoints Brian Crawford, a new recruit to the CIA and former standout football player at Penn State University, to represent the CIA on his behalf. Colonel Stewart and Agent Crawford become quick friends and set out to form the Psychic Research for the advancement of Intelligence gathering on Soviet and eastern bloc Military forces, or P.R.I.S.M. Although Colonel Stewart and Agent Crawford are both skeptical of the usefulness of psychics to the intelligence community, but their opinions sway after watching old file footage of a young boy seemingly' using psychic abilities to help his family escape Communist held East Germany, and film from the failed program conducted by Dr. Silvers, of young girl using Pyro-Kinesis and another young boy using mental telepathy. They work at a blinding pace to retrieve all the data they can on these subjects. The young boy who helps his family defect from East Germany, is now a U.S. citizen and has been recruited by Director Miller to be a part of P.R.I.S.M. However, the whereabouts of the two children that were involved with Dr. Silvers' program, like their identities, are unknown. Concluding that the two children would make an excellent addition to P.R.I.S.M., Colonel Stewart and Agent Crawford begin looking for information on the two. Since neither the CIA, nor INSCOM has any details on the two children, and Dr. Silvers was believed to have a nervous breakdown, killing himself and others in a city bus hijacking, Colonel Stewart recruits an old Army buddy, Scott Wallack, to be head of security on Project: P.R.I.S.M., and to gather any information he can from Dr. Silver's widow. Special Agent Wallack returns to Johnsville NADC with the personal journals of Dr. Silvers, and then the mystery begins to unfold. Agent Crawford comes across one of Dr. Silvers' journals and it has a particular effect on Project: P.R.I.S.M. He finds one word- Assyrr, written throughout the entire notebook. They discover that it is the name of an ancient demon that possesses its unwary victims through nightmares, ultimately driving the victim to end their own life, and the lives of others as well. Special Agent Wallack and his three man security team have an encounter with demonic influences, causing Agent Crawford to ask, "What does psychic research have to do with this demon?" The answer to that question remains a mystery, until the CIA recruit's an Exorcist/ Demonologist from the Catholic Church, Father Joseph Salomie. It becomes apparent that people with psychic abilities are in the evolutionary state of where God had ultimately planned for humanity to be. This would create a "Final Communion" with God and a world wide holy utopia. To prevent humanity from gaining such a precious ability, one in which he held so dear, but lost long ago, Lucifer sets out to halt this union of man and God. He unleashes his demonic horde to carry out his diabolical plan- a communion between humanity and himself The members of Project: P.R.I.S.M. go head to head with the forces of evil, battling demons, political bureaucracy and enemy psychic agents, in an attempt to keep humanity on track for "Final Communion." But, will that communion be with God or Lucifer?

WHAT PRICE PRIESTHOOD?! This question constantly penetrated Father Joe ́s mind as he tread a perilous path to fulfill God ́s unmistakable call. Heartbreak of infidelity Christian Concentration Camp torture New love and second broken engagement Hurt, insensitivity, rejection Injustice, humiliation, apathy Marriage and divorce Meager subsistence Tragic devastating illnesses This is a story of an average fun loving young man named Joe who did not want to be considered a "holy Joe" but succumbed to God ́s dramatic summons to resign a promising professional position and enter seminary to become a priest. This story paints a shocking picture of church politics which contributed much pain and frustration to Father Joe ́s efforts. However, blessings triumph over adversity. WHEN THE CHURCH FAILS, GOD PREVAILS! Father Joe Beckman is the author of Chaplain on Wheels book which portrays one of his extraordinary ministries. Father Joe wanted to narrate experiences in this book himself but was called to his heavenly reward before the task could be completed. Contact the author for a free copy of CHAPLAIN ON WHEELS book with orders of at least 25 WHAT PRICE PRIESTHOOD books.

This book is set in the heartland of Ireland. Its story line relates the relationship between two men in a love that dares not speak its name. While that is the story line the theme of conflict between good and evil, runs through the book. Les Hamilton is a young protestant man who came to Munchindun to establish a forest. He meets up with a young unemployed penniless son of a gamekeeper called Pete Donovan and the two men fall in love. Les transforms Pete’s life and the life of the parish. The relationship between the two men is bitterly opposed by a nurse Mary Mc Menamin who was originally the girl friend of Pete. Her hatred of the two men and her involvement in the paramilitary politics of hate secraranism and bigotry drive her to commit the murder of Les. Mary is put on trial for murder and on the testimony of Pete she is sentenced to life imprisonment for murder. IN retaliation against Pete f or giving evidence to a British court the I.R.A. sentence him to death and have him shot. In the wider field the novel is set against a background of violence and unrest in Ireland in the 1970ties. The thrust of the novel has to do not only with a conflict of good and evil between those who do good and those who do evil in a rural parish but this conflict is seen to run through Irish history where the good and the rational are wiped out by those who do evil, are irrational and are sectarian. Michael Gillespie