Current Issues

For the great majority on both sides of the abortion debate, the idea of a pro-life feminist is the ultimate contradiction in terms. Abortion has become so central to feminist thinking that women who affirm their belief in both women's empowerment and the inalienable right to life can find themselves viewed with suspicion and hostility from both sides. Yet the author of this book is indeed a pro-life feminist, and her insightful analysis of contemporary issues can provide the basis for common ground between those defending human rights.

This book unashamedly calls mainstream feminists, journalists and Western politicians to account for their silence and - in some cases - vocal justification of the persecution of women because of an absolutist loyalty to abortion. It asks uncomfortable questions to those who claim to believe in women's empowerment: Where is their passionate outrage when Chinese women are forcibly aborted and sterilised? Where is their concern for the thousands of baby girls killed by abortion every year because their lives are held as worthless simply for being female? What about the thousands of women used as surrogates for wealthy Western couples, treated as chattels and denied their most basic human rights? But the book also tackles difficult issues for the pro-life side--the need for a sensitive, realistic approach to problematic pregnancies and the importance of confronting the continued exploitation and abuse of women within a sexualised society.

Pro-life feminism is not only possible, it is vital if the complex struggles facing women are to be adequately met. Abolition of Woman is a rallying cry to feminists to stand with the pro-life movement, fighting to build a society in which women are equal and every human life is protected.

The natural law worldview developed over the course of almost two thousand years beginning with Plato and Aristotle and culminating with St. Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century. This tradition holds that the world is ordered, intelligible and good, that there are objective moral truths which we can know and that human beings can achieve true happiness only by following our inborn nature, which draws us toward our own perfection. Most accounts of the natural law are based on a God-centered understanding of the world.

After the Natural Law traces this tradition from Plato and Aristotle to Thomas Aquinas and then describes how and why modern philosophers such as Descartes, Locke and Hobbes began to chip away at this foundation. The book argues that natural law is a necessary foundation for our most important moral and political values - freedom, human rights, equality, responsibility and human dignity, among others. Without a theory of natural law, these values lose their coherence: we literally cannot make sense of them given the assumptions of modern philosophy.

Part I of the book traces the development of natural law theory from Plato and Aristotle through the crowning achievement of Thomas Aquinas. Part II explores how modern philosophers have systematically chipped away at the only coherent foundation for these values. As a result, our most important moral and political ideals today are incoherent. Modern political and moral thinkers have been led either to dilute the meaning of such terms as freedom or the moral good - or abandon these ideas altogether. Thus, modern philosophy and political thought are leading us either toward anarchy or totalitarianism.

The conclusion, entitled Why God Matters, shows how even the philosophical assumptions of the natural law depend on a personal God.

From the spoiling of this relationship followed the decay of the entire family, and almost overnight, our once pro-life culture became pro-lifestyle, embracing everything that felt good. Sixty million abortions later, women aren't showing signs of health, happiness, and fulfillment. Increased numbers of divorce, depression, anxiety, sexually transmitted disease, and drug abuse all point to the reality that women aren't happier, just more medicated.

Huge cultural shifts led to a rethinking of womanhood, but could there be more behind it than just culture, politics, and rhetoric?

Building off the scriptural foundations of the anti-Christ, Carrie Gress makes an in-depth investigation into the idea of an anti-Mary--as a spirit, not an individual--that has plagued the West since the '60s. Misleading generations of women, this anti-Marian spirit has led to the toxic femininity that has destroyed the lives of countless men, women, and children.

Also in The Anti-Mary Exposed:

Bishop Robert Barron, one of the leading Catholic figures in the world and among the most active on social media, has enjoyed thousands of fruitful religious arguments. In this book based on talks delivered at Facebook and Google, he explains why religion at its best opens up the searching mind, and how we all believer and unbeliever alike can share better discussions about God.

The New York Times bestselling author of The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything and Jesus: A Pilgrimage turns his attention to the relationship between LGBT Catholics and the Church in this loving, inclusive, and revolutionary book.

On the day after the Orlando nightclub shooting, James Martin S.J. posted a video on Facebook in which he called for solidarity with our LGBT brothers and sisters. The largest mass shooting in US history took place at a gay club and the LGBT community has been profoundly affected, he began. He then implored his fellow Catholics--and people everywhere--to stand not only with the people of Orlando but also with their LGBT brothers and sisters. A powerful call for tolerance, acceptance, and support--and a reminder of Jesus' message for us to love one another--Father Martin's post went viral and was viewed more than 1.6 million times.

Now, Martin expands on his reflections in this moving and inspiring book, offering a powerful, loving, and much-needed voice in a time marked by anger, prejudice, and divisiveness. Adapted from an address he gave to New Ways Ministry, a group that ministers to and advocates for LGBT Catholics, Building a Bridge provides a roadmap for repairing and strengthening the bonds that unite all of us as God's children. Martin uses the image of a two-way bridge to enable LGBT Catholics and the Church to come together in a call to end the us versus them mentality. Turning to the Catechism, he draws on the three criteria at the heart of the Christian ministry--respect, compassion, and sensitivity--as a model for how the Catholic Church should relate to the LGBT community.

The Catholic Church has in recent decades been associated with political efforts to eliminate the death penalty. It was not always so. This timely work reviews and explains the Catholic Tradition regarding the death penalty, demonstrating that it is not inherently evil and that it can be reserved as a just form of punishment in certain cases.

Drawing upon a wealth of philosophical, scriptural, theological, and social scientific arguments, the authors explain the perennial teaching of the Church that capital punishment can in principle be legitimate--not only to protect society from immediate physical danger, but also to administer retributive justice and to deter capital crimes. The authors also show how some recent statements of Church leaders in opposition to the death penalty are prudential judgments rather than dogma. They reaffirm that Catholics may, in good conscience, disagree about the application of the death penalty.

Some arguments against the death penalty falsely suggest that there has been a rupture in the Church's traditional teaching and thereby inadvertently cast doubt on the reliability of the Magisterium. Yet, as the authors demonstrate, the Church's traditional teaching is a safeguard to society, because the just use of the death penalty can be used to protect the lives of the innocent, inculcate a horror of murder, and affirm the dignity of human beings as free and rational creatures who must be held responsible for their actions.

By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed challenges contemporary Catholics to engage with Scripture, Tradition, natural law, and the actual social scientific evidence in order to undertake a thoughtful analysis of the current debate about the death penalty.

This is an exclusive interview of Cardinal Müller, the head of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and one of the most outstanding Catholic figures in theology today. As a theologian, he strives to give God's answers to men's questions. As the Prefect of the CDF, he has a privileged perspective on the worldwide state of the Church on doctrinal, moral and theological matters, and the questions Catholics and others have today on those matters.

But what questions do our contemporaries have? And what answers do they demand from the believer? People today do not see their lack of faith as a tragedy, but what does worry them profoundly is their lack of hope, for which--making matters worse--they try to make up with shallow substitutes like optimism. The key question today therefore is one of hope. And they wonder whether there is hope for the now, they wonder whether they can find it in Christianity--and they wonder, above all: What is the foundation of Christian hope?

This interview with Cardinal Müller therefore takes hope as its basic subject: it is a report on hope. It is an in-depth discussion of hope in relation to faith and love, and in relation to Jesus Christ, the Church, the family, and contemporary society.

Praise for Catholic Priests Falsely Accused:

"This is an important topic, and not just for priests and bishops! Everyone should be concerned about this. Please check out Catholic Priests Falsely Accused: The Facts, The Fraud, The Stories."
- Rev. John T. Zuhlsdorf ("Fr. Z"), "What Does The Prayer Really Say?", wdtprs.com

"[T]he chilling tale of how decades-old claims of abuse by Catholic priests become 'credible' ... David F. Pierre tells the sordid story the mainstream media won't touch. It rings of both truth and justice. I highly recommend Catholic Priests Falsely Accused: The Facts, The Fraud, The Stories."
- Ryan A. MacDonald, Spero News columnist

"David Pierre's Catholic Priests Falsely Accused is an important volume. By carefully documenting the harrowing stories of priests falsely accused, the author shows that legitimate outrage about abuse can at times boil over into wanton hysteria. May this book serve as a clarion call for even-handed and impartial justice for all, so that future tragedies may be avoided."
- Rev. Thomas G. Guarino, S.T.D., Professor of Systematic Theology, Seton Hall University

"Mr. Pierre's book is an eye opener! Meticulously researched and clearly written, it is a must-read for anyone with questions about the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church."
- Rev. Kenneth Gumbert, O.P., M.F.A., Providence College

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We must continue to demand justice and compassion for victims of Catholic clergy abuse. This is not optional.

However, there is a side of the Catholic Church abuse narrative that is not getting the attention it warrants. Countless priests in the United States have been falsely accused of committing horrendous child abuse.

Topics in this book include:
... how the most recent and reliable figures reveal that one third of accused Catholic priests in a major archdiocese were accused falsely;
... the stunning court declaration with the opinion from a retired FBI investigator that "one half" of all accusations are "entirely false" or "greatly exaggerated";
... the American cardinal who has been the target of not just one - but two - completely bogus abuse accusations;
... how accusers have retained huge monetary settlements even though their allegations later proved to be false;
... the father of an accuser who appeared at the funeral of an accused priest and apologized for the false allegation that his son leveled;
... proof that the agenda of the advocacy group SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) has little to do with the protection of children and everything to do with bludgeoning the Catholic Church;
... the Catholic archbishop who tells of being spat upon by a member of SNAP;
... the monsignor who waited five years to be exonerated of abuse charges even though his alleged victims denied having been molested;
plus much more.

This is the side of the Catholic Church abuse narrative that the media has not told you. This book is fast-paced, informative, and impeccably researched. There is no other book like this one.

Fr. Michael Chaberek is a Polish Dominican who has studied creation doctrine from Old and New Testament accounts to the Church Fathers, to the Medieval Scholastics (especially St. Thomas Aquinas), to the Vatican's internal and public papers of the 19th and 20th centuries--and on into our own times and the pronouncements of recent popes. His new book gathers all doctrinal statements on evolution and presents the history of the engagement of Catholicism with natural science since Darwin presented his theory in 1859. What he finds is a clear path that gradually became twisted and over-grown. His exploration of that path is both scholarly and engrossing.

"Finally, a book that tells the full story of Catholic reflections and Magisterial statements down through the centuries on issues of creation and evolution. From the meditations of the ancient Church Fathers to the statements of Popes Pelagius I and Leo XIII, there are many hidden treasures to be found here. Fr. Chaberek combines historical, philosophical, and theological scholarship in a book that is both comprehensive and engaging. This book will be an eye-opener for many, and will quickly become the standard and essential work on the subject."--ROBERT STACKPOLE, director, John Paul II Institute of Divine Mercy

"In Catholicism and Evolution, Fr. Michael Chaberek surveys perennial Catholic teaching, plumbs the depths of Catholic philosophy and historical theology, and analyzes the best scientific evidence to date. In the process, he shows that certain elements of Darwinian evolution are not only incompatible with Catholic belief, but largely lacking in evidence. He shows also that despite her clear historical teaching, the contemporary Church lacks an unambiguous statement of how Catholics should understand this question. I expect this to become the definitive book on Catholicism and evolution."--JAY W. RICHARDS, co-author of The Privileged Planet; editor of God and Evolution

"Darwin and his contemporaries thought the cell was a simple blob of jelly, protoplasm. Modern science has discovered the exact opposite, that astoundingly sophisticated technology undergirds life. Father Michael Chaberek probes the implications of this and other surprising developments in his erudite study of Catholicism's collision with Darwinism."--MICHAEL BEHE, author of Darwin's Black Box

"Catholicism and Evolution is a thorough exposition of the history of the debate over evolution, especially the theory's proponents and opponents within the Catholic Church. This book should be on the shelves of any concerned with this subject, or indeed any who would like to fully grasp the controversy's roots in the Church."--ANN GAUGER, Senior Research Scientist, Biologic Institute

"Fr. Chaberek has done Catholics and all Christians a great service by describing the progression of the present controversy over creation, intelligent design, and theistic evolution from the Bible and early days of Christianity until today. His book will open eyes."--BRUCE CHAPMAN, Founding Fellow, Discovery Institute

FR. MICHAEL CHABEREK O.P., S.T.D. is a member of the Polish Dominican Province, with a Doctorate in Fundamental Theology from Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw.

Cardinal Christoph Schonborn's article on evolution and creation in The New York Times launched an international controversy. Critics charged him with biblical literalism and "creationism."

In this book, Cardinal Schonborn responds to his critics by tackling the hard questions with a carefully reasoned "theology of creation." Can we still speak intelligently of the world as "creation" and affirm the existence of the Creator, or is God a "delusion"? How should an informed believer read Genesis? If God exists, why is there so much injustice and suffering? Are human beings a part of nature or elevated above it? What is man's destiny? Is everything a matter of chance or can we discern purpose in human existence?

In his treatment of evolution, Cardinal Schonborn distinguishes the biological theory from "evolutionism," the ideology that tries to reduce all of reality to mindless, meaningless processes. He argues that science and a rationally grounded faith are not at odds and that what many people represent as "science" is really a set of philosophical positions that will not withstand critical scrutiny.

Chance or Purpose? directly raises the philosophical and theological issues many scientists today overlook or ignore. The result is a vigorous, frank dialogue that acknowledges the respective insights of the philosopher, the theologian and the scientist, but which calls on them to listen and to learn from each another.