Click to purchase from Twenty Third Publications. Here’s where you’ll find the vision, theological foundations, and pastoral practice of Catholic youth ministry. Here’s where you’ll find a practical implementation of Renewing the Vision A Framework for Catholic Youth Ministry. And, here’s where you’ll find the most current research and experience of parishes that are implementing Renewing the Vision! You’ll learn here too what empowers young disciples, promotes active participation in the faith community, and provides for personal and spiritual growth for our youth. This invaluable and comprehensive resource offers parish leaders all the information they need to be successful in supporting youth ministry. It will be invaluable for coordinators, core team members, and program leaders, as well as pastors, pastoral associates, and pastoral council members. Finally, this is an excellent foundational text for people who are studying youth ministry as part of a certificate program or university course.

Click to purchase from Our Sunday Visitor Catholic Bookstore. Unlock the secret of your personality and learn how to be a better spouse, parent, friend, & Christian! All of us are born with distinct personality traits. Some of us live for crowds and parties; others seek solitude and time for quiet reflection. Some of us are naturally pushy, while others are content just to get along. We don't pick and choose these traits; they're just part of the way we're made. For in the womb God doesn't merely mold our body; He also gives us the temperament that, all our days, colors our understanding, guides our choices, and serves as the foundation of our moral and spiritual life. Ancient philosophers identified four basic temperaments, and over the centuries, countless wise souls have used these four to understand human nature. Now comes The Temperament God Gave You, the first Catholic book on the subject in 70 years. Here veteran Catholic counselor Art Bennett and his wife Laraine provide an accessible synthesis of classical wisdom, modern counseling science, and Catholic spirituality: a rich understanding of the temperaments and what they mean for you and for your family.

Click to purchase from Penguin Random House Publishing. “Imagine that you were to wake up tomorrow to discover that, by some miracle, you had become a god overnight,” writes Dr. Gregory Popcak. “Not THE God—omnipresent, all-knowing, all-powerful—but a god in the classic sense. That is to say, you woke to find that you were perfect, immortal, utterly confident in who you are, where you were going in life, and how you were going to get there. It might seem ridiculous to consider at first, but allow yourself to imagine this truly miraculous transformation. What would it be like to live without fear? How would it feel to be completely at peace with yourself and the people in your life? Imagine what it would be like to be able to resolve—once and for all—the tension that currently exists between all your competing feelings, impulses, desires, and demands. What would change in your life as a result of your having become that sort of divinely actualized person?”

Click to purchase from Ave Maria Press. Modeled on the fifteenth-century classic The Imitation of Christ, this new edition of a little-known Enzler masterwork is revived for modern Christians. In this intimate guide to the spiritual life, Christ speaks directly to the reader, whom Christ admonishes to be his presence of love and service in the world. Through this creative mode of dialogue, Enzler leads the reader through the journey of the Christian life, beginning with the call to live in friendship with Christ and fulfill Christs desire. He then examines the means of the Christian life: detachment, virtue, prayer, avoidance of sin, and the Eucharist. Finally he explores the goal of the journey: a life of union with Christ as his disciple and complete joy with him in eternity.

Click to purchase from Ave Maria Press. The power of everyday interactions, says Fr. James Sullivan, is much greater than we suspect. We have the power to offer profound healing, comfort, and affirmation, or to create deep wounds. And all of this depends on one crucial skill: listening. In the pages of The Good Listener, readers will come to see the far-reaching effects that their listening has on others, and will be grateful for the practical guidelines to becoming an attentive, caring listener. On the other hand, they will also gain invaluable insights into the effects that the listening skills of others have upon them. Those who understand and apply the insights of this book will offer others two unique gifts: the gift of their own caring presence and the gift of enabling the other's greater self-awareness. Parents and spouses, as well as those in ministry and in counseling roles, will find that The Good Listener is an invaluable guide to improving their listening skills.

Click to purchase from Tan Books. In this age of relentless activity it is easy for Christians, particularly those involved in good works, to fall into the pattern of the activist. But mere activity and material results are not sufficient for a successful apostolate. In his classic work The Soul of the Apostolate, Dom Chautard demonstrates that the very foundation of all apostolic work must be the Interior Life. The apostle of Christ will grow to become an instrument and true channel of God’s graces to the world only through prayer, meditation and the cultivation of the Interior Life. When one is involved in works of spiritual or corporal charity, his work can only be truly efficacious when he anchors his Interior Life in Christ. Without Christ we can do nothing.

Click to purchase from Penguin Random House Publishers. In this book, Henri Nouwen combines creative case studies of ministry with stories from diverse cultures and religious traditions in preparing a new model for ministry. Weaving keen cultural analysis with his psychological and religious insights, Nouwen has come up with a balanced and creative theology of service that begins with the realization of fundamental woundedness in human nature. Emphasizing that which is in humanity common to both minister and believer, this woundedness can serve as a source of strength and healing when counseling others. Nouwen proceeds to develop his approach to ministry with an analysis of sufferings—a suffering world, a suffering generation, a suffering person, and a suffering minister. It is his contention that ministers are called to recognize the sufferings of their time in their own hearts and make that recognition the starting point of their service. For Nouwen, ministers must be willing to go beyond their professional role and leave themselves open as fellow human beings with the same wounds and suffering—in the image of Christ. In other words, we heal from our own wounds.

Click to purchase from Fr. Timothy Gallagher's webiste. In The Discernment of Spirits, Fr. Timothy Gallagher, a talented teacher, retreat leader, and scholar, helps us understand the Rules and how their insights are essential for our spiritual growth today. By integrating the Rules and the experience of contemporary people, Gallagher shows the precision, clarity, and insight of Ignatius's Rules, as well as the relevance of his thought for spiritual life today. When we learn to read Ignatius correctly, we discover in his remarkable words our own struggles, joys, and triumphs. This book is for all who desire greater awareness of God's action in their daily spiritual lives, and is essential reading for retreat directors, spiritual directors, priests, and counselors.

Click to purchase from Tan Books. As Bishop of Geneva in the first quarter of the seventeenth century, Francis de Sales saw to the spiritual needs of everyone from the poorest peasants to court ladies. The desire to be closer to God that he found in people from all levels of society led him to compile these instructions on how to live in Christ. Francis’s compassionate Introduction leads the reader through practical ways of attaining a devout life without renouncing the world and offers prayers and meditations to strengthen devotion in the face of temptation and hardship.

Click to purchase from Franciscan University Bookstore. Apostolic Letter of the St. John Paul II to the Bishops, to the Priests, to the Religious Families and to the Church on the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering