Only Wonder Comprehends

For over forty years, John Garvey was the “ballast” of Commonweal magazine. His award-winning essays and consistently notable columns revealed not only his acuity and alacrity, but his uncommon spiritual insight. These in turn provided momentum and substance for whatever followed in an issue of the magazine because Garvey never hesitated to wrestle with some of the most challenging and intractable topics of the day, and did so with a rich pastoral sensitivity, and a refreshing and rare intelligence. Only Wonder Comprehends gleans from John Garvey’s many contributions to Commonweal that reflect his spiritual depth and deep appreciation of history, politics, theology, and culture. Steeped in the Christian tradition, Garvey loved to write and, in return, his readers relished what he wrote. It is hoped that this collection of his writings from Commonweal will inspire readers to cultivate a similar sense of attentiveness and commitment, for as the author himself observed, “Religious traditions are meant to transform us, not to affirm us as we are.”

With the sensitivity born of time and experience, Charles Hoffacker presents an unusually warm and caring approach to preaching at a pivotal transition in human life, one which goes to the very heart of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Hoffacker teaches the reader, whether a seasoned preacher or a novice homilist, to find the key to unlocking the mystery of Jesus' promise of eternal life in a mortal life now ended.

He has also published Novels especially The Father Mike Series: The Priest and the Prostitutes The Priest and the Assassin The Priest and the Terrorists

This book is an upstream solution to the problems, issues, and questions young people struggle with downstream—alienation, boredom, and mistrust of religion. It includes over a hundred teaching strategies, tactics, logistics, and relationship builders that teachers in homes, schools, and churches can use. This book is a treasure chest of old ideas cast into new and proven teaching practices, each to be mined for the gem in it. Potvin’s interest in writing this book, however, is not to focus on what is broken and ineffective in Christian religious education (and a lot of education is broken and ineffective) but on what he has learned to be proven to be effective. He has drawn from his PhD studies, parenting with its perturbations and insights, and over forty years of teaching in universities, public, and faith-based schools. Jesus gave us our program of studies, with much to think about and practice what could work—to bring us to our true self, friendship with the Creator, love for others, and justice for all. And given the unprecedented trend towards home education and online teaching, designed for and led by parents, new practices based on old ideas may be just what the doctor ordered.

War is the most ancient and primitive way of dealing with conflict. According to yoga, stopping the cycle of war requires delving into the subtle causes underlying material desires and religious differences. These are selfishness, ego, greed, ethnocentrism, and sense of inferiority. Because of these attributes, we fail to do what we know is right, and persist in doing what we know is wrong. In the scriptures, this phenomenon is called killing the conscience. The great scriptures of yoga--The Bhagavad Gita, The Yoga Sutra, and The Upanishads--clearly describe how the subtle causes of external war emanate from the internal world. The real cause of war lies rooted in the individual's unwillingness to listen to the voice of the heart, the inner conscience. Drawing on the philosophy of yoga and other spiritual systems, Why We Fight: Practices for Lasting Peace offers practical tools for self-transformation. Through contemplation and spiritual practice, we can replace greed, desire, jealousy, and anger with compassion, tolerance, and love for ourselves and others. By cultivating these qualities in our daily lives, we have the power to make a positive impact on the world.

By offering a psycho-spiritual approach in dealing with the problem of suicide, Dr. Ken Stifler provides perspective, hope and the possibility of God's grace by speaking directly to the individual who is contemplating suicide, survivors who continue to struggle with suicidal thoughts, relatives, friends and colleagues who have been directly affected by another's suicide, individuals personally struggling with feelings of despair, helplessness and hopelessness, anyone who knows others affected by these issues. As William Sneck, SJ, pastoral counselor and spiritual director, notes in the Foreword: The book is very personally written, deriving as it does from [Dr. Stifler's] years of experience working with suicidal persons. It contains concrete, practical suggestions about how such persons can reframe their gloomy thoughts, and what they can do. This wonderfully wise and helpful book is a tool in learning to live one's life better, overcome the trials that everyone encounters in life and live a spiritually-oriented life. Book jacket.