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On Reading Well:  Finding the Good Life through Great Books by karen swallow prior brazos, 272 pages, $19.99 In On Reading Well, Liberty University English professor Karen Swallow Prior sets forth a thoughtful, nuanced vision of the relationship between morality and literature. This vision . . . . Continue Reading »

Peter Hitchens is invariably witty and provocative. His recent essay (“Latimer and Ridley Are Forgotten,” June/July) is no exception. Although diverting, it errs in at least one crucial respect: its assertion that the “judicial murders of Thomas More and John Fisher were political in origin, . . . . Continue Reading »

Inside the Mind of Thomas More:  The Witness of His Writings by louis w. karlin and david r. oakley scepter, 130 pages, $11.95 This little volume by Louis ­Karlin and David Oakley uses Thomas More’s own writings to demonstrate the nature of his witness to the truth. The authors gently . . . . Continue Reading »

A letter to the Synod of Bishops on Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment. Continue Reading »

The Cardinals must advise Pope Francis to withdraw new teaching on the death penalty from the Catechism. Continue Reading »

Young Catholics speak with one voice about Archbishop McCarrick’s predatory career and the need for a cleansing fire. Continue Reading »

MARIAN CONTROVERSIES In his review of my book, Mary and the Art of Prayer, Nathan Ristuccia (“Our Lady of Everything,” May) acknowledges that certain elements of the medieval devotion to the Virgin Mary have been a stumbling block for modern scholars and Christians alike—particularly her . . . . Continue Reading »

The Cleansing of the Heart:  The Sacraments as Instrumental Causes in the Thomistic Tradition  by reginald lynch, o.p.  catholic university of america, 260 pages, $65 The sacraments are fundamental to any ecclesiology in which they play a part, and their number, their definition, and . . . . Continue Reading »

ECONOMISM Richard Spady’s article “Economics as Ideology” (April) has some excellent insights. Spady argues that economics functions as an ideology when it imposes its rigid anthropology—dominated by a simplistic, utility-maximizing mythology of the individual—on the material it . . . . Continue Reading »

Perseverance in the Parish?:  Religious Attitudes from a Black Catholic Perspective by darren w. davis and donald b. pope-davis cambridge, 198 pages, $99.99 Perseverance in the Parish? details the findings of the largest and most methodologically rigorous study of the three million . . . . Continue Reading »