Church Doctrine

This exciting new development for Christian unity offers a practical way for non Catholics to enter into the Catholic Church while retaining elements of their heritage and their hierarchy. It is important for both Catholics, Anglicans and other Christians to study this document in order to understand the new provision and how it will affect the life of the Church. The Apostolic Constitution and accompanying norms are the response of the Holy Father to the many requests that have been submitted to the Holy See from groups of Anglican clergy and faithful in different parts of the world who wish to enter into full, visible communion with the Catholic Church. The Constitution introduces a canonical structure which will allow for entry into full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony. The Complementary Norms accompanying the Constitution will guide the implementation of this provision. This Apostolic Con..

The command to make disciples of all the nations and to teach people everywhere all that He had taught His first followers was, from the very beginning, taken very seriously by the Church. The faithful down through the ages have always aspired to know, profess, practice, safeguard and transmit Christ's message to others. History has shown that methods for doing so have enjoyed varying degrees of success along the way. This has certainly been true in our own day and age. Because of a certain de-emphasis on doctrine since Vatican II along with a corresponding decline of emphasis on obedience and holiness of life, we find ourselves witnessing today a great hunger on the part of many for holy wisdom, divine charity, and the Truth that will truly set them free. This book provides an analysis of the issue and provides a theological solution, based on the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, to handing on the truths of the Faith with unwavering fidelity in the third millennium...

The Eucharist is Christ's gift to his followers to sustain them as they journey to their eternal home. It is the source and summit of the Church's life and mission. As a sacrament, it is a visible sign of Christ's abiding presence -- body, blood, soul and divinity -- in our midst under the appearance of bread and wine. What does this mean? How can Christians of the East and West receive the Lord worthily? What must we bring to the altar? The biblical background and history of the Eucharist in the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches, and a comparison of current practices, will be found here along with chapters on our joint Jewish and Greek heritage. Also reviewed are some of the doctrinal and organizational differences that continue to inhibit a return to intercommunion, the ultimate goal of both Churches in their desire to fulfill the Lord's prayer "that all may be one." Members of both communions will find much here to contemplate and consider...

"Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God" (Mt 5:8). What a wonderful promise God has made to those who seek Him sincerely in this life! But what precisely does this mean? This work examines the specific nature of the relationship between the requirement for seeing God (purity of heart) and the ultimate reward (the Beatific Vision) demonstrating that St. Augustine's understanding of who Christ is for each and everyone of us requires a change of heart on our part that is true, habitual, lasting and sanctifying. To understand Augustine's thought requires a close reading and analysis of the many passages from several of his writings in which he discusses the relationship between purity of heart and the vision of God. ..

In his recent Gospel Challenges (2004), Dr John Bligh traced the writing of gospels back into the years before the Council of Jerusalem (AD50). Now he extends his exploration of gospel origins into the still earlier period between the Resurrection of Jesus and the writing of the earliest gospel. “All human beings by nature desire to know.” Said Aristotle. The earliest believers in the gospel preached by Peter naturally desired to know all they could about what Jesus said and did and suffered while on earth. They asked, and the Twelve did their best to respond…… ..

In February 1998 Pope John Paul II approved publication of the Basic Norms for the Formation of Permanent Deacons, and the Directory for the Ministry and Life of Permanent Deacons. These two important documents have been prepared jointly by the Congregations for the Clergy and for Catholic Education. They are published together in this one volume...

"I wrote Verbum Domini because I would like the work of the synod to have a real effect on the life of the Church: on our personal relationship with the sacred Scriptures, on their interpreptation in the liturgy and catechesis, and in scientific research so that the Bible may not be simply a word from the past, but a living and timely word." This papal document perhaps is the most comprehensive official synthesis ever on the subject of the Scripture and divine revelation. It is masterfully written and presented with a depth which only a skilled theologian and seasoned teacher and pastor could achieve...

This collection of his writings, old and new, tells the story of Liverpool priest Kevin Kelly's struggle to be faithful to the teachings of Vatican II, learning from experience and discerning the call of God's Spirit in people's lives. Many today are concerned that the Church is losing touch with the Vatican II agenda. This book reminds us that the task of receiving Vatican II is far from complete...

I Believe in One God, The Creed Explained with a foreword By the late George Cardinal Pell. Drawing on the rich heritage of homilies, catechesis and speeches of Benedict XVI, this book covers the basic contents of the Christian Faith. In the perspective of the Year of Faith, the Pope leads us to revive and deepen the Christian truths, offering a good opportunity to begin that journey of knowledge, conversion and prayer to which the Church calls us in this year of grace. A book dedicated to all Christians, written in a clear and direct language and designed to help them better live their faith...

This historico-theological research document traces the history of the diaconate from the time of Christ through the post-Vatican II period. It highlights seven major areas for consideration. - From the Diakonia of Christ to the Diakonia of the Apostles - The Diaconate in the New Testament and in the Writings of the Fathers - The Disappearance of the Permanent Diaconate - The Sacramentality of the Diaconate from the Twelfth to the Twentieth Centuries - The Restoration of the Permanent Diaconate at Vatican II - The Reality of the Permanent Diaconate Today - Theological Approach to the Diaconate in the Wake of Vatican II The International Theological Commission is a pontifical commission of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The commission advises the Congregation regarding important doctrinal matters. The commission is composed of theologians from various schools and nations, known for their scholarship and fidelity to the Magisterium of the Church. The commission devote..

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Lumen Fidei (Light of Faith) Encyclical Letter seeks to recover the luminous character of faith, which is built into the human being and helps one distinguish the good from the bad, especially today, a time in which the faith is like a light illusory that prevents man go in search of knowledge and restricts their freedom. This encyclical, begun by Pope Benedict XVI and completed by Pope Francis, concludes the trilogy of letters on the three theological virtues begun by Pope Benedict with Deus Caritas Est on Love and Spe Salvi on hope...

Seventeen of the 33 men and women who have been declared Doctors of the Church lived in the first millennium. John Fink has provided here brief profiles of the life of each Doctor followed by one or more writings characteristic of his work. The excerpts chosen are representative of the particular Doctor’s writings but they were also selected in such a way as to give an overview of Christian doctrine and practice through the centuries. The Doctors included in Volume One are: Saints Athanasius, Ephrem, Hilary of Poitiers, Cyril of Jerusalem, Basil the Great, Gregory Nazianzen, John Chrysostom, Ambrose, Jerome, Augus¬tine, Cyril of Alexandria, Peter Chrysologus, Leo the Great, Gregory the Great, Isidore of Seville, Bede, and John Damascene...

Sixteen of the 33 men and women who have been declared Doctors of the Church lived in the second millennium. As in Volume One of this work, John Fink has provided here brief profiles of the life of each Doctor followed by one or more writings characteristic of his or her work. The excerpts chosen are representative of the particular Doctor’s writings but they were also selected in such a way as to give a fairly thorough overview of Christian doctrine and practice through the centuries. The Doctors included in Volume Two are: Saints Peter Damian, Anselm, Bernard of Clairvaux, Anthony of Padua, Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Jesus (Avila), John of the Cross, Peter Canisius, Robert Bellarmine, Lawrence of Brindisi, Francis de Sales, Alphonsus Liguori and Thérèse of Lisieux...

Pope Francis encourages every Christian to rediscover the joy of a personal encounter with Jesus and to engage with renewed vigour in the mission of spreading that joy of the Gospel and becoming spirit-filled evangelizers. “I have chosen to present some guidelines which can encourage and guide the whole Church in a new phase of evangelization, one marked by enthusiasm and vitality… I have decided, among other themes, to discuss at length the following questions: -the reform of the Church in her missionary outreach; -the temptations faced by pastoral workers -the Church, understood as the entire People of God which evangelizes; -the homily and its preparation; -the inclusion of the poor in society; -peace and dialogue within society; -the spiritual motivations for mission.”(Evanglii Gaudium 17) The Holy Father puts his vast pastoral experience and the outcome of the Synod on the New Evangelization in 2012 at the service of the whole Church and encourages every member to act on this rene..

The Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) was one of the most significant events in the life of the modern Church. Between October 1962 and December 1965 the largest ever gathering of Catholic bishops answered the call of Pope John XXIII to let some fresh air into the Church. Completing the work of an earlier Vatican Council that had been cut short, and in a tradition of ecumenical councils dating back to the time of the Apostles, Vatican II laid the foundations for a renewal process that still continues. For this reason CTS have decided to republish the four major documents of the Council (known as Constitutions and named after their opening words in Latin), with new Introductions by leading churchmen, to encourage continued study of the Council in parishes and elsewhere. Lumen Gentium, promulgated in 1964, is the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. It reflects the Church's own modern self-understanding - in fact it brought that understanding into focus for the first time. We live in a..