Biographies

“’Full Circle to God’ is a wonderful life-story told with humility, passion and a charming sense of humour.  Ambrose’s reflections on suffering, divine guidance, mission and faith are well worth pondering.  His compassion, love and grace are well worth emulating.”..

The well-known and very popular Catholic couple, Scott and Kimberly Hahn, have been constantly travelling and speaking all over North America for the last few years about their conversion to the Catholic Church. Now these two outstanding Catholic apologists tell in their own words about the incredible spiritual journey that led them to embrace Catholicism. Scott Hahn was a Presbyterian minister, the top student in his seminary class, a brilliant Scripture scholar, and militantly anti-Catholic ... until he reluctantly began to discover that his "enemy" had all the right answers. Kimberly, also a top-notch theology student in the seminary, is the daughter of a well-known Protestant minister, and went through a tremendous "dark night of the soul" after Scott converted to Catholicism. Their conversion story and love for the Church has captured the hearts and minds of thousands of lukewarm Catholics and brought them back into an active participation in the Church. They have also influenced ..

A fascinating life of St. Thomas More, husband, father, lawyer, politician, scholar, author, and martyr...

Life of the Servant of God, Maria Concepción Cabrera de Armida (1862-1937): wife, mother, grandmother, religious and mystic. She addresses herself to all categories of the People of God, to lay and to married people, to priests and to bishops, to religious and to all consecrated lives. By the profoundness of her writings, Conchita rivals St Catherine of Siena or St Teresa of Avila. ..

This is an official book from the Sisters of St Joseph, Mary MacKillop's religious order, for the general public as well as Catholics and written by Monica Cavanagh, a member of the order. This succinct book shows how even today in confusing times "a good life" is still possible, by doing the little day by day things. It is a book of help in a world of many ways... Openness, Generosity, Patience, Kindness, Joy are here in the context of Mary MacKillop's life and today. How to share and enrich our lives; whether busy or lonely, young or old. Mary MacKillop is a saint for these times. A sinner too. Excommunicated by her Church. An Australian with a message for everyone. ..

Founders and Keepers, Men and women who made the Catholic Diocese of Auckland ; Founders and Keepers is a unique new history of the Catholic Diocese of Auckland from its foundations to the early 21st century. Drwaing on original sources, many not used by earlier historians, this "biographical history" takes the form of biographies of and interviews with ,twenty people who have been most influential in shaping the diocese...

An intimate look at this important spiritual writer’s life, enriched with the personal accounts of some of the people closest to him: friends, family, and colleagues. A twelve-page photo section is included. † ..

When Pope Francis was elected in March 2013, he was virtually unknown. He fast captivated the world with his rejection of papal pomp, his love of the poor, his fearless critiques of injustice and corruption, and his far-reaching reforms of the Catholic Church. This is the first intimate, in-depth biography of a pope whose visionary leadership has breathed new life into the Church and turned him into a global phenomenon. Through extensive interviews in Argentina and elsewhere, and drawing on the author's deep knowledge of the country and Church that shaped him,The Great Reformer reveals the life, the spirituality and the thought of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as never before. It tells for the first time the story of how his visionary reform of the Jesuit order led to his internal exile in Argentina. It also offers the first behind-the-scenes accounts of the conclaves of 2005 and 2013. The Great Reformer shows how a shy, austere assistant bishop came to be the leader of the Latin-American C..

“ I believe that this land of ours can both do better and be better.” Drawing on his life experience and time as an MP, Gordon Copeland sets out a passionate vision for New Zealand’s future. In doing so he addresses a wide range of issues from fundamental social reform, the road to economic success for all rather than the few, a pathway to happiness in family life and even international affairs. All of these issues are dealt with in detail underpinned by the values of justice, peace, compassion and inclusiveness for all. This book is anything but “politics as usual”! ..

Mary Potter was born in Victorian England in 1847 and grew up in a single parent family where there was love, but also struggle. Mary’s upbringing and the ill health she endured from childhood shaped her steadfast belief in God and desire to do his will. The challenges that followed in her life in the form of further ill health and resistance from many to her ideas, only strengthened her resolve. Mary had a vision to set up an order of religious sisters dedicated to caring and praying for the sick and the dying and she became the founder of the Little Company of Mary. Today, Mary’s vision lives on in the work of her congregation whose main ministry is to care and pray for the sick and the dying throughout the world. This is the story of Mary Potter and the religious order she founded, told with enthusiasm by Sr Elizabeth Gilroy, LCM..

Padre Pio died September 23rd 1968 his funeral attended by over 100,000 people. During the fifty-eight years he was a priest, his monastery at San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, became a mecca for pilgrims from all over the world. Born Francesco Forgione on May 25, 1857 at Pietrelcina in southeastern Italy, Padre Pio joined the Capuchin Order in 1903 and was ordained in 1910. On Sepember 20 1918 he received the sacred wounds of Christ, or the stigmata, which he bore for the rest of his life...

Blessed Antonio Rosmini was a man who reached out beyond the Church to engage in dialogue with the unbelieving world of his time. A major figure in the nineteenth century Church ”“ though little known in the English-speaking world ”“ Rosmini could be regarded as the patron of speculative theologians and philosophers for his obedience to, and reverence for, the Church. This was clearly shown by his prompt and respectful submission when two of his major works were condemned in 1849. In this biography, the first in English for over half a century, Michael Hill places Rosmini in the context of his family, his friends, his foes and his nation. He evaluates the impact Rosmini had on other significant figures in the Church, and on his followers in the Institute of Charity and the Sisters of Providence. What emerges is something of a tragic story. Though greatly loved and admired by many, he was often misunderstood; bitter attacks on him by his enemies within the Church and in international ..

"Amazing Grace", writes Peter Rahme, "is hummed and heard on every continent In this world! It transcends race, religion and even record categories.....

Innocent! That final verdict came after George Cardinal Pell endured a grueling four years of accusations, investigations, trials, public humiliations, and more than a year of imprisonment after being convicted by an Australian court of a crime he did not commit. Led off to jail in handcuffs, following his sentencing on March 13, 2019, the 78-year-old Australian prelate began what was meant to be six years in jail for "historical sexual assault offenses". Cardinal Pell endured more than thirteen months in solitary confinement, before the Australian High Court voted 7-0 to overturn his original convictions. His victory over injustice was not just personal, but one for the entire Catholic Church. Bearing no ill will toward his accusers, judges, prison workers,journalists, and those harbouring and expressing hatred for him, the Cardinal used his time in prison as a kind of "extended retreat". He eloquently filled notebook pages with is spiritual insights, prison experiences, and persona..

In 1929, nearly four hundred years after the deaths of Saints Thomas More and John Fisher, G.K. Chesterton observed in words equally attributable to Fisher, “Blessed Thomas More is more important at this moment than at any moment since his death, even perhaps the great moment of his dying; but he is not quite so important as he will be in a hundred years.” Judge Robert J Conrad, Jr. anticipates Chesterton’s one-hundred-year mark in a collection of stories from the lives of More and Fisher, demonstrating how their sanctity and integrity carried them and those who loved them through tumultuous and heart-wrenching times which, perhaps surprisingly, bear a striking resemblance to the present epoch. At first blush, nothing could appear more different than the pre-industrial sixteenth century and the tech-centered modern era. But a closer examination presents a similar tale of political maneuvering and hostile hearings, legal corruption, viral pandemics, riots, suppression of speech, loss of..