Three books by priests from OSV.

rch­bish­op J. Peter Sar­tain of Seat­tle writes this fine book in which he describes dis­ci­ple­ship as a pil­grim­age and jour­ney.

THE PASTORAL

That could become a cliché. But here you will find more than bib­li­cal, Pauline metaphors: It is prac­ti­cal advice for dai­ly liv­ing as a Catholic, giv­en to us—yes, from the heart of Jesus, but also from the heart and pas­toral expe­ri­ence of a priest.

So we find in this book chap­ters with titles like “Let­ting Go of Grudges,” or “Pain is Healed in Works of Self-Giv­ing.” Through them, Arch­bish­op Sar­tain shows how, in the prac­ti­cal real­i­ties of our every­day lives, Christ is try­ing to draw us near­er to Him.

This is a valu­able book, full of brief med­i­ta­tions, uni­fied by a com­mon theme, that you can take with you to Ado­ra­tion (you do go, don’t you?) or use as part of an exam­i­na­tion of con­science dur­ing Com­pline (which you do pray, don’t you?).

THE CATECHETICAL

Reg­u­lar OSV con­trib­u­tor Fr. Robert J. Hater writes this book for those inter­est­ed in how the Church has taught the faith to its mem­bers since Vat­i­can II.

Fr. Hater, whose long expe­ri­ence teach­ing the faith lends wis­dom (and great anec­dotes) to this book, helps us to under­stand both the strengths and the weak­ness­es of Catholic cat­e­ch­esis in the 50 years since the Coun­cil.

Like the 18th-cen­tu­ry philoso­pher Vico, who divid­ed human his­to­ry into three “ages,” Fr. Hater divides the post-con­cil­iar Church into four cat­e­chet­i­cal “peri­ods.” They are these: the Mem­o­riza­tion Peri­od; the Chaot­ic Peri­od; the Sys­tem­at­ic Peri­od; and the Expe­ri­en­tial Peri­od.

Though he does not reject the Coun­cil, Fr. Hater also knows that the faith has not been well taught since the 1960s. This book is valu­able for his insight into those years, as well as for its “com­mon sense” pro­pos­als for sol­id cat­e­ch­esis in the years to come.

Any­one who is invest­ed in how the faith is taught—or who teach­es youth, adults, and converts—should read this book.

THE EXEGETICAL

Fr. Mitch Pacwa proves the mer­it of his rep­u­ta­tion for bib­li­cal schol­ar­ship every time he speaks or writes. His name on a book is its own proof. Mary: Vir­gin, Moth­er, and Queen: A Bible Study Guide for Catholics should hard­ly need a review. Fr. Mitch wrote it? Sold!

But this is more than a book of bib­li­cal schol­ar­ship. It is that; and the schol­ar­ship, as one would expect from Fr. Pacwa, is sol­id. But he has the gift (like Dr. Scott Hahn) of writ­ing for peo­ple. Any­one can under­stand this book, and find it of use to them.

Con­sid­er all those who will find val­ue in this brief but in-depth study.

Catholics who have Protes­tant friends will find it valu­able when con­front­ed with ques­tion Where is the “Catholic Mary” in the Bible?

Protes­tants who are attract­ed to the Church, but who find Mary an intractable stum­bling block (I did) will be helped great­ly by read­ing this book.

Bible study class­es will find this book a use­ful text. Indeed, Fr. Pacwa seemed to have had such an audi­ence in mind, since the book comes with ques­tions for review and dis­cus­sion, as well as places to write study notes.

Catholics who sim­ply want to under­stand Mary bet­ter, and grow deep­er in their rela­tion­ship with her, will also find this book incred­i­bly valu­able.

The book is sen­si­bly organized—i.e., chronologically—starting with Mary as pre­fig­ured in the Old Tes­ta­ment, and mov­ing for­ward to dis­cuss Mary pri­or to the birth of Christ, and then Mary’s role in Christ’s pub­lic min­istry.

Firm­ly root­ed in the Bib­li­cal text, and in Fr.’s deep learn­ing, this book is a must-have for those who love Mary (and the Bible) and want to know them bet­ter.