Lived Experience and the Search for Truth: Revisiting Catholic Sexual Morality

Lived Experience and the Search for Truth: Revisiting Catholic Sexual Morality

Lived Experience and the Search for Truth: Revisiting Catholic Sexual Morality

Editors — Deborah Savage and Robert L. Fastiggi

This book is an initial attempt to arrive inductively at the truths embedded in the moral teaching of the Church through the lived experience of faithful men and women, rendered intelligible in conceptual terms. While attending to one’s own experience is certainly one step in coming to understand oneself, it provides but a glimpse – a partial clue – into the mystery of who one is and is meant to be. Indeed, experience is not alienated from human cognition but integral to it. Wisdom is the fruit of both experience and reason. But, contrary to claims of those who would give primacy to subjective personal experience over and against the conclusions of right reason, it is only possible to arrive at the full truth about oneself if the intellect is allowed to pursue its proper end, not mere knowledge but understanding. We hope to persuade the reader that a proper grasp of the place of lived experience in the search for truth reveals that the Catholic understanding of the human person and human sexuality provide the only sure route to human happiness.

Paperback: $34.95 | Kindle: $9.99

Deborah Savage on her edited volume Lived Experience and the Search for Truth

Jennifer Roback Morse on "The Sexual Revolution and Its Victims"

Richard Doerflinger on “Married Experience and the Gospel of Life”

Adrian Reimers on "Male Chastity according to Pope St John Paul II"

Carrie Gress on “Motherhood and the Power of Vulnerability”


REVIEWS

Mirus, Jeff, “Three blockbuster books on our contemporary gender crisis,” (October 2, 2024). Click here to read the review.


REVIEWS

Lived Experience and the Search for Truth explores human consciousness through philosophy, theology, and personal experience. Grounded in St. John Paul II’s thought, it examines identity, sexuality, and bioethical concerns, highlighting faith and reason. With honest accounts and scholarly rigor, it critiques subjectivism while affirming truth, human dignity, and the complementarity of man and woman. An essential handbook for navigating through the morass of opinions at variance with our Christian faith traditions that vie with one another for dominance in our contemporary world.” – Francis Etheredge, catholic married layman, father of 11, 3 of whom are in heaven, and an author; his next, forthcoming book, is Transgenderism: A Question of Identity

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part One: Philosophical and Theological Foundations 

Chapter 1: “When the Starting Place is Lived Experience: The Pastoral and Therapeutic Implications of Pope St. John Paul II’s Account of the Person” by Deborah Savage

Chapter 2: “Why Subjectivity Reveals Man as Person” by John Crosby

Chapter 3: “The Universality of Natural Law and the Irreducibility of Personalism” by Janet E. Smith

Chapter 4: “Ethics in Search of Its Experiential Point of Departure: The Philosophical Ethics and Moral Theology of Margaret A. Farley and Karol Wojtyła/John Paul II” by Eduardo Echeverria

Chapter 5: “Meaning and the Theology of Body” by Michele M. Schumacher

Part Two: Reflections on the Revolution

Chapter 6: “The Sexual Revolution and Its Victims: The Church was Right All Along” by Jennifer Roback Morse

Chapter 7: “The Sexual Revolution: Four Facts We Can’t Pretend Not to Know” by Mary Eberstadt

Chapter 8: “The Existential Contradictions of the Sexual Revolution” by Carl R.. Trueman

Chapter 9: “Transsexualism as Transhumanism” by J. Budziszewski

Part Three: Dispatches from the Front Lines. 235

Chapter 10: “Rethinking Humanae Vitae: Living Through the Sexual Revolution” by Deborah Savage

Chapter 11: “Married Experience and the Gospel of Life” by Richard Doerflinger

Chapter 12: “Male Chastity according to Pope St John Paul II” by Adrian Reimers

Chapter 13: “The Design of God’s Love: The Gift of Children Through Adoption” by Elizabeth Kirk

Chapter 14: “Motherhood and the Power of Vulnerability” by Carrie Gress

Chapter 15: “Fathers in the Image of God the Father” by David Deavel

Chapter 16: “Reverent Curiosity: Why the Church Needs to Listen to Gender Dysphoria” by Jason Evert

Chapter 17: “Integrating the Experience of Homosexuality into the Quest for Wholeness” by Marco Casanova

Chapter 18: “My Father Gives Me Bread: Same-Sex Attraction and My Journey toward Wholeness” by Amy E. Hamilton

Chapter 19: “Dispatches from the Front Lines: Teaching the Victims of the Sexual Revolution” by Anne E. Maloney

Part Four: The Science of Love

Chapter 20: “The Relationship between Theology and the Social Sciences” by Fr. Piotr Mazurkiewicz

Chapter 21: “Hormonal Contraception and the Physiology of Human Sexuality” by Angela Lanfranchi, MD FACS

Chapter 22: “Catholic Wisdom on the Origin of Human Life and its Link to Human Relationships” by Peter J. Colosi

Part Five: Global Challenges and Policy Considerations  

Chapter 23: “The Globalist Challenge to Authentic Human Love” by Stefano Gennarini

Chapter 24: “A Catholic Response to DEI Policies: Formation in True Love Through ‘Imago DEI’ Programs” by Jane F. Adolphe

Chapter 25: “The Billionaires Behind the LGBT Movement?” by Jennifer Bilek

Deborah Savage

Deborah Savage, (Ph.D., Marquette) is a Professor of Theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio. Prior to her current appointment, Dr. Savage taught both philosophy and theology at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota for the thirteen years. She is a recognized scholar of the work of Karol Wojtyla/Pope St. John Paul II. Her research areas include: the nature of man and woman, the human person, the theological meaning of human work and the conversion of the acting person. Her writing has appeared in many publications, including Nova et Vertera, Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, First Things, The Humanum Review, Catholic World Report, and Public Discourse. The most recent iteration of her theory of Man and Woman is a chapter in a volume entitled The Complementarity of Men and Women, edited by Dr. Paul Vitz and published by CUA Press (May 2021).

Robert L. Fastiggi

Robert L. Fastiggi (Ph.D., Fordham) is a professor of dogmatic theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit where he has taught since 1999. Previously, he taught at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas (1985–1999). He has authored 3 books; co-authored 2 others; and edited or co-edited 12 others. He is a member of the Mariological Society of America, the International Marian Association, and the Pontifical International Marian Academy.

CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS

Jane F. Adolphe, J.C.L./J.C.D., LL.B./B.C.L., Professor of Law, Ave Maria School of Law, Naples, Fl., Adjunct Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame, School of Law, Sydney, Australia, Founder and Executive Director, International Catholic Jurists Forum. She has worked as an external and internal legal expert for the Papal Secretariat of State, Section for Relations with States.

Jennifer Bilek is an artist, activist, and investigative journalist. Her journalism has been featured in Tablet Magazine, First Things, and The Post Millennial.

J. Budziszewski, Professor of Government and Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin.  Dr. Budziszewski is recognized especially for his works on natural law and his series of line-by-line commentaries on Thomas Aquinas.  He also studies and writes about conscience; moral self-deception; moral character; human happiness; family and sexuality; religion in public life; toleration and liberty; and the unraveling (and possible restoration) of our common culture.

Marco Casanova, M.Div. Associate Director, Desert Stream Ministries. Marco oversees Living Waters in the United States. Living Waters is a pastoral healing program for men and women seeking focused accompaniment towards chastity. Marco writes and speaks about his experience of same-sex attraction, and how chastity is the roadmap for anyone seeking life beyond LGBTQ+-identification. He works closely with Andrew Comiskey as his successor of Desert Stream. He and his wife Ania live in Kansas City, MO. The work of Desert Stream/Living Waters can be found at https://www.desertstream.org/.

Peter J. Colosi, Ph.D is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Salve Regina University in Newport, RI. He has published many articles and book chapters in the areas of Catholic medical ethics and social teaching, contemporary philosophical personalism and Franciscan studies in both academic and online venues. He is the main organizer and co-founder of the Theology of the Body International Symposia. There have been five Symposia thus far, in Austria, Ireland, England, Portugal and Holland, and the Symposia talks can be viewed at https://tobinternationalsymposia.com/. His personal website is https://peterjcolosi.com/

John F. Crosby was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Mobile, Ala.  He received his B.A. from Georgetown University in 1966 and his Ph.D. from the University of Salzburg, Austria, in 1970.  His teacher in philosophy was Dietrich von Hildebrand.  He has taught at the University of Dallas, the University of Salzburg, the Lateran University in Rome, and at the International Academy of Philosophy in Liechtenstein; since 1990 he has been teaching at Franciscan University of Steubenville, where he founded the M.A. program in philosophy.  He has published extensively on the thought of St. John Henry Newman, as well as on the thought of St. John Paul II.  The philosophy known as Christian personalism stands at the center of his teaching and writing, and the books he has written are The Selfhood of the Human Person (1996), Personalist Papers (2004), and The Personalism of John Henry Newman (2014). He and his wife, Pia, are the parents of six children, the oldest of which is John Henry.  He has assisted John Henry in founding the Dietrich von Hildebrand Legacy Project, which is devoted to disseminating the religious and philosophical legacy of von Hildebrand. 

David P. Deavel (Ph.D., Fordham) is an Associate Professor in and Chairman of the Theology Department at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. A former Editor of Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, he co-edited Solzhenitsyn and American Culture: The Russian Soul in the West (Notre Dame, 2020). His academic articles have appeared in Chesterton Review, Chicago Studies, The Journal of Markets & Morality, Nova et Vetera, New Blackfriars, and many books. He is a Senior Contributor at The Imaginative Conservative, member of the Board of Directors of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars and University Faculty for Life, and a member of the Advisory Board for CUA Press’s Catholic Women Writers series. His public and popular articles have appeared in Catholic World Report, Claremont Review of Books, Commonweal, First Things, and The Wall Street Journal.

Richard Doerflinger, M.A., is former Associate Director of the Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He is a Faculty Fellow with the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, University of Notre Dame, and Adjunct Fellow in Bioethics and Public Policy with the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. He and his wife live in Washington state.

Mary Eberstadt holds the Panula Chair at the Catholic Information Center in Washington, DC, and is a Senior Research Fellow with the Faith and Reason Institute. She is author of several books including How the West Really Lost God, which examines the relationship between secularization and the sexual revolution; and Adam and Eve after Pill, Revisited, about the revolution’s destructive consequences on society, politics, and Christianity (Foreword by Cardinal George Pell).

Eduardo Echeverria (PhD, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam; S.T.L., University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum) is Professor of Philosophy and Systematic Theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. He is the author of numerous books, including Roman Catholicism and Neo-Calvinism: Ecumenical and Polemical Engagements (2024), Are We Together? A Roman Catholic Analyzes Evangelical Protestants (2022), Pope Francis: The Legacy of Vatican II, 2nd edition (2019), Revelation, History, and Truth: A Hermeneutics of Dogma (2017). He is a member of the American ecumenical initiative, Evangelicals and Catholics Together. 

Jason Evert, M.A., is the founder of Chastity Project and its website, chastity.com. Over the past 25 years, he has spoken on the topics of chastity and gender to more than two million young people on six continents. He is also the author of more than twenty books, including Saint John Paul the Great, Theology of the Body in One Hour, and Male, Female, Other?

Stefano Gennarini, J.D., S.T.B., is the Vice President for Legal Studies at the Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam). He represents C-Fam at UN headquarters in New York and researches and writes on international law and policy.

Carrie Gress, Ph.D., is a Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a scholar at The Institute for Human Ecology at Catholic University of America. She is the founder and co-editor at the online women’s magazine and marketplace TheologyofHome.com and the author of ten books, including the Theology of Home series, The Anti-Mary Exposed, and The End of Woman.

Amy E. Hamilton, Ph.D., Research Associate, University of Texas at Austin and Fellow, Nesti Center for Faith & Culture-University of St. Thomas, Houston. Dr. Hamilton has been a Fulbright scholar and a Social Science Research Council Sexuality Research Fellow. Her dissertation focused on the life narratives of Christians who had experienced conflicts with their spiritual and sexual identity. She studies and writes on topics related to marriage, faith, gender, and sexuality. Her work can be found at: amyhamilton.org.

Elizabeth R. Kirk is an Assistant Professor at The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, where she also serves as Co-Director of its Center for Law and the Human Person. Elizabeth’s scholarship focuses on law and the family, including issues such as parental rights, reproductive technologies, abortion jurisprudence, and child welfare and adoption. She also explores the relationship, both complementary and contrasting, between the Catholic intellectual tradition and law. 

Angela Lanfranchi, M.D., F.A.C.S., is a retired breast cancer surgeon who cared for over 20,000 women with breast disease over a 33 year career.  A 1975 graduate of Georgetown Medical School, in 1986 she was appointed a Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery at Rutgers-RWJ Medical School and is presently the President of  the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute (www.bcpinstitute.org) which she co-founded in 1999.  She has published peer reviewed articles on the impact of  hormonal contraception and induced abortion on breast disease and women. She lectures nationally and internationally on those topics.

Anne M. Maloney received her Ph.D. in Philosophy from Marquette University. She is currently an Associate Professor of Philosophy at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, MN. Her areas of specialization include Philosophy of Women, Ethics, Philosophy and Literature, Philosophy of Religion, and Existentialism. She has published articles in Crisis Magazine, Human Life Review, and The Journal of Prolife Feminism. Also, she has contributed chapters to two books dealing with abortion and social ethics: LivingWith Contradictions: Controversies in Feminist Social Ethics, edited by Alison Jaggar, and Catholicism and Abortion: A New Generation of Catholic Response., edited by Stephen J. Heaney. She is also co-author of The Hand That Rocks the Cradle: Mothers, Sons and Leadership. She has appeared on CNN and on National Public Radio, and has spoken many times in the Twin Cities area about ethics, feminism, abortion, contraception, marriage and sexuality. Her husband Stephen is also a philosopher, and together they have three children and two grandchildren. 

Piotr Mazurkiewicz: Priest of the Warsaw archdiocese, Professor in the field of political science and Catholic social teaching, head of the Department of Political Theory and Political Thought at the Institute of Political Science and Administration of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw. Editor-in-chief of the journal Christianity – World – Politics. Between 2002 and 2008 member of the Council of the European Society for Research in Ethics “Societas Ethica”. From 2008 to 2012 Secretary General of the Commission of Bishops of the European Community COMECE. From 2001 to 2023 member of the Scientific Council of the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Jennifer Roback Morse is the founder of The Ruth Institute, an interfaith international coalition to defend the family and build a Civilization of Love. She taught economics at Yale and George Mason Universities for 15 years. She resigned her tenured teaching position in 1996 to care for her children, a badly neglected Romanian adopted son, and a birth daughter. She founded the Ruth Institute in 2008, and has devoted her professional skills to developing a defense of traditional Catholic teaching on marriage, family and human sexuality.  

Adrian Reimers is adjunct professor of philosophy at Holy Cross College in South Bend, Indiana. His publications include the Soul of the Person: A contemporary philosophical anthropology, The Truth about the Good: Moral norms in the thought of John Paul II, Hell and the Mercy of God, The Good Is Love: The body and human acts in Humanae Vitae and John Paul II, and forthcoming The Ethos of the Christian Heart: Reading Veritatis Splendor, as well as a number of articles on the thought of Saint John Paul II.

Michele M. Schumacher is a wife and mother of four adult children, a doctor in sacred theology (S.T.D.), and a private docent (habil.) at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland).  In addition to numerous articles and book chapters in various languages on feminism, sexual ethics, marriage, and spirituality, she is the author of A Trinitarian Anthropology: Adrienne von Speyr and Hans Urs von Balthasar in Dialogue with St. Thomas Aquinas (Washington D.C.: Catholic University of America  Press, 2014); Metaphysics and Gender: The Normative Art of Nature and Its Human Imitations (Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Academic, 2023); and God Acting in Man: Founding Human Freedom in Aquinas’s Natural Desire to See God Doctrine (forthcoming). She is also the editor and contributing author of Women in Christ: Towards a New Feminism (Cambridge, UK / Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004).

Janet E. Smith is retired from Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, MI where she held the Father Michael J. McGivney Chair of Life Ethics. She is the author of Humanae Vitae: A Generation Later and A Right to Privacy. Self-Gift is a volume of her already published essays on Humanae Vitae and the thought of John Paul II.  She edited Why Humanae Vitae is Right: A Reader, Life Issues, Medical Choices (with Christopher Kaczor), Living the Truth in Love: Pastoral Approaches to Same-Sex Attractions (with Rev. Paul Check) and Why Humanae Vitae is Still Right. In her retirement she is helping victims of the priestly sexual abuse crisis, writing on the glories of the Traditional Latin Mass and trying to finish several scholarly projects. Prof Smith served three terms as a consulter to the Pontifical Council on the Family and also served as a member of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission III for 8 years. 

Carl R. Trueman is professor of Biblical and Religious Studies at Grove City College, PA.  Originally a student of Reformation and post-Reformation thought, he has more recently worked in the areas of identity and critical theory. He is the author of numerous books, including The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self (Wheaton: Crossway, 2020) and To Change All Worlds: Critical Theory from Marx to Marcuse (Nashville: B and H, 2024).

OTHER CATHOLIC ACADEMIC BOOKS

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Jesus Christ, Scandal of Particularity: Vatican II, a Catholic Theology of Religions, Justification, and Truth by Eduardo J. Echeverria

Jesus Christ, Scandal of Particularity: Vatican II, a Catholic Theology of Religions, Justification, and Truth by Eduardo J. Echeverria

Jesus Christ, Scandal of Particularity: Vatican II, a Catholic Theology of Religions, Justification, and Truth

by Eduardo J. Echeverria

In this book, in view of the light of Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, and hence the scandal of particularity, the author explores the relationship between the Second Vatican Council and a Catholic theology of religions, the standard by which the unevangelized will be judged, the ideology of dialogue and the corresponding idea of religious relativism, the truth-oriented dynamic of interreligious dialogue, the necessity of interreligious apologetics, truth and epistemic justification, and the orientation of dialogue to evangelization. The key figures discussed in this book are, inter alia, Gerald O’Collins, SJ, St. John Paul II, Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, Bernard Lonergan, SJ, Marianne Moyaert, Edward Schillebeeckx, OP, and Wolfhart Pannenberg.
 

Paperback: $34.95 | Kindle: $9.99

REVIEWS

Miller, Monica. “New book addresses indifferentism, false inter-religious dialogue.” The Catholic World Report. Click here to read the review.

Chalk, Casey. “Dr. E on False Universalism in the Church.” The Catholic Thing. Click here to read the review.

TESTIMONIALS

“A brace of stimulating essays from another distinguished American exponent of dynamic Catholic orthodoxy, whose immersion in the high-octane Protestant theological tradition in which he was raised makes him an exceptionally valuable contributor to today’s debates over whether the Lord Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, or just another avatar of a generic divine will-to-save.” – George Weigel in “Books for Christmas – 2024,” First Things (December 11, 2024)

“Dr. Echeverria is an eminent theologian and prolific author. His current effort does not disappoint as he tackles a central sticking point in ecumenical and interreligious conversations and relations in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, which he handles deftly and masterfully. This text comes at a most opportune moment due to the many confusing and hard-to-reconcile statements and actions of the present Roman Pontiff on this very topic. This is not a read for the faint of heart, but it is a necessary read.” – Rev. Peter M.J. Stravinskas, founder and president of the Catholic Education Foundation

“The topic Dr Eduardo Echeverria covers is of extreme importance. The Second Vatican Council stressed the importance of following one’s conscience (LG 16; GS 16), it indicated that Divine Providence does not refuse the indispensable help for salvation to those who do not yet believe (LG 16), and that rules of conduct and life of non-Christian religions not infrequently reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men (NA 2).  This teaching of Vatican II has often been misinterpreted, although the Declaration Dominus Iesus (Aug 6, 2000) provides a valuable and authoritative reflection on it. Dr. Echeverria’s book makes a very important contribution to an understanding of the teachings of Vatican II and its implications for evangelisation and the Church’s missionary mandate, and of the meaning of Revelation and salvation through Jesus Christ, the sole Mediator.” + Dr. Johannes Hendriks, Bishop of Amsterdam-Haarlem, Netherlands

“’Clarity before all else; the dialogue demands that what is said should be intelligible.’ These words of Pope Paul VI animate Eduardo Echeverria’s spirited dialogue and debate in this book. Taking issue with Gerald O’Collins’s views on religious pluralism and universal salvation, with Marianne Moyaert’s dialogic take on divine revelation, and with Pope Francis’s approach to interreligious dialogue, Jesus Christ, Scandal of Particularity offers a reading of the Second Vatican Council that is in continuity with the preceding tradition and aims to restore missionary proclamation as the church’s primary calling. This book is vintage Echeverria: intrepidly gospel-centered, well-informed, genuinely ecumenical, and—without fail—eminently clear.” – Hans Boersma, Nashotah House Theological Seminary

“I am grateful to be a colleague of Dr. Echeverria at Sacred Heart Seminary where we both teach. I am very familiar with his work and consider him one of the most able of sophisticated theological and philosophical defenders of foundational Catholic doctrines that are massively under attack. His work on authentic development of doctrine, the uniqueness of Jesus, the propositional content of Divine Revelation, and the theology of world religions is absolutely first-rate. This is a very important book. Highly recommended.” – Ralph Martin, Professor of Theology / Director of Graduate Programs in the New Evangelization, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit

“Is Christian theology losing its distinctive voice amidst a climate of shallow, arbitrary, religious pluralism? This text draws not only from Roman Catholic theologians and the Magisterium, but also from the richness of Reformed, Anglican, Lutheran, and evangelical scholarship to address this question. In a deftly postliberal fashion, this book provides a robustly argued voice for the unique, particular revelation of God in Jesus Christ. While acknowledging our pluralist context and espousing religious dialogue, it equally eschews the reduction of general revelation to that of natural theology. Contra the tendency of some theologians who advocate a broad religious inclusivism, instead Echeverria astutely defends accessibilism, where the hope of God’s salvation in Christ is present for all, without suggesting that non-Christian religions are instrumental in salvation. He insists that revelation of salvation must not be confused with salvation efficacy. Indeed, this is a ‘scandal of particularity’ that also renews the particular voice of the hope of Jesus Christ and his Incarnation into a world of confusion and despair.” – Prof. Dr. Ronald T. Michener, Evangelische Theologische Faculteit, Leuven, BELGIUM

“Eduardo Echeverria’s new book on the scandal of Christian particularity is a much-needed corrective to the often-hidden relativization of the uniqueness of Christ in so much of modern theology. Dr. Echeverria’s claim, therefore, that theology has lost its distinctive voice is directly related to this relativization. For how can a truly “Christian” theology long survive without this fundamental affirmation? In a series of probing and deeply insightful essays he deftly analyzes all of the various arguments in favor of a “pluralism of religions” and shows clearly how each one falls short in problematic ways.  At once eminently erudite and readable, the text is a wonderful example of a theologian thinking with the mind of the Church in order to meet the challenges of today.  I cannot recommend it more highly.” – Larry Chapp, retired professor of theology, DeSales University, and founder and chief author of the blog Gaudium et Spes 22.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eduardo Echeverria (PhD, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam; S.T.L., University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum) is Professor of Philosophy and Systematic Theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. He is the author of numerous books, including Roman Catholicism and Neo-Calvinism: Ecumenical and Polemical Engagements (2024), Are We Together? A Roman Catholic Analyzes Evangelical Protestants (2022), Pope Francis: The Legacy of Vatican II, 2nd edition (2019), Revelation, History, and Truth: A Hermeneutics of Dogma (2017). He is a member of the American ecumenical initiative, Evangelicals and Catholics Together.

OTHER FAITH AND MORALS BOOKS

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Mary, the New Woman by Diego G. Passadore

Mary, the New Woman by Diego G. Passadore

Mary, the New Woman: A Judeo-Christian view of the Conception, in the history of Salvation, of the Divine Will in the Sovereign of Heaven

by Diego G. Passadore

Mary, the New Woman is an apologetic exegesis from the Bible, Jewish texts, and other Christian confessions, designed to bring the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception closer to the unbeliever and to promote the dignity of women in a world that objectifies them. Its invitation to conversion can help in Christian Unity and increase Christian faith through its instruction on how to savor the depth of the Bible and how to increase hope in the invisible advance of the Kingdom of God.
 
Paperback: $24.95 | Kindle: $9.99

REVIEWS

Sr. Cathy Jones, “Review of Mary, the New Woman,” (November 2025), Maria, A Journal of Marian Studies. Click here to read the review.

Eileen Quinn Knight, “Review of Mary, the New Woman,” (October 23, 2024), Profiles in Catholicism. Click here to read the review.

ARTICLES WRITTEN BY DIEGO G. PASSADORE

Diego G. Passadore. “The Time Has Come for Easter Union,” Catholic Exchange (February 23, 2026). Click here to read the article.

Diego G. Passadore, “Our Lady can help humanity open its eyes to the evil of sacrificing children through abortion,” LifeSite News (December 11, 2024). Click here to read the article.

TESTIMONIALS

In Mary, the New Woman, Diego Passadore takes us on a dynamic journey through time to connect his Catholic faith with the modern world. He reflects on the difference between Cronos (ordinary time) and Kairos (God’s time), which brings life to our spiritual and physical existence. For Christians, this is about how and when God reveals Himself in our lives, showing us the deep meaning of our being made in His image. Using a biblical-anthropological method, Passadore draws from his own experiences as a family man. He presents a fresh perspective where a Christian lay man speaks about women, emphasizing the love and unity found in marriage. The text explores the mystery of the Incarnation, where the Word becomes flesh, showing pure and chaste love for all. It highlights Mary’s role as the mother of Jesus, embodying both supernatural and natural elements, and affirms the importance of grace and shared responsibility among women and those who follow Mary. Mary, the New Woman is a well-crafted study, focusing on love rather than complex theology, that adheres to doctrine in the celebration of the Marian faith of the people, where all mothers, daughters, and wives reflect Mary’s essence. Key chapters address issues like discrimination and promoting the value of every human being in their discussion of the dignity of women. I encourage everyone who loves our Blessed Mother to read this work.” – Fr. Antonio Larocca, SMC, from Venezuela

“This book is the work of an author ecstatically in love with Christ and his Mother. Passadore calls for a multi-pronged renewal, including such things as intensified Scripture reading, the retrieval of the practice of fasting, appreciation for the charismatic movement in the Church, ardent contrition and repentance, fraternal solidarity and purification, and – the heart of the book – commending Mary as not only the New Eve but the New Woman.” – Matthew Levering, James N. Jr. and Mary D. Perry Chair of Theology, Mundelein Seminary

This book is both scholarly and confessional in its approach to the theological implications of the Roman Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The Virgin Mary is the ‘New Woman’, according to Diego Passadore, because she restores humanity to the pure and faithful state that existed before the Fall. This book will inspire Christians throughout the world to reassess their relationship not only with Christ, the Saviour, but also with his blessed Mother as they seek to recover in themselves the image and likeness of God.” – Dr. Mary B. Cunningham, Honorary Associate Professor of Historical Theology, The University of Nottingham

“Diego Passadore may not be a theologian, but he has captured the essence of Aquinas’ teaching that the contemplation of divine truths is the highest form of human activity. The book offers the perspicacious reader the opportunity to discover a new understanding of that ‘woman’ revealed in the Book of Revelation and how every contemporary woman may come to understand what femininity truly means and be transformed into a new woman by fulfilling the divine will in the imitation of the Virgin Mother.” – Dr. Joseph P. Michael, author of Apologia Pro Sancta Maria: Mater Pulchrae Dilectionis, Maria, Mater Ecclesiae

“In an exercise in ressourcement, Diego Passadore’s work draws together the historic teachings of the Church with the insights of Vatican II to argue for the dignity of women within the Catholic tradition, as seen in the doctrine of the New Eve—or ‘New Woman’.  This book should encourage deeper reflection on the relationship between Mary, the Church, and our understanding of sexual difference.” – Dr. Sarah Jane Boss, Founder and Director of the Centre for Marian Studies & Lecturer in Theology at The University of Wales Lampeter, London, UK

Mary, the New Woman is more than just an argument for Mary as the “New Woman.” It is a rich synthesis of insights into Mary as—inter alia—the Ark of the Covenant, the mother of all, and the model of contemplation. Passadore brings together many beautiful reflections on Mary from Church fathers, medieval theologians —such as Hugh of St. Victor, Bonaventure, and Gregory Palamas—and more recent figures such as Edith Stein, John Paul II, and Pope Francis. In addition, he shows the importance of Mary for the dignity of women, the feminine dimension of the Church, and the promotion of peace and human fraternity. Readers will benefit from the many deep insights drawn from Scripture, the Protoevangelium of James, and the writings of mystics.” — from the Proem, authored by Robert Fastiggi, Ph.D. Professor of Dogmatic Theology, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit, Michigan USA and member of the Pontifical International Marian Academy

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Diego G. Passadore is the author of another two books: Heal the Wound of the Sufferer, My Brother (click here for the Spanish edition), and Love Until it Hurts (click here for the Spanish edition). He has also written various articles.
 
A native of Montevideo, Uruguay, Passadore is an engineer by profession, married, and has a daughter. He is a secular Catholic who takes joy in preaching Jesus Christ to the outskirts of society. A lover of the Bible and contemplative prayer, he frequently participates in Encounters of the School of Silence, founded by Fr. José F. Moratiel, OP.
 

MARY, OUR BLESSED MOTHER

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Wingswept: The Dragon and the Dove by Therese Judeana

Wingswept: The Dragon and the Dove by Therese Judeana

Wingswept: The Dragon and the Dove

by Thérèse Judeana

Dragons in the mountains.

Dragons in the ice.

Dragons on the road.

Dragons are extinct – that’s what Alandis was taught. That history is rewritten when Alandis runs from the breaking of her heart, and by strange circumstance, is pitched into a legendary role of protection.  In the midst of fighting her own dragons and shielding her people, Alandis doesn’t see the danger lurking in the shadows until it’s too late.  

Paperback $14.95 | Kindle $9.99

Wingswept One of the Great Epics of Our Times by Alliance Authors Newsletter

With Thérèse Judeana

Read on Substack

TESTIMONIALS

“In Wingswept: The Dragon and the Dove, Thérèse Judeana creatively describes a powerful journey of self-discovery, hope, and new beginnings. Set in the beautiful land of Lharmeval, Alandis, a young woman known as the “Dove” for her shy and gentle nature, seeks to find a place to belong. Throughout the story, Alandis, struggling with heartbreak and depression, makes friends who help her find her own worth. In this fast-moving tale set in a faraway land, Thérèse Judeana shows us that, even when it seems all hope is lost, love and friendship can come when we least expect it.” – E. G. Enga, author of The Children of the Chapel and the First Christmas

“This story soars higher than the dragons it depicts, taking readers on an emotional and action-filled journey that begins with a concept so universal in the human experience: running away from what hurts us. This latest novel by Therese Judeana does not disappoint!” – Chantal LaFortune, co-author with Grace Bourget of The Song of Elbereth

“Wingswept is a tale of finding worth and purpose even in the midst of despair and apparent failure: the value of life even when one longs to lose it, a story of the journey to grace and love.” – Grace Bourget, author of Ad Maré: Song of the Pleiades and Light of Faith: Poems and Plays

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thérèse Judeana is a young traditional Catholic with a love for fantasy, believing, like Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, that sometimes it holds a secret key to drawing the soul towards the true reality of God.  An accomplished writer, she creates both science-fantasy worlds and fairytale lands. Thérèse lives in Central Florida, where she attends the traditional Latin Mass with her family. Currently, she is studying fashion design and fashion history, designing her own wardrobe, and working on her publications, Windflower and Aestheté.  

OTHER YOUNG ADULT FICTION

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Light of the World: Tabernacle Art Coloring Book by Lynda Rozell

Light of the World: Tabernacle Art Coloring Book by Lynda Rozell

Light of the World: Tabernacle Art Coloring Book

by Lynda Rozell

Enjoy coloring these pictures drawn from the art that decorates tabernacles. They are symbols based on six themes – Nourishment, Sacrifice, Jesus, Spirit, Church, Mission – that tell a story or reveal a truth about God. Invite Him into your creative coloring by starting with a prayer and keeping Him in mind as you draw. Learn more about tabernacles, the stories behind the symbols, and how to use them to pray in Return to Me: Visits to the Tabernacle by Lynda Rozell (En Route Books and Media 2024).

Ages 8-Adult!

Paperback: $9.99 | Puzzles: $29.95

Click on the puzzle images below to order your very own 500-piece tabernacle puzzle in a tin can (from the Tin-Can Pilgrim!) — both the book cover and the tabernacle from St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Miami Beach, Florida (photo courtesy of Jim Dwight Davis). More tabernacle puzzles coming soon!


TESTIMONIALS

“John Paul II said, “The presence of Jesus in the tabernacle must be a kind of magnetic pole attracting an ever greater number of souls enamored of him, ready to wait patiently to hear his voice and, as it were, to sense the beating of his heart” (Mane Nobiscum Domine, 18). In this inspiring and well written book Lynda Rozell invites all of us to take up this invitation and to be drawn into the Holy of Holies found in each tabernacle where the Eucharist is reserved. These lessons and meditations will be helpful for anyone who would like to encounter Jesus in a deeper way in the Blessed Sacrament.” —  Most Rev. Andrew Cozzens, Bishop of the Diocese of Crookston, Chair of the National Eucharistic Congress

“An encounter with Christ in the Eucharist in adoration enables us to have Epiphany Moments where the Lord shines Truth on our lives. This book, Return to Me, can inspire our Epiphany Moments by providing beautiful images for meditation on the Eucharist and encouraging visits to tabernacles.” — Vanessa Denha Garmo, host of Ave Maria Radio’s “Epiphany” program, founder of Epiphany Communications & Coaching

“Lynda Rozell’s book, “Return to Me: Visits to the Tabernacle,” is an invaluable reminder of the treasure that exists in all Catholic churches – the Real Presence of Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Eucharist. She dives into the purpose and history of tabernacles and shares why it’s important we spend time before them in adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament to pray to Jesus. She also offers thoughtful reflections on themes and symbols of tabernacle art. Her book is personal, as she traveled across the country, visiting dozens of churches. Photos of the tabernacles bring to life her reflections and prayers. Ultimately, the book is a faith-filled, informative and inspiring way to grow in deeper faith and knowledge of the Eucharist.” — The Very Rev. Edward C. Hathaway, Rector, The Basilica of Saint Mary (Alexandria VA)

“In this inspiring book, Return to Me: Visits to the Tabernacle, Lynda Rozell shares the heart of her wayfaring life—her visits to Jesus in the tabernacles of the many churches she passes on the road. A professional nomad, Lynda lives a life radically available to God’s call to bring the good news of his love to whomever he sends her. And along the way, she gains direction and strength from frequent visits to Our Lord in the tabernacle. A combination of photos, personal stories, meditations, prayers, and information about the Eucharist, tabernacles, and sacred art, Lynda’s poetic way with words makes Return to Me an engaging read. Whether you are a traveler or not, Lynda will have you looking for pit stops in your day and week to check in with Almighty God and gain strength, wisdom, and love for your own journey.” — Ever Johnson co-founder and director of Trinity House Community ministry

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

​Lynda Rozell travels around the United States in her Airstream camper volunteering, writing, evangelizing, and speaking.  Also known as the “Tin Can Pilgrim,” Lynda writes a blog about her travels and apostolate at https://tincanpilgrim.com.  You’ll find entertaining reels and photos about churches, shrines, areas of natural beauty, and her travels on @tincanpilgrim on Instagram and the Tin Can Pilgrim Facebook page.  A graduate of the University of Virginia Law School, Lynda worked as an attorney for many years before embarking on her marvelous adventure with God.  In addition to Return to Me: Visits to the Tabernacle (En Route Books and Media 2024) and this accompanying coloring book, Lynda’s books include Journeys with a Tin Can Pilgrim: from corporate lawyer to Airstream nomad (St. John’s Press 2021); In Plain Sight Hidden: Poems from a Tin Can Pilgrim (St. Bona’s Press 2022); and The Airstream Travels Coloring Book (St. Bona’s Press 2022).  She also is a contributor and photographer for The Eighth Station by Deirdre McQuade and Friends (Via Crucis Press 2024).

Photograph by Renata Grzan Wieczorek — https://www.FortheLoveofBeauty.com

 

OTHER CHILDREN’S BOOKS

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