Gifts of Providence: From Wyoming Pioneers to Vatican Diplomacy

Gifts of Providence: From Wyoming Pioneers to Vatican Diplomacy

Gifts of Providence: From Wyoming Pioneers to Vatican Diplomacy

by John Klink

In this intriguing memoir, John Klink recounts the theme of his life as “Gift” — a hallmark of Divine Providence from God whose grace is everlasting. Born on October 8, 1949, on the historic Flag Ranch in Laramie, Wyoming, the grandson of German and Irish immigrants, John’s family then moved to Montecito, an enclave for the famous and wealthy, steadied for his family by his mother’s deep faith-life. His Jesuit studies at Santa Clara, Georgetown and Loyola University took him to Rome, and inculcated a life-time devotion to poverty alleviation and refugee assistance. His highly challenging international assignments to war-torn and poverty-ridden countries with Catholic Relief Services, including a happy collaboration with St. Mother Theresa, were followed by his recruitment by the Vatican, and then the White House, as a negotiator/advisor at the United Nations during the critical period of the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of the European Union—all unthinkable without the vision of Pope John Paul II and his friendship/collaboration with President Ronald Reagan. John’s story is placed in the context of faith and perseverance of both his immediate ancestors, and the grace of exceptional global leadership in spirituality and human rights, recounted from a front-row seat at the forum of international diplomacy.
 

Paperback: $24.95 | Kindle: $9.99

TESTIMONIALS

“One of my fond memories of John Klink is from a 1998 UN Conference on Youth. Depending upon the country, the term youth could include anyone from 10 to 35 years of age.  At the time, John was the lead negotiator for the Holy See and was blocking consensus. He said three times in the same baritone voice without emotion: ‘There are millions of people married in the world, and the word marriage should be included in this paragraph.’ Each time he said it, tension in the room increased, and a different country would object. On the third and final time, the representative from a European country in an angry voice demanded: ‘Why is the Holy See so obsessed with marriage?’ To which John (on behalf of the Holy See) replied: ‘Perhaps, the honorable representative should ask his wife.’ The comment provoked an instantaneous outburst of laughter, and the Chairman hammered the table with his gavel to adjourn the meeting.” – Jane F. Adolphe, J.C.L./J.C.D., LL.B./B.C.L., Professor of Law, Ave Maria School of Law, Naples, Florida, and lead editor of Politics, Law & Religion in Times of COVID and Clerical Sexual Misconduct, Vol 2: A Foundational Conversation

​ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Klink recounts some of the intriguing stories of his unique life of faith-based humanitarian service, diplomacy, finance, and politics which he attributes to gifts of Divine Providence that he would like to pass as a baton to future generations. 

The grandson of 19th-century emigrant pioneers from the Kingdom of Württemberg and Ireland, he was born on October 8, 1949, on one of Wyoming’s oldest ranches. His paternal German grandfather’s Flag Ranch near Laramie hosted three U.S. Presidents and served as the departure point for Teddy Roosevelt’s famous 60 mi. compulsory horseback ride to Cheyenne with his Cabinet, while his maternal Irish family’s scion served as the first foreign-born U.S. Senator from Wyoming, and a pallbearer for his close friend Buffalo Bill.  Following his father’s sales of the family ranches that ran from southern Wyoming to northern Colorado in 1952, his father made a precipitous move to a Bernard Maybeck home in Montecito near Santa Barbara which greatly influenced his love for architecture, art and music.

This move at a young age saw him growing up as a neighbor and friend to many luminaries of Hollywood, industry, and royalty where he says he felt strong similarities with the Beverly Hillbillies, but his family was steadied by his mother’s deep faith-life. During, and following a Jesuit education at Santa Clara University, Georgetown, and Loyola University in Rome, which sparked a lifelong devotion for the poor and refugees, he joined CRS, the Catholic equivalent of the Peace Corps, and served in North Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and the Caribbean.  This led to postings in some of the poorest countries of the world, collaborating with St. Mother Theresa of Calcutta, and being Director of a refuge Program in Thailand charged with the care of 400,000 traumatized Khmer during the Cambodian Crisis.

He was then recruited by the Vatican, and subsequently the White House, to serve as a diplomat/negotiator for scores of United Nations World Summits and Conferences during the critical period of the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of the European Union,  became an advisor to Popes and Presidents, was elected President of the International Catholic Migration Commission, and with his wife Patricia began a sovereign securities firm on Wall Street.  

John is quick to note that his fascinating, and at times highly challenging, experiences had little to do with his personal talents, but to his willingness to make himself available to Divine Providence without which he would have been a dusty but happy sheepherder on the Wyoming prairie to this day and sadly would probably not have met his beautiful wife with whom he recently celebrated their 37th anniversary in their home in Umbria.

Honors: Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great, Knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, Knight of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George, Knight of Columbus (3rd Degree), and a Knight of Sts. Maurice and Lazarus. Royal Thai Armed Forces Award for Humanitarian Assistance to Displaced Persons in Thailand; 41st CRS Anniversary Award for Humanitarian Assistance; Legatus Ambassador Award.

OTHER CATHOLIC MEMOIRS

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Power of Developmental Psychology for Secondary School Teachers and Students by Sr. Elizabeth Ngozi Okpalaenwe, Ph.D.

Power of Developmental Psychology for Secondary School Teachers and Students by Sr. Elizabeth Ngozi Okpalaenwe, Ph.D.

Power of Developmental Psychology for Secondary School Teachers and Students

by Sr. Elizabeth Ngozi Okpalaenwe, Ph.D.

Power of Developmental Psychology for Secondary School Teachers and Students is an inspirational and powerful book that explains the stages of child development and different emotional, spiritual, sexual, psychological, psychosocial and physical growth topics that may not be found in other books. The nine chapters are creatively explained partly in story-telling form using practical daily life applications to make them simple to understand and integrate, offering readers options in their search for answers and understanding. As the saying goes, seek wisdom and it will become yours.

Paperback: $14.95 | Kindle: $9.99

TESTIMONIALS

“This book is a worthwhile resource for individuals who want to understand and appreciate their own journey of life, including young people who are often bombarded by many demands and expectations from the wider community. Another key beneficiary of this book are parents who, even with the best intentions, do not get on with their children. This book provides insights that will assist them, and indeed their children, to know that not all is lost. The Academy will also benefit from this book, which is a condensed package of what psychology entails. Faith institutions that must provide services to the adherents as they grapple with the questions of life will be another key consumer of this work.” – Mary N. Getui, Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya

“The activities are designed to be both educational and enjoyable, promoting an active and engaging learning process. Power of Developmental Psychology for Secondary School Teachers and Students is a must-have for educators and parents alike. It is a vital tool for nurturing the next generation of well-rounded, empathetic, and intellectually curious individuals. Dr. Ngozi’s visionary approach promises to transform secondary education in Africa and beyond, laying a strong foundation for a brighter future.” NDE Irene Awemo. Educationist/Pedagogic Inspector/Founder of Schools of Professional Excellence – SCOPE, Cameroon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elizabeth Ngozi Okpalaenwe, Ph.D., has over seventeen years of experience teaching at secondary and post-secondary levels. This has provided her with extensive knowledge of qualitative and quantitative methods on surveying, interviewing, case study research, educational psychology, psychotherapy research, psychospiritual training and ethnography and interpretive studies. A professional skills trainer, she teaches practical spirituality skills, mentoring students at all levels, including diploma, first degree, master’s and PhD at Catholic University, Tangaza University, and the Psycho-Spiritual Institute in Kenya. In addition, she has served in various capacities as a solicitor, advocating for vulnerable people and for the empowerment of children, youth and women. She has written a dozen academic books and two novels.

OTHER CATHOLIC BUSINESS AND EDUCATION BOOKS

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Worshiping the Sacramental Christ by Fr. Dennis Billy, C.Ss.R.

Worshiping the Sacramental Christ by Fr. Dennis Billy, C.Ss.R.

Worshiping the Sacramental Christ

by Dennis Billy, C.Ss.R.

The purpose of this book is to alert us to the multidimensional aspects of our Eucharistic worship and to help us see how this sacrament engages the whole person and the entire People of God. It seeks to open our minds and hearts to the sacrament as the worship of the whole Church. It maintains that the human person is a microcosm of the Church and that the various dimensions of our human makeup that we find within ourselves are also present in Christ’s Mystical Body—if we only have eyes to see and ears to hear.

Paperback: $12.95 | Kindle: $9.99

TESTIMONIALS

“These cogent meditations on the Eucharist call us to worship both at Mass and in Jesus’ Real Presence. Father Billy invites us to consider how we pray with our body, mind, heart, and spirit, both individually and as part of the Mystical Body of Christ. His compelling reflections and questions lead us to deeper contemplation of the transformative and unitive power of the Eucharist.” – Lynda Rozell, author of Return to Me: Visits to the Tabernacle

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fr. Dennis J. Billy, C.Ss.R., is Professor Emeritus of the history of moral theology and Christian spirituality at the Alphonsian Academy of the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome and currently serves as The Robert F. Leavitt Distinguished Service Chair in Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore. An American Redemptorist of the Baltimore Province, Fr. Billy has advanced degrees from Harvard University, the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (Angelicum), and the Graduate Theological Foundation. The author of numerous books and articles on a variety of religious topics, he is also active in his order’s retreat apostolate and in the ministry of spiritual direction.

 

OTHER CATHOLIC SPIRITUALITY BOOKS

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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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