Great news! To Whom The Heart Decided To Love won 2nd place as a Backlist Beauty in the 2021 Catholic Media Awards!
So Shine is the debut album by brothersister
10 new original Catholic Christian songs
Music & Lyrics by Fr. Lawrence Edward Tucker, SOLT
“‘So Shine’ strikes an excellent balance between Catholic hymns and classic rock.” – Check out the review at Aleteia.org
To Whom the Heart Decided to Love
by Fr. Lawrence Tucker, SOLT
TESTIMONIALS
Probably the Best Testimonial we can provide for the value of this book has come from Pope Francis’s recent statement that the Catholic Church needs its entrepreneurs. This is what the book is about, for “[w]hat is lacking [in the Catholic world] is a free and far-sighted entrepreneurship, which ensures adequate production, and a solidarity approach, which ensures fair distribution.” For more on this, see Courtney Grogan’s November 7, 2018, article entitled “Pope says entrepreneurship needed in face of ‘scandalous poverty’” in Crux Magazine.
To Whom The Heart Decided To Love is a beautifully written story about someone who knows the price of everything, and can afford it all, but knows the value of nothing. Searching questions and surprising answers grip you at every turn of the page about wealth, corruption and the simple redeeming power of love. I read it on Easter Sunday with the Atlantic wind lashing the British Cornish Coast, far away from the usual hustle and bustle of life in London. Although I was thousands of miles from Manhattan or Mexico I was instantly and utterly transported. I couldn’t put the book down. When I finished the very last page and could finally put the book down, it made me question profoundly what is valued in our contemporary world, and made me value beyond question the richness of redemptive love which cannot be bought. – Annie Monaghan, Senior Policy Advisor (Retired), Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, London, UK
What happens when someone decides to ‘speak truth to power’ and the power that is being spoken to is Oneself? Find out through the journeying of Benjamin Lake! To Whom the Heart Decided to Love, by L.E.Tucker, is a journeying of the heart, an interior journey, that comes about through a journey from Manhattan to Mexico. Like most such journeys, it is filled with preconceived prejudices smashed, and both humorous and tense moments. Through the weaving of believable characters who challenge the beliefs of our narrator, Benjamin, a story unfolds of not just one person’s journey but our own as well… the journey we all need to undertake that leads from illusion and denial to a more true and abundant life. Tucker’s main character will not only force you to think about yourself but will have you thinking about and loving others. – Msgr. Richard M. Figliozzi, former director of the Office of New Evangelization, Diocese of Rockville Centre, Long Island, NY
Do you want to read a novel with a terrific plot that is also inspirational? Read To Whom the Heart Decided to Love by Larry Tucker. Interwoven in the fast-moving story of a billionaire whose whole life changes while in Mexico is a wonderful conversion and also a fresh look at social justice issues. The novel can be a tool for insight into overcoming some of the polarities in our world and in the Church. – Ronda Chervin, Catholic Writer, Professor, and Media Presenter
“Do not be too quick to condemn the man who no longer believes in God, for it is perhaps your own coldness and avarice, your mediocrity and materialism, and your sensuality and selfishness that have killed his faith.” (Thomas Merton: New Seeds of Contemplation, page 177) Do we even realize how often our words and actions impact the world around us? Do we care? To Whom The Heart Decided To Love challenges us to confront and critically analyze our own meaning of life. The author, in his powerful description of people and places within a splendid yet subtle philosophical and religious context, invites us to not only accompany the antihero/hero, Benjamin Lake, through his struggles from the valley of materialism to the mountain top of spirituality… but to compare our lives to his. This book can be read on many levels: an enjoyable piece of fiction which can’t be put down; an intriguing suggestion for a book club; or a companion piece for a retreat. Like Merton and others who have questioned the meaning of life, Tucker’s modern day“Everyman” eventually confronts his own weaknesses in his shallow life and through his generous philanthropy weaves love for his fellow man and love for God into a seamless garment of compassion and thus finds peace and joy. Can we accept Tucker’s challenge and transform our self into the better person? – Marynita Anderson, Ph.D. Professor of History, Nassau Community College/SUNY; Executive Vice President of The O’Keefe Foundation, Friends of Kasule (a philanthropy for the improvement of water supply, sanitation and education for the people of Fort Portal, Uganda)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Fr. Tucker was born on May 26th, 1955, in Manhattan, New York City. He is a bilingual missionary priest in The Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity and has served in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, England, Texas, and New York.
Fr. Tucker holds an A.A. in Liberal Arts from Nassau Community College, Garden City, NY; a B.A. in Human Relations from St. Joseph’s College, Patchogue, NY; and a Master of Divinity, as well as an M.A. in Theology, From Holy Apostles College and Seminary, Cromwell, CT.
OTHER CATHOLIC LITERARY WORKS
Maria’s Dynasty and Songs of her Family by George Luvisi
Maria's Dynasty and Songs of her Family by George Luvisi Amal, Maria's younger son, learns the profound cost of ambition and the loss of familial and moral grounding in the pursuit of material success. He realizes the value of love, relationships, and humility after...
Vacation and Other Tales of Enduring Love by Glenn Morrow
Vacation and Other Tales of Enduring Love by Glenn Morrow We are not meant to travel through our lives alone. These are tales of the sustaining power of love. Whether we are descending into the Grand Canyon on muleback or lost in Venice with absolutely no sense of...
World Between Worlds: A Novel of Caterina, the Mystic of Siena by Jenny DuBay
World Between Worlds: A Novel Based on the Early Life of Caterina, the Mystic of Siena By Jenny duBay World Between Worlds is Jenny duBay’s unforgettable story of one of the Church’s most dynamic saints, Catherine of Siena. Set in the tumultuous fourteenth...
Center Camaraderie by Angelyn Spignesi Kopylec Arden
Center Camaraderie by Angelyn Spignesi Kopylec Arden In the first part of this book, Angelyn Spignesi Kopylec Arden, Ph.D., Psychologist and Professor Emeritus of Holy Apostles College and Seminary, summarizes, extends, and reflects upon...
The Devil-ution of Society: From a Civilization of Life to a Culture of Death to an Age of Insanity
The Devil-ution of Society: From a Civilization of Life to a Culture of Death to an Age of Insanity by Paul Murano In July, 1968, Pope Paul VI promulgated Humanae Vitae in which he observed that "a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may...
The Guilty: A Man is Stabbed to Death and a Community Examines its Conscience
The Guilty: A Man is Stabbed to Death and a Community Examines its Conscience This book revolves round a fatal stabbing but is not about the three dagger thrusts that killed a man. It is a whodunnit of another kind--a social and psychological sleuthing that may well...
Things Beloved: Two Short Novels
Things Beloved: Two Short Novels by Glenn Morrow The Better Boat Wandering the coast, 12-year-old Anthony comes upon a man kicking a sailboat. The derelict boat is stranded high on the shore, so the man sells it to Anthony for a dollar. In an idyllic Rhode Island...
Nkar: The Village of Myths and Legends
Nkar: The Village of Myths and Legends by Fr. Eugen Nkardzedze Fr Eugen Nkardzedze has provided a vindicating account of the juiciest myths and legends of Nkar that does justice to history, culture, religion, and the general anthropology of the people of Nkar. Very...
Masters of Interior Space
So Shine is the debut album by brothersister 10 new original Catholic Christian songs Music & Lyrics by Fr. Lawrence Edward Tucker, SOLT“‘So Shine’ strikes an excellent balance between Catholic hymns and classic rock.” – Check out the review at Aleteia.orgMasters...
A Sword Will Pierce by L. Blosser-Medley
A Sword Will Pierce by L. Blosser-Medley L. Blosser-Medley offers her readers a love story, showing the great love Mary has for God, always saying, "God's will be done" and doing His will, always trusting fully in Him. Our Blessed Mother became the first and most...
True Love: 12 Christmas Stories, My True Love Gave to Me
True Love: 12 Christmas Stories, My True Love Gave to Me by Ben Bongers Let’s face it, life is messy and so are emotions. But, as Hellen Keller said, “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.”...
Goat-Song and Other Stories by David Ross
Goat-Song and Other Stories by David Ross Goat-Song and Other Stories is a collection of one novella and two short stories. The novella, Goat-Song, concerns an exclusive theatrical production, and the two people involved, one alive, the other dead. One short story,...
Figures in Orbits of Symphony: Stories and Ideas by Angelyn Spignesi Kopylec Arden
Figures in Orbits of Symphony: Stories and Ideas by Angelyn Spignesi Kopylec Arden Psychological figures, which provide a way not only to self-knowledge, but also healing and growth to one’s true vocation knowing oneself and others, are not spirit or matter but...
The Saint Nicholas Society by Ben Bongers
Ben Bongers reading from his book at Catholic Gifts and Books at 13397 Olive Blvd., Chesterfield, MO 63017. See https://catholicgiftsandbooks.com/The Saint Nicholas Society by Ben Bongers Fred went from having it all—the girl, the car, the mansion—to being on the...
“Empty Nest” and Other Stories
"Empty Nest" and Other Stories by Angelyn Spignesi Kopylec Arden The place of the dream, of the inner life that connects to others, where literature touches the unconscious, where Spirit moves and speaks through the material world, has a language and inherent meaning....
Obsidian Mirth by Thom Brucie
Obsidian Mirth The characters in Thom Brucie’s Obsidian Mirth fall into a dilemma where loss and betrayal entangle the need for forgiveness and love. Their choices reveal what distinctions lie between knowing one’s self and knowing another, choices that expose that...
Saynt Lachmi
Saynt Lachmi A young street child named Lachmi is whisked into prostitution, rescued, and led by her spirit and providence through the use of her extraordinary gifts to the brink of sainthood. The body, she shows us, is a prism, revealing through its gradations the...
La Redención de San Isidro
¡Una gran noticia! En los Premios de la Catholic Media Association (CMA), la edición original en inglés de... La Redención de San Isidro... ganó el tercer lugar en la categoría Novela Católica; también ganó el tercer lugar en la categoría de Mejor Portada.So Shine is...
A Quienes El Corazón Decidió Amar
¡Una gran noticia! En los Premios de la Catholic Media Association (CMA), la edición original en inglés de... A Quienes el Corazón Decidió Amar... ganó el segundo lugar en la categoría Backlist Beauty.So Shine is the debut album by brothersister 10 new...
Coda
Senator Bob HillCoda: American Politics, Personal Loss, and Recovery A Novel by Dick Bishirjian Senator Bob Hill (R-PA) is sentenced for involuntary manslaughter for an accident in which he was driving under the influence. Prior to completing his sentence in jail, the...
The Redemption of San Isidro: A Tale of Mercy and Love by Fr. Lawrence Edward Tucker, SOLT
Great news! The Redemption of San Isidro won 3rd place in the Catholic Novel category; it also took 3rd place in the Best Front Cover category in the 2021 Catholic Media Awards!So Shine is the debut album by brothersister 10 new original Catholic Christian songs...
The Rebirth of Nicodemus, authored by Rick Akins
Special congratulations to Rick for his being awarded third place in the 2020 Catholic Book Awards contest for best Catholic novel. The Rebirth of Nicodemus by Rick Akins As the Romans prepare to destroy Jerusalem and its Temple in 70 A.D., the Apostle John visits the...
Children of the Breath: A Dialogue in the Desert
Children of the Breath: A Dialogue in the Desert by Martin Chervin Martin Chervin, Ronda’s husband, became a Catholic at the age of sixty, after decades of struggling with doubt. His way of resolving his doubt was to ponder the battle between Satan and Christ during...
Ties that Bind: The Story of a Marriage
Ties that Bind: The Story of a Marriage by Ronda Chervin January 4, 1984 would be a day to remember for Margo Kemperdick. It began when the thirty-five year old woman walked out of her dilapidated, wooden frame row house in the South Bronx one morning to get her mail,...
Sisters Karamazov
Sisters Karamazov by Natalie Karamazov “So what kind of a title is that Hmmph! The Sisters Karamazov? So you think you’re a female Dostoevsky? Isn’t that more than a little arrogant?” Let me explain. The idea for writing this fictionalized account of my life came in...
Eye of the Tiber
Eye of the Tiber by S.C. Naoum Reporting Catholic news as it happens, when it happens, and before it happens, Eye of the Tiber has been delighting readers online since 2012. Now, it provides a book that can be thrown! The only news source brave enough to report...
The Table
The Table by Dcn. Dennis Lambert First century Christianity and present-day musical aspirations meet in the story of a miracle table built by the grandfather of Jesus Christ. The table is placed in the hands of a Centurion named Cornelius following the death of the...