Book on Catholicism and America Is Based on AMU Conference

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Published on Monday, 22 October 2012 21:56

How Catholics in America can renew and strengthen both the Church and American culture is the theme of a new book featuring writings of a number of Ave Maria University professors as well as Cardinal William Levada, Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop Charles Chaput and several other prominent American Catholics.

Catholicism and America – Challenges and Prospects was edited by Fr. Matthew Lamb, chair of the AMU Theology department, who said much of the book is based on a 2010 conference at Ave Maria University.

Cardinal George was the keynote speaker at that conference, which also featured presentations by George Weigel, Michael Novak, Thomas Hibbs, Daniel Mahoney and AMU professors Michael Dauphinais and Marc Guerra.

"Besides those who gave papers on the conference," Fr. Lamb said, "I invited Archbishop Chaput to contribute and Cardinal Levada wanted to include his 2011 Commencement homily at AMU on the theme of Catholic higher education as vibrantly Catholic." Left, Cardinal Levada at the Commencement Mass.

Fr. Lamb said he also added an essay of his own introducing "the millennial challenges Catholicism presents, as John Paul II and Benedict XVI saw, to the beginning of Catholicism's third millennium."

A description of the book provided by the publisher says that it "goes behind the headlines on the Catholic Church in the United States to explore some of the principles and philosophical sources to which Popes, Bishops, Priests, Religious, and laity appeal when they challenge American culture and society on moral and social issues. Rarely do the media discuss the "dictatorship of relativism" criticized by Pope Benedict XVI, and the reasons he gives for why such relativism undermines the moral foundations of religious freedom, tolerance, and democracy."

Catholicism and America – Challenges and Prospects is published by Sapienta Press and can be ordered online by clicking here.