Help Aquinas and More Catholic Bookstore

Dear Bloggers,

 

I have a simple request. Tuesday is the last day of our Aquinas Angel campaign.

Will you keep watch with me for one hour?

We are short of our crowdfunding goal. We are making one last push online and to our customers.

I am grateful for the outpouring of support from all of you already – all your prayers and donations and posts to date. We've tried to showcase each of your blogs on our Facebook page to say thank you; hopefully, we didn't miss your post!

 

We need to pray tomorrow. But we also must try, ora et labora.

Will you keep watch with me for one hour? Can you make a quick post, do a tweet, put a link to our campaign on Facebook, or send an email for us?

The link to our Angel Campaign is: www.gofundme.com/aquinasangels

Thank you for everything! St. Joseph, pray for us. St. Michael, pray for us.

God bless,

Ian

Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host -
by the Divine Power of God -
cast into hell, satan and all the evil spirits,
who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.

Christmas Myths, and the Slaughter of the Innocents

Merry Christmas.  Here, I am reposting a couple of links to some of Jimmy Akins' work.  Interesting reading!

Did the Slaughter of the Innocents happen?

7 Top Myths about Christmas

Saint Agnes' Fountain

In case you ever wondered about the fountain made famous by Good King Wenceslaus (who was actually a duke, but anyway...), here you go.

And Merry Christmas.

An utterly sublime  setting for Mass, posted a while back on Chant Cafe.

http://www.chantcafe.com/2012/08/another-lost-great-robert-fayrfax-1464.html?m=0

The Mass setting is almost as long as most Masses we attend, but it is worth listening to.  It definitely will draw your mind to higher things.

Why Praise and Worship Music is Praise, But Not Worship

Father puts into words some of the many thoughts I've had on this issue over the years...

Why Praise and Worship Music is Praise, But Not Worship

Book Review: How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization

For both the dedicated Catholic and the sceptic, How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization supplies much food for thought regarding the role Catholicism has played in western history. It should be in every library.

 

Dr. Woods has covered many subject headings including Morality, Science, Art and Law and provides well documented examples of the Church's contributions, often foundational contributions, to each one.  He also meets head on the discussion of the idea that the Church was responsible for the "Dark Ages".  And who says they were dark?  There is a concise and fair review of the "Galileo affair" which I think most would find interesting.

 

I found the book affirming and often surprising.  I do not think anyone would be able to walk away from this book and still believe that the Church was anti-science or anti-reason.  This book is an antidote to much of what we have been taught in schools and exposed to in the media.

 

The many footnotes are arranged at the end of the book, so that they are not distracting.  The off-white colour of the paper makes the book easy on the eyes.  There is a section which included photographs relevant to the subjects.

 

The one shortcoming of  this book, if it is to be used for serious research, is the index.  I wanted to find something that I'd read in the book about an experiment in flight in the 11th century, and I ended up having to go through the book page by page to find the reference, as the only index entry was the name of the obscure monk who managed to glide 600 feet.

 

I strongly recommend this book to anyone involved in RCIA, either as a catechist or a cathecumen.  I think the parent or catechist involved in preparation for Confirmation classes would also find this book very helpful in responding to young sceptics. 

I wrote this review of How The Catholic Church Built Western Civilization for the free Catholic Book review program, created by Aquinas and More Catholic Goods, your source for Baptism Gifts and Oplatki Christmas Wafers. Tiber River is the first Catholic book review site, started in 2000 to help you make informed decisions about Catholic book purchases. I receive free product samples as compensation for writing reviews for Tiber River.

I found this article on the historicity of the Septuagint was very enlightening.

http://catholicdefense.blogspot.ca/2012/03/did-greek-old-testament-include.html