Pope John's Council is an unbiased examination of the procedure, work, documents, and friuts of the Second Vatican Council by the President of the International Una Voce Federation. Its fair, even-handed approach is to use large quotations from Popes, bishops, theologians, and Protestant observers who participated in the council.

Mr. Davies cogently argues that it is the ambiguity in the conciliar documents themselves, not the "Spirit of Vatican II" alone, that has lead to so much confusion. Pope John's Council goes a long way towards explaining causes of the devastation in the Catholic Church that Cardinal Ratziger has commented on extensively the last few years.

This is an outstanding account of the events that revolutionized Catholicism. The fruits of the revolution abound around us. Millions of Catholics lost their religion, and the larger society has changed irreversilby since the Council of the mid 1960's. How did this happen? Why did the traditions of nearly 2000 years get jettisoned in an apparently mindless quest for "relevance". This book details what may be the most significant event of the twentieth century. It is certainly the most underappreciated event. It is written from an unabashedly traditionalist viewpoint and describes the revolution within the Church and how it was executed. Pope John's Council is the second book in Davies' trilogy and is the most accessible of the three. Anyone curious about what has happened to either Roman Catholicism or Western Civilization over the past 30 years needs to read this book.

Receiving a copy of the book about the work that John David Mooney made as the first artist in residence to the Vatican in 500 years was akin to a comet being posted through my letterbox. This is a man with serious and big ideas who creates work with an understanding of place and beauty. I am excited about what I read and see of it. I will treasure my copy. Buy it and prepare to be starstruck.

John David Mooney has a heart and a genius that he couldn't hold back if he wanted to. If you don't already know this about him, you will after reading The Vatican Observatory and the Arts. The book not only speaks of his journey through life--it visually takes us along with him. Whatever your religion or beliefs, his book will add a magic and a light.

Sr. Maureen Sullivan, OP, has provided a very helpful aid for Catholic young adults who are attending courses in Catholic theology or participating in discussion groups. For people in this age grouping the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) is merely foggy history. However, it remains a pivotal event for understanding contemporary theological methods, biblical studies, liturgical renewal, spiritual self-understanding, approaches to ethical issues, as well as an overall sense of Catholic sensibilities. The information and insights that the author provides in "101 Questions about Vatican II" should provide the younger reader with a foundation for a better grasp of the issues still being explored and debated.

It is also the intent of the author to instill a sense of enthusiasm for the significance of this momentous event. As a Catholic priest ordained in early 1963 immediately after the conclusion of the first session of the Second Vatican Council I suspect that the original ecstasy of the Council and its aftermath will be difficult to replicated in the lives of those who did not share the agony of that period as well. For some members of an older generation this helpful guide may well provide memories that only now, some forty years later, fully reveal their significance.

This Jubilee Edition of Art and History of Rome is much expanded and improved over the last one I bought eight years ago. There are many more pictures, although perforce smaller, and it's well organized by districts of the city as well as the major section devoted to the beautifully spiffed up religious sites. They've taken a page from Dorling Kindersley's guides by adding street-by-street views with little buildings drawn in. Also added are detailed sidebars of relevant historical information to put the sights in context. Overall, a very handsome and worthwhile book for prospective or recent visitors to Rome.

every word in this book is the truth

As a theology student I have had Father Markey as a professor. He is brilliant and anything that he would have to say or write about the church will be well thought out, grounded in sound doctrine, and deeply informative. Read this book! Know the Constitutional documents of our church! Be an informed parishioner!

Let me say at the outset that Epicurus is hard to understand because we have only fragments of his work.

Epicurus is important to people living in the third millenium because he realized, as most of us do, that traditional religion is not very believable.

In his time the Hellenistic and Roman world was about to fall into a morass of Eastern religions, spiritualism, and superstition familiar to third millenium people living amid Tibetan and Zen Buddhism, Wicca, and New Age.

Epicurus has two huge virtues that make him worth reading even now.

He is ferociously smart for one. Some of his insights about physical phenomena millenia before the invention of real scientific instruments are astonishing.

The other is that he is unrelentingly honest and rigorous. His premise is that we only know what we can find out from our senses and our reason. This is immensely liberating from all the causistry, tradition, authority, and sentiment of both culture and counter-culture.

To the ultimate rationalization for religion, "Well, it is a comfort for the simple." he responds, "Truth and honesty are better than comfort." He dismissed death as nothing, and proved his point by showing legendary courage in facing his own.

This was an extremely digestable book for anyone who is looking for a deeper appreciation of our Holy Mother; it will leave you both inspired and blessed.

_Freemasonry and the Vatican_ by the Vicomte Leon de Poncins seeks to explain the endless warfare between the Catholic Church and the forces of subversion represented by Freemasonry. After the Second World War a campaign has been underway from within certain constituencies of "progressive Catholic" circles to legitimize freemasonry. Freemasonry has been condemned repeatedly by popes since Clement XII in 1738. The reasons for this repeated condemnation include the immorality of the secret oaths undertaken by masonic initiates, the fundamental conflict between masonic belief and Roman Catholic dogma (i.e. Christian belief), and the subversive aspects of a secret society which continues to plot against church, government, and the established traditionalist based order. However, despite these problematic concerns and fundamental differences between Freemasonry and Catholicism, certain individuals have attempted to urge the hierarchy to remove the ban of excommunication upon those Catholics who become Freemasons. De Poncins quotes at length from two works by the "progressive Catholic" writer Alec Mellor (_Our Separated Brethren_ and _La Franc-Maconnerie a l'Heure du Choix_) which attempt to legitimize freemasonry and integrate it into Catholicism. Mellor proposes a concocted "progressive Catholicism" against what he regards as integrism and traditionalism. It is this "progressive Catholicism" which has taken over the church by storm in the debacle and confusion following the Second Vatican Council. De Poncins clearly shows the dangers of such an approach to masonry and continues to demonstrate that masonry is fundamentally at odds with Roman Catholicism. De Poncins outlines the role of masonry in the French Revolution, the relationships between Judaism and Masonry, and the gnosticism and even Satanism which lurks behind masonry's supposed rationalistic, atheistic (Enlightenment) worldview. The two forms of masonry - regular and irregular - are discussed by de Poncins in detail as well as the connections between (European) Continental and Anglo-American freemasonry. Finally, the supposedly fundamental differences between masonry and communism are shown to be illusory. De Poncins demonstrates that masonry did indeed play a role in the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and shows how the communist-anarchists in Spain were under the influence of masonry as well as the Hungarian communists led by Bela Kun. De Poncins concludes with a chapter on what he regards as the major factors involved in twentieth century masonry. Here he provides documentation revealing connections between masonry and the assassination which provoked the First World War. Also a thorough examination of certain curious aspects of President Roosevelt's policies with regard to the Russians during the Second World War and the Yalta agreement are examined. Again, the role of masonry is found to be prominent. In an article entitled "How we won the war and lost the peace", W. Bullitt a former American ambassador to Moscow explains the travesty of the communist Soviet victory during the Second World War. By allowing the partition of Germany and the requisition of Eastern Europe by the Soviets, the Allies allowed a situation to occur which resulted in the creation of the Cold War. De Poncins ends his book with a discussion of a certain society of "progressive Catholics" within communist Poland called "Pax". De Poncins shows that "Pax" is in fact nothing more nor less than a communist-freemasonic front attempting to infiltrate the Catholic Church within Poland. The poor state of the church and its hierarchy within the communist country of Poland is explained by de Poncins and the role such secret organizations as "Pax" have in furthering that state while collaborating with a communist totalitarian regime is shown. This book provides a good examination of the fundamental and secret warfare between the forces of light represented by Christ's Catholic Church and the forces of subversion represented by secret societies.