By Julie Asher “Theology of Style: Expressing the Unique and Unrepeatable You” Lillian Fallon, Ascension Press (2023) 126 pages, $15.95 Proper dress that shows respect for the institution and its members recently won out in the U.S. Senate, an outcome author Lillian Fallon would likely appreciate. Pennsylvania’s junior senator, John Fetterman, who favors shorts and hoodies, and his supporters had proposed changing an unwritten requirement that men and women members wear business attire on the floor of the chamber. The move failed. By unanimous consent, senators passed a resolution to formaliz ..read more

By Our Sunday Visitor Staff “If you have once accepted Christianity, then some of its main doctrines shall be deliberately held before your mind for some time every day. That is why daily prayers and religious reading and churchgoing are necessary parts of the Christian life. We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed.” C.S. Lewis, brilliant Christian author that he was, understood the importance of spiritual reading to bolster a person’s faith. To use his analogy, without it, we will star ..read more

By Our Sunday Visitor Staff “If you have once accepted Christianity, then some of its main doctrines shall be deliberately held before your mind for some time every day. That is why daily prayers and religious reading and churchgoing are necessary parts of the Christian life. We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed.” C.S. Lewis, brilliant Christian author that he was, understood the importance of spiritual reading to bolster a person’s faith. To use his analogy, without it, we will star ..read more

By Charlie Camosy Writer Christine Valters Paintner is a Benedictine Oblate and the author of 17 books on contemplative prayer and creativity and three collections of poetry. (OSV News photo/courtesay Christine Valters Paintner) Christine Valters Paintner is a Benedictine Oblate living in Galway, Ireland and the online “abbess” for Abbey of the Arts, a virtual “monastery” offering classes and resources on creative expression and the practice of contemplative prayer. An author of 17 books centered on monasticism, creativity and three collections of poetry, Paintner earned a doctorate in Christi ..read more

A collage depicting the cover of “Walk the Line,” (courtesy New City Press) and some of the book’s subjects: Bob Dylan (Richard McAll, Ireland, Pixabay), Taylor Swift (Pixabay) and George Harrison (Wikimedia Commons, cc by-sa 3.0/AI enhanced). The book explores spiritual themes and Christian imagination in popular music and was published in 2023 by New City Press. (OSV News photo/courtesy New City Press/Pixabay/Wikimedia Commons) By Kenneth Craycraft “Walk the Line: Rock Music and the Christian Imagination”Christian Raab, OSB, ed., New City Press, 2023 251 pages, $24.95 I write this seven yea ..read more

Cover of “Counting the Cost: A Memoir” by Jill Duggar, published Sept. 12 by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster. (OSV News photo/courtesy Gallery Books) By Cecilia Cicone | OSV News “Counting the Cost: A Memoir” Jill Duggar with Derick Dillard and Craig Borlase, Gallery Books (2023) 287 pages, $28.99 From the Clampetts and the Brady Bunch to the Simpsons and the Pearsons, television shows that focus on families have long captured the imagination of viewers. With the introduction of reality television, audiences no longer must search to find fictional families that they can relate ..read more

Cover of “Revitalizing Catholicism in America: Nine Tasks for Every Catholic” by Russell Shaw and David Byers, published by OSV. (OSV news photo/courtesy OSV) By David Werning | OSV News If Bing Crosby playing Father O’Malley in “The Bells of St. Mary’s” and Bishop Fulton Sheen preaching on national television captured Catholicism in mid-20th-century America, then predator priests and empty pews represent the church nowadays for many people in the U.S. culture. Russell Shaw’s and David Byers’ new book, “Revitalizing Catholicism in America: Nine Tasks for Every Catholic” (OSV, $17.95), tracks ..read more

By Cecilia Cicone | OSV News “Martyred and Blessed Together: The Extraordinary Story of the Ulma Family” Fr. Pawel Rytel-Andrianik and Manuela Tulli Our Sunday Visitor Publishing (2023) 176 pages, $16.95 Jozef Ulma is pictured in an undated photo from Poland’s National Remembrance Institute. He and his family were executed by Nazis in their home in southeastern Poland for sheltering eight Jews who had escaped internment by German occupying forces. (OSV News) Józef Ulma was a normal young father with a photography hobby who loved taking pictures of his children playing and taking care of one an ..read more

The cover of “Fragile Objects: Short Stories,” a collection of Catholic-themed short stories by Katy Carl, published Aug. 12, 2023 by Wiseblood Books. (OSV News photo/courtesy Wiseblood Books) By Mike Mastromatteo | OSV News “Fragile Objects: Short Stories” Katy Carl Wiseblood Books, 2023, 313 pages Catholic writer Katy Carl earned significant notice with the 2021 release of her debut novel, “As Earth Without Water.” The book was praised as a moving mediation on such issues as true freedom, personal choice, suffering and the action of grace in human striving. When not crafting stories, Carl ..read more

BOOK REVIEW: ‘Come Forth: The Promise of Jesus’s Greatest Miracle’ by James Martin, SJ By Elizabeth Scalia | OSV News “Leaving the tomb is hard … but so is going in.” The words were uttered to Jesuit Father James Martin as he helped a man make his exit from the tomb of Lazarus. Within context, the remark is practical and realistic; visiting this spot in the West Bank town of al-Eizariya is not an easy one as pilgrims journeying from Jerusalem must enter disputed territory, and then navigate the low lintels and perpetually slippery steps that characterize so many of the ancient places Christian ..read more