Transfigured: Patricia Sandoval's Escape from Drugs, Homelessness, and the Back Doors of Planned Parenthood by Christine Watkins and Patricia Sandoval

Paperback: Transfigured (2017) is endorsed by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and Bishop Michael Barber SJ, Diocese of Oakland, California, with a Foreword written by Father Donald Calloway, MIC. 

Patricia Sandoval has a truly amazing story, one of sin and suffering but also of grace and redemption. Above all, it is a reminder of how much God loves us, walks with us even when we stumble, and "works all things to the good for those who love Him." This well-written book is always engaging and has something to challenge and inspire each of us, particularly in support of God's littlest ones, the unborn. - Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, Archdiocese of San Francisco, California

When Patricia Sandoval worked at Planned Parenthood, they told her, “Never tell a soul what you see behind this door.” So now she is telling the world. 

Transfigured is, however, so much more than a compelling tool in the hands of pro-life and chastity advocates. It is the riveting life story of a young girl who felt abandoned by her parents, and after three abortions and work at an abortion clinic, became a methamphetamine addict living on the streets - until a miracle occurred.

Ms Sandoval is now a renowned, full-time international pro-life and chastity speaker inspiring thousands with her harrowing and exhilarating story of redemption. Ms Sandoval has shared her story through media outlets worldwide, such as EWTN’s Cara a Cara, Women of Grace, At Home with Jim & Joy, and EWTN Bookmark. Young and old travel for hours, sometimes across country lines, not only to hear Ms Sandoval’s testimony, but to thank her for changing their lives. And through the written word, this outstanding autobiography is bringing the same healing love, mercy, and hope that God gave to Patricia, directly to the reader’s heart.

This book comes with short companion videos of Patricia Sandoval speaking to the reader at various chapter intervals. When you see the words "Chapter Video", you are invited to go to the YouTube site listed to hear a message from Ms Sandoval that relates to the content you will have just read.

About the authors: Mrs Christine Watkins, MTS, LCSW, is an inspirational Catholic speaker and author, who has hosted her own shows on Catholic radio and television. Formerly an anti-Christian atheist, she began a life of service to the Catholic Church after a miraculous healing from Jesus through Mary, which saved her from death. Before her conversion to Catholicism, she danced professionally with the San Francisco Ballet Company. Mrs Watkins is the author of Full of Grace: Miraculous Stories of Healing and Conversion through Mary’s Intercession, published by Ave Maria Press, and is the founder of Queen of Peace Media. Watkins holds a master's degree in theological studies from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley and a master's degree in social welfare from the University of California at Berkeley's School of Social Welfare. She has twenty years of work experience as a spiritual director, licensed counselor, inspirational speaker, and retreat leader. 

Patricia Sandoval is an international pro-life and chastity speaker who has appeared on countless television and radio shows, as well as co-hosted shows on EWTN - The Eternal Word Television Network. Patricia has dual-citizenship in the United States and Mexico, and throughout Latin America is regarded as a primary voice for the unborn, chastity, and post-abortion healing. Sandoval shares her message of God’s mercy, healing, and gift of life in packed stadiums and media channels across the globe.

Elijah in Jerusalem (Christian Fiction) by Michael D O'Brien

Hardback: Elijah in Jerusalem (2015), the long-awaited sequel to the acclaimed, best-selling novel Father Elijah: An Apocalypse, is the continuing story of the Catholic priest called to confront a powerful politician who could be the Antichrist foretold in the Bible.

A convert from Judaism, a survivor of the Holocaust, and a participant in the founding of Israel, Father Elijah was for decades a monk on Mount Carmel, the mountain made famous by his Old Testament prophet-namesake. In the events of the preceding novel, the Pope commissioned Father Elijah to meet the President of the European Union, a man rising toward global control as President of the soon- to-be realized World Government. Recognizing in the President a resemblance to the anticipated Antichrist, the Pope asked Father Elijah to call the President to repentance, a mission that ended in failure.

In this sequel, now-Bishop Elijah, wanted for a murder he did not commit, tries again to meet the President. Accompanied by his fellow monk Brother Enoch, he enters Jerusalem just as the President arrives in the holy city to inaugurate a new stage of his rise to world power. This time Elijah hopes to unmask him as a spiritual danger to mankind. As the story unfolds, people of various backgrounds meet the fugitive priest, and in the encounter their souls are revealed and tested.

Elijah perseveres in his mission even when all seems lost. The dramatic climax is surprising, yet it underlines that God works all things to the good for those who love him. 

The Children of the Last Days series comprise of seven novels that examine the major moral and spiritual struggles of our times. Each can be read independently of the others. There are, however, two trilogies within the larger work. The first three of the series, however, are best read in chronological order, for they form a trilogy within the larger work. 

The books in the Children of the Last Days series, in chronological order, are Strangers and Sojourners, Plague Journal, Eclipse of the Sun (these first three make up a trilogy), Father Elijah, Elijah in Jerusalem (its sequel), Sophia House (these make up the second trilogy), and A Cry of Stone. 

About the author: Michael D O’Brien is the former editor of the Catholic family magazine, Nazareth Journal. He is also the author of several books, including his nine-volume series of novels published by Ignatius Press, notably the best-selling Father Elijah. For more than thirty years he has been a professional artist. Michael and his wife Sheila have six children. He writes and paints full-time at his home near Combermere, Ontario.

Rating: 5/5 

The Beatification of Father Titus Brandsma, Carmelite (1881-1942) Martyr in Dachau prepared by Redemptus Maria Valabek, OCarm

Paperback: Born at Bolsward (The Netherlands) in 1881, Blessed Titus Brandsma joined the Carmelite Order as a young man. 

Ordained priest in 1905, he obtained a doctorate in philosophy in Rome. He then taught in various schools in Holland and was named professor of philosophy and of the history of mysticism in the Catholic University of Nijmegen where he also served as Rector Magnificus. He was noted for his constant availability to everyone. 

He was a professional journalist, and in 1935 he was appointed ecclesiastical advisor to Catholic journalists. Both before and during the Nazi occupation of The Netherlands he fought, faithful to the Gospel, against the spread of the Nazi ideology and for the freedom of Catholic education and the Catholic press. For this he was arrested and sent to a succession of prisons and concentration camps where he brought comfort and peace to his fellow prisoners and did good even to his tormentors. 

In 1942, after much suffering and humiliations he was killed at Dachau. He was beatified by John Paul II on November 3rd 1985.

The Beatification of Father Titus Brandsma, Carmelite (1986) writes about the beatification of Father Titus Brandsma and the three-day of solemn Triduum on 3 November 1985 at St Peter's Church, Rome. It is a reprint from Carmel in the World, 25 (1986), 83-240.

About the editor: Reverend Redemptus Valabek, OCarm (1934-2003) had been the editor and driving force behind Carmel in the World. In August 2003, Redemptus Valabek, OCarm died tragically in a road traffic accident while on holidays in the United States.

Rev Redemptus Maria Valabek, OCarm was a member of the Order of Carmelites and of the North American Province of St Elias. He was 69 years old. Father Redemptus was born in Shelton, Connecticut, on 3 July 1934, to Frank and Anna Valcik Valabek. His parents predeceased him. He is survived by one sister, Ann, and her husband, James Waldron; niece, Theresa and her husband, Marcus, and son, Marcus, Jr. Yancoskie, nieces, Angela Waldron and Renee Waldron all of Shelton, Connecticut, several cousins in Albany and in the Czech Republic also survive him. After completing his studies at St Albert's Junior Seminary in Middletown, New York, Father Redemptus received his habit in the Order of Carmelites, in September 1953, in Williamstown, Massachusetts, when he entered the Carmelite Novitiate. Following his Novitiate year he professed First Vows on 8 September 8 1954, in Williamstown, and three years later professed his Solemn Vows of Obedience, Poverty and Chastity on 15 September 1957. He was ordained to the priesthood on 25 July 25 1960, in Hamilton, Massachusetts. A 1957 graduate of St Bonaventure College in Olean, NewYork, he earned his Bachelor's degree in Philosophy and Latin. He then traveled to Rome, Italy, and attended the College of San Alberto, where he studied Theology and then earned his Doctorate in Theology from the Lateran University in 1965. 

Father Redemptus spent 40 years of his Carmelite ministry life in Rome, Italy. He served as the Master of Students and headed the theology-spirituality section at the College of Saint Albert; was Apostolic Examiner of the Clergy from 1967-75, lectured on liturgy at several Roman universities and was Postulator General of the Causes of Saints for the Order of Carmelites from 1981-1995. He served as Dean of Regina Mundi College, was a member of the Institutum Carmelitanum, a Confessor at St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, and Editor of the English language magazine, Carmel in the World. He further served the Order as General Delegate for the Donum Dei Missionary Family from 1998 until his death. He authored six books on Carmelite topics. He was an organizer of the Carmelite Order's International Congress on Prayer, the Order's month-long workshop on Leadership and Values, attended the Congress of the Carmelite Rule in 1986, was organizer of the International Marian Congress in 1989 and most recently served as a member of the International Commission of Laity. Father Redemptus was also a multi-linguist who, for a good many years, served the Carmelite Order as an interpreter at various General Chapters and international meetings. 

Staring Out The Window

Humanae Vitae: Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Pope Paul VI

Paperback: The papal encyclical, Humanae vitae (Of Human Life) written by Pope St Paul VI in 1968, provides beautiful and clear teaching about God's plan for married love and the transmission of life. 

Humanae vitae re-affirmed the teaching of the Catholic Church regarding married love, responsible parenthood, and the rejection of artificial contraception. In formulating his teaching, Pope St Paul VI explained why he did not accept the conclusions of the Pontifical Commission on Birth Control established by his predecessor, Pope John XXIII, a commission he himself had expanded.

Mainly because of its restatement of the Church's opposition to artificial contraception, the encyclical was politically controversial. It affirmed traditional Church moral teaching on the sanctity of life and the procreative and unitive nature of conjugal relations.

Humane vitae was the last of Paul's seven encyclicals. It is available both in the Latin and the English.

Some excerpts are taken from Wikipedia.

About the author: Paul VI (1897-1978) became pope of the Roman Catholic Church in 1963. He reigned during a period of great change and ferment in the Church following the Second Vatican Council. 

The second child of Giorgio and Giuditta Alghisi, Giovanni Battista Montini was born in Concesio, Brescia, on 26 September 1897. He was ordained to the priesthood on 19 May 1920. He studied philosophy, civil law and canon law. In 1923, he was appointed attaché at the Apostolic Nunciature in Warsaw and a year later returned and began serving in the Secretariat of State in the Vatican. During his service to the Holy See - under the Pontificates of Pius xi and Pius XII - he also taught the history of papal diplomacy at the Lateran University, until 13 December 1937 when Pius XI appointed him Substitute of the Secretariat of State. 

During World War II, he engaged in aiding refugees and Jews, also overseeing the Vatican Information Office. In November 1952, he was appointed Pro-Secretary of State for General Affairs and two years later, he was appointed Archbishop of Milan. There, he employed new methods of evangelization in order to address the issues of immigration, materialism and Marxist ideology. On 21 June 1963 he was elected pope and took the name of Paul VI. 

Amid numerous challenges, he brought three periods of the Second Vatican Council to a successful conclusion, always encouraging the Church to be open in the modern world while respecting her tradition, always seeking communion among the Council Fathers. Paul VI began the practice of Apostolic Journeys beginning with the Holy Land, where his historic meeting with Athenagoras took place. 

His first encyclical, Ecclesiam Suam (1964), gave rise to the method of “the dialogue of salvation”. His other writings, include Populorum Progressio on the development of peoples. He also provided masterful teaching on the question of peace, also instituting the World Day of Peace. From the very beginning of his ministry, he had particular concern for the young, sharing with them the joy of faith. After a brief illness, he died on 6 August 1978 in Castel Gandolfo.

Pope Francis beatified him on 19 October 2014. He was canonised on 14 October 2018 by Pope Francis.

The above Paul VI's biography is taken from L'Osservatore Romano (24 October 2014).

Sir Derek Alton Walcott (1930-2017), Poet, Playwright and 1992 Nobel Prize Winner in Literature

George Saunders - American Writer of Short Stories, Essays, Novellas, Children's Books and Novels

Related Lives: Confessors And Their Female Penitents, 1450-1750 by Jodi Bilinkoff

Hardback: Preachers often brought along priests to hear confessions or heard confessions themselves, effectively linking sermon and sacrament.

In early modern Catholic Europe and its colonies priests frequently developed close relationships with pious women, serving as their spiritual directors during their lives, and their biographers after their deaths. 

In this richly illustrated book (2005), Jodi Bilinkoff explores the ways in which clerics related to those female penitents whom they determined were spiritually gifted, and how they conveyed the live stories of these women to readers. The resulting popular literatures of hagiography and spiritual autobiography produced hundreds of texts designed to establish models of behaviour for the Catholic faithful in the period between the advent of printing and the beginning of the modern age.

Bilinkoff finds that confessional relations and the texts that document them reveal much about gender and social values. She uses life narratives, primarily from Spain, but also from France, Italy, Portugal, Spanish America, and French Canada, to examine the ways in which clerics presented female penitents as exemplary, and how they constructed their own identities around their interactions with exceptional women. 

These multilayered texts, she suggests, offer compelling accounts of individuals caught up in the pursuit of holiness, and provide a key to understanding the resilience of Catholic culture in an age of religious change and conflict.

About the author: Dr Jodi Bilinkoff is Associate Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. Her research interests include religion, gender, life-writing, and the construction of memory in early modern Europe, particularly Spain. After working for many years on women in Catholic culture, more recently she has turned her attention to masculine identity, especially male clerical identity.

In her current research project, she engages all these issues by examining the life, afterlife, and legacy of St John of the Cross (1542-1591). Her book-in-progress, John of the Cross: The History, Mystery, and Memory of a Spanish Saint, will not be a conventional biography, but rather, a critical study of the manifold, at times, conflicting meanings this intriguing figure has held for individuals and communities, both during and after his lifetime. 

The Shepherd of Hermas

Paperback: I believe that as an historical work, it gives us unprecedented insight into the practical faith of the early Christian Church, and that as a prophetic work, it is something more than words on a page. Its living intention seeks to join us with the consistent, clear and abiding call of Christ that transcends all generations: Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the kingdom of heaven is near. (Matthew 4:17) - Daniel Robison

The Shepherd of Hermas (2013) - also known as The Pastor of Hermas - was one of the most popular books, if not the most popular book, in the Christian Church during the second, third and fourth centuries. 

Believed by the early Christians to have been the work of the Hermas referred to by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans, this book was regarded as inspired Scripture by many and even included in several of the early canons. 

At the very least, the historical and universal acclaim of this work by those who were still burning with the recent fire of Pentecost demands a serious consideration of the message it gives to us; a message that, after nearly two thousand years, still exhales the prophetic fragrance of the ancient, apostolic faith. 

This version has been updated into modern language by Daniel Robison for a new generation to rediscover this captivating work of the early Church.

About the translator: Daniel Robison is a youth minister with a passion for communicating the timeless truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the next generation of the church. In a desire to connect modern Christian readers with lesser known but valuable literary works from the saints of the past, Robison has translated/updated a variety of texts into everyday, common language. The ancient Christian classic, The Shepherd of Hermas, The Baptism with the Holy Spirit by R A Torrey, and Hippolytus on the Trinity, which is a modern edition of Hippolytus' Against the Heresy of Noetus, are among some of his most recently published works. In addition to these, he has recently published an original work, Temptation: What It Is and How We Overcome.

Education Of The Heart

The Life Of The Venerable Anne Of Jesus OCD: A Companion Of St Teresa of Ávila by a Sister of the Carmel of Notre Dame da Namur

Paperback: The name of Venerable Anne of Jesus is probably familiar to all those who are well acquainted with the life, the work of foundation and the correspondence of St Teresa of Ávila; it also occupies a not unimportant place in the life-story of St John of the Cross; she, moreover, took the most prominent part in the establishment of the Teresian nuns in France and afterwards in the Low countries.

It is, therefore, not too much to say that none of these subjects can be properly and fully understood unless one has a more than cursory knowledge of her own life and aims. Above all this, she was endowed with talents not even second (according to the opinion of St John of the Cross who was a good judge) to those of St Teresa, and she reached a wonderful degree of sanctity even for a period which saw some of the greatest Saints of the Catholic church.

It was, then, a happy thought that one who in religion had received the same name should have spent many years in collecting all the facts of the life, and all the surviving writings, of her heavenly patroness. The present writer who was able to watch the inception and gradual growth of the biography can bear testimony to the scrupulous accuracy with which the biographer has fulfilled her task.

This is a story that cannot be found in print elsewhere, of the transplanting of the Teresian reform from Spain to France and the Netherlands, a remarkable feat given that all of those countries were at war and the populations of France and the Netherlands not especially amenable to Spaniards. Nevertheless, the roots of Carmel were well placed, and the order flourished in convents still there to this day.

Anne of Jesus was the foundress of the Discalced Carmelite Reform in France and the Netherlands, and from her foundations there, the Teresian reform spread all over Europe, America and eventually England. In many ways, this is the sequel to St Teresa of Ávila’s life.

One of the things that truly stands out about Anne of Jesus is her intense mysticism and love of our Lord, as well as her faithfulness to the original Teresian Constitutions.

This work, written by an anonymous nun in the 1930s, is based entirely on primary sources, frequently quoting letters to and from Anne of Jesus, not only with St Teresa, but also Fr Gracián, the holy French Cardinal Mgsr Bérulle, and many other figures central to the history of Carmel in the 16th and 17th century. 

The Life of the Venerable Anne of Jesus OCD (1931, 2015) has been carefully reproduced from the original, with the UK spelling and the original pictures retained, a book that cannot be found anymore, at least until now. To aid reading, there are editorial notes concerning obscure terms used in the book that would have been better known 100 years ago.

This beautiful and fascinating book is wonderful both from the standpoint of Carmelite history as well as spirituality. A unique work that can be found nowhere else in English!

Meditations With Titus Brandsma by Jane Lytle-Vieira

Paperback: The meditations on the life and writings of Titus Brandsma, OCarm, Dutch priest, mystic, educator, journalist and martyr, which include questions for reflection, have been prepared by Jane Lytle-Vieira, a member of the Carmelite’s Titus Brandsma Committee. 

Having read and studied Titus in the vernacular, she brings a unique perspective to the task of making him “live” once again for us.

Meditations With Titus Brandsma was first published in 2002 by Carmelite Press, Il. 

This book is also available as part of a four-book set.

About the author: Ms Lytle-Vieira lived in Holland as a high school exchange student, attending mass at the cathedral where Titus was ordained, and later worked for an American bank in Amsterdam.

She has a certificate in Carmelite Studies from the Washington Theological Union in DC, where she taught a class on Titus last summer. She is also working toward her MA in Theology there. She was awarded second place prize from the Catholic Press Association for an article she wrote for the Carmelite journal, Spiritual Life, the theme of which was Job and the union of love and suffering.

Professionally, Jane Lytle-Vieira is a clinical social worker, with a private practice in Severna Park, Maryland.

Friar Against Fascism by Leopold G Glueckert OCarm

Paperback: Titus Brandsma (1881-1942) has proven to be a source of inspiration to people all over the world: educators, men and women in the church, journalists and scholars, peace workers, people in distress, fighters for justice, the sick and the lonely, God-seekers.

Titus' significance, for the present as well as for the future, arises from his infectious zeal for authentic piety and humanity, in the spirit of the prophet Elijah, the great example of Mount Carmel.

On 19 January 1942, Nazi secret police arrested Titus Brandsma, a Dutch Carmelite priest. After extensive interrogation, they labeled him a "most dangerous man." He was sentenced to the infamous concentration camp at Dachau, where he was executed on 26 July 1942. His ashes were buried in Dachau's "Grave of Unknown Thousands."

Today, he is remembered and honoured throughout the world. His death in Dachau made him a symbol of national resistance for the Dutch people. He exemplifies what one individual can accomplish with personal determination and fidelity to the Christian principle. On 3 November 1985, Pope John Paul II proclaimed Titus Brandsma Blessed and Martyr at St Peter's in Rome. 

Friar Against Fascism (1985, 2002) is the story of his resistance against the Nazis and treat the points of opposition between Titus Brandsma and the Nazis, especially insofar as he felt it necessary to block attempts to draw Dutch society into a Fascist way of thinking. 

This book is also available as part of a four-book set.

About the author: Leopold Glueckert OCarm has taught in the History departments at DePaul and Loyola Universities in Chicago, Illinois. He currently serves on the faculty of Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois. 

Vaccination: A Catholic Perspective by Pamela Acker MS

Paperback: In Vaccination: A Catholic Perspective (2020), biologist Pamela Acker provides a balanced examination of the whole subject of vaccination from a Catholic perspective which will allow Catholic leaders from the Pope and the Bishops down to parents and teachers to make an informed judgment on proposals to mandate vaccinations for the novel coronavirus or for other infectious diseases. The author is ideally qualified to undertake this task.  

A devout Catholic with a master’s degree in Biology from the Catholic University of America, Pamela worked in the field of vaccine development and has the right combination of knowledge and experience to evaluate the scientific basis for vaccination as currently practiced.  

In her book, Miss Acker takes the reader through the history of vaccination while giving a comprehensive introduction to the marvels of the divinely-designed human immune system. 

Drawing upon the latest research in the field, Miss Acker elucidates the many problematic aspects of vaccination as currently practiced and explains how they flow out of a materialistic, mechanistic, evolution-based understanding of the human person which tends to see man as a collection of parts rather than as a divinely-designed body-soul composite.  

With powerful examples she shows how the evolution-based approach to the study of disease has had disastrous consequences for scientific and medical research and has supported the maintenance of inadequate criteria for evaluating the efficacy and the dangers of vaccination as currently practiced.

About the author: Pamela Acker holds a Master of Science degree in Biology from The Catholic University of America. She has taught science in a variety of settings (from middle school to college) since 2008. Prior to working as a teacher, Pamela was involved in biological research as a whole genome library maker at The Genome Sequencing Center at Washington University in Saint Louis. She has also conducted research in vaccine delivery using T4 bacteriophage nanoparticles, and was briefly involved in researching novel gene regulation mechanisms in C. elegans.