Catholic Guide to Loneliness

Catholic Guide to Loneliness PDF Author: Kevin Vost
Publisher: Sophia Institute Press
ISBN: 1622824148
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 177

Book Description
Here’s a comprehensive guide to loneliness that affords Catholics the deepest possible answers to the growing problem of loneliness in our fragmented, technological modern society. Rooted in ancient philosophical and Biblical wisdom, and buttressed by modern theory and research, these pages bring you to an understanding of the root causes of loneliness and teach you the remedies – secular and religious – that are most apt to cure this ever more prevalent problem. You’ll also come to see how to harness loneliness for the service of God and neighbor, and how to bear with grace any residual loneliness you can’t manage to defeat. Open these wise pages to discover: The simple ABCs of Lonely ThinkingThe 3 psychological and behavioral components of lonelinessPractical techniques to counteract the effects of all 3 of them30 easy, concrete steps you can take now to conquer your lonelinessHow to acquire the virtues that immunize you against loneliness; andHow to profit from solitude when you must be alonePlus, much more! Here are scores of lessons about loneliness from ancient solitary monks, modern psychologists, saints like Thomas More and Thomas Aquinas, and Christ Himself – lessons that are guaranteed to uproot forever the weeds of loneliness that are choking out the fruitful life God wants you to have.

The Long Loneliness

The Long Loneliness PDF Author: Dorothy Day
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062796674
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 308

Book Description
The compelling autobiography of a remarkable Catholic woman, sainted by many, who championed the rights of the poor in America’s inner cities. When Dorothy Day died in 1980, the New York Times eulogized her as “a nonviolent social radical of luminous personality . . . founder of the Catholic Worker Movement and leader for more than fifty years in numerous battles of social justice.” Here, in her own words, this remarkable woman tells of her early life as a young journalist in the crucible of Greenwich Village political and literary thought in the 1920s, and of her momentous conversion to Catholicism that meant the end of a Bohemian lifestyle and common-law marriage. The Long Loneliness chronilces Dorothy Day’s lifelong association with Peter Maurin and the genesis of the Catholic Worker Movement. Unstinting in her commitment to peace, nonviolence, racial justice, and the cuase of the poor and the outcast, she became an inspiration to such activists as Thomas Merton, Michael Harrinton, Daniel Berrigan, Ceasr Chavez, and countless others. This edition of The Long Loneliness begins with an eloquent introduction by Robert Coles, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and longtime friend, admirer, and biographer of Dorothy Day.

The Catholic Guide to Depression

The Catholic Guide to Depression PDF Author: Aaron Kheriaty
Publisher: Sophia Institute Press
ISBN: 1622821130
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Book Description
Countless Christians — including scores of saints — have suffered profound, pervasive sorrow that modern psychiatrists call “depression.” Then, as now, great faith and even fervent spiritual practices have generally failed to ease this wearying desolation of soul. In these pages, Catholic psychiatrist Aaron Kheriaty reviews the effective ways that have recently been devised to deal with this grave and sometimes deadly affliction — ways that are not only consistent with the teachings of the Church, but even rooted in many of those teachings. Extensive clinical experience treating patients with depression has shown Dr. Kheriaty that the confessional can't cure neuroses, nor can the couch forgive sin. Healing comes only when we integrate the legitimate discoveries of modern psychology and pharmacology with spiritual direction and the Sacraments, giving particular attention to the wisdom of the Church Fathers and the saints. Here, with the expert help of Dr. Kheriaty, you'll learn how to distinguish depression from similarlooking but fundamentally different mental states such as guilt, sloth, the darkness of sin, and the sublime desolation called “dark night of the soul” that is, in fact, a privileged spiritual trial sent to good souls as a special gift from God. You'll come to know how to identify the various types of depression and come to understand the interplay of their often manifold causes, biological, psychological, behavioral, cultural, and, yes, moral. Then you'll learn about exciting breakthroughs in pharmacological and other medical treatments, the benefits and limitations of psychotherapy, the critical place that spiritual direction must have in your healing, and the vital role that hope — Christian hope — can play in driving out depression.

The Loneliness Epidemic

The Loneliness Epidemic PDF Author: Susan Mettes
Publisher: Brazos Press
ISBN: 1493432761
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 217

Book Description
What makes people lonely? And how can Christian communities better minister to the lonely? In The Loneliness Epidemic, behavioral scientist and researcher Susan Mettes explores those questions and more. Guided by current research from Barna Group, Mettes illustrates the profound physical, emotional, and social toll of loneliness in the United States. Surprisingly, her research shows that it is not the oldest Americans but the youngest adults who are loneliest and that social media can actually play a positive role in alleviating loneliness. Mettes highlights the role that belonging, friendship, closeness, and expectations play in preventing it. She also offers meaningful ways the church can minister to lonely people, going far beyond simplistic solutions--like helping them meet new people--to addressing their inner lives and the God who understands them. With practical and highly applicable tips, this book is an invaluable tool for anyone--ministry leaders, parents, friends--trying to help someone who feels alone. Readers will emerge better able to deal with their own loneliness and to help alleviate the loneliness of others. Foreword by Barna Group president David Kinnaman.

A History of Loneliness

A History of Loneliness PDF Author: John Boyne
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374713022
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 353

Book Description
Bestselling author John Boyne's A History of Loneliness tells the riveting narrative of an honorable Irish priest who finds the church collapsing around him at a pivotal moment in its history. Propelled into the priesthood by a family tragedy, Odran Yates is full of hope and ambition. When he arrives at Clonliffe Seminary in the 1970s, it is a time in Ireland when priests are highly respected, and Odran believes that he is pledging his life to "the good." Forty years later, Odran's devotion is caught in revelations that shatter the Irish people's faith in the Catholic Church. He sees his friends stand trial, colleagues jailed, the lives of young parishioners destroyed, and grows nervous of venturing out in public for fear of disapproving stares and insults. At one point, he is even arrested when he takes the hand of a young boy and leads him out of a department store looking for the boy's mother. But when a family event opens wounds from his past, he is forced to confront the demons that have raged within the church, and to recognize his own complicity in their propagation, within both the institution and his own family. A novel as intimate as it is universal, A History of Loneliness is about the stories we tell ourselves to make peace with our lives. It confirms Boyne as one of the most searching storytellers of his generation.

The Shattering of Loneliness

The Shattering of Loneliness PDF Author: Erik Varden
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472953274
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 118

Book Description
The experience of loneliness is as universal as hunger or thirst. Because it affects us more intimately, we are less inclined to speak of it. But who has not known its gnawing ache? The fear of loneliness causes anguish. It prompts reckless deeds. To this, every age has borne witness. No voice is more insidious than the one that whispers in our ear: 'You are irredeemably alone, no light will pierce your darkness.' The fundamental statement of Christianity is to convict that voice of lying. The Christian condition unfolds within the certainty that ultimate reality, the source of all that is, is a personal reality of communion, no metaphysical abstraction. Men and women, made 'in the image and likeness' of God, bear the mark of that original communion stamped on their being. When our souls and bodies cry out for Another, it is not a sign of sickness, but of health. A labour of potential joy is announced. We are reminded of what we have it in us to become. That our labour may be fruitful, Scripture repeatedly exhorts us to 'remember'. The remembrance enjoined is partly introspective and existential, partly historical, for the God who took flesh to redeem our loneliness leaves traces in history. This book examines six facets of Christian remembrance, complementing biblical exegesis with readings from literature, ancient and modern. It aims to be an essay in theology. At the same time, it proposes a grounded reflection on what it means to be a human being.

Finding God in My Loneliness

Finding God in My Loneliness PDF Author: Lydia Brownback
Publisher: Crossway
ISBN: 1433553961
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 169

Book Description
Young or old, single or married, male or female—at some point in life, we're all confronted with loneliness. We try to fill the void or change our circumstances so we no longer feel the pain. But what if our pangs of loneliness are meant to point us to something greater? Looking at various aspects of loneliness, Lydia Brownback reminds us of God's power to redeem our loneliness and use it in our lives to draw us to himself. Ultimately, she helps us see that even when we feel misunderstood, forsaken, or abandoned, we're never really alone. God is always with us, and only he can meet all of our needs in Christ Jesus.

Single for a Greater Purpose

Single for a Greater Purpose PDF Author: Luanne Zurlo
Publisher: Sophia Institute Press
ISBN: 1622826574
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 156

Book Description
In these fascinating pages, author Luanne Zurlo shows that, contrary to popular opinion, single life is often a holy, joyful vocation lived out, sometimes in a hidden way, by souls who have had an authentic encounter with Christ. Here she sheds light on this little-understood vocation discerned and embraced by a growing number of single persons who neither marry nor enter religious life. These souls are joyfully single for a greater purpose, nourishing both the world and the Church with the unique spiritual strengths and graces that God gives to souls who deliberately remain single for Him — in the world but not of it. Read these pages to learn: Why dedicated single life is uniquely suited to our times How it builds on our baptismal vocations The special role that dedicated singles have in the Church How the dedicated-single vocation complements marriage and religious life How celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom yields a fruitful spousal relationship with Christ How dedicated singles can follow the evangelical counsels of obedience and poverty without the structured life of a religious community The vows that singles can take to dedicate themselves to such service of God within the world In the face of mounting difficulties within our world and our Church, God is now calling for an army of dedicated singles — laymen for the Kingdom of God — nourished from within and empowered by an authentic, personal encounter with Him alone.

Gay and Catholic

Gay and Catholic PDF Author: Eve Tushnet
Publisher: Ave Maria Press
ISBN: 1594715432
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Book Description
Winner of a 2015 Catholic Press Award: Gender Issues Category (First Place). In this first book from an openly lesbian and celibate Catholic, widely published writer and blogger Eve Tushnet recounts her spiritual and intellectual journey from liberal atheism to faithful Catholicism and shows how gay Catholics can love and be loved while adhering to Church teaching. Eve Tushnet was among the unlikeliest of converts. The only child of two atheist academics, Tushnet was a typical Yale undergraduate until the day she went out to poke fun at a gathering of philosophical debaters, who happened also to be Catholic. Instead of enjoying mocking what she termed the “zoo animals,” she found herself engaged in intellectual conversation with them and, in a move that surprised even her, she soon converted to Catholicism. Already self-identifying as a lesbian, Tushnet searched for a third way in the seeming two-option system available to gay Catholics: reject Church teaching on homosexuality or reject the truth of your sexuality. Gay and Catholic: Accepting My Sexuality, Finding Community, Living My Faith is the fruit of Tushnet’s searching: what she learned in studying Christian history and theology and her articulation of how gay Catholics can pour their love and need for connection into friendships, community, service, and artistic creation.

The Catholic Gentleman

The Catholic Gentleman PDF Author: Sam Guzman
Publisher: Ignatius Press
ISBN: 162164068X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 186

Book Description
What it means to be a man or a woman is questioned today like never before. While traditional gender roles have been eroding for decades, now the very categories of male and female are being discarded with reckless abandon. How does one act like a gentleman in such confusing times? The Catholic Gentleman is a solid and practical guide to virtuous manhood. It turns to the timeless wisdom of the Catholic Church to answer the important questions men are currently asking. In short, easy- to-read chapters, the author offers pithy insights on a variety of topics, including • How to know you are an authentic man • Why our bodies matter • The value of tradition • The purpose of courtesy • What real holiness is and how to achieve it • How to deal with failure in the spiritual life