Lucy Bregman guides the reader through the wealth of recent literature on death and dying, giving special attention to the autobiographical narratives of terminally ill people and to books offering counsel to the dying, their caregivers, and the bereaved. She argues that this literature should supplement, not supplant, Christian understandings of death.

Sacred Silence is a book about failed leadership in the Catholic Church. Donald Cozzens looks at various challenges and the scandal gripping the Church and offers an historical overview of our church leadership. He explains how the misplaced loyalties of those in leadership positions created the current crisis. Cozzens clarifies why bishops and church authorities think the way they do and why the ecclesiastical system might be the real villain in the abuse scandal. With compassion and understanding Cozzens answers the why of the present and past leadership failures and proposes a new direction. Chapters in Part One: Masks of Denial are "Sacred Silence," and "Forms of Denial." Chapters in Part Two: Faces of Denial are "Sacred Oaths, Sacred Promises," "Voices of Women," "Religious Life and the Priesthood," "Abuse of Our Children," "Clerical Culture," "Gay Men in the Priesthood," and "Ministry and Leadership." The chapter in Part Three: Beyond Denial is "Sacred Silence, Sacred Speech." Donald Cozzens, PhD, a priest and writer, is author of two award-winning titles, Sacred Silence and The Changing Face of the Priesthood, and editor of The Spirituality of the Diocesan Priest, all published by Liturgical Press. He is writer in residence at John Carroll University where he teaches in the religious studies department.

Beyond Denial is a collection of essays envisioning a spirituality for our time that is life-affirming and inclusive, intellectually viable and socially responsible. The author, an ordained minister, integrates Judeo-Christian insights with the rich resources of many world religions and wisdom-streams. He emphasizes the centrality of consciousness in spiritual practice, first through fostering experiential awareness of our inherent inner Divinity, but also through consciously perceiving--and moving beyond denial of--whatever dysfunctional patterns may plague us individually or in society. From Columbine to the Clinton impeachment, from Alanis Morissette music to baseball games, Acheson invites readers to look at the world with curiosity and compassion, for it is only through inner questioning that we may transform all we've denied so far. This book offers a range of valuable insights and practices for shaping a hopeful future through expanded awareness of all levels of the human experience.

Multicultural teacher education does not work without attending to the inner landscapes of learners. This collection of essays depicts a journey of unlearning deeply cherished assumptions, and gaining new, difficult understandings of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, and global issues in teacher education. Foregrounding learners' own voices and highlighting those intimate moments of awakening through a process-oriented and dialogic approach, this book, in its profoundly moving narrative and critically reflective voices, speaks directly to pre-service and in-service teachers and informs teacher educators' multicultural pedagogical theory and practice. Demonstrating the power of multicultural education through the learner's lens, this compelling and inspirational book is a much-needed text for undergraduate and graduate courses in teacher education, multicultural education, curriculum studies, and social foundations of education.

Living Well and Dying Faithfully explores how Christian practices love, prayer, lament, compassion, and so on can contribute to the process of dying well. Working on the premise that one dies the way one lives, the book is unique in its constructive dialogue between theology and medicine as offering two complementary modes of care.

The fable of the Emperor's New Clothes is a classic example of a conspiracy of silence, a situation where everyone refuses to acknowledge an obvious truth. But the denial of social realities--whether incest, alcoholism, corruption, or even genocide-is no fairy tale. In The Elephant in the Room, Eviatar Zerubavel sheds new light on the social and political underpinnings of silence and denial-the keeping of "open secrets." The author shows that conspiracies of silence exist at every level of society, ranging from small groups to large corporations, from personal friendships to politics. Zerubavel shows how such conspiracies evolve, illuminating the social pressures that cause people to deny what is right before their eyes. We see how each conspirator's denial is symbiotically complemented by the others', and we learn that silence is usually more intense when there are more people conspiring-and especially when there are significant power differences among them. He concludes by showing that the longer we ignore "elephants," the larger they loom in our minds, as each avoidance triggers an even greater spiral of denial. Drawing on examples from newspapers and comedy shows to novels, children's stories, and film, the book travels back and forth across different levels of social life, and from everyday moments to large-scale historical events. At its core, The Elephant in the Room helps us understand why we ignore truths that are known to all of us.

Elometer returns from the hospital only to discover that she can no longer hear the voices of her friends and family. In fact, she can't hear anything at all. It's hard enough for a young girl to deal with such a loss, but things get even worse when her stern family takes her out of school and hides her from the outside world. The playmates she manages to keep wildly gesture and even throw things to get her attention, alienating her even further. Eventually, Elometer stops fantasizing about one day having her hearing return, and she takes steps to thrive in a world that misunderstands her and treats her differently. But her spirit and determination enable her to succeed. Take a peek into a world that millions of deaf and hard-of-hearing people must live in every day and be inspired by a woman who doesn't let anyone or anything hold her back in A Journey Beyond Silence. That a little deaf girl who was kept isolated and hidden for twenty years was able to marry, have children and succeed as a seamstress in New York City is remarkable.