Writing critically about something you have come to regard with affection must provoke mixed emotions. As I learned more and more about the modern battleship's shortcomings, I found myself, like so many before me, falling under its spell. I have traveled hundreds of miles to visit these wonderful ships, reverently preserved like a necklace of talismans around our nation's coasts. I have stood in awe under the great guns, wondering what it must have been like to hear them fire. Perhaps it is true that their sound and fury signified very little in terms of actual destructive power. But most people thought they did, and that was and still is important. Besides, for the most part, we were proud of those ships. Now we live in a time of weapons so terrible that we must actually hide them-beneath the ground and below the surface of the sea. But, like battleships, they keep the peace precisely because of what others think they can do. All things being equal, who would not prefer the dreadnoughts?

From USCCB Publishing, this revision of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) seeks to promote more conscious, active, and full participation of the faithful in the mystery of the Eucharist. While the Missale Romanum contains the rite and prayers for Mass, the GIRM provides specific detail about each element of the Order of Mass as well as other information related to the Mass.

Catholic seminaries and parish rectories are perceived by many as sanctuaries of spirituality and holiness. But, have you ever been curious about what really goes on inside these mysterious "palaces of piety"? Clerical Secrets is a collection of actual stories about seminary and parish life. It is a rare peek behind the walls of a seminary and into the life of a parish priest and “exposes” the real truths unknown even to many Catholics. Clerical Secrets touches on everything from “Confessional Cockamamie” to “Biretta Madness” to “Zoltan’s Lunacy” to “Twisted Sisters” and answers such intensely burning questions as “What exactly is a “manitergium” and “What do you do with a “funghellino”? Clerical Secrets is the new “book of revelations”!!!