Whether you need a prayer for the beginning of class, a parent or staff meeting, a saint's day, or the liturgical season, you should find what you need in this collection of prayers. Some prayers are prepared for specific annual events, some for general occasions, but all can easily be adapted to a school or parish's situation and needs.

Catholic school leaders and teachers will love this book! It has everything-absolutely everything-they want and need to know about prayer in school. Sr. Kathleen is a veteran teacher and it's clear that she has "been there and done that" with great joy and enthusiasm. But she knows that not every teacher feels secure about praying with a class, even though they know it's important and realize that parents entrust them with this responsibility. And she also realizes that certain Catholic prayer forms are a mystery to them. On the other hand, there are those who feel very comfortable teaching prayer but are looking for fresh ideas.

What are the components of youth cultures today? This encyclopedia examines the facets of youth cultures and brings them to the forefront. Although issues of youth culture are frequently cited in classrooms and public forums, most encyclopedias of childhood and youth are devoted to history, human development, and society. A limitation on the reference bookshelf is the restriction of youth to pre-adolescence, although issues of youth continue into young adulthood. This encyclopedia addresses an academic audience of professors and students in childhood studies, American studies, and culture studies. The authors span disciplines of psychology, sociology, anthropology, history, and folklore. The Encyclopedia of Youth Cultures in America addresses a need for historical, social, and cultural information on a wide array of youth groups. Such a reference work serves as a corrective to the narrow public view that young people are part of an amalgamated youth group or occupy malicious gangs and satanic cults. Widespread reports of bullying, school violence, dominance of athletics over academics, and changing demographics in the United States has drawn renewed attention to the changing cultural landscape of youth in and out of school to explain social and psychological problems.

Although the origins of Christianity lie in the Near East, Europe and Christianity have an exceptional relationship, since most Europeans perceive Christianity as a Western - more precisely, as a European - religion. The region has seen rapid social change in the 21st century, set off by factors including energy crisis and environmental awareness, poverty and exclusion, falling birthrates and increased migration, changing attitudes to sexuality, gender and family life, and challenges to Europe's idea of itself and place in the global order. Amidst all this flux, this volume focuses on one particular issue: the rapidly changing profile of the Christian faith that has shaped the life of the European continent for a millennium and more.At a time when patterns of Christian life and worship appear to be dying out, yet traces of new life are also appearing, this volume maps out the current reality of Christianity in Western and Northern Europe with all its questions and uncertainties.

Stations of the Cross: Community Prayer Edition offers parishes and other communities a unique and contemporary way to pray the Stations. It includes new prayers composed by Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, along with excerpts from his full-length meditations and the remarkable images that accompanied them in the original edition of Stations of the Cross. This profound and beautiful resource will guide the faithful to enter more deeply into communion with the crucified Jesus. It is ideal for parishes, parish-based organizations, prayer groups, youth groups, school and campus ministry programs, families, and individual faithful to experience.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From one of the world’s most influential spiritual thinkers, a long-awaited book exploring what it means that Jesus was called “Christ,” and how this forgotten truth can restore hope and meaning to our lives. “Anyone who strives to put their faith into action will find encouragement and inspiration in the pages of this book.”—Melinda Gates In his decades as a globally recognized teacher, Richard Rohr has helped millions realize what is at stake in matters of faith and spirituality. Yet Rohr has never written on the most perennially talked about topic in Christianity: Jesus. Most know who Jesus was, but who was Christ? Is the word simply Jesus’s last name? Too often, Rohr writes, our understandings have been limited by culture, religious debate, and the human tendency to put ourselves at the center. Drawing on scripture, history, and spiritual practice, Rohr articulates a transformative view of Jesus Christ as a portrait of God’s constant, unfolding work in the world. “God loves things by becoming them,” he writes, and Jesus’s life was meant to declare that humanity has never been separate from God—except by its own negative choice. When we recover this fundamental truth, faith becomes less about proving Jesus was God, and more about learning to recognize the Creator’s presence all around us, and in everyone we meet. Thought-provoking, practical, and full of deep hope and vision, The Universal Christ is a landmark book from one of our most beloved spiritual writers, and an invitation to contemplate how God liberates and loves all that is.