Love Alone is Credible
Hans Urs von Balthasar
A passionate and bold attempt to provide a method for Christians moving forward in a late modern world unmoored from tradition. If you are patient, so much can be given to you in this book.
After Virtue
Alistair MacIntyre
Although originally written in 1984, this highly influential (moral philosophy) book is one of the best diagnoses for the moral fragmentation of Western society, and the best defense for how a return to virtue could heal so much of our divisiveness today.
Confessions
St. Augustine of Hippo
This book never gets old. A timeless classic of seeking after and being sought by the Creator of the universe.
For the Time Being
Anne Dillard
No one writes with the holy extravagance of Anne Dillard. While Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is rightly considered a classic, this one takes you to another level of reverence and awe.
Letter to a Suffering Church: A Bishop Speaks on the Sexual Abuse Crisis
Bishop Robert Barron
Bishop Barron manages here to be brutally honest about the crisis, and has no desire to defend the Church, but still speaks eloquently and passionately about how the church can still move forward and be the sacrament of Christ in the world.
Laudato Si
Pope Francis
There have been developments on papal teaching about ecology since John Paul II, but Laudato Si is incredible. For all the readings in ecological theology, nothing spells out as well modernity’s desecration of creation and the Church’s response to it.
Francis: The Journey and the Dream
Murray Bodo
There are lots of good books about St. Francis of Assisi, but this one sticks out due to its beautifully poetic way of telling his story. It is hard not to be captivated.
City of Joy
Dominique Lapierre
This book could literally change your life. Among the interweaving narratives, it is the story of the Polish priest, called to live in the poorest slums in Calcutta, that is so profound. It’s remarkable to see someone called to Calcutta not primarily to “convert” people or do “social work,” but merely to be the presence of Christ to the poorest of the poor.
The Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien
Don’t just read this classic for its epic nature and literary genius. Revel also on Tolkien’s imaginative telling of what a medieval Catholic virtue theory may have looked and sounded like. If you’ve only seen the Peter Jackson movie versions, you have no idea all that you are missing.
The Sabbath
Abraham Joshua Heschel
A profound meditation on orienting our lives on God’s time in a world speeding out of control. Read this one slowly, and let it sink into your bones.