Catholic Stories For Children
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Kurt Adler Wooden Nativity Advent Calendar with 24 Magnetic Figures $54.99 This unique, wooden Advent Calendar makes the countdown to Christmas a magnetic attraction. Behind the doors of the 24 cubicles are magnetic character pieces for children to retrieve each day and place on the metal Nativity Scene. Size 16-3/4W. x 1-7/8″D. x 14″H. Hanging hooks on back. This item is for decorative purposes and not a “toy”. Because of the small parts, we recommend it be used with ad… |
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Childrens Pop up Catholic Christmas Advent Calender Story Book Childrens Gift $4.99 This is for the Advent Calendar with Story of Christmas Companion book. Size: 11in x 13in. It is not just an advent calender!, it is more, comes with a book explain the days and the meaning of Christmas. It is a large piece so its easy to show and play with…. |
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NEW Pop up Catholic Christmas Advent Calender Story Book Childrens Kids $4.00 This is for the Advent Calendar with Story of Christmas Companion book. Size: 11in x 13in. It is not just an advent calender!, it is more, comes with a book explain the days and the meaning of Christmas. It is a large piece so its easy to show and play with…. |
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100 Bible Songs for Kids $13.98 Songs 1. Jesus Loves the Little Children 2. Isn’t He Wonderful? 3. Happy All the Time 4. Deep and Wide 5. Oh You Can’t Get to Heaven 6. I’ve Got the Joy, Joy, Joy Down in My Heart 7. Fishers of Men 8. Bless Us Every One 9. Praise the Lord Together 10. Stand Up for Jesus 11. Roll Jordan, Roll 12. Leaning on the Everlasting Arms 13. In the Sweet By and By 14. Kumbayah 15. His Banner Over Me 16. I Ha… |
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Animals and Other Things; 1981 Vinyl LP Vinyl LP!!!….Not a cd…. 1981 USA pressing with Gatefold cover; inner booklet and unused insert merchandise sheet……..ANIMALS AND OTHER THINGS by CANDLE with the Agapeland singers…..Birdwing label BWR-2031……… |
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The Story of Jesus; 78 rpm album; 1950 10″, 78rpm, 3 record set from 1950…..THE STORY OF JESUS……Capital records album DC-3049. Unbreakable, superflex series…… |
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Scene & Play Giant Noah’s Ark Wall Stickers Scene & Play Giant Noah’s Ark Stickers are safe, fun, and easy to use and re-use! Simply choose a play scene wall area. Carefully peel stickers from sheets one at a time. Place the sticker on wall or other clean, smooth, dust-free surface applying even pressure from top to bottom. Children will delight in helping to decorate! To change the scene, carefully peel the sticker off and re-position… |
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Saint Training $3.05 Mary Clare is on the lookout for a miracle. Mary Clare O’Brian is determined to be a saint when she grows up (the halo will help cover her frizzy hair). But lately none of her prayers seem to be working the way she wants them to: her mother is losing her faith, her parents can’t pay all the bills, and her brother receives a draft notice for the war in Vietnam. Mary Clare has a plan to help, but i… |
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Saint Training $2.59 ‘Dear Reverend Mother, ‘My name is Mary Clare O’Brian and I am in sixth grade. I would like to join the convent right after eighth grade before I start liking boys too much. I’m already having problems with boys liking me. Gregory in my class throws spitballs at me and told my best friend he likes me. I haven’t told him that I want to be God’s bride yet. Do you think I should?’ Mary Clare is on … |
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St. Peter $5.36 Follows the life of St. Peter after Christ’s death, and his attempt to bring peace to Rome leading to his own crucifixion.Item Type: DVD MovieItem Rating: PG13Street Date: 03/20/07Wide Screen: yesDirector Cut: noSpecial Edition: noLanguage: ENGLISHForeign Film: noSubtitles: noDubbed: noFull Frame: noRe-Release: noPackaging: Sleeve… |
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Catholic Bible Stories for Children $14.89 Retells over fifty stories from the Old and New Testaments and the Apocrypha, from a Catholic perspective, with important prayers, some comments on later Church history, and brief commentary on important points. |
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Introducing Catholic Social Teaching To Children With Stories And Activities: To Act Justly $15.95 Introducing Catholic Social Teaching To Children With Stories And Activities: To Act Justly |
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Catholic Bible for Children $8.03 “>>The >Catholic Bible for Children> is a welcome new title from Catholic Book Publishing.> >With over 75 Bible stories specifically for children, this full-color illustrated Catholic> Bible for Children> will teach and delight children.> >From God’s creation of the world to Saint Paul’s travels, this sturdy hard-cover >>>Catholic Bible for Children>>> has it all, including a brilliantly colored, striking cover illustration of the animals disembarking from Noah’s Ark with a rainbow in the background.>>> >>>> >>Product Details>>Ages: 4 – 8>Page Count: 140>Dimensions: 11.3″ (L) x 8.6″ (W) x 0.9″ (D)>Release: 11/2006> >” |
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Catholic Bible Stories For Children $15.92 Join Martha as she busily prepares for Jesus? visit. Help Alexander the Great rule over his kingdom… |
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The Catholic Children’s Bible $10.71 “Edited by Sister Mary Theola Zimmerman. This best selling and very complete book of Bible stories will be treasured by Catholic children of all ages. 320 pages. Size: 6â€? x 9â€?.” |
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My Big Book of Catholic Bible Stories $15.92 My Big Book of Catholic Bible Stories is a Catholic family treasure! With almost 200 stories, this book is an excellent resource for children and families to grow … |
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Catholic Book Of Bible Stories $10.04 “A Bible storybook with fifty stories retold from Scripture_especially designed for young Catholics ages 4-8 This beautiful Bible storybook retells fifty familiar Bible stories for children ages four to eight. Each story is followed by “God’s Blessing,” where the reader is reminded of the key message from the story; and “Faith to Grow,” where the story is personalized to the reader and is tied in to the Catholic faith. At the end of the storybook is a section filled with fun crafts and activities adults and children can do together that reinforce themes from the Bible stories. Features include: * 50 stories retold from Scripture * “God’s Blessing”: provides the key message of the Bible story * “Faith to Grow”: written from a distinctly Catholic perspective, ending in a prayer * Four-color artwork throughout by Doris Ettlinger, artist of the Little House on the Prairie books. * Fun crafts and activities” |
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Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls $9.22 Presents stories of Catholic children following the ways of Jesus and their faith. |
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Catholic Book of Bible Stories $12.53 This beautifully illustrated Bible storybook retells fifty well-known Bible stories just for children ages four to eight. Each story ends with a God”s Blessing, Faith to Grow, and a prayer… |
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Handbook for Today’s Catholic Children $3.77 Handbook for Today’s Catholic Children |
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The History of England for Catholic Children $25.04 The History of England for Catholic Children |
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All Things Are Labor $19.95 The enigmatic stories in this haunting collection deal with individuals striving to live outside the dominant American culture–people who do not want to be incorporated, appropriated, or consumed. Their battles are waged on interior and external landscapes, pitting clarity against confusion, faith against fear, the marginalized against the powerful, the passive against the aggressive. In one story, a Mennonite mother leaves her alcoholic husband and moves with her three children into an abandoned house and back to a life of faith, though a new faith, one of her own making. In another story, a teenager living in the darkness of a failing rust-belt city holds before her the only light she sees, her child, to guide the way as she moves across the border and beyond. A young artist in New York City pursues a simple life, a passive life, the yielding life of a Mennonite, even as she immerses herself in the gritty urban culture of the East Village. Another woman, given a short time to live, sets up ant farms on her stoop in Alphabet City and is determined to discover how worlds are made by watching the ants and only the ants. A Vietnam veteran finds meaning as a dishwasher at the Catholic Worker, where he circles on his stump of a leg, aware that the thing that is missing, that cannot be seen, is most present. Many of these stories experiment with the form of writing itself. They reflect the vision of an artist who remains separate-in the world, but not of the world–and whose goal is not to dazzle or entertain, but simply, humbly to be present for each word. |
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Arts and Literature In The Middle Ages $8.95 During the Middle Ages in Western Europe, many people made their living by creating art for the Catholic Church and entertaining nobles and townspeople with music, acrobatics, juggling, and plays. Children will delight in reading about- the cathedrals created during the Romanesque and Gothic periods of art- West African brass, ivory, and bronze sculptures, animal carvings from the Arctic, and the totem poles in the northwestern forests- Giotto di Bondone’s frescoes, wood-panel paintings, and mosaics- stories from the Bible depicted in the mosaics of Byzantine artists- what the Bayeux Tapestry teaches us of the Battle of Hastings- writers such as Dante, Li Po, Omar Khayyam, and Christine de Pisan |
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Arts and Literature In The Middle Ages $26.6 During the Middle Ages in Western Europe, many people made their living by creating art for the Catholic Church and entertaining nobles and townspeople with music, acrobatics, juggling, and plays. Children will delight in reading about- the cathedrals created during the Romanesque and Gothic periods of art- West African brass, ivory, and bronze sculptures, animal carvings from the Arctic, and the totem poles in the northwestern forests- Giotto di Bondone’s frescoes, wood-panel paintings, and mosaics- stories from the Bible depicted in the mosaics of Byzantine artists- what the Bayeux Tapestry teaches us of the Battle of Hastings- writers such as Dante, Li Po, Omar Khayyam, and Christine de Pisan |
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Bedtime Bible Stories For Catholic Children $19.95 Mrs. Hermann Bosch, Supplement by Janet P. McKenzie,Paperback, English-language edition,Pub by Biblio Resource Publications, Inc. |
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Catholic Bible Stories $19.95 Join Martha as she busily prepares for Jesus? visit. Help Alexander the Great rule over his kingdom. Listen as Jesus makes His great promise! Discover the Bible in warm and charming stories just for children. Catholic Bible Stories for Children, First Communion Edition presents the inspired word of God in a lively yet reverent tone that captures the imagination and the spirit of a child. This special edition includes a page for a personal handwritten message to the recipient. Makes a great keepsake for your young Catholic, a literal passing on of the faith. Lifelong learning begins with these stories of witness, worship, and tradition told in tales engaging for tiny tikes and cool school kids alike. Bright illustrations richly reflect the positive message of God’s love for us. With Catholic Bible Stories for Children, First Communion Edition, story time becomes a prime time to share the Faith with little ones. Includes a presentation page. |
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Catholic Bible Stories for Children $19.95 Ann Ball, Julianne M. Will, Julianne Will, Kevin Davidson (Illustrator),Hardcover, English-language edition,Pub by Our Sunday Visitor (IN) |
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Catholic Bible Stories for Children $15.27 Join Martha as she busily prepares for Jesus? visit. Help Alexander the Great rule over his kingdom. Listen as Jesus makes His great promise! Discover the Bible in warm and charming stories just for children. Catholic Bible Stories for Children presents the inspired word of God in a lively yet reverent tone that captures the imagination and the spirit of a child. Introduce your young Catholic to these lessons necessary for faith formation. Lifelong learning begins with these stories of witness, worship, and tradition told in tales engaging for tiny tikes and cool school kids alike. Bright illustrations richly reflect the positive message of God’s love for us. With Catholic Bible Stories for Children, story time becomes a prime time to share the Faith with little ones. Saints, Psalms, and signs of our Creator’s care throughout ? this keepsake will be a treasured part of your child’s growth in understanding and love. |
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Catholic Bible Stories for Children: 1st Communion Edition $19.95 Julianne M. Will, Ann Ball, Kevin Davidson (Illustrator),Hardcover, English-language edition,Pub by Our Sunday Visitor (IN) |
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Catholic Bible for Children $12.95 Over 80 Bible stories for children, richly illustrated in full color. From the story of creation to the travels of St. Paul, this volume will educate and delight children. |
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Catholic Book of Bible Stories $14.99 This beautifully illustrated Bible storybook retells fifty well-known Bible stories just for children ages four to eight. Each story ends with a ”God”s Blessing, ” ”Faith to Grow, ” and a prayer. And for extra fun and hands-on learning, you and your child can enjoy the activities section included at the end of the storybook. Features include: * 50 stories retold from Scripture * ”God”s Blessing”: helps emphasize the key message from each Bible story * ”Faith to Grow”: personalizes the story and ties it to the Catholic faith and traditions, and ends with a prayer * Four-color artwork throughout by Doris Ettlinger, artist of the Little House on the Prairie books * Fun crafts and activities |
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Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls $10.35 Caryll Houselander is best known for the intensity of her vision of the suffering Christ and His immeasurable love for us, a theme that she frequently spoke of with breathtaking luminosity in her many books about Him.Few know, however, of the many remarkable stories she wrote for Catholic children — delightful tales that are simple but not shallow. Indeed, like her books for adults, they manifest a tender love of Christ and His little ones not commonly found among us these days.Here are twelve of Houselander’s best tales, charmingly illustrated with Renee George’s lively drawings of pirates and princesses, castles and kings.Through the tale of Jack and Jim, even young children will grasp the meaning of Christ’s suffering; in Racla the Gypsy, they’ll discover the charity which is at the heart of the Eucharist; in the The Cure’s Guest, they’ll see how Christ makes up for the sins of others.Other stories touch on other Catholic themes, but these tales are not really catechetical. Yes, they do take for granted that Catholicism plays a large role in the lives of these children, especially prayer and the Mass. But they do something more . . . and more important.Tale after tale introduces children to the tender love that Jesus has for each of them, and to the fire of love for Him that can burn in the heart of Catholics — even in the hearts of little ones like themselves.There is no better gift you can give to a young child. |
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Celebration With Surprises $28.4 Dominican nuns celebrate 800 years!A first of its kind! Read stories that you’ve never heard before. This book highlights 800 years of the nuns’ history, especially in America. Their adventures will hold you in awe and admiration. You will be inspired by their courage in braving the unknown and their determination in overcoming obstacles, driven by their faith and trust in God. Learn of their tragedies and of God’s miraculous hand in their resurgence. Learn about the nuns’ monastic lives of prayer; listen to them tell why they entered the monastery, what they left behind, and what they seek. Meet their friends and read their experience of the nuns. These include people from all walks of life, all ages, all professions…children, professionals, students and more. “This book weaves beautifully the 21st century experience of the 800th anniversary with the rich history of the Dominican Nuns. It has heartfelt words from so many who love this community. It is a joy to read and savor.” -Peggy Weber, Catholic Communications writer, columnist and producer”Amazing story of the Dominican Nuns…their beginnings…dreams… adventures…tragedies…hopes…courage…resurgence…expansion…friends…life of prayer…love for God and for you. Never before written in a single book.”-Donna McCarthy, editor and playwright”It’s woven together in an articulate and fascinating manner. I recommend this book to everyone.” -Amy Gracey, editor”…very well done literary masterpiece…You will be inspired by her work..”-Elizabeth HanlonSr. Mary of the Sacred Heart Sawicki has been a member of the West Springfield, Mass. Dominican Nuns since 1964. She contributed an essay to the book, Vocation in Black and White: Dominican Contemplative Nuns Tell How God Called Them. She also is the editor of the American version of www.praedicare.com web site. She also has studied Greek and Hebrew and participated in the Dominican Theological Formation |
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Devotion to St. Joseph: Read-Aloud Stories, Poems, and Prayers for Catholic Children $14.95 Janet P. McKenzie (Compiler), Contribution by Catherine Beebe, Contribution by Sr. Margaret Patrice,Paperback, English-language edition,Pub by Biblio Resource Publications |
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Eager Reader Bible Story Book, Catholic Edition. $18.95 Give your beginning readers their own Bible story book with over 100 action-packed stories of faith from both the Old and New Testaments. For children ages 4-6. |
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Everything in This Country Must: A Novella and Two Stories $19.99 In a daring tour de force, one of our writers takes on the most intractable of conflicts-the Troubles in Northern Ireland.In his fourth book, Colum McCann, a writer of fierce originality and haunting lyricism, turns to the Troubles and reveals, as only fiction writers can, the reverberations of political tragedy in the most intimate lives of men and women, parents and children. In the title story, a teenage girl must choose between allegiance to her Catholic father and gratitude to the British soldiers who have saved the family’s horse. The young hero of Hunger Strike, a novella, tries to replicate the experience of his uncle, an IRA prisoner on hunger strike. And in Wood, a small boy does his part for the Protestant marches, concealing his involvement from his blind father.Writing in a new form, but with the skill and force and sparkling poetry that have brought him international acclaim, Colum McCann has delivered masterful, memorable short fiction. |
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Family: A Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Collection of Essays about the Family, from Notre Dame Magazine $8.4 For 25 years, Notre Dame Magazine has set a standard of quality among university publications and in Catholic publishing. Each issue of the quarterly engages wide-sweeping issues of cultural and personal importance. Yet no subject area has so deeply and perennially resonated with the magazine’s readers as those stories which address family matters.This volume contains about three dozen of the best of those essays — on topics such as raising children, dealing with death, cleaning out the ancestral home, and caring for elderly parents. Rather than advice-giving or how to articles, these are personal and reflective narratives which provide insightful, illuminating truth into that aspect of the human condition which virtually all of us share — that our lives process in a tangle of intimate relationships known as family. |
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First Holy Communion $7.35 Arising directly from a parent’s need, this is a clear account of how a parent, or teacher, can prepare a child for First Holy Communion without talking down to or patronizing the child.Mark Allen found no suitable published book to prepare his son for First Holy Communion. In the Roman Catholic Church, First Holy Communion is an event of the greatest significance, similar to confirmation in the Church of England or Bar Mitzvah for Jewish children. A lot of the material published is trite and worst of all tends to patronize the children for whom it is intended.To help parents and teachers answer questions about the ceremony Mark Allen offers readings and background from scripture and catechism. Children are hardheaded and like stories and facts. The narrative of the Bible provides facts, events which happened, and along with them the objective truths of revelation.The Mass is our sacramental encounter with the person of Jesus and instruction for First Holy Communion should therefore be centered on him and on the Gospel story of his life. Preparation should reflect the unity of the mass, its liturgy of the Word and the Eucharistic Rite – the mystery of Christ in our community as Church.Routine is the key aid to progress. The course provided in this book is based on a series of half-hourly sessions for parents or teachers to hold with their child. It is both practical and down to earth. |
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For Everything There Is A Season In God’s Time $8.31 In God’s time there is a season for all things-a time for repentance, a time for celebration, a time for new birth, a time for seeking, a time for resurrection, a time for power living and a time for ordinary living. In this book we see a collection of stories: An Inuit woman, Ida Edwards, and her journey into adulthood: A Christmas story in an Alaskan Village: A story of a Christian/Jewish family dealing with tragedy: A monk’s story of repentance: An Easter tale of devastation and resurrection: A story of joy and gladness on Pentecost Sunday: Lastly, a story of love and forgiveness in Watts, California. These tales are of ordinary people dealing with life situations not unlike those people in the epic tales of the Bible.Stephanie Smith was born prior to World War II in Iowa. Her religious heritage is Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Conservative Jew. At age fourteen she decided to become an Episcopalian. She attended Lindenwood College in St. Charles, Missouri where she earned a B.A. degree in Religious Education. While in college she spent two summers in Alaska working in the mission field, where she met her husband, Alfred Smith, an Episcopal priest. They were married in 1961 and continued their missionary work with the natives of Beaver and Tanacross. Because of health issues, they left Alaska and settled in southern California. Stephanie has written children’s stories and plays, poetry, and faith journey stories. She has taught classes in Bible, peacemaking, conflict resolution, the environment and dialogue.Stephanie and her husband live in San Diego near their two children and five grandchildren. |
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Germans of Brazilian Descent: Thomas Mann $9.91 Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher’s book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Thomas Mann (6 June 1875 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual. His analysis and critique of the European and German soul used modernized German and Biblical stories, as well as the ideas of Goethe, Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer. His older brother was the radical writer Heinrich Mann, and three of his six children, Erika Mann, Klaus Mann and Golo Mann, also became important German writers. When Hitler came to power in 1933, the anti-fascist Mann fled to Switzerland. When World War II broke out in 1939, he emigrated to the United States, from where he returned to Switzerland in 1952. Thomas Mann is one of the most known exponents of the so called Exilliteratur. Mann was born Paul Thomas Mann in Lübeck, Germany and was the second son of Thomas Johann Heinrich Mann (a senator and a grain merchant), and his wife Júlia da Silva Bruhns (a Brazilian with partially German ancestry who emigrated to Germany when seven years old). His mother was Roman Catholic, but Mann was baptised into his father’s Lutheran faith. Mann’s father died in 1891, and his trading firm was liquidated. The family subsequently moved to Munich. Mann attended the science division of a Lübeck gymnasium, then spent time at the Ludwig Maximillians University of Munich and Technical University of Munich where, in preparation for a journalism career, he studied history, economics, art history, and literature. He lived in Munich from 1891 until 1933, with the exception of a year in Palestrina, Italy, with his novelist elder brother Heinrich. T… More: |
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Grieving With the Help of Your Catholic Faith $5.99 Losing a loved one is perhaps the most painful and overwhelming of life’s experiences. It challenges you physically and emotionally, raises tough questions about the future, and incites impossible-to-answer questions about what you could have done differently. Your key to understanding all these issues ? and healing ? is your Catholic Faith. Grieving with the Help of Your Catholic Faith gives Catholics a meaningful way to help themselves or others through this challenging time. With personal stories, reassuring prayers, and spiritual wisdom, it provides: An understanding of how grief affects ? and can be lightened by ? the heart, soul, and mind The perspective to sort through difficult physical, emotional, and spiritual feelings Positive ways to deal with sorrow Empowering wisdom for building a stronger faith Tips for providing comfort to adults, teens, and children who are grieving A perfect resource for grief support groups, clergy, lay ministers, and individuals alike, Grieving with the Help of Your Catholic Faith offers comfort, empathy, and inspiration that will be relied upon time and time again. |
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Two Weeks Since My Last Confession by Kate Genovese
Two Weeks Since My Last Confession is a novel by Kate Genovese. It is a family saga, featuring the O’Briens from Boston, Massachusetts. On the face of things, the O’Briens are an upstanding pillar of the community. John O’Brien is a politician, a senator no less, and a respected and long term incumbent to boot. Marie, Mrs. O’Brien, is a devout Catholic with five children. She is determined that they should be raised in such a way that ensures they develop values and respect rules. She fails.
The story centres on two siblings of the O’Brien household, and sets their stories in parallel, spanning three decades up to the 1980s. Molly and Sean are separated by several years, Sean being the older. Molly is the more impetuous of the two, Sean, in his own way, the less predictable. Things at home turn very sour indeed when Molly claims she is sexually abused by her brother. She complains to her mother, who blames her daughter for raising such ideas in the hothouse of her over-active imagination. She tells her father, who seems to be equally dismissive, being always more interested in the preservation of his own privilege and public face. It is only a long time later that she learns her father did, indeed, speak to Sean. They are words that the boy resents, for he has no recollection of having done anything.
Essentially, Two Weeks Since My Last Confession deals with the on-going consequences of these reactions which, at the time, were generated for merely rational reasons, their intended consequences designed to heal rather than harm. Events are described from the individual perspectives of the two children, Molly and Sean.
On the surface a devout Roman Catholic nuclear group, the O’Briens in reality are shot through with tension, hypocrisy, deceit and, indeed, corruption. They are perhaps a fairly standard family beneath the sheen of respect. When the lad misbehaves, his senator father pulls strings so that nothing will come of the issue and, importantly, there will be no record kept. The senator, himself, is a rampant womanizer and two timer, his clearly unhappy wife thus trapped in a marriage her religion would never contemplate ending. Sean gets up to some pretty naughty things before, during and after his tour of duty in Vietnam, but the experience of war does change him, so that his life is transformed. As he matures, he begins to understand and come to terms with the origin of the psychological demons that have haunted him since boyhood.
But it is Molly, more formally Maureen Bridget whenever her mother scolds her, who provides the centrepiece of the story. Her life is a tale of deterioration, a personal tragedy that affects all around her.
In Bobby Angelo, she finds a perfect boyfriend at an age when she is just too young to convince others her feelings are sincere. She develops an early, rich, sexual relationship with Bobby, who seems to be a likeable boy of Italian descent. He is convinced he is destined for stardom as a baseball player and somehow it just doesn’t work out with Molly.
In fact, it actually worked out a little too well with Molly, but he is ignorant of this when he goes off to college. Molly is thus prevented from attending college herself and she takes up a career in health care. She has already smoked dope, as have most of her peers, and she has tried a few other things. Her professional activities facilitate her access to drugs, of course, and she begins to try something different, and then a little more, and a little more still. And so she drifts into a destitution of addiction. But it is a state that allows her to continue a semblance of a normal life for many years.
The book describes the history of the whole family, however, in order to fill out details of the two principal characters’ lives. There are marriages and births – sometimes in that order, some more marriages, plenty of divorces, more births, domestic abuse, success, wealth, failure. There are breakdowns, rehab centres, a Vietnam War and pop culture. And so the characters inhabit a confused two decades to emerge older, wiser perhaps, more stable perhaps, certainly awaiting what life will throw at them next.
Ultimately, the book is an examination of abuse and its consequences, both direct and incidental. The childhood traumas that centred on Molly and Sean resurface, demand attention, regularly reassert their control of lives. They have been denied. They will not go away. And again ultimately the book has a message of hope, as the skeletons in the cupboard are eventually brought out into daylight and positively buried.
Life can be a messy process, with events becoming confused, subconsciously rejected or unacknowledged. But things do catch up with you in the end. The mistakes are truly easy to make, but unpicking their consequences can be an intricate, delicate and lengthy task.
Catholic Children! Pay Close Attention! (III Stories – Saturday, 22 May 2010)
catholic stories for children