The Cardinal Müller Report: An Exclusive Interview on the State of the Church with Fr Carlos Granados; Ignatius Press, £14
Engaging in a book-length interview can be a highly effective way for a churchman to explain his views. His interlocutor can press him over matters he might prefer to avoid, and readers can pick their way more easily through this format than through a book on its own. Benedict XVI, when Cardinal Ratzinger, produced The Ratzinger Report in response to a searching interview; Cardinal Sarah did the same with his inspiring God or Nothing. Now Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), has given his own responses to a series of questions by a priest-interviewer.
With just the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the table before him, the cardinal offers his opinions and reflections on a wide range of issues: how to provide hope for a post-Enlightenment society; how to respond to the evolutionary belief in blind chance; what he thinks of bishops’ conferences, women’s ordination, celibacy and the scandal of priestly sexual abuse. These are only some of the topics covered in a probing series of questions.
Although less intensely personal and prayerful than the answers given by Cardinal Sarah in his own book, Cardinal Müller’s replies are clear, authoritative, scholarly and wise. Readers who focus too much on apocalyptic blogs should read this vigorous and strong-minded document. Without in any way wanting to court controversy, Müller deftly handles provocative questions. For instance, he reminds readers that “the bishops’ conference is not the local church” and that “the Church is not a federation of episcopal conferences, presided over by a world president.”
He rightly brushes aside the question of women priests as “not a legitimate issue” – the Church does not have “the authority to admit women”. It is a “definitive doctrine, infallibly taught”. In case women feel aggrieved at this apparent snub, Müller adds that in the CDF many highly qualified women are employed, both lay and Religious, and that their collaboration is “indispensable”.
His response to the famous rhetorical question, “Who am I to judge?” is to say decisively that “The Church with her Magisterium has the power to judge the morality of specific situations.” In his response to a question on dark spots in the Church’s history – “The history of the Church is not a shameful history that has to be covered with a plea for pardon” – one senses that the cardinal intends to challenge a modern fashion for hand-wringing apologies. In his thoughtful reply to a question on scandals in the priesthood, Müller is both clear and sensitive: priests must “shun the double life and the scandal that it entails”, and they must take “the most meticulous care of their spiritual life”, with regular confession, periods of adoration, praying the breviary, the “devout celebration” of Mass and “entrusting ourselves to the maternal care of Mary”.
Those who take the trouble to read the book, from which I have provided only selective quotations, will find it a strong affirmation of the Church’s unique mission in history, alongside constant references to the love of Christ which always “gives us the capacity to hope above and beyond our strength”.
A Priest Answers 27 Questions You Never Thought to Ask, by Fr Michael Kerper; Sophia Institute Press, £12
Fr Kerper, a parish priest in New Hampshire, has written a series of useful and informative replies to questions that are often a source of confusion to Catholics, such as “What exactly is heresy?”, “How should we fast?”, “Is damnation real?” and “Do ghosts really exist?”
This last question is one I have often been asked and the author gives an excellent explanation, with a little help from St Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. Demons can masquerade as ghosts, he argues, but this is different from the souls of the dead who are in heaven and can appear to the living to bring comfort and encouragement. Being “haunted” by dead souls can also be an inducement to prayer and good works.
St Faustina Prayer Book for the Conversion of Sinners, by Susan Tassone; Our Sunday Visitor, £13
Tassone, an authority on devotions to the Holy Souls and the mission of St Faustina, has written a book that will bring hope to those longing to convert their lapsed loved ones. Using many quotations and illustrations from St Faustina’s own life and diary, the author spells out the meaning of Christ’s revelations to this Polish nun on the nature of His divine mercy.
This small book invokes Our Lady of Fatima and provides prayers to certain saints for conversion, such as St Joseph, St Monica and St Anthony. Readers will find it a rich resource for their own devotions. A helpful examination of conscience based on the Seven Deadly Sins is included, as well as a useful paragraph on “Obstacles to Conversion”.
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