Catholic Culture Audiobooks

“No damage must be done to the harmony between faith and life: the unity of the Church is damaged not only by Christians who reject or distort the truths of faith but also by those who disregard the moral obligations to which they are called by the Gospel.” Veritatis Splendor, or “The Splendor of Truth”, was a papal encyclical promulgated by Pope St. John Paul II on August 6, 1993. The encyclical addresses fundamental questions of the Church's moral teaching, especially in relation to the various ways in which that teaching had been (and continues to be) challenged by modern strains of dissident theology. Links: Full text: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=3459&repos=1&subrepos=0&searchid=2320723 DONATE at http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio  Theme music: "2 Part Invention", composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"The helpers of our faith are fear and patience; our allies are long-suffering and self-control." The so-called Letter of Barnabas is neither a letter nor by St. Barnabas. Written by an anonymous author sometime between the years 70 and 150 AD, it is a work of allegorical scriptural interpretation chiefly notable for its early date. Having been composed well before collection of the New Testament into a canon, the Letter of Barnabas attempts to illustrate the Old Testament's fulfillment in Christ and to warn the early Christians against accepting it in a strictly literal sense. Relying on his own imagination and best lights, the author succeeds to a greater and lesser extent throughout, sometimes reading an unhistorical meaning into the sacred texts. The letter ends with an exposition of the "Two Ways" similar to that found in the Didache. Links Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120401/the-apostolic-fathers Alternate translation: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=3840 Donate at: http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"I say, a University, taken in its bare idea, and before we view it as an instrument of the Church, has this object and this mission; it contemplates neither moral impression nor mechanical production; it professes to exercise the mind neither in art nor in duty; its function is intellectual culture... It educates the intellect to reason well in all matters, to reach out towards truth, and to grasp it." In 1854, Newman was invited to Dublin by the Catholic Bishops of Ireland to serve as rector for the newly established Catholic University of Ireland, now University College, Dublin. Though he retired after only four years, during this time he composed and delivered the lectures that would become The Idea of a University. In this sixth discourse, Newman argues that the end of a liberal education is not to impart mere knowledge, but to cultivate the intellect. He laments the lack of a word in English to express this idea of intellectual excellence as distinct from the accumulation of learning, and he goes on to illustrate what should be understood as true illumination or enlargement of mind and its implications for university studies. Links Cluny Media edition: https://clunymedia.com/collections/john-henry-newman/products/the-idea-of-a-university The Idea of a University full text: https://www.newmanreader.org/works/idea/ Donate at: http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"Give me thy grace, good Lord, To set the world at naught;" The 16th and 17th centuries produced a number of men whose courageous faith was accompanied by prodigious learning and literary talent. Among these was St. Thomas More, who wrote poems while languishing in the Tower of London, 1534-1535. Read here are "Lewis the Lost Lover" and "Davey the Dicer", titled after the popular tunes of the day to which he wrote the poems. According to his biographer and son-in-law William Roper, More wrote both poems just after Thomas Cromwell departed from his cell, having failed to persuade him to take the Supremacy Oath. The episode concludes with a meditation written in the margins of More’s prayer book while he was imprisoned. Links Lyra Martyrum: The Poetry of the English Martyrs, 1503-1681 https://www.clunymedia.com/product/lyra-martyrum/ Catholic Culture Podcast Ep. 69—Poetry of the English Martyrs, w/ Benedict Whalen: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-69-poetry-english-martyrs-benedict-whalen/ Donate at: http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"Anyone who will calmly consider what he has done without God, cannot fail to realize that what he does with God is no merit of his own; and so we may rejoice in that which is good in us, and take pleasure in the fact, but we shall give all the glory to God alone, who alone is its author." Part 3 Chapter 1 - How to Select That Which We Should Chiefly Practice (00:00:38) Chapter 2 - The Same Subject Continued (00:09:33) Chapter 3 - Patience (00:16:32) Chapter 4 - Greater Humility (00:25:45) Chapter 5 - Interior Humility (00:31:39) Chapter 6—Humility Makes Us Rejoice in Our Own Abjection (00:41:05) Chapter 7—How to Combine Due Care for a Good Reputation with Humility (00:47:49) Chapter 8—Gentleness Towards Others and Remedies Against Anger (00:55:18) Chapter 9—Gentleness Towards Ourselves (01:03:43) Chapter 10—We Must Attend to the Business of Life Carefully, but Without Eagerness or Over-Anxiety (01:08:13) This work will be released in its entirety in episodic format. Links Introduction to the Devout Life full text: https://watch.formed.org/introduction-to-the-devout-life-by-st-francis-de-sales Donate at: http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

In this livestream, James Majewski and Thomas Mirus we discussed errors artists can fall into in pushing back against a moralistic approach to art found within the Church. Rather than reacting away from rigidity to excessive openness, the mature Catholic artist has to get over himself and be a servant. Also discussed: The relation between order and surprise in beauty, morality and culture. Note: the video begins abruptly in the middle of our introductory fundraising campaign pitch - because of some glitched-out audio, we cut the first 6 minutes or so. We're a week into CatholicCulture.org's May fundraising campaign. Generous donors have offered a $50,000 matching grant, so any donation you make by May 24 will double in value! You can donate on our website or PayPal (tax-deductible).  Donation links below: http://www.CatholicCulture.org/donate  https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=DZRZRJ5723MLA Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of content, including news, articles, podcasts, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

We thought Catholic Culture Audiobooks listeners might be interested in this discussion with Mike Aquilina, host of Way of the Fathers, also on the Catholic Culture Podcast Network. For those who missed the YouTube livestream Q&A with Mike Aquilina on May 8th, 2023, here is the audio. It was a lively conversation where Mike fielded viewer questions about important cities of the early Church, early evidence for papal primacy, the role of charity in the early Church, Origen, the providential role of easy travel for the spread of the Gospel in the first centuries, and more. We're a week into CatholicCulture.org's May fundraising campaign. Generous donors have offered a $50,000 matching grant, so any donation you make by May 24 will double in value! You can donate on our website or PayPal (tax-deductible). Donation links below: http://www.CatholicCulture.org/donate https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=DZRZRJ5723MLA We’ll be doing more YouTube livestreams where viewers will be able to interact, ask questions and prompt discussion via the live chat box. Upcoming livestreams: 5/15, 8pm ET—Thomas Mirus & James Majewski (hosts,Catholic Culture Podcast, Catholic Culture Audiobooks, Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast) 5/22, 8pm ET—Phil Lawler & Jeff Mirus (CatholicCulture.org writers)

We'll be doing YouTube livestreams on the next 3 Monday evenings, as part of CatholicCulture.org's May fundraising campaign. In these freewheeling conversations, you'll have the opportunity to ask questions and prompt discussion in the live chat box! 5/8, 8pm ET - Mike Aquilina (host, Way of the Fathers podcast) 5/15, 8pm ET - Thomas Mirus & James Majewski (hosts,Catholic Culture Podcast, Catholic Culture Audiobooks, Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast) 5/22, 8pm ET - Phil Lawler & Jeff Mirus (CatholicCulture.org writers) You can use this link to connect to the Mike Aquilina livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNXvhOJuLZ8 The links to the other two livestreams will go up on the Catholic Culture YouTube channel a few days before each one.

“When the Master himself has explicitly said of the bread, ‘This is my body,’ will anyone still dare to doubt? When He is Himself our warranty, saying, “This is my blood,” who will ever waver and say it is not His Blood?” These the two final catechetical lectures given by Cyril to catechumens around 349 A.D are termed the Mystagogical Lectures. In them, Cyril instructs the newly baptized on the mysteries into which they had just been initiated: baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist. He reserves his lectures on the Eucharist for last, to "crown the work" of his pupils' spiritual edification. Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120470/the-works-of-saint-cyril-of-jerusalem-vol-2 Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=2431 Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"It is not enough to be Christians in name. It behooves us to be such in fact. [...] So let us become His disciples. Let us learn to live the life that Christianity calls for. No one with any other name than this can belong to God." St. Ignatius was the third bishop of Antioch. The only extant writings by St. Ignatius are the seven letters he wrote as a prisoner on his way to Rome to face martyrdom. In this letter, Ignatius encourages the Magnesian Christians to maintain their unity and avoid false teachings, exhorting them to obedience to their bishop and warning against those who deny the reality of Christ's human nature or who would Judaize the faith. With this episode, Catholic Culture Audiobooks has now released the complete letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch, one of the chief figures among the Apostolic Fathers. Links Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120401/the-apostolic-fathers Letter to the Magnesians alternate translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1629 Other readings of Ignatius’ Letters: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/audiobook_authors_titles.cfm Way of the Fathers, Ep. 4—Ignatius of Antioch: To Know “Jesus Christ Our God” https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-4-ignatius-antioch-to-know-jesus-christ-our-god/ Donate at: http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.