Why Believe? Volume 2: Answers to Life's Questions

Why Believe? is a series unlike any other. It is truly a New Apologetics for the New Evangelization!

Today, many Catholics confront daily the implicit claim that our secular culture provides fully for human happiness. Why Believe? responds directly to that claim by a compelling argument that faith in Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son of God, is the only adequate answer to the human heart’s desire for happiness. That argument unfolds over the 30 chapters of the two-volume textbook.

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Find Volume 1 here!

Book Details

– Published 2018
– Authors: Gwendolin Adams, Christopher Blum, Tim Gray, Daniel McInerny, Randall Smith, and Edward Sri
– Pages: 259
– Editors: Christopher Blum, Tim Gray, and Daniel McInerny

You Are Forgiven - Student Guide

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Each session of this full-color Student Guide includes a story from Scripture as well as a story of a saint relevant to the lesson, key word definitions, a fun activity, a story featuring fictional characters children can relate to, and a session recap.

About You Are Forgiven

Signs of Grace: You Are Forgiven prepares children to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time by revealing that God is indeed “rich in mercy.” It is most effective when used with The Augustine Institute’s Forgiven: The Transforming Power of Confession to catechise the parent’s and help meet the crucial need for ongoing formation and catechesis for the entire family.

You Are Forgiven includes seven sessions, each presenting the good news of salvation offered to us in Jesus Christ, with a focus on helping children understand that the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a real encounter with him, and that he desires to forgive and heal us at the deepest levels of our humanity.

And while the curriculum is focused on the child, it also recognizes that it is in the Christian family that the Faith is first learned and is most effectively understood and lived out. A Family Take Home Page is provided with each session in English and Spanish to engage parents and the entire family in this journey of Faith.

You Are Forgiven - Student Activity Book

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Each session of this full color Student Activity Book includes sticker pages and engaging, lively activities including family take home pages in English and Spanish, word searches, songs, crossword puzzles, and flash cards.

About You Are Forgiven

Signs of Grace: You Are Forgiven prepares children to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time by revealing that God is indeed “rich in mercy.” It is most effective when used with The Augustine Institute’s Forgiven: The Transforming Power of Confession to catechise the parent’s and help meet the crucial need for ongoing formation and catechesis for the entire family.

You Are Forgiven includes seven sessions, each presenting the good news of salvation offered to us in Jesus Christ, with a focus on helping children understand that the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a real encounter with him, and that he desires to forgive and heal us at the deepest levels of our humanity.

And while the curriculum is focused on the child, it also recognizes that it is in the Christian family that the Faith is first learned and is most effectively understood and lived out. A Family Take Home Page is provided with each session in English and Spanish to engage parents and the entire family in this journey of Faith.

You Are Loved - Student Activity Book

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Each session of this full color Student Activity Book includes sticker pages and engaging, lively activities including family take home pages in English and Spanish, word searches, songs, crossword puzzles, and flash cards.

About You Are Loved

Signs of Grace: You Are Loved prepares children to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion for the first time by revealing the intimate love that God has for us. It is most effective when used with The Augustine Institute’s Presence: The Mystery of the Eucharist to catechise the parent’s and help meet the crucial need for ongoing formation and catechesis for the entire family.

You Are Loved includes eight sessions, each presenting the teachings of the Church on the Sacrament of the Eucharist with a focus on helping the children understand that the Sacrament of First Holy Communion is a real encounter with Jesus Christ who desires to unite himself to us at the deepest levels of our humanity.

And while the curriculum is focused on the child, it also recognizes that it is in the Christian family that the Faith is first learned and is most effectively understood and lived out. A Family Take Home Page is provided with each session in English and Spanish to engage parents and the entire family in this journey of Faith.

Symbolon: The Catholic Faith Explained - PART 1 - Participant Guide

This guide for Part 1 of Symbolon: The Catholic Faith Explained is the key for helping participants apply what they learn about their faith to their daily lives.   

Click here for a sample of the Study Guide.

Full-color sacred art draws people into the beauty of the Catholic Faith. Quotes from Scripture, the saints and recent popes deepen their understanding of the Church’s teachings. Engaging discussion topics and reflections inspire participants to give their lives more to Christ and provide practical life application.

Waiting for Christ

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Blessed John Henry Newman was one of the most beloved and well-known preachers of his time. Originally an Anglican priest, Newman converted to Catholicism and became a Catholic priest and cardinal. Known for his beautiful prose and exultant preaching, Newman has long been a source of inspiration for those in the Church. In this new and compact compilation of his sermons, you’re invited to journey with Bl. John Henry Newman through Advent into Christmas and Epiphany, meditating on the coming of Christ and the Christian life. Newman’s masterful knowledge of the lives of the saints, Catholic doctrine, and, above all, Sacred Scripture, will help you immerse yourself in these liturgical seasons of waiting, wondering, and joy.

These beautiful meditations guide you through reflections on:
• Preparing for the Lord’s coming at Christmas and the end of time
• Our dependence upon the Lord’s goodness
• What happens when we do not seek truth
• Mary’s role in salvation history
• God’s call for each and every one of us to holiness
• Glorifying God in the world
• True joy
• Martyrdom, affliction, and consolation
• Love as the one thing needful

Waiting for Christ provides an opportunity to spend a few minutes with Bl. John Henry Newman and Christ every day of the Advent and Christmas seasons, preparing for the coming of the Lord.

Praise for Waiting for Christ

“Daily meditation and prayer, much as one spends time with a friend, is an essential practice for any person who desires to have Jesus as an intimate companion. This wonderful selection of Newman’s meditations enables us to draw close to Christ as we await his Nativity each year, that he may recognize us when he returns in glory.”

– Sebastian White, OP, Editor-in-Chief, Magnificat (USA)

“Newman was a prolific and accomplished writer in many and varied genres, but I have always believed that his voice can best be heard through his sermons. Christopher Blum has captured that sweet voice by giving us a rich selection of Newman’s very best sermons for Advent and Christmas to accompany us through these graced seasons.”

– The Most Reverend James D. Conley, STL, Bishop of Lincoln

“These passages are superbly selected, showing that Newman’s is not simply a voice from the past, but one that speaks to the needs of faith in our day. And the peculiar quality of Newman’s voice is how easily he slips into the background to leave us thinking only of Christ, so that the heart of Christ speaks to our hearts through Newman’s words. This book invites us to spend a few minutes each day with a man of eloquence and holiness—and to be left, not with an impression of Newman, but with a longing for Christ that makes us more ready to welcome him, both in the great feast of Christmas and in the ordinary details of each day.”

– Edward Hogan, Ph.D., Academic Dean, Kenrick-Glennon Seminary

About the Author

Blessed John Henry Newman was born in England in 1801. He spent his early adult life as an Anglican priest and academic. Involved in what was known as the Oxford Movement, a movement within Anglicanism that supported the return to some Catholic beliefs and liturgical reform, he later left the Church of England. He converted to Catholicism, was ordained a Catholic priest, and years later was made a cardinal. Newman was widely known as a powerful preacher before and after his conversion to Catholicism, and was an extremely prolific author, writing sermons, essays, poetry, hymns, and an autobiography. He died in 1890 and was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010.

Product Details

• Pages: 160
• Format: Paperback
• Size: 5.25" x 8"
• Release Date: October 2018

Made for Love

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Father Michael Schmitz addresses the teachings of the Catholic Church on the issue of same-sex attraction. With compassion and clarity, he shows that the Church’s teachings are rooted in the yearnings for authentic love that are shared by all who are made in the image and likeness of God. With his trademark fresh and engaging style, Fr. Schmitz addresses:

 • Different types of love
 • The nature of the human being and human sexuality
 • Disordered attractions
 • Identity and sexuality
 • Jesus’s teachings on marriage
 • Popular misconceptions about the teachings of the Church and same-sex attraction
 • God’s all-encompassing love

Above all, Made for Love is about genuine love: how we can truly love each other, how the Bible teaches us to love, and how God is not simply loving, but love itself.

About the Author

Fr. Mike Schmitz is one of the leading speakers in the Catholic church today. He preaches to youth and young adults across the country about the love of God and the call of Jesus Christ for saints to be raised up in the Church. He serves as both the director of youth and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Duluth and as the chaplain for the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. His ministry focuses on being fed by the Sacraments and a solid theological formation as the foundation for true discipleship and evangelization. Fr. Michael is known nationally for his inspiring homilies, his presentations and talks to university students, and his tremendous sense of humor.

Product Details

192 Pages
Book size: 5.25" x 8"
Paperback
Publication year: 2017

Praise for Made for Love

“Fr. Michael Schmitz strikes all the right notes, explaining what the Church teaches (the true), why it’s the right path (the good), and how it leads to happiness (the beautiful). He explains the Church’s full teachings on homosexuality but with remarkable ‘gentleness and reverence’ (1 Pt 3:15).”

– Brandon Vogt, founder of ClaritasU and author of RETURN: How to Draw Your Child Back to the Church

“When others would muddy the waters of Our Lord’s love for all, Fr. Schmitz’s book filters the pure and renewing love of God for those who experience same-sex attraction and helps their loved ones understand this particular struggle.”

– Curtis Martin, founder of FOCUS

“In a culture that confuses love with moral relativism, many people have difficulties with the Church’s teaching on homosexuality. Fr. Schmitz helps us approach this topic with compassion and clarity, showing how the Church’s teaching on this topic is all about love—that we are made from love, by love, and for love.”

– Edward Sri, author of Who Am I to Judge?

I Thirst: 40 Days with Mother Teresa (Paperback)

St. Teresa of Calcutta was a woman known and loved for her tender work among the poorest of the poor. Behind her drive and desire to serve Christ’s poor was a profound understanding of the thirst of God for man, and man’s thirst for God. This guided meditation on Scripture and the teaching of Mother Teresa will lead those who read it into the heart of the mystery of God’s thirst for souls, and how man can meet the Lord’s thirst. Fr. Joseph Langford, an intimate friend of Mother Teresa’s and a co-founder with her of the Missionary of Charity Fathers, leads the reader into Mother Teresa’s love of God, and helps foster the love of God in the heart of the reader.

Divided into seven main sections, these meditations will provoke prayer on:

– The Dynamics of Thirst

– Prayer as Thirst

– Our Lady’s Example in Meeting God’s Thirst

– Thirst in the Service of God

– Sharing in the Thirst of Christ

– Jesus as the Incarnation of God’s Thirst

– Satiated Thirst

I Thirst provides an opportunity to spend a few minutes every day with Mother Teresa and the thirst of our Lord. It provides an opportunity to grow in intimacy, and to meet the thirst of God with our own thirst for him.

About the Author

Fr. Joseph Langford (1951-2010)

Fr. Joseph Langford co-founded the Missionary of Charity Fathers in 1984 with Mother Teresa. He often gave retreats on Mother Teresa’s spirituality both to the Missionaries of Charity congregations and to many other groups. He is the author of the popular work on Mother Teresa, Mother Teresa’s Secret Fire. He recognized in Mother Teresa’s encounter with the thirst of Jesus and her emphasis on satiating that thirst a powerful symbol of God’s love for each person and a road into experiencing that love more profoundly.

Product Details

– 176 Pages
– Also available in a Leatherbound version.
– White flex leather with blue embossing
– 5.25" x 8"
– Spine width: ½”

Praise for I Thirst: 40 Days with Mother Teresa

Fr. Langford was confessor and retreat master for Mother Teresa’s religious sisters, as well as her confidante, in a privileged position to know the secrets Jesus had confided to her. Thus to have in this book, I Thirst, Fr. Langford’s retreat notes on Mother’s understanding of Jesus’ cry from the cross, is to have a priceless treasure. The untold riches of Mother Teresa’s heart – which are nothing but the untold riches of Christ’s own Heart – are here before us in these pages.

–Suzie Andres, author of Homeschooling with Gentleness, A Little Way of Homeschooling (Christendom Press, 2004)

If you thirst for the living water of God, follow the wisdom of Mother Teresa and she will surely lead you to the source.

–Dan Burke, President of EWTN News and the Avila Institute for Spiritual Formation

Father Langford’s reflections take us into the heart of Mother Teresa’s spirituality. Based on his close relationship with Mother and his own contemplation and teaching on this theme, these meditations help us encounter God more in our thirst for Him and His thirst for us.

–Dr. Edward Sri, Vice President for Formation, Fellowship of Catholic University Students

Ironically, in a world supposedly overflowing with self-esteem, many, many people cannot believe that "God thirsts" for them. This little book makes a convincing scriptural case that it is true! And moves us to love God, ourselves, and others better because of it. It is a perfect gem of spiritual reading .

–Helen M. Alvaré, Professor of Law, The Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University

In 2008, I traveled to Ethiopia for Catholic Relief Services and visited the large, bustling orphanage of the Missionaries of Charity, which served thousands of people of all ages each day. When I asked about the source of the sisters’ energy for all of this good work, I was led into a primitive chapel with a tabernacle and the words “I thirst,” over the Blessed Sacrament. The book, I Thirst: 40 Days with Mother Teresa, written by a priest who worked with Mother Teresa, provides 40 day portions of the rich spirituality of Saint Teresa of Calcutta. I Thirst communicates well Jesus’ desire or thirst to love us deeply and our inner thirst for His presence in our lives. I strongly encourage its use during Lent or any other time of the year.

–Most Reverend Joseph E. Kurtz, D.D., Archbishop of Louisville