I just received a package of books I ordered from Roman Catholic Books. This is a company that publishes “Catholic Classics” and I have been receiving their catalog for awhile and finally decided to try them. They seem to use the same distribution center as Ignatius Press and I received an Ignatius Press catalog with the books so they must have some connection. Roman Catholic Books is more traditionally oriented. The books I have are:

The Nazarene by Eugenio Zolli----Zolli was the chief rabbi of Rome who converted in 1945 and took the name Eugenio in honor of Pope Pius XII. This book looks like a scholarly treatment of the Bible, when thumbing through it I saw lots of strange looking phrases and words in Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew.

The Charitable Anathema by Dietrich Von Hildebrand----This is going to be the most fun and interesting to read. It is a collection of lectures and essays from the man Pope Pius XII called a “20th Century doctor of the Church”. These writings cover 1966-1976 so they cover the beginnings of the problems we are dealing with today. I already read one essay and probably will finish this book quickly.

Return to Tradition by Francis Thornton---- a reproduction of a massive anthology that was first published in 1948. I was looking through the Roman Catholic Books catalog because I wanted to get some real traditional Catholic stuff, and this book was on sale so I knew I had to get it. It contains selections of Catholic authors from 1800-1948 and shows the great Catholic revival of that time. The sections of the book are The English Revival, The French Influence, The Irish Revival, The American Revival, and The Liturgical Revival.

Any Friend of God’s is a Friend of Mine (A biblical and historical explanation of the Catholic doctrine of the Communion of Saints) by Patrick Madrid----This book was on sale for $3.99 LOL. I have bought a few apologetic books like this because, as a cradle Catholic with 16 years of Catholic school education, I need to learn the basics in easy to understand language. I envy the converts (and reverts like Madrid) and appreciate those who write and teach because this stuff went in one ear and out the other in Catholic school. As a movie character once said, “Don’t talk to me about God, I go to Catholic school, God is like our homework.” For cradle Catholics like me, reading apologetics is like finding brand new stuff in your attic, stuff you always had but either never knew it or forgot all about it.