February 2010

A new book by Fr Aidan Nichols OP appears this month: Criticising the Critics. In Aidan Nichols' new work he tackles the critics of the Catholic Faith - both those inside and outside the Church. Published by Family Publications, this new book follows on from his best-selling book The Realm: An Unfashionable Essay on the Conversion of England. Fr Nichols provides us with his usual insightful and incisive style, not afraid to tackle issues head-on. He delivers a comprehensive set of apologias to defend the Catholic faith from its most vocal critics.

January 2010

This month we have published Behold the Lamb of God by Pope Benedict XVI. This new book brings together the writings and speeches of the Holy Father on the Eucharist since his election in 2005. In this work the Pope provides a profound and moving set of insights into this, the greatest of the Sacraments. This new book complements our earlier best-selling work by the Pope, Priests of Jesus Christ.

December 2009

Written by two priests, our latest publication The English Vicars Apostolic details the history of the Catholic Church during the little-known period from the exile of the last Catholic King of England, James II, in 1688, to the Restoration of the Hierarchy in 1850. During this period, the Church in England and Wales was led by Vicars Apostolic, missionary bishops with authority directly from the Pope. The book highlights how the Church was kept alive during these extremely difficult times. The bishops may have worn wigs and frock-coats and lived in the houses of Catholic gentry, but they were subject to penals laws, imprisonment and exile. This new book provides the definitive history of the Catholic Church in this era from persecution to emancipation, which has hitherto been neglected by historians and is unknown to most Catholics. The two authors are also the authors of the best-selling work, The English Cardinals.

November 2009

We have just published a book on the history of the Church in England and Wales during the first 1500 years of its life: The Martyr's Crown, by Fr Paul Keane. This new work is based round the recently restored wall paintings in the church of the English College, Rome. Using these images of martyrdom, Fr Keane looks at our church history from its beginnings, and shows that the Church in England and Wales has always been one and in continuity, and has always been in union with the See of Rome and the wider Catholic Church. The book is illustrated in detail in full colour.

October 2009

Family Publications has published a major new book on ethics, Christian Ethics and the Human Person, by Fr Peter Bristow. This substantial work looks in detail at contemporary Catholic moral theology, particularly at the ways in which it developed since the Second Vatican Council. The author analyses how certain strands of moral theology went astray and shows how these usually have at their heart a defective understanding of the human person. Fr Bristow thus points to how critical it is to have a correct Christian anthropology if we are to avoid errors in Christian ethics. In this emphasis upon a true understanding of the human person, Pope John Paul II played a major role and the author looks at the late Pope's contribution to the true renewal of moral theology.

September 2009

This month Family Publications has released an important new book by Dr John Frain, The Cross and the Third Reich. This major work looks in detail at the role of the Church in the run up to the Second World War and during the War. In particular, the book shows the opposition to Nazism by lay people, priests and bishops in Germany, and by Popes Pius XI and Pius XII. The work demolishes the myth that the Church was silent or indifferent. Detailing the heroic witness of individual Christians – many who paid with their life – the book portrays the ways in which the Nazis tried to suppress the Church and how the Church fought back on behalf of Christians, Jews, and the oppressed.

August 2009

August 2009 sees the publication of the latest book by popular Dominican author, Thomas Crean. Family Publications is publishing his new book, Letters to a Non-Believer. This work follows on from his best-selling book A Catholic Replies to Professor Dawkins, which has been so popular that it had to be reprinted twice. In this new book, Fr Crean looks further at the rational reasons for our faith, employing the erudition of one immersed in the writings of Thomas Aquinas with the patient gentle style of a modern CS Lewis.