I. Books

The Holy Ways Of The Cross

By Henri-Marie Boudon. ed. Hugh Gillespie, SMM and Andrew L. Ouellette, MA (Providence:

Cluny, 2022).

The Holy Ways of the Cross combines the manifold fruits of theology, mysticism, and pastoral care in guiding its readers along “the Royal Highway of the Cross,” through trials both exterior and interior, toward unity with God. Complimented by new, illuminating Introductions from Andrew L. Ouellette and Rev. Hugh Gillespie, S.M.M., The Holy Ways of the Cross proffers spiritual food and drink for souls following in the footsteps of their crucified Lord.

The Life Hidden In Jesus

Henri-Marie Boudon. ed. Hugh Gillespie, SMM and Andrew L. Ouellette, MA Providence: Cluny, 2023. Release date: March 2023

The Politics Of Penance: Proposing An Ethic For Social Repair

By Michael Griffin, Ph.D., with foreword by Daniel Philpott, 2016

""Bless me Father, for I have sinned,"" says the penitent to open the dialogue in Catholic confessionals across the globe and throughout the ages. Along with the priest's words, ""For your penance . . ."" this encounter is an icon of Catholic life. But does the script, and the practices it signifies, have any relevance beyond the confessional? In The Politics of Penance, Michael Griffin responds yes. He explores great figures of the Christian tradition--the early Irish monks, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Pope St. John Paul II--to offer surprising insights for social repair. The result is a new ethic, which Griffin applies to contemporary crises in criminal justice, truth and reconciliation, and the treatment of soldiers returning from war. ""In Politics of Penance, far from foisting a facile application of age-old terms to current problems, Griffin develops a robust method whose penetrating grasp of the 'dynamics of penitential actions' enables him to make real contributions to contemporary problems. Politics is a work of reconciliation between fractured parties: action theory and social justice; liturgy and ethics; retribution and rehabilitation . . . This expertly yet accessibly written book will reward scholars and general audiences alike."" --Bill Mattison, Associate Professor of Theology, The Catholic University of America ""Drawing from Celtic monasticism, Thomas Aquinas, and John Paul II, Griffin shows how Catholic penitential theology and practice can inform the present-day tasks of 'social repair' ranging from reforming the criminal justice system, to working with truth and reconciliation commissions, to accompanying returning soldiers from Iraq. This is spirited, insightful, hopeful reading--and crucial reading for anyone interested in understanding how the church's healing wisdom regarding penance remains both ever ancient and ever new."" --Michael Baxter, Department of Religious Studies, Regis University ""The Politics of Penance is a well-written and highly informative book. Griffin not only carefully retrieves the theological and historical tradition of the Catholic practice of penance, he masterfully displays its rich possibilities for repairing our broken political and judicial systems. A must-read for theologians, political theorists as well as public policy advocates."" --Emmanuel Katongole, Associate Professor, Theology and Peace Studies, The Kroc Institute, University of Notre Dame Michael Griffin, PhD, is Associate Professor of Theology at Holy Cross College in Notre Dame, Indiana. He is the coeditor of In the Company of the Poor: Conversations with Dr. Paul Farmer and Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez (2013).

The Complete Works Of St. Robert Southwell, SJ

Editing, Emily Ransom, Ph.D. (HCC), Peter Davidson (Oxford), and Sunnah Brietz Monta (Notre Dame). Oxford University Press, five volumes. [Forthcoming, under contract]

St. Robert Southwell is the last of the major poets of the English Renaissance not to have received the full scholarly treatment of an edition of his complete works. Oxford University Press has contracted me to edit it in collaboration with two leading scholars of Catholic recusant literature. For the first volume, I have already completed editions of Mary Magdalens Funerall Teares and De Beata Magdalena, and will complete my final edition of his Exercitia et Devotiones once I can gain access to a manuscript at the Folger Shakespeare Library, currently closed for remodeling.

The Good Is Love: The Body And Human Acts In Humana Vitae and John Paul II

By Adrian Reimers, Ph.D., St. Augustine Press, June 2020

John Paul II in his personalist approach to moral questions reaffirmed that as sin offends that which is good, if we truly know what human love is––and that it is good––we would thereby see how certain acts can never be acceptable insofar as they in all cases wound this love. Yet in moral debates surrounding love, sex and contraception Adrian Reimers observes that we are not using this approach and these debates are not advancing the cause of real love.

Reimers draws upon the encyclical Humanae Vitae and John Paul II’s catechesis known as the theology of the body to respond to the stalled development of moral theology on the issues most crucial to human love and intimacy. “It is time, we are told, for a ‘paradigm shift’ in the Catholic Church’s moral teaching, such shift representing a more pastoral and less dogmatic approach to moral issues,” writes Reimers. His claim that “a paradigm shift in moral theology and philosophy may be valuable––perhaps vital––to scholars who think and write about these sciences and to teachers who communicate moral truth” is not an exhortation to redefine moral truths. Rather, he argues that an approach to contraception, for example, that relies exclusively on natural law is a hackneyed one and often “tedious.”

John Paul II’s series of catechetical addresses known as the theology of the body was originally composed in the 1970s after Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae. Albeit derived from the writing of an archbishop and not yet pope, Reimers identifies John Paul II’s perspectives on love, sex and contraception as an essential force behind this so-called paradigm shift in continuity with the profound and unchanging truths set forth in Humanae Vitae. As Reimers states, “Moral truths do not change, even if our ways to understand them improve.”

How, then, is our sense of the goodness or badness of contraception meant to be helped by such a development of thought? Ethics grounded philosophically tends to lean toward legalism in the context of moral actions, says Reimers, as it emphasizes conformity to God’s law understood only as rules, and largely overlooks “the relationship between moral behavior and the human person’s ultimate end of beatitude with God.” The important principle of the necessarily two-fold description that natural law gives to sex––namely, as unitive and procreative––must not be the definative end of the discussion regarding the moral nature of contraception. In an age where technology has given human beings new power it seems there must be new rules as well, and the conquest of procreative acts changes the human perception of the limitations once associated with harmful acts. Herein lies the importance of John Paul II’s catechesis––the goodness or badness of acts is not just concerned with end of a particular act. As Reimers writes, “If we are to understand the complex relationships among love, marriage, and their sexual expression, we must situate these within the context of the end of the human being.”

A position on contraception and human sexuality cannot be comprehensive without a concept of love properly understood. Human acts must bring us closer to sanctity, not to comfort or possession. Holiness is the perfection of love, and its pursuit aims at ultimate beatitude. This end, the truest love human can know, is the end which ultimately condemns contraception once and for all, as “contracepted sex is contrary to holiness.” Reimers unpacks this sometimes difficult truth in eight chapters, which begin with love and conclude with faithfulness to moral norms and a spirituality of marriage.

The arguments surrounding contraception and “good sex” seem to have set the grounds for coherently choosing a side rather than to have succeeded in presenting certain human acts as definitively immoral. As Reimers notes, a natural law position on contraception often fails to employ its greatest ally: the reality of authentic human love and “victory” of the individual in one’s sanctity as achieved through that love. This work will reorient the objectives and claims of the moral debate, as well as influence the popular notion of what love is and what it cannot be. It is an aid to scholars, students and study groups, humanists, and those who seek to deepen the sense of love’s highest physical expression.

Freedom In Quarantine

Leonardo Polo, Daniel Bernardus, preface by Adrian Reimers,Adrian Reimers, Ph.D., South Bend, Indiana: Leonardo Polo Institute of Philosophy Press, 2020, 1-4.

Synopsis: This preface is intended to introduce the English-speaking reader to the original and rich philosophy of Leonardo Polo, whose work is becoming increasingly popular among young scholars in Spain and Latin America. Polo’s thought is rooted in ancient philosophy, especially Aristotle, but with a contemporary twist as he focuses on the notion of the person. His philosophy is expressly and deliberately Christian, as he insists that a proper philosophy must transcend the limits that modern thinkers have place on the mind and heart of human beings.

Calculus: The Notebook, 2nd edition

D.C. Arangno, Ph.D., Kendall-Hunt, 2020

The study of Calculus enables us to solve problems and articulate abstract concepts far beyond the theoretical reach of Algebra. The power of Calculus derives from the ingenuity and simplicity of its notation. This mathematical language allows the mathematician the freedom and immense versatility to accurately describe physical problems and the tools to solve them. This book consists of lectures on all the topics of a 3-course series on Calculus: Calculus I, II, and III. It can be used as a textbook, or as a supplement to other texts. Both students and instructors will find it helpful in elucidating the ideas and methods of Calculus.

The Comely Widow: The Crimes Of Serial Killer Belle Gunness

By John E. Thompson, M.F.A. (2021), Amazon.

The Comely Widow details the life and notorious crimes of Belle Gunness, A Nor- wegian immigrant and serial murderer that used the propect of sharing her large farm in La Porte, Indiana as bait in luring perhaps dozens of suspecting suitors with lonely heart sadvertsments throughout the midwest. Her eign of terror spanned from the 1880s through 1908 plaguing the Chicago and Northen Indiana area. Drawn in the style of early newspaper comics to reflect the era of her crimes and includes extensive footnotes detailing the research into Gunness' crimes as well as the comic artists and strips that the work is based on.

Book chapter: Becoming Vulnerable With The Vulnerable: A Pedagogy Of Hope For Incarcerated Students Of The Liberal Arts

By Alesha Seroczynski, Ph.D

In Pedagogy Of Vulnerability, E. Brantmeier & M. McKenna (Eds.), 2020, Charlotte, NC: Information Age Press.

Book chapter: One Foot In, One Foot Out: Senior Theses And Remote Internships In The Prison Space

By McDevitt, J., Seroczynski, A.D., Ph.D.

In Education Behind The Wall: Why And How We Teach College In Prison, M. Gellman (Ed.) 2022, Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press.