Blase J. Cupich

Eucharist is the center of our Christian life, for it forms us into who and whose we are called to be. Pope Francis on Eucharist is a collection of writings, homilies, and talks from Pope Francis, sharing a Eucharistic vision for the church where all are fed and sustained by the Body of Christ. These words from Pope Francis encourage and challenge all of us—nourished by the Eucharist—to be Christ for others.

In this challenging but hopeful new book, Church, Faith, Future: What We Face, What We Can Do, Father Louis J. Cameli renders a carefully composed portrait of the church in North America today. Drawing on philosophy, history, cultural analysis, and sociology, he offers a sobering picture of where church and faith stand in our society and where they seem to be headed. Identifying several possible ways forward, Fr. Cameli points out the way he sees as the most promising and most faithful to Catholic tradition. In a fascinating afterword to the book, Cardinal Blase Cupich enters into dialogue with Fr. Cameli’s thinking, describing how the Archdiocese of Chicago has begun to address the issues and the directions indicated.

The past thirty years have witnessed tremendous societal and ecclesial changes that continue to inform ministry education in the 21st century. In Seminary Formation, Katarina Schuth, OSF, examines the many aspects of theologate-level schools including their structures and missions, organization and leadership, student enrollment, backgrounds of both seminarians and lay students, and the evolution and development of degree programs, including human and spiritual, intellectual and pastoral formation. Seminary Formation also helpfully includes substantial commentaries on Schuth’s research by Ronald Rolheiser, Thomas Walters, Leon M. Hutton, Barbara Reid, and Peter Vaccari. An exploration of the changes in seminaries and schools of theology, with statistical analysis, from 1985 to the present, Seminary Formation anticipates the challenges ahead and considers new directions for the future.