World Meeting of Families Bundle (33 vols.)

Discover God’s plan for your marriage and family with six volumes that each bring a unique area of Catholic teaching, essential for families in the twenty-first century. Learn what the Catholic Church teaches on natural family planning, technology and media, raising a Christian family in a non-Christian culture, and more through these insightful volumes designed to lead your family to the family of God.

The volumes included in this collection are:

• Women of Grace: A Bible Study for Married Women by Michaelann Martin
• Sex au Naturel: What it is and Why it’s Good for Your Marriage by Patrick Coffin
• Family Matters: A Bible Study on Marriage and Family by Michaelann Martin and Curtis Martin
• A Catholic Handbook for Engaged and Newly Married Couples by Frederick W. Marks
• Infinite Bandwidth: Encountering Christ in the Media by Eugene Gan
• Who’s Who in Heaven: Real Saints for Families in Plain English by Thomas G. Morrow

Containing essential publications from the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Family, this collection spans 20 years’ worth of important texts regarding the family, marriage, sexuality, and globalization. Discover what the Catholic Church teaches about marriage, sexuality, civil unions, and human rights in the context of the family.

• The Family: Work and Celebration
• Globalization, Economics, and the Family
• In the Service of Life
• Ethical and Pastoral Dimensions of Population Trends
• The Family and Human Rights
• Family, Marriage, and “De Facto” Unions
• Charter of the Rights of the Family
• The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality
• Preparation for the Sacrament of Marriage
• Vademecum for Confessors Concerning Some Aspects of the Morality of Conjugal Life

Pope John Paul II’s essential teachings from his famous “Theology of the Body” lectures have sparked worldwide discussion in circles ranging from academia to church small groups. That these lectures have influenced such a wide array of believers—both Protestant and Catholic—says much about the universal message of John Paul II’s critical theology for all mankind.

Why do we have physical bodies? What does our sexuality say about the God who created us? What does it mean that we were “made in God’s image,” and how can a “resurrection of the body” be possible? John Paul II’s teachings seek to create a theology centered on what we know about the human body. These seven books will help you dig deeper into the theology of the body and discern what it means for you.

The volumes in this collection are:

• Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body by John Paul II
• Theology of the Body Explained by Christopher West
• The Theology of the Body Made Simple by Anthony Percy
• Theology of the Body in Context by William E. May
• The Human Person by J. Brian Bransfield
• Women, Sex, & the Church by Erika Bachiochi
• Discovering the Feminine Genius: Every Woman’s Journey by Katrina J. Zeno

Pope Pius XI had an incredible impact on the Roman Catholic Church we know today. Under his rule (1922–1939), the Vatican was reestablished as its own sovereign state, the Catholic Church took a stand on social and economic issues as moral and ethical concerns, and Pius XI defended the Catholic’s rights to life and education in Mexico, Spain, Germany, and the Soviet Union. His encyclicals proclaim his ideals for freedom, liberty, and theology.

Casti Connubii is Pius XI’s eighteenth encyclical. In it, he emphasizes the sanctity of marriage and the Church’s teaching regarding birth control and abortion. Significantly, he speaks out against eugenics, a popular philosophy of the time which championed forced sterilizations for those deemed “unfit” to propagate the human race.

America has a hybrid system of private schools increasingly off-limits to the working and even middle classes and state schools plagued by inefficiencies, inequities, and in some cases, abject failure. By no means does this generalization denigrate the good work that thousands of educators in both private and public systems do every day. Some religious schools strive ardently to keep open the prospect of a first-rate education for students of poor parents and challenging backgrounds. Some public schools provide outstanding academic and extracurricular opportunities for their students. Yet, too many students are, despite political rhetoric and flawed legislation, “left behind.”

American education is in crisis. Many public schools fail to provide the training necessary to succeed in a modern, global economy. Meanwhile, Catholic schools, traditionally the bastions of excellent academic and moral formation, suffer from funding shortages and lack of mission clarity. While these problems have many dimensions and require reform on many fronts, historian and education policy analyst Kevin Schmiesing identifies the overarching challenge as reinvigorating parental initiative and responsibility in schooling.

Marriage and family life lived according to God’s plan can change lives—and the world! Catholic for a Reason IV explores the scriptural basis for the Catholic understanding of marriage.

Join Scott and Kimberly Hahn, Mike Aquilina, Regis J. Flaherty, and 10 other well-known Catholic authors—along with their spouses—as they bear solid biblical testimony to the joys, struggles, and sanctity found in the sacrament of marriage. Essays include “The World As Wedding,” “Lessons Learned at Nazareth,” and “Reflections on Pope Benedict XVI’s First Encyclical.”

What do we do when illness, separation, and sorrow break our hearts? In this book, Thérèse of Lisieux and her family recount some of the painful events in their lives. They walk us into a world of deep love and intense suffering. Like an understanding companion, Thérèse shows us that love makes suffering easier to bear.

G.K. Chesterton’s first essay against divorce first appeared in Nash’s magazine, and was reprinted as a stand-alone volume at the request of his readers. Divorce vs. Democracy makes a case against divorce by appealing to both patriotism and to history. Chesterton argues for a Christian understanding marriage, and implores the church to stem the erosion of morality in modern Europe. This book also exhibits Chesterton’s views on the relationship between the church and state relating to issues of marriage and family life.

Pope John Paul II’s apostolic exhortation, Familiaris Consortio, looks at the meaning of marriage and the family, and the challenges those roles face. Also known as On the Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World, Familiaris Consortio examines the family in relation to the sacraments. It emphasizes the sanctity of the marriage sacrament and its expectation as being a permanent union, and advises family prayer. It also discusses expectations of the family regarding education, service to the poor, and openness to life.

Issued on July 25, 1968, Humanae Vitae establishes doctrinal answers to the mounting questions of birth control, abortion, and the definition of human life. It serves as the basis for Pope John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body”. The Humanae Vitae was the last of the encyclical letters written by Pope Paul VI—and its impact reverberates throughout the globe, even to this day.

This collection of faith-filled reflections by 14 Catholic men affirms the value of a Catholic father’s identity and purpose in the context of modern society. Acknowledging the constant struggle to strike a balance between family life and work life, this volume provides fathers with a realistic approach to making their relationships with God, their wives, and their children more involved and fulfilling.

Blending personal anecdotes from Catholic fathers, biblical teaching, and allusions to Church doctrine and figures of authority, this guidebook helps Catholic dads find the path to living as faithful family men.

A collection of nine short works by Augustine and translated by numerous editors for the Fathers of the Church Series. Among these works are:

• The Good of Marriage
• Adulterous Marriages
• Holy Virginity
• Faith and Works
• The Creed
• Faith and the Creed
• The Care to be Taken for the Dead

This compact volume provides a basic and readable introduction to the philosophy of marriage and the purpose of the family. In it, Chesterton expands and develops his arguments in Divorce vs. Democracy, showing that divorce does not solve the problems of individuals; rather, it corrupts society as a whole.