Audiobooks narrated by Kevin F. Spalding

Catholic Stories of Faith and Hope: How God Brings Good Things Out of Suffering

If God loves us and is so powerful, why does God allow disease and natural disasters, as well as terrorism and other human atrocities?What are some true stories of Catholics today who faced significant suffering and now see the good that God brought from it? Catholic Stories of Faith and Hope provides a Catholic response to the big question, “Why would a loving God allow evil, pain, and suffering?” This includes exploring why God would allow disease and natural disasters (natural evil) and evil human behavior (moral evil), as well as how suffering can help us find a deeper meaning and purpose in life. This book contains several poignant and inspiring personal testimonies of Catholics who have dealt positively with significant suffering in their own lives. These stories provide contemporary accounts of how suffering can lead to personal and spiritual growth and bring us closer to God, others, and the Church. Catholic Stories of Faith and Hope helps us see suffering and hardship as an opportunity to experience God’s grace and love by focusing on Jesus Christ, who experienced profound pain and suffering himself and who cares deeply about our own suffering. Catholic Stories of Faith and Hope helps readers undertake the Spiritual Works of Mercy to “comfort the afflicted,” “counsel the doubtful,” and “educate the uninformed.” Understanding the purpose of suffering and the greater good that can come from it will help us and those we love become better, instead of bitter, when facing life’s inevitable hardships and difficulties.

Steven R. Hemler (Author), Kevin F. Spalding (Narrator)

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How to Keep from Losing Your Mind

Liberal education is nothing other then the aquistion of a free mind. Unfortunately, too many of us have a mind shackled by ideologies and moved by outside forces. We’re pulled and pushed by trends and the prevailing culture. Higher education has become ridiculously expensive and is producing graduates whose minds are anything but free, filled as they are with the prejudices of their teachers. Only when we break these shackles and habitually exercise a free mind can we call ourselves liberally educated. In How to Keep from Losing Your Mind, Deal Hudson will show you how to avoid the false open-mindedness and groupthink of the modern “-isms” promoted by the PC arbiters of our cultural milieu. Instead you’ll learn to: - Form the habit of reconsideration, the key to a truly open mind - Entertain doubts about your own immediate opinions - Argue coherently from first principles, instead of repeating ideological talking points - Recognize prejudice and propaganda - Avoid sloganeering and engage in real thought This book will enable every person to rise above the shouting, the name-calling, and the brutal incivility of public discourse and rediscover the pleasure and benefit of contemplating the meaning and noble aims of human life.

Deal W. Hudson (Author), Kevin F. Spalding (Narrator)

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The Biblical Basis for Purgatory

Jesus taught us about it, and for centuries the Church has faithfully defined and defended it. Protestants deny it even exists, while many Catholics fundamentally misunderstand it. It is Purgatory: that place of purifying penance where souls saved by Christ are made perfect and acceptable to spend life eternal in heaven. In The Biblical Basis For Purgatory, author and apologist John Salza (Why Catholics Cannot Be Masons) offers the definitive scriptural explanation of this distinctively Catholic doctrine. Building on the teachings of Christ and St. Paul, he shows how the existence of a place of temporal punishment after death is not only a logical extension of what we know about the reality of sin and God's justice, but is also a supreme expression of God's love and mercy. Although Purgatory is a place of mercy, its pains are real, and they are severe. This book does more than defend and explain Purgatory it provides a solid plan, drawn from the Church s perennial wisdom for conquering our sins by God's grace, while still on earth.

John Salza (Author), Kevin F. Spalding (Narrator)

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Improving Your Body Image Through Catholic Teaching: How Theology of the Body and Other Church Writi

Cloaked in promises of freedom and empowerment, a war has threatened the lives of millions of people of all ages, but especially the young. This is the body image war. Hollywood, the music industry, and large corporations promise happiness, pleasure, popularity, and power if we would just buy what they are selling. But their tactics are smoke and mirrors, and their promises are hollow. From photoshop to misleading advertising to the use of paid celebrities, a cocktail of lies tell us how we are supposed to look and feel about ourselves. And so many have bought in, leading to catastrophic results: eating disorders, body obsession, plastic surgery, steroids, peer pressure, and depression. How do we combat this onslaught? The answer is to turn to God and the teachings of his Church. In Improving Your Body Image through Catholic Teaching, Dr. John Acquaviva shows how we have allowed everyone but God to determine the value of our bodies, and how this must change. Relying on such works as Theology of the Body, Holy Scripture, the Catechism and others, as well as on his own history as a college professor of exercise science, Dr. Acquaviva explores the troublesome world of body image in the twenty-first century and leads 20 body image activities, including: - A body image survey to see how you view your own body; - An exploration of photoshop, and how it distorts our ideals; - Discussion questions on the Bible, and how we are made in God’s image and likeness; - An examination of Hollywood movies and celebrities; - And a review of your wardrobe that will help you be content with your body type. Help yourself and those you love escape the trappings of a culture obsessed with body image so that you can come to see the true worth of the human body and the dignity God has bestowed on this temple of his presence.

John Acquaviva, Ph.D., John Acquaviva, Phd (Author), Kevin F. Spalding (Narrator)

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Eucharistic Miracles: and Eucharistic Phenomena in the Lives of the Saints

On many occasions throughout the history of the Catholic Church, God has provided visible proof of the invisible reality of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. In her book, Eucharistic Miracles, Joan Carroll Cruz documents 36 such miracles which occurred from 800 AD to the present day. This book tells of consecrated Hosts which have visibly turned to human flesh, have bled, levitated, and which have become hard as flint when received by a person in mortal sin. It details the official investigations that have been made into these miracles by scientists throughout the world, and where some can still be venerated today. Eucharistic Miracles also recounts miraculous Eucharistic phenomena in the lives of saints: saints who lived with only the Eucharist for sustenance, received Communication miraculously, or experienced raptures, ecstasies, levitations, visions, locutions, and more. Eucharistic Miracles is a superb compilation of God's visible testimony of the truth of the Catholic Faith, proving the reality of one of its loftiest mysteries - the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

Joan Carroll Cruz (Author), Kevin F. Spalding (Narrator)

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Defending Boyhood: How Building Forts, Reading Stories, Playing Ball, and Praying to God Can Change

Western civilization has no more eloquent defender than Anthony Esolen, a man who has counted the cost, and paid it, of leading the way in that defense. Following on his compelling prior volume, Defending Marriage: Twelve Arguments for Sanity, Professor Esolen returns, this time in defense of boys and an experience of boyhood that is on the wane, if not extinguished in many quarters of the modern world-and to illuminate the threats our precious sons face from harridans, harpies, and all purveyors and promoters of political correctness and of the misguided and ultimately doomed-though not before it has done much mischief-project of blurring the distinctions between boys and girls. Drawing on his own, in many ways all-American boyhood, Esolen, at times wistfully, at times, playfully, and at times prophetically-in the literal sense of employing the thunder of an Old Testament prophet, details what a good boyhood once was and what it can be again. He does so in chapters inspiringly titled: The Arena to Enter Brothers to Gather Mountains to Climb The Man to Follow Work to Do Songs to Sing Enemies to Slay Life to Give Anthony Esolen prescribes a return to sanity to an insane world. He may not be able to change the world, but enter into the world of boyhood with him and he just might change you and the lives of the boys you love.

Anthony Esolen (Author), Kevin F. Spalding (Narrator)

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Growing In the Prophetic: Developing a Prophetic Voice

Bill Vincent combines a biblical balance and practical teaching to draw readers into new spiritual levels of relationship with God. Bill has been a prophetic leader for over 20 years. Learn how to integrate prophetic ministry into the life of your church. What is prophecy? Who is to prophesy? How do the prophetic gifts and ministries function in the local church? How can we recognize counterfeit gifts of the Spirit? This book will answer your questions and challenge you to know God and hear from Him as you never have before!

Bill Vincent (Author), Kevin F. Spalding (Narrator)

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C.S. Lewis and the Catholic Church

C. S. Lewis, the great British novelist and Christian apologist, has been credited by many - including the author - for aiding their journey to the Catholic Church. For this reason, it is often perplexing that Lewis himself never became Catholic. In C. S. Lewis and the Catholic Church, Joseph Pearce delves into Lewis's life, writings, and spiritual influences to shed light on the matter. Although C. S. Lewis's conversion to Christianity was greatly influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien, a Catholic, and although Lewis embraced many distinctively Catholic teachings, such as purgatory and the sacrament of Confession, he never formally entered the Church. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, this book digs deep to present the facts of Lewis's life, to illuminate key points in his writings, and to ask the question: Was C. S. Lewis on the path to Rome? This revised and updated edition - with a new introduction by Father Dwight Longenecker - is a fascinating historical, biographical, theological, and literary account of a man whose writings have led scores to the Catholic Church, despite never having become a Catholic himself.

Joseph Pearce (Author), Kevin F. Spalding (Narrator)

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Old Thunder: A Life of Hilaire Belloc

Hilaire Belloc is one of the most important writers of the 20th century. At turns reviled or revered, depending on the audience, he was a razor-sharp social commenter and a master of both poetry and prose who continues to captivate readers. In Old Thunder, Joseph Pearce examines Belloc's enduring impact on British intellectual life. Along the way, Pearce uncovers Belloc's relationships with Chesterton, Waugh, and Sassoon, among others. Pearce also illuminates another side of Belloc's personality by relaying his long courtship with Elodie Hogan, her brief stint in a convent, and his ultimate grief at her death. In this updated biography, with a new introduction by Dale Alhquist, Joseph Pearce uses previously unpublished letters and photographs to reveal in Belloc a romantic, complex, and solitary man, who is one of the true giants of the Catholic revival in the last century.

Joseph Pearce (Author), Kevin F. Spalding (Narrator)

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The Lion of Münster: The Bishop Who Roared Against the Nazis

"The dear God placed me in a position in which I had a duty to call black 'black' and white 'white'." These words were spoken by Cardinal Clemens August von Galen, the bishop of the diocese of Münster in Germany from 1933 to 1946. In so doing, he risked death at the hands of the Nazis, one Gestapo leader even urging that he be publicly hanged. Joseph Goebbels and others in the Nazi leadership, knowing the bishop's popularity, advised waiting, subscribing to the adage that revenge is a dish best served cold. In this, the definitive English-language biography of the great Lion of Münster, listeners will encounter the young von Galen as he learns the Catholic faith and love of the fatherland from his family, members of the German aristocracy. A nobleman, a prince of his people and of his Church, the boy grew into a man, a six-and-a-half-foot-tall giant of a man, who, though he loved his homeland, loved God, his Church, and his law even more; for he knew that calling his homeland back to the ways of God is the one way in which a bishop can best demonstrate that love for the people under his spiritual care. And so, in three magnificent sermons and countless other speeches, communiques and gestures, the Lion roared. This story of his life and his stirring words provides listeners with an indispensable glimpse into the confrontation between church and state in Hitler's Germany and will serve as a reminder to all men and women of good will of the duty to call black "black" and white "white".

Fr. Daniel Utrecht (Author), Kevin F. Spalding (Narrator)

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The Three Marks of Manhood: How to Be Priest, Prophet and King of Your Family

The noted Catholic psychologist, Dr. G.C. Dilsaver, says the time has come for Catholic families to re-discover true patriarchy - time for Catholic men to accept and fulfill their role as leader and head of their families. The role of Christian manhood, as ordained by God and confirmed by Catholic teaching, is symbolized by three staffs: the Scepter of authority and self-discipline, the Crosier of spiritual headship, and the Cross of redemptive suffering. Dr. Dilsaver promotes a new and untainted patriarchy in which the husband's ultimate authority is rooted in Christ's example of humility and self-sacrificing love. The Three Marks of Manhood can help Christian families realize their identity to the fullest - empowering them to resist the encroachment of secular culture. Listen to it and learn how to build a strong and lasting marriage, raise children to become faithful men and women of God, and foster an authentic Catholic culture in your home. Dr. Dilsaver, with his development of the first fully integrated Christian psychology, Imago Dei Psychotherapy, is truly the father of Christian psychology; with the publication of The Three Marks of Manhood, he may also be the father of a new Christian patriarchy.

Dr. G. C. Dilsaver (Author), Kevin F. Spalding (Narrator)

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Defending Marriage: Twelve Arguments for Sanity

Defending Marriage: Twelve Arguments for Sanity is a rousing, compelling defense of traditional, natural marriage. Here, Anthony Esolen, professor at Providence College and a prolific writer, uses moral, theological, and cultural arguments to defend this holy and ancient institution, the bedrock of society - and to illuminate the threats it faces from modern revolutions in law, public policy, and sexual morality. Inside, discover: Traditional marriage's roots in age-old religious, cultural, and natural laws Why gay marriage is a metaphysical impossibility How acceptance and legal sanction of gay marriage threatens the family How the state becomes a religion when it attempts to elevate gay marriage, and enshrine as a civil right all consensual sex How divorce and sexual license have brought marriage to the brink How today's culture has impoverished and emptied love of its true meaning In Defending Marriage, Esolen expertly and succinctly identifies the cultural dangers of gay marriage and the Sexual Revolution which paved its way. He offers a stirring defense of true marriage, the family, culture, and love - and provides the compelling arguments that will return us to sanity, and out of our current morass.

Anthony Esolen (Author), Kevin F. Spalding (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Kevin F. Spalding