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The Most Rev. Dr. James Butler’s Catechism - Small booklet - 88 pages

Revised, Enlarged, Approved, and Recommended by the Four R. C. Archbishops of Ireland as a General Catechism for the Kingdom

Rev. Dr. James Butler, the Bishop of Cashel in Ireland, first published his world-famous catechism in 1775. Soon it became the “official” catechism for all of Ireland, approved for use by all of the bishops. At the Third Council of Baltimore in 1884 it was favored by many U.S. bishops as the basis for the new Baltimore Catechism soon to be published. In the end, the Council decided to use the catechism of St. Robert Bellarmine as the basis for a new catechism for Americans. Butler’s Catechism has always been widely used in the United States as well as the Baltimore Catechism, especially by Americans of Irish descent. At the 1st Council of Quebec it was decided that Butler’s would be the only catechism authorized for the English speaking faithful in Canada, and in 1871 Bishop Lynch of Toronto published it as the official catechism for his diocese. We have compared the various editions approved in Ireland and in Canada and they are (except for some slight re-arrangements in the order of the lessons and some different prayers) the same. This particular printing is that published in Dublin in 1944. It is a wonderfully simple and straightforward catechism useful for children and adults, especially for those who are interested in converting or who have just decided to enter the one true church.

Father Denis Fahey - PB - 440 pages

The principal purpose of The Mystical Body of Christ in the Modern World is to deal, from the theological, philosophical and historical standpoint, with the modern revolt against the divine plan for the organisation of human society.
    Dr. Fahey writes at length of the various errors and the nefarious forces which at present menace the divinely-constituted social order. His work is a most important one. Perhaps never before, since the establishment of Christianity, has there been such an organized effort to overthrow it, to dethrone Christ, to destroy His Church, to set aside God and the order which He has established. In some countries, notably Russia, Mexico, and Spain, the veil of secrecy has been withdrawn; in many others the same Masonic and Communistic influences are at work, but their activities are to a large extent underground.
    An essential prerequisite for a proper preparation (to defend the Church) is a knowledge of the nature and extent of the menace, of the organization of the forces behind it, and of the diabolical hatred of Christianity and of everything supernatural with which these forces are imbued. This knowledge is to be found in Dr. Fahey’s work; in fact nowhere else, as far as we know, is there such a logical, co-ordinated treatment of the subject.

Father John J. Hugo - 330 pages - Ebook as EPUB, Kindle, or PDF

This is the second of three books written by Fr. John J. Hugo concerning the great 20th century spiritual retreat master, Fr. Onesimus Lacouture S.J. and his work. The first published by Loreto was The Gospel of Peace, and the third to be re-issued is entitled A Sign of Contradiction.
Fr. Lacouture was a Jesuit who had the great gift of being a masterful director of souls. Being a Jesuit formed in the old mold of true Ignatian spirituality and deeply affected by the so-called “French School” of Berulle, St. John Eudes, and St. Louis Marie de Montfort, his retreats, given to over 6000 American and Canadian priests, produced extraordinary results. His most well known disciple and good friend, Fr. Hugo, has produced for posterity, the Notes from those Ignatian retreats as given by Fr. Lacouture and subsequently by himself and many other priests.
The Notes are entitled Applied Christianity and few spiritual writers of the 20th  century have put in such clear and lucid language a precise (and practical) explanation of the true nature of a Christian life. This work will be compared to the works of such great writers on the spiritual life as St. John Eudes, Abbot Dom Marmion, Dom Chautard, St. Ignatius of Loyola and others.

Part One: Natural and Supernatural

I. The Two Principles of Activity
II. The Two Principles of Activity: Application
III. The Harmony Between the Natural and the Supernatural
IV. The Conflict Between the Natural and the Supernatural
V. The Pagan Mentality
VI. The Law of the Flesh
VII. Jesus Speaks of the Supernatural Life
VIII. The Christian Mentality
IX. Christian Perfection

Part Two: The Supernatural World

I. The Glory of God: Doctrine
II. The Glory of God: Application
III. The Doctrine of the Samples
IV. The Doctrine of the Samples Applied
V. The Supreme Dominion of God: Doctrine
VI. The Supreme Dominion of God: Application
VII. The Folly of the Cross: Doctrine
VIII. The Folly of the Cross: Application
IX. Summary and Objections

Part Three: The Samples

I. The Love of God
II. The Contempt of the World: Doctrine
III. The Contempt of the World: Application
IV. Forbidden Samples
V. Sin
VI. The Remedies for Sin
VII. Hell

Part Four: The Supreme Dominion of God

I. The Supreme Dominion: God’s Intention
II. The Supreme Dominion in Persons: Blind Instruments
III. The Supreme Dominion in Superiors: Obedience
IV. Source of God’s Supreme Dominion: The Divine Will
V. The Supreme Dominion of God in us: The Human Will

Part Five: The Folly of the Cross

I. Almsgiving: The Sowing of External Goods
II. Mortification: The Sowing of Bodily Goods
III. Afflictions: The Sowing of Interior Goods
IV. Death: The Sowing of Everything

Appendix

I. Nature and Grace
II. Are Natural Actions Meritorious?
III. Christian Moderation

Fr. Walter Farrell, O. P. - Hardcover 412 pages

Volume Two
There is a need felt by those who, having heard enough of St. Thomas to whet their appetite, suddenly discover that they cannot go directly to St. Thomas without the guidance of a professor; and for most of them the leisure days of the classroom are over forever.
This, then, is the double purpose of this book: to furnish a rational defense of his faith for the ordinary Catholic and to open St. Thomas to the layman who has no professional philosophical or theological knowledge. It is not, then, intended only for the very learned, nor for a textbook. If it must be described in a phrase, it might best be called an easy guidebook to St. Thomas’s greatest work.
Just as a guidebook to Paris can be best evaluated in the streets of Paris, so this guide book to the Summa can be best appreciated in the pages of the Summa, by comparing the individual chapters of the book with the corresponding questions of the Prima Secundae (First Part of the Second Part) of St. Thomas’ Summa, questions that are given at the head of each chapter. Any particularly striking point will be found more fully and more beautifully developed in the Summa itself; further proofs, explanations, and illustrations can all be had directly from St. Thomas.
It is important to remember that it is the Summa reduced to popular language and not merely another book about St. Thomas or about the Summa. In fact, it is often more than that, for, particularly on difficult questions, the parallel passages in other works of St. Thomas have been freely used where the conciseness of the Summa might have caused some obscurity for one not wholly familiar with the thought of Thomas.

Father Farrell’s four-part Companion to the Summa has been responsible for much of the renewed interest in Thomism in the United States. It is required reading for many Catholic college students and “unrequired reading” for thousands of other lovers of St. Thomas.
Its author was born in Chicago in 1902. He attended Dominican schools and was ordained in the Dominican order in 1927, then going to the University of Fribourg for his S.T.D. degree. In 1940 he was awarded the seldom given Dominican honor of the Master of Sacred Theology degree. He served as a Navy chaplain during World War II and was then stationed at the Dominican Houses of Studies in Washington, D. C. and River Forest, Illinois until his death in 1951.

Jeanne Dvorak - 88 pages - EBOOK as PDF, EPUB, or Kindle

Natural Family Planning and the Christian Moral Code by Jeanne Dvorak, is in its fourth printing. This book reaffirms that NFP was just a novel and sinful introduction to the modern Catholic world. This compact treatise now includes a 1940 letter from the Archbishop of St. Paul, MN, in which NFP is condemned. Natural Family Planning and the Christian Moral Code does more than just examine the negative. It allays fears and bolsters confidence through its many stories and examples of obedient Catholic parents living their family life with faith and trust in God. Children are the first purpose of marriage – better to have them on your lap than on your conscience!

Fr. Walter Farrell, O. P. - Hardcover 464 pages

Volume Three
Originally, Fr. Farrell published Vol. Two and Vol. Three before Volumes One and Four.
Chesterton, in his Saint Thomas Aquinas, has explained both my order of publication and the title of this volume. “He (Thomas) did, with a most solid and colossal conviction, believe in Life; and in something like what Stevenson called the great theorem of the livableness of life.… The medievals had put many restrictions, and some excessive restrictions, upon the universal human hunger and even fury for life.... Never until modern thought began, did they really have to fight with men who desired to die. That horror had threatened them in Asiatic Albigensianism, but it never became normal to them—until now.” The whole second part of the Summa, covered by Vols. two and three, deals precisely with the living of human life, the invaluable meaning of that life, and the secrets of the fullest success in the living of it. This part was published first, had to be published first, because of that unholy, perverted eagerness of modern men to throw away their lives and to discard their humanity. This is St. Thomas’ superb defense of the humanity of man. The remaining volumes of this work plumb the depths and scale the heights of the unutterable truths, the mysterious beginnings and glorious goals, that interpenetrate that human life with something of divinity, the truths that are the ultimate explanations of its incredible significance.
This is not a book about the Summa, but the Summa itself reduced to popular language; and Thomas is not read in a day or a year, nor can we suffer an introduction to him, shake hands and then dismiss him from our lives. If we make the happy mistake of so much as smiling at him, he moves bag and baggage into our minds, to become an increasingly more delightful intimate as the years move on.

Sr. Mary Concilia O'Brien - Hardcover - 478 pages

This brilliantly concieved and executed textbook was published for Catholic High School & College students. It was published in 1941 and it is still one of the clearest and succinct summaries of Catholic Social teaching. It draws primarily on the teaching of St. Thomas in the Summa and the papal encyclicals of Leo III and Pius XI. There are chapter summaries, questions for further discussion, lists of primary sources quoted, an extensive index, and suggested reading for advanced students. This is an invaluable resource for neophytes in the study of the Church's social doctrines.    

Hardcover - 8.5" x 11" 680 pages

Loreto Publications is pleased to present almost 100 essays from one of the most fascinating Catholic American essayists of our post Vatican era. Robert Hickson's broad experience and deep personal knowledge of politics, military affairs, literature, and religion in late 20th century America give him a unique perspective and judgement that is thoroughly Catholic and poingnantly expressive. His curriculuum vitae is impressive and his experience as a soldier, college professor, public speaker, husband, father, and traditional Catholic warror are evident in these profound and penetrating writings.

FOREWORD

It is part of the vocation of a small Catholic publisher like Loreto Publications to give voice not only to the accumulated wisdom of past ages, but also to make known the effects of grace in the souls of the men and women whose lives run concurrent with our own, when those effects are worth noting and preserving for future generations. If the effects of supernatural grace manifest themselves in the remarkable written expression of a Catholic warrior, it can be a great benefit for others to read and contemplate the procession of thought produced by
those effects in a man of substantial educational attainments and wide experience. This is why we have chosen to make available this selection of almost 100 essays by our good friend Dr. Robert Hickson.
One of the requirements for the acquisition and growth of virtue that nature and grace impose upon a man is that he make a serious attempt to impose order in this world of disorder. First he must order his own thoughts and passions, and then he may seek to promote order in his own sphere of influence in the world. This is the work of a Christian educator. The artfully composed and clearly enunciated order of Dr. Hickson’s thinking is strikingly evident in the writings of his mature years as presented in these two volumes. Not only does he beautifully expound upon a topic, but he gently coaxes the reader to make further considerations of his own on the topic presented. In other words, he stimulates the thinking process in his audience and he arouses the desire of the intellect for deeper and more fruitful contemplation. Surely, the achievement of that objective is one of the many goals of sound education.
These essays are not the work of a superficial man. They are challenging, and were meant to be so. In his essay “The Contribution of Catholic Letters to the Conversion of Our Country” you will find the following paragraph:
G. K. Chesterton, who was himself a Catholic Man of Letters, memorably said, moreover, that “the test of all happiness is gratitude” and “your world would be a lot larger, if you were smaller in it.” And, with the help of such Catholic Letters and Literature, we may also help to
make that world larger for others, unto their more abundant life, both here and in Beatitude.
That paragraph could easily serve as the Introit to all of Dr. Hickson’s literary efforts. And so it is with a constantly enlarging sense of gratitude that we offer to our loyal followers these two volumes in hope that you too will appreciate this twentieth century Catholic American soldier’s literary legacy.