"The Realm" and "A Lourdes Prayer Book"

Family Publications have sent me two new publications:

A Lourdes Prayer Book at £4.50 is an illustrated 64 page booklet with popular prayers to Our Lady illustrated by a fine collection of photographs of Lourdes including scenes from the altars in the Rosary Basilica.

"The Realm. An Unfashionable Essay on the Conversion of England" by Aidan Nichols OP, does not seem to be on the website as yet. A 160 page paperback, this is a provocative look at specifically English culture. Fr Nichols says:
If it can be shown that Catholic Christianity was not only essential to the making of England but provides the best foundation - intellectual, moral and social - for the culture of an England re-made, then the outlines of what Catholicism is will by that very fact be clarified and its importance gauged at its true worth.
The book examines the needs of England as a nation in the light of England's Catholic Christian roots and explains the concept of "integral evangelisation" which seeks to baptise the culture of a nation as well as the individuals within it.

As ever, Fr Nichols gives us a thoughtful and original look at the question of culture. His choice of England as a focus (rather than Britain or the "United Kingdom" is well explained but remains itself one of the provocative aspects of this rewarding book.

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