Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan

Rev. John A. Hardon, S.J.

In this complete lifetime reading plan, noted Catholic author and educator Father John A. Hardon has compiled an invaluable guide to books discussing what the Catholic Church is, what it believes, and what its great teachers have thought, felt, and imagined. Father Hardon journeys through the centuries to find the authors he believes can be read for spiritual profit. In his appraisals of over a hundred writers, he considers pertinent biographical information, recommends favorites, and provides moving quotations from the books under discussion. His range is wide--he is illuminating on both the inspirational writing of St. Therese, the Litle Flower, and the fundamental assertions of faith by St. Francis. Religious literary masterpieces such as St. Ignatius Loyola's "Spiritual Exercises" are noted, as are less well-known authors, including St. Robert Bellarmine, whose "Disputations" was used by the First Vatican Council in drafting its definition of papal infallibility. Father Hardon also recommends modern novelist, and shows how the works of literary giants such as Dante, Chaucer, and Cervantes are anchored in underlying principles of faith.