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Book: Going to God Together: A Spirituality of Communion Author: Louis J. Cameli Thomas More, Allen, Texas, pp.127 Excerpt from Introduction: Catholic spirituality, at least in the United States, faces a crisis. Catholics like so many others are searching for a sustaining spirituality — a way of living that expands one’s vision and enhances one’s life. And, like so many others on the spiritual quest, individual Catholics may be inclined to focus on finding a beneficial set of practices or techniques tailored to their own particular life. The “spiritual” quest may or may not be connected with their own particular experience of church and the Christian faith. But they insist that it is spiritual. For some of these Catholic spiritual seekers, the institutional church seems to be strangely unhelpful or even antithetical to spirituality, as they understand it. At best, it is a kind of conglomeration of rules and rituals that may or may not be helpful to spiritual advancement. This, in brief, is how I see the crisis of spirituality . . . . . The Chapters of this book stem from my conviction and attachment to the church, which is both a spiritual community and a visible structure, both human and divine, both a source of grace and a community in constant need of repentance. I have been inspired and challenged by Pope John Paul II’s words in Tertio millennio ineunte: To make the Church the home and school of communion: that is the great challenge facing us in the millennium which is now beginning . . . . . Table of Contents: Introduction Chapter I Spirituality and Religion, Faith and Church: PARTNERS OR ADVERSARIES? Chapter 2 The Binding Purpose of the Church: HOLINESS Chapter 3 Learning to Pray in the Church: TALKING WITH GOD Chapter 4 Sharing the Transforming Mystery of Christ: THE CHURCH AT PRAYER Chapter 5 The Devotional Life of the Church SHARING THE FEELINGS OF FAITH Chapter 6 In the World, With the World, For the World: OUR LIVING CHURCH Chapter 7 Living Together through Pain and Possibility: THE REALITY OF CHURCH Chapter 8 A Pilgrim People Sharing the Journey: GOING TO GOD TOGETHER Conclusion |