These two books deserve a place in any spiritual library: Aboriginal Church Paintings, Reflecting on our Faith is a remarkable book that connects Christian faith with the Aboriginal tradition of the land. It is a journey through an Australian Aboriginal perspective on the Christian faith. It enables us to explore an overview of some of the best Aboriginal Christian art in the country from many remote areas as well as urban perspectives.

O’Day begins his book with “We live in very challenging times! Many are searching for a spirituality to suit their twenty-first-century needs and many young people have joined this search. However, I fear too few are engaged in a serious search. My hope is that this book will assist the serious searchers to find their spirituality in the Eucharist.”

This book by an Australian priest is an unusual collection of reflection set in the context of Pope John Paul’s Theology of the Body. Some reflections are firmly based in a discussion on the nature of sexuality, gender and sex. These reflect the notion of complimentarity favoured by Pope John Paul.

There is a unifying theme in this album by James Maher msc, captured, as you would expect, in the title and the cover artwork. Alongside the folky ballads there are some very upbeat tunes on this album with a gospel / rock feel.

This 8 CD collection is presented with the most simple and revered way of chanting the Psalms of Morning and Evening Prayer for the 4 week cycle of the Roman Breviary.

These simplest of Gregorian melodies will help you become familiar with the beauty of the psalms as you become used to the ancient art of simple chanting.

What Happened at Vatican II is a gem. O’Malley – as those who are familiar with his work will attest – has a remarkable ability to harness a huge amount of data and present it simply without harming the truth. His style is elegant. He is concise, always to the point. He is able to suggest the drama of the Council without losing anything of his objectivity. This book is a real tour de force.

In this Year of the Priest it is fitting that a former chairman of the NCP, Hal Ranger, would reflect on “Who and what is an ordained priest to be and to do at this time in history?” in Called to be a Sign of Communion: The ordained priest in 21st century Australia. This short monograph is part of Voices, a series of quarterly essays on religion in Australia published by John Garratt.

In this little book, Mary Cresp offers us a valuable and enjoyable way of getting to know a Catholic priest who contributed actively to the development of the Church in 19th century Australia. Julian Tenison Woods is best known for his involvement in the founding of two Religious Orders for women: the Sisters of St Joseph (with Mary MacKillop, 1866), and the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration (1874). But the focus of the book is o

John Allen’s new book is worth reading, not because he is “right” – readers will vary in their judgements of that – but because he offers an intelligent example of reading the signs of the times. In this sense he is reiterating the central message of the Second Vatican Council: Imagine a new way of being Church! You can add to that statement, “Or else…” and name the consequences as you see them.

by John Dear SJ. I met John Dear on one of his recent visits to Australia. I attended his retreat in Mittagong and invited him to speak at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). He is such an unassuming man you can hardly believe he has been jailed many times and sometimes for months at a time for civil disobedience. It seems he couldn’t hurt a fly let alone do something worthy of arrest.