The women in Acts of Contrition face society's devaluation, from parents, from elders, from all who assume authority over them. They battle oppressions as simple as gender stereotyping, as complex as prerequisites to friendship or love. Some can look back and laugh, some find luck in their escape from harm, some engineer their own good fortune, all the while riding a wave of dark humor. What all the characters come to understand is that silence places them at greater risk than speaking out. They progress toward freedom through the telling of their stories.

LAPD Homicide Detective Rick Sandler and Katie O'Hara are back in this sequel to The Movie Murderer. Someone is leaving a trail of working girls strangled in motels along Sepulveda Boulevard, his signature a dark blue scarf. As Rick and John search for the killer in the Gentlemen's Clubs of the San Fernando Valley, they encounter a panoply of night people, a Russian who loves Bullwinkle the Moose, a duo of pole dancers whose act features their impersonation of The Jersey Shore's Snooki and Luscious Lily whose resemblance to Katie captivates John.Meanwhile, with the help of her friends, the Bravo brothers, Katie is investigating a series of suspicious suicides, tied together by a Catholic parish led by a pair of very different priests, the charismatic Father Jonas, who Katie privately believes is too attractive to be celibate, and Father Mark, an old testament cleric who believes in an eye for an eye.

An original novel set in the universe of Star Trek: Voyager—and the sequel to the New York Times bestseller Protectors! Admiral Kathryn Janeway has now taken command of the Full Circle Fleet. Her first mission: return to the Delta Quadrant and open diplomatic relations with the Confederacy of the Worlds of the First Quadrant, a civilization whose power rivals that of the Federation. Captain Chakotay knows that his choices could derail the potential alliance. While grateful to the Confederacy Interstellar Fleet for rescuing the Federation starships from an alien armada, Voyager’s captain cannot forget the horrors upon which the Confederacy was founded. More troubling, it appears that several of Voyager’s old adversaries have formed a separate and unlikely pact that is determined to bring down the Confederacy at all costs. Sins of the past haunt the crew members of the Full Circle Fleet as they attempt to chart a course for the future. Will they learn much too late that some sins can never be forgiven…or forgotten? ™, ®, & © 2014 CBS Studios, Inc. STAR TREK and related marks are trademarks of CBS Studios, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Act of Contrition focuses on the intimate relationship between Regina, a widow, and Michael, a young doctor whose wife left him for another man. Having found happiness in one another, they desire nothing more than to be together. Yet in the eyes of the Catholic Church, Michael is not free to divorce his wife and marry Regina. In an emotional climax Regina must decide if she loves Michael enough to give him up or if she'll force him to choose between her and God. By modern standards, Giles's love scenes are tasteful, and the general atmosphere of ecumenism within today's Catholic Church renders moot many of the tensions in the novel. Yet in 1957 Giles's agent and publisher feared the work would cause "irreparable harm" to her reputation. As late as 1972 Giles was revising in the hopes of seeing the novel published. Finally her wish is fulfilled. Janice Holt Giles (1905-1979), author of nineteen books, lived and wrote near Knifley, Kentucky, for thirty-four years. Her biography is Janice Holt Giles: A Writer's Life.

A New York Times bestseller from the author of Dusk, Night Dawn, Hallelujah Anyway, Bird by Bird, and Almost Everything. Author Anne Lamott writes about the three simple prayers essential to coming through tough times, difficult days and the hardships of daily life. Readers of all ages have followed and cherished Anne Lamott’s funny and perceptive writing about her own faith through decades of trial and error. And in her new book, Help, Thanks, Wow, she has coalesced everything she knows about prayer to these fundamentals. It is these three prayers – asking for assistance from a higher power, appreciating what we have that is good, and feeling awe at the world around us – that can get us through the day and can show us the way forward. In Help, Thanks, Wow, Lamott recounts how she came to these insights, explains what they mean to her and how they have helped, and explores how others have embraced these same ideas. Insightful and honest as only Anne Lamott can be, Help, Thanks, Wow is the everyday faith book that new Lamott readers will love and longtime Lamott fans will treasure.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 540-542) and indexes.

Love and Care for the Marginalized is a 40-day meditational for Catholics based on reflections from popes, saints, religious leaders, movie quotes, and others on how God speaks to each of us about the importance of outreaching to those who have been hurt, rejected, and marginalized. Whether you are on the giving or receiving end in terms of marginalization, we have all experienced the world's treatment of those who are uncared for and unloved. Each meditation includes a quote, reflection, a prayer, and a call to action. The book is based on the command of Christ in the Biblical book of Matthew 25 where Jesus talks about the importance of loving and caring for those in greatest need and acting on their behalf. This book will help the reader to reflect upon the importance of making a difference for those who are alone, rejected and forgotten. The book was born out of much reflection, thought and most of all, prayer.

This little book is as valuable as lengthy treatises,as much for the sovereign importance of thesubject that it discusses (a subject, sadly, very littleknown by most Christians) as for the abundance ofdoctrines and the interest of its practical applications."The Great Means of Salvation," such is thetitle that St. Alphonsus de' Liguori gave to a tract onprayer published with many other works from hispen. And so great was his confidence in the efficacyand the power of prayer to assure the salvation ofsouls, that he would have wished, said he, to see hislittle book in the hands of everyone. About the exerciseof the love of God and of perfect contrition,we can say, with just as much truth, that they are "thegreat means of salvation," because between an act ofcharity or perfect contrition and the acquisition ofeternal life, the connection is more intimate and evencloser than between prayer and salvation.Consequently, I would like to see this little work,like St. Alphonsus' own, in the hands of everyone,convinced as I am that the careful reading of it andputting into practice its teachings would open thegates of heaven to a multitude of souls in danger ofeternal damnation without it, and it would increase,in a marvelous way, the grace of God in those whohave been faithful since their baptism.Every Christian ought to be soundly instructedabout the capital importance of the act of perfectcontrition and of charity on account of the inestimableservices that such knowledge can render usat the hour of our death and allow us to render atthe deathbed of a dying person, to whom Providencemight lead us. No one, even in good heath, shouldforget this truth. But it is desirable overall that everyonecherish it deeply engraved in his heart for thehours of infirmity and the perils of death.May it please God that this pamphlet be distributedas far and wide as possible. There is no doubt thatits reading will be accompanied by abundant blessings.--Father Augustine Lehmkuhl, S.J.

This revised, expanded edition of the Common Worship President’s Edition contains everything to celebrate Holy Communion Order One throughout the church year. It combines relevant material from the original President’s Edition with Eucharistic material from Times and Seasons, Festivals and Pastoral Services, and the Additional Collects.

"A woman raised by her older sister adopts a child to start a family of her own, but her joy is short-lived when her sister is diagnosed with life-threatening cancer"--