Hope and Life Press is pleased to announce the release of the book A Modern Sinner's Guide for the Third Millennium by the National Catholic Register's award-winning editorialist Angelo Stagnaro. The book has been granted the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur by the Catholic Archdiocese of New York. A Modern Sinner's Guide for the Third Millennium makes sin understandable to modern audiences and gives practical advice on how to identify and avoid sin in one's life, deal with temptation, and how to evangelize others who may be unaware of sin's enormity and its grave nature. Presenting chapters on the foundations of Christianity, the nature of sin, the pursuit of holiness, the Ten Commandments, the seven deadly sins and new deadly sins, the sins against the Holy Spirit, ultimate sins, the unforgiveable sin, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, this book provides an in-depth look on more than 70 sins from a theological and spiritual perspective, together with the consequences of sins and remedies for them. The book uniquely addresses the ten delicts and the new seven deadly social sins promulgated in 2008 by the Vatican. It also has sections on Purgatory, Hell, Divine forgiveness, indulgences, the nature of good and evil, and the Christian spiritual quest.
A Modern Sinner's Guide for the Third Millennium is suitable for several audiences including RCIA catechumens, catechists, homilists, apologists, canonists, people interested in exploring different forms of Christian spirituality, those interested in comparative religions and spiritual traditions, and Christians interested in developing their own spiritual life. The book, which consists of over 450 pages at size 7″ by 10″, is available in paperback edition from Amazon, Hope and Life Press, major book outlets, and can be found at the Vatican's libraries. It is also available in ebook edition directly from the publishers.
EARLY REVIEWS"In an age such as ours, this book is a clarion call for the truth. A Modern Sinner's Guide for the Third Millennium by Angelo Stagnaro takes its inspiration from an important and extremely potent spiritual work by Venerable Louis of Granada. We need not a sinner's guide to happiness and fulfillment, but a guide to sin: its definitions, types, causes, and remedies. One cannot be healed by a doctor until the disease is admitted and this book can serve as a diagnostic manual. One might think the book grim, but this is far from it. Stagnaro, a Third Order Franciscan and prolific writer, is just the person to guide others through the types of sin, their remedies and the Sacrament of Confession. By his own admission, he is an expert in sinning, but also repentance. Only Christ's light can cast out the darkness of our sins. Only His forgiveness in confession can scrape the scales from our eyes and renew our hearts. Then we shall see anew, see the world as it truly is, and be fully alive" - John Meinert, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Theology, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University.
"Angelo Stagnaro has taken on a hugely ambitious task in A Modern Sinner's Guide for the Third Millennium, yet the breadth of undertaking makes sense as it is a modern understanding and reworking of Venerable Louis of Granada's original guide. Stagnaro has followed in formidable footsteps and does so admirably. The book's length should cause no anxiety. It is not a cover-to- cover read, but a true guidebook, a valuable directory of sin: what sin is, what kinds of sins there are, how they are manifested, and how we can work to avoid them. Despite the guilt-inducing subject matter, A Modern Sinner's Guide is an engaging and even enjoyable read as Stagnaro writes with compassion, humility and refreshing flashes of humor. The book is timely. In an age that has forgotten that sin is an objective thing, 'living without values is a sure ticket to self-destruction,' as Stagnaro says. There are also thought-provoking discussions about some of our modern age's most contentious and problematic issues" - Maria McFadden Maffucci, Editor, Human Life Review.
ABOUT THE AUTHORAngelo Stagnaro is an award-winning journalist with the UN, newspapers and international wire services in the United States of America (US), Europe and Australia. He is the Catholic News Service's chief correspondent in New York City, the principal liaison for the Holy See, and an editorialist for the National Catholic Register. His major articles have appeared in the Washington Post, Catholic Herald, National Catholic Reporter, America Magazine, and The Tablet among others. Stagnaro is the author of several books on Catholic spirituality including How to Pray the Dominican Way, The Pro-Life Apologetics Manual, The Christian Book of the Dead, and The Catechist's Magic Kit. A professional stage mentalist and one of the world's experts on cold reading, he is also the author of eight seminal works on stage magic and cold reading that have been translated into multiple languages. Stagnaro graduated from SUNY-Albany and Kansai Gaikokugo Daigaku with specializations in the Ethnology of Religion, Comparative Asian Religions and Physical Anthropology. He also pursued theological studies at the University of Notre Dame. Stagnaro is a professed member of the Secular Franciscans and has served as RCIA catechist in New York and Singapore.