Choosing Catholic Books and Publishers

Following up on yesterday’s post about the anti-holiness kids book published by Paulist Press, I thought it might be helpful to go through the various publishers we deal with to help you make decisions as individual readers and also as Catholic store owners when you are trying to choose titles to carry.

This is very important to us because of our Good Faith Guarantee.

Basically, we divide our publishers into five groups:

1. Pope Benedict’s Library. These publishers make a point of carrying books that promote and defend the Faith. You can pretty much order any book from them without worry that the content is questionably Catholic. These books are also distinguished by their substantial content - no fluff here.
2. The University of Steubenville Library - Very good books for the most part with a few fluffy titles and possible a stray questionable title in the mix. Ninety-five percent of the time you can buy from them without a worry.
3. The Parish Library - You can find some very good stuff here, you can find some very bad stuff here. It all depends on who the librarian was.
4. The Matthew Fox Circle of Energy Reading Room - Don’t buy anything from this publisher unless you find it on our site. They don’t have any problem publishing heresy with a few stray orthodox titles that somehow got mixed in.
5. The Marcus Aurelius Library - These are books from publishers that aren’t Catholic and the books may not necessarily be specifically Catholic but have a Catholic world view.

Before I actually provide the list, please be aware that we aren’t the arbiters of orthodoxy, we just go by what the Church teaches and make our own judgments based on that. If you happen to be a publisher and think you are being unfairly categorized please contact us so we can update our list. This list isn’t meant to be a blanket condemnation of any publishers either. There are always a few good books available from any of these companies and by buying those books you will encourage them to produce more good titles.

Pope Benedict’s Library

• Alleluia Press - This publisher prints books about Eastern Catholicism. The owner is 93 and handwrites his correspondence.
• Ascension Press - They publish the Great Adventure Bible Study program and the Theology of the Body program for teens as well as the T3 Bible Study program and a bunch of other great titles.
• Aunt Dee’s Attic -A small press with some gift books for Sacramental prep.
• Baronius Press - A publisher from Britain that prints Tridentine Missals, the Douay Rheims Bible and some Catholic classics.
• Bread of Life Publishing - publishes a couple of cute, faithful catechism activity books for children and teens.
• Bridegroom Press - a small press that focuses on apologetics.
• Catholic Answers - the premier apologetics organization in the US. Run by Karl Keating.
• C.D. Stampley - Producer of very nice Catholic family Bibles.
• Coalition in Support of Ecclesia Dei - publishes booklets and videos for the Old Latin Mass.
• Confraternity of the Precious Blood - Prints some old titles including My Daily Bread.
• Couple to Couple League - the main NFP publisher in the country.
• Emmaus Road Publishing - the publishing division of Catholics United for the Faith.
• Family Life Center - Steve Wood’s St. Joseph Covenant Keepers official press. Great stuff on raising holy families.
• God With Us - A small publisher of books on Eastern Catholicism.
• Grotto Press - Very small but solid press.
• Hillside Education - a small publisher of Catholic homeschooling resources.
• Ignatius Press - one of the largest Catholic publishers in the US. Official publisher of Pope Benedict’s books as well as the best religious education programs - Faith and Life and Image of God - in the country.
• Institute of Carmelite Studies - producer of the definitive works of many Carmelite saints.
• Madonna House Publications - Founded by Catherine Doherty to promote Eastern Catholic spirituality.
• Marian Press - Publish all kinds of titles about the Divine Mercy and St. Faustina.
• Midwest Theological Forum - If you want Canon Law, this is the pla