Dr Arthur Hippler's "Citizens of The Heavenly City"

I just read an interesting article in the National Catholic Register about a book written by Dr. Arthur Hippler, director of the Justice and Peace Office for the Diocese of La Crosse, Wis.

As the Register notes, this book, Citizens of The Heavenly City, is a "New hish school textbook [which] gets Catholic social teaching right." For those who had the opportunity to read some of Dr. Hippler's works in past on the diocesan web (before the site was reworked, making them unavailable), one can cannot help but think that this book is an excellent work which truly presents a solid foundation of Catholic Social Teaching - something many see as an area in which a number of Catholics are quite confused. This book, it seems, offers Catholics and others an opportunity th "get it right".

Not only would a book of this sort be necessary for high school Catholics, but I would venture to say that many of us could use a "refresher" from an authentically Catholic perspective.

Dr Hippler states,

"It's so important these kids get social formation from the Church, or they're going to get a social teaching from somewhere else. They'll end up being Catholic schizophrenics, materialists, socialists, or communists because they don't have any formation ­of what the Church says about society."

I found the book available at Ave Maria Radio here.

Product Description

This book is an excellent introduction to Catholic Social Teaching. It has a clear competent focus on the Natural Law, the 10 Commandments, our common moral tradition, and the truth that binds and limits all of us. It includes an excellent introduction to Biblical tradition, the early Church Fathers, Augustine, Aquinas, Conciliar teaching, and appropriate papal documents. Its focus on the key Cardinal virtues essential to moral growth and perfection is very well done.

Product Reviews
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"Citizens of the Heavenly City is a valuable addition to the materials for use in Catholic high schools which seek to impart to their pupils a sense of how Catholics are to go about weighing moral choices in the area of social teaching, an obligation on us all."
-- Most Reverend Thomas G. Doran, Bishop of Rockford, IL

This book has an imprimatur and a forward from our own Archbishop, His Excellency, the Most Reverend Raymond Burke.