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United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
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San Francisco
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San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is the birthplace of the United Nations, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856, after three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines, San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, as of 2016, San Francisco is ranked high on world liveability rankings. The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush
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Ignatius of Loyola
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Saint Ignatius of Loyola was a Spanish priest and theologian, who founded the religious order called the Society of Jesus and became its first Superior General. The Jesuit order served the Pope as missionaries, and they were bound by a vow of obedience to the sovereign pontiff in regard to the missions. They therefore emerged as an important political force during the time of the Counter-Reformation, Ignatius is remembered as a talented spiritual director. He recorded his method in a treatise called the Spiritual Exercises, a simple set of meditations, prayers. Ignatius was beatified in 1609, and then canonized, receiving the title of Saint on March 12,1622 and his feast day is celebrated on July 31. He is the saint of the provinces of Gipuzkoa and Biscay as well as the Society of Jesus. Ignatius is also a foremost patron saint of soldiers, Íñigo López de Loyola was born in the municipality of Azpeitia at the castle of Loyola in todays Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, Spain. He was baptized Íñigo, after St. Enecus Abbot of Oña and it is not clear when he began using the Latin name Ignatius instead of his baptismal name Íñigo. It seems he did not intend to change his name, but rather adopted a name which he believed was a variant of his own, for use in France. Íñigo was the youngest of thirteen children and his mother died soon after his birth, and he was then brought up by María de Garín, the local blacksmiths wife. Íñigo adopted the surname de Loyola in reference to the Basque village of Loyola where he was born, as a boy Íñigo became a page in the service of a relative, Juan Velázquez de Cuéllar, treasurer of the kingdom of Castile. As a young man Íñigo had a love for military exercises as well as a tremendous desire for fame. He framed his life around the stories of El Cid, the knights of Camelot, and the Song of Roland. He joined the army at seventeen, and according to one biographer, he strutted about with his cape slinging open to reveal his tight-fitting hose and boots, a sword and dagger at his waist. Upon encountering a Moor who denied the divinity of Jesus, he challenged him to a duel to the death and he dueled many other men as well. In 1509, at the age of 18, Íñigo took up arms for Antonio Manrique de Lara and his diplomacy and leadership qualities earned him the title servant of the court, which made him very useful to the Duke. Under the Dukes leadership, Íñigo participated in many battles without injury, but at the Battle of Pamplona in 1521 he was gravely injured when a French-Navarrese expedition force stormed the fortress of Pamplona on May 20,1521. A cannonball hit him in the legs, wounding his right leg, in the end these operations left one leg shorter than the other, Íñigo would limp for the rest of his life, and his military career was ended
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Society of Jesus
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The Society of Jesus Latin, Societas Iesu, S. J. SJ or SI) is a religious congregation of the Catholic Church which originated in Spain. The society is engaged in evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 nations on six continents, Jesuits work in education, intellectual research, and cultural pursuits. Jesuits also give retreats, minister in hospitals and parishes, and promote social justice, Ignatius of Loyola founded the society after being wounded in battle and experiencing a religious conversion. He composed the Spiritual Exercises to help others follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, ignatiuss plan of the orders organization was approved by Pope Paul III in 1540 by a bull containing the Formula of the Institute. Ignatius was a nobleman who had a background, and the members of the society were supposed to accept orders anywhere in the world. The Society participated in the Counter-Reformation and, later, in the implementation of the Second Vatican Council, the Society of Jesus is consecrated under the patronage of Madonna Della Strada, a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and it is led by a Superior General. The Society of Jesus on October 3,2016 announced that Superior General Adolfo Nicolás resignation was officially accepted, on October 14, the 36th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus elected Father Arturo Sosa as its thirty-first Superior General. The headquarters of the society, its General Curia, is in Rome, the historic curia of St. Ignatius is now part of the Collegio del Gesù attached to the Church of the Gesù, the Jesuit Mother Church. In 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the first Jesuit Pope, the Jesuits today form the largest single religious order of priests and brothers in the Catholic Church. As of 1 January 2015, Jesuits numbered 16,740,11,986 clerics regular,2,733 scholastics,1,268 brothers and 753 novices. In 2012, Mark Raper S. J. wrote, Our numbers have been in decline for the last 40 years—from over 30,000 in the 1960s to fewer than 18,000 today. The steep declines in Europe and North America and consistent decline in Latin America have not been offset by the significant increase in South Asia, the Society is divided into 83 Provinces with six Independent Regions and ten Dependent Regions. On 1 January 2007, members served in 112 nations on six continents with the largest number in India and their average age was 57.3 years,63.4 years for priests,29.9 years for scholastics, and 65.5 years for brothers. The current Superior General of the Jesuits is Arturo Sosa, the Society is characterized by its ministries in the fields of missionary work, human rights, social justice and, most notably, higher education. It operates colleges and universities in countries around the world and is particularly active in the Philippines. In the United States it maintains 28 colleges and universities and 58 high schools and he ensured that his formula was contained in two papal bulls signed by Pope Paul III in 1540 and by Pope Julius III in 1550. The formula expressed the nature, spirituality, community life and apostolate of the new religious order, the meeting is now commemorated in the Martyrium of Saint Denis, Montmartre
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Pope Benedict XVI
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Pope Benedict XVI reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013. He was elected pope on 19 April 2005, was inaugurated on 24 April 2005, Benedicts election occurred in a papal conclave following the death of Pope John Paul II. Ordained as a priest in 1951 in his native Bavaria, Ratzinger established himself as a highly regarded university theologian by the late 1950s and was appointed a professor in 1958. In 1981, he was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, from 2002 until his election as Pope, he was also Dean of the College of Cardinals. He was originally a liberal theologian, but adopted conservative views after 1968 and his prolific writings defend traditional Catholic doctrine and values. During his papacy, Benedict XVI advocated a return to fundamental Christian values to counter the increased secularisation of many Western countries and he views relativisms denial of objective truth, and the denial of moral truths in particular, as the central problem of the 21st century. He taught the importance of both the Catholic Church and an understanding of Gods redemptive love, Pope Benedict also revived a number of traditions, including elevating the Tridentine Mass to a more prominent position. He strengthened the relationship between the Catholic Church and art, promoted the use of Latin, and reintroduced traditional papal garments and he has been described as the main intellectual force in the Church since the mid-1980s. On 11 February 2013, Benedict announced his resignation in a speech in Latin before the cardinals, citing a lack of strength of mind and his resignation became effective on 28 February 2013. He is the first pope to resign since Pope Gregory XII in 1415, as pope emeritus, Benedict retains the style of His Holiness, and the title of Pope, and continues to dress in the papal colour of white. He was succeeded by Pope Francis on 13 March 2013, in his retirement, Benedict XVI has made occasional public appearances alongside Pope Francis. Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger was born on 16 April, Holy Saturday,1927, at Schulstraße 11, at 8,30 in the morning in his parents home in Marktl, Bavaria and he was baptised the same day. He was the third and youngest child of Joseph Ratzinger, Sr. a police officer and his mothers family was originally from South Tyrol. Pope Benedict XVIs brother, Georg Ratzinger, a priest and former director of the Regensburger Domspatzen choir, is still alive and his sister, Maria Ratzinger, who never married, managed Cardinal Ratzingers household until her death in 1991. Their grand-uncle was the German politician Georg Ratzinger, at the age of five, Ratzinger was in a group of children who welcomed the visiting Cardinal Archbishop of Munich with flowers. Struck by the distinctive garb, he later announced the very same day that he wanted to be a cardinal. He attended the school in Aschau am Inn, which was renamed in his honour in 2009. Ratzingers family, especially his father, bitterly resented the Nazis, in 1941, one of Ratzingers cousins, a 14-year-old boy with Down syndrome, was taken away by the Nazi regime and murdered during the Action T4 campaign of Nazi eugenics
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G. K. Chesterton
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Gilbert Keith Chesterton, KC*SG, better known as G. K. Chesterton, was an English writer, poet, philosopher, dramatist, journalist, orator, lay theologian, biographer, and literary and art critic. Chesterton is often referred to as the prince of paradox, Time magazine has observed of his writing style, Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories—first carefully turning them inside out. Chesterton is well known for his fictional priest-detective Father Brown, even some of those who disagree with him have recognised the wide appeal of such works as Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man. Chesterton, as a thinker, cast aspersions on both Progressivism and Conservatism, saying, The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes, the business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected. George Bernard Shaw, Chestertons friendly enemy according to Time, said of him, biographers have identified him as a successor to such Victorian authors as Matthew Arnold, Thomas Carlyle, Cardinal John Henry Newman, and John Ruskin. Chesterton was born in Campden Hill in Kensington, London, the son of Marie Louise, née Grosjean and he was baptised at the age of one month into the Church of England, though his family themselves were irregularly practising Unitarians. According to his autobiography, as a young man Chesterton became fascinated with the occult and, along with his brother Cecil, Chesterton was educated at St Pauls School, then attended the Slade School of Art to become an illustrator. The Slade is a department of University College London, where Chesterton also took classes in literature, Chesterton married Frances Blogg in 1901, the marriage lasted the rest of his life. Chesterton credited Frances with leading him back to Anglicanism, though he later considered Anglicanism to be a pale imitation and he entered full communion with the Catholic Church in 1922. In 1896 Chesterton began working for the London publisher Redway, and T. Fisher Unwin, during this period he also undertook his first journalistic work, as a freelance art and literary critic. In 1902 the Daily News gave him a weekly column, followed in 1905 by a weekly column in The Illustrated London News. Early on Chesterton showed a great interest in and talent for art and he had planned to become an artist, and his writing shows a vision that clothed abstract ideas in concrete and memorable images. Even his fiction contained carefully concealed parables, Men may keep a sort of level of good, but no man has ever been able to keep on one level of evil. That road goes down and down, the kind man drinks and turns cruel, the frank man kills and lies about it. Many a man Ive known started like you to be an honest outlaw, a robber of the rich. Chesterton loved to debate, often engaging in public disputes with such men as George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, Bertrand Russell. According to his autobiography, he and Shaw played cowboys in a silent film that was never released, Chesterton was a large man, standing 6 feet 4 inches and weighing around 20 stone 6 pounds
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Hilaire Belloc
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Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was an Anglo-French writer and historian. He was one of the most prolific writers in England during the twentieth century. He was known as a writer, orator, poet, sailor, satirist, man of letters, soldier and his Catholic faith had a strong impact on his works. He was President of the Oxford Union and later MP for Salford from 1906 to 1910 and he was a noted disputant, with a number of long-running feuds, but also widely regarded as a humane and sympathetic man. Belloc became a naturalised British subject in 1902, while retaining his French citizenship and his poetry encompassed comic verses for children and religious poetry. His widely sold Cautionary Tales for Children included Jim, who ran away from his nurse, and was eaten by a lion and Matilda and he also collaborated with G. K. Chesterton on a number of works. Belloc was born in La Celle-Saint-Cloud, France to a French father and his sister Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes also grew up to be a writer. His mother Bessie Rayner Parkes was a woman of many talents and she was a major force in efforts to gain greater equality for women, being a co-founder of the English Womans Journal and the Langham Place Group. Belloc himself campaigned against womens suffrage, he was a member of the Womens National Anti-Suffrage League and her father was Joseph Parkes, a prosperous solicitor and a liberal with Radical sympathies. Her mother, Elizabeth Rayner Priestley, was born in the United States, in 1867, Bessie married attorney Louis Belloc, son of the French painter Jean-Hilaire Belloc. In 1872, five years after they wed, Louis died, the young widow then brought her children back to England. Hilaire Belloc grew up in England, and indeed spent most of his life there, after being educated at John Henry Newmans Oratory School in Edgbaston, Birmingham, Belloc served his term of military service, as a French citizen, with an artillery regiment near Toul in 1891. Belloc proceeded to Balliol College, Oxford, as a history scholar and he went on to obtain first-class honours, and never lost his love for Balliol, as is illustrated by his verse, Balliol made me, Balliol fed me/ Whatever I had she gave me again. He was powerfully built, with stamina, and walked extensively in Britain. In 1906, he purchased land and a house called Kings Land at Shipley, West Sussex, elodie and Belloc had five children before her 1914 death from influenza. After her death, Belloc wore mourning for the remainder of his life and his son Louis was killed in 1918 while serving in the Royal Flying Corps in northern France. Belloc placed a tablet at the nearby Cambrai Cathedral. It is in the side chapel as the noted icon Our Lady of Cambrai
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Pope John Paul II
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Pope Saint John Paul II, born Karol Józef Wojtyła, was Pope from 1978 to 2005. He is called by some Catholics Saint John Paul the Great and he was elected by the second Papal conclave of 1978, which was called after Pope John Paul I, who had been elected in August after the death of Pope Paul VI, died after thirty-three days. Cardinal Wojtyła was elected on the day of the conclave. John Paul II is recognised as helping to end Communist rule in his native Poland, John Paul II significantly improved the Catholic Churchs relations with Judaism, Islam, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion. He upheld the Churchs teachings on such matters as artificial contraception and the ordination of women and he was one of the most travelled world leaders in history, visiting 129 countries during his pontificate. By the time of his death, he had named most of the College of Cardinals, consecrated or co-consecrated a large number of the worlds bishops, a key goal of his papacy was to transform and reposition the Catholic Church. His wish was to place his Church at the heart of a new alliance that would bring together Jews, Muslims. He was the second longest-serving pope in history after Pope Pius IX. Born in Poland, John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope since the Dutch Pope Adrian VI, John Paul IIs cause for canonisation commenced in 2005 one month after his death with the traditional five-year waiting period waived. A second miracle attributed to John Paul IIs intercession was approved on 2 July 2013, John Paul II was canonised on 27 April 2014, together with Pope John XXIII. On 11 September 2014, Pope Francis added John Paul IIs optional memorial feast day to the worldwide General Roman Calendar of saints, in response to worldwide requests. It is traditional to celebrate saints feast days on the anniversary of their deaths, Karol Józef Wojtyła was born in the Polish town of Wadowice. He was the youngest of three born to Karol Wojtyła, an ethnic Pole, and Emilia Kaczorowska, whose mothers maiden surname was Scholz. Emilia, who was a schoolteacher, died in childbirth in 1929 when Wojtyła was eight years old and his elder sister Olga had died before his birth, but he was close to his brother Edmund, nicknamed Mundek, who was 13 years his senior. Edmunds work as a physician led to his death from scarlet fever. As a boy, Wojtyła was athletic, often playing football as goalkeeper, during his childhood, Wojtyła had contact with Wadowices large Jewish community. School football games were organised between teams of Jews and Catholics, and Wojtyła often played on the Jewish side. I remember that at least a third of my classmates at school in Wadowice were Jews
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Ethnic groups in Europe
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The ethnic groups in Europe are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the nations of Europe. The total number of minority populations in Europe is estimated at 105 million people. There is no precise or universally accepted definition of the ethnic group or nationality. There are eight peoples of Europe with more than 30 million members residing in Europe and these eight groups between themselves account for some 465 million or about 65% of European population, Russians, Germans, French, British, Italians, Spanish, Ukrainians, Poles. About 20–25 million residents are members of diasporas of non-European origin, the population of the European Union, with some five hundred million residents, accounts for two thirds of the European population. Of the total population of Europe of some 730 million, over 80% or some 600 million fall within three large branches of Indo-European languages, viz. Slavic, Italic and Germanic, the largest groups that do not fall within these three are the Greeks and the Albanians. Beside the Indo-European languages there are two major language families on the European continent, Turkic languages and Uralic languages. The Semitic languages that dominate the coast of northern Africa as well as the Near East are preserved in Malta, abkhaz–Adyghean, Basque, Kartvelian, and Nakho-Dagestani are linguistic isolates with no known relation to each other or to any other languages inside or outside of Europe. The Basques are assumed to descend from the populations of the Atlantic Bronze Age directly, the Indo-European groups of Europe are assumed to have developed in situ by admixture of early Indo-European groups arriving in Europe by the Bronze Age. The Finnic peoples are mostly assumed to be descended from populations that had migrated to their homelands by about 3,000 years ago. A group of Tyrrhenian languages appears to have included Etruscan, Rhaetian and perhaps also Eteocretan, a pre-Roman stage of Proto-Basque can only be reconstructed with great uncertainty. Regarding the European Bronze Age, the only secure reconstruction is that of Proto-Greek, a Proto-Italo-Celtic ancestor of both Italic and Celtic, and a Proto-Balto-Slavic language has been postulated with less confidence. Old European hydronymy has been taken as indicating an early Indo-European predecessor of the later centum languages, iron Age populations of Europe known from Greco-Roman historiography, notably Herodotus, Pliny, Ptolemy and Tacitus, Aegean, Greek tribes, Pelasgians/Tyrrhenians, and Anatolians. Armenian Highlands/Anatolia, Armenians Balkans, Illyrians, Dacians, and Thracians, Caucasus, Georgians Italian peninsula, Italic peoples, Etruscans, Adriatic Veneti, Ligurians and Greek colonies. Western/Central Europe, Celts, Rhaetians and Swabians, Vistula Veneti, Lugii, Iberian peninsula, Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula Basques and Phoenicians. Sardinia, ancient Sardinians, comprising the Corsi, Balares and Ilienses tribes, British Isles, Celtic tribes in Britain and Ireland and Picts/Priteni. Northern Europe, Finnic peoples, Germanic peoples, iranian influence, Achaemenid control of Thrace and the Bosporan Kingdom, Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans, Ossetes. The Jewish diaspora reached Europe in the Roman Empire period, the Jewish community in Italy dating to around AD70, the Bulgars, a semi-nomadic people, originally from Central Asia, eventually absorbed by the Slavs
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Publishing
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Publishing is the dissemination of literature, music, or information—the activity of making information available to the general public. In some cases, authors may be their own publishers, meaning originators and developers of content also provide media to deliver, also, the word publisher can refer to the individual who leads a publishing company or an imprint or to a person who owns/heads a magazine. Traditionally, the term refers to the distribution of printed works such as books, Publishing includes the following stages of development, acquisition, copy editing, production, printing, and marketing and distribution. There are two categories of book publisher, Non-paid publishers, A non-paid publisher is a house that does not charge authors at all to publish their books. Paid publishers, The author has to meet with the expense to get the book published. This is also known as vanity publishing, at a small press, it is possible to survive by relying entirely on commissioned material. But as activity increases, the need for works may outstrip the publishers established circle of writers, for works written independently of the publisher, writers often first submit a query letter or proposal directly to a literary agent or to a publisher. Submissions sent directly to a publisher are referred to as unsolicited submissions, the acquisitions editors send their choices to the editorial staff. Unsolicited submissions have a low rate of acceptance, with some sources estimating that publishers ultimately choose about three out of every ten thousand unsolicited manuscripts they receive. Many book publishers around the world maintain a strict no unsolicited submissions policy and this policy shifts the burden of assessing and developing writers out of the publisher and onto the literary agents. At these publishers, unsolicited manuscripts are thrown out, or sometimes returned, established authors may be represented by a literary agent to market their work to publishers and negotiate contracts. Literary agents take a percentage of earnings to pay for their services. Some writers follow a route to publication. Such books often employ the services of a ghostwriter, for a submission to reach publication, it must be championed by an editor or publisher who must work to convince other staff of the need to publish a particular title. An editor who discovers or champions a book that becomes a best-seller may find their reputation enhanced as a result of their success. Once a work is accepted, commissioning editors negotiate the purchase of property rights. The authors of traditional printed materials typically sell exclusive territorial intellectual property rights that match the list of countries in which distribution is proposed. In the case of books, the publisher and writer must also agree on the formats of publication —mass-market paperback
11.
Joseph Pearce
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Joseph Pearce is an English-born writer, and as of 2014 Director of the Center for Faith and Culture at Aquinas College in Nashville, Tennessee. He is known for a number of biographies, many of Catholic figures. Formerly aligned with the National Front, a white nationalist political party, he converted to Roman Catholicism in 1989, repudiated his earlier views and he is a co-editor of the St. Austin Review and editor-in-chief of Sapientia Press. He also teaches Shakespearian literature for Homeschool Connections, an online Catholic curriculum provider, Pearce was born in East London, and brought up in Dagenham, England. At the age of fifteen he joined the National Front, a political party opposed to a multi-racial and multi-cultural United Kingdom. He was closely involved in NF organisational activities and first came to prominence in 1977 when, at the age of sixteen, he set up Bulldog, Bulldog became associated with some of the most virulent NF propaganda. In 1980, Pearce became editor of Nationalism Today, in which he argued vehemently in favour of racial preservation, due to the white supremacist nature of his articles, Pearce was twice prosecuted under the Race Relations Act of 1976, and served prison time in 1982 and 1985–1986. A close associate of Nick Griffin, they were attacked by Martin Webster for devoting too much time to writing for the Third Position magazine Rising. As a result, he joined Griffin in resigning from the NF in November 1983 before circulating a statement in which complained about Websters role in the party. The statement claimed that Pearce and Griffin were leaving to avoid a Webster-led witch hunt, returning to the NF, Pearce became editor of Nationalism Today which supported the Political Soldier line within the NF. In this position he argued vehemently in favour of racial preservation, before long Pearce became a full member of the Flag Group and was expelled along with the rest of that group by the Official National Front in 1986. Pearce became a member of the new group and sought to extend their activities. A regular writer and editor for Flag Group publications, he contributed to the groups ideology, earlier in his career, Pearce had even contacted John Tyndall to suggest the possibility of an alliance with the British National Party. The idea was considered by Tyndall but was rejected on the advice of Ray Hill. Between 1980 and 1985, Pearce had close ties to Italian neo-fascist leader Roberto Fiore, as the Flag Group ran out of momentum, Pearce largely faded from the scene and took no role in the NF that emerged in 1990 under Ian Anderson. He attributes his subsequent religious conversion, from a culturally-Protestant agnosticism, to reading G. K. Chesterton and he now repudiates his earlier views, saying that his racism stemmed from hatred, and that his conversion to Christian belief completely changed his outlook. Pearce was also a member of the Orange Order and, between 1978–1985, a frequent visitor to Northern Ireland, despite his sympathy for the Loyalists, Pearce rebuffed all attempts to recruit him into the violent aspect of the Troubles. He has written, For all my extremism, I had no desire to kill anybody and this information included photographs of suspected IRA members, the type of car they drove and its registration number, and other useful facts
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Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
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The Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition is an English translation of the Bible. It is a Catholic adaptation of the Revised Standard Version which is a revision of the American Standard Version which is an update of the King James Version into modern English. The latter version was revised in 1952 by a Standard Bible Committee authorized by the National Council of Churches, a revision of the Apocrypha was authorized in December of that year, and would be completed in 1957. In 1954, after a year of negotiations, the Standard Bible Committee granted the Catholic Biblical Association of Great Britain permission to print a Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition Bible. Originally, the RSV-CE New Testament was to have been issued as early as 1956, but Cardinal Griffin, a delay of nearly a decade ensued before Archbishop Gray of St. Andrews and Edinburgh gave the RSV-CE New Testament the necessary imprimatur. And so at last, in 1965, the RSV-CE New Testament was published, in the following year,1966, the full RSV-CE Bible was published, with the deuterocanonical works incorporated into the Old Testament text. The Prayer of Manasseh,1 Esdras,2 Esdras,3 Maccabees,4 Maccabees and Psalm 151, the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition was negotiated with the National Council of Churches, and issued by Ignatius Press in 2006. A Catholic Bible differs in the number, order, and occasionally preferred emphasis than books typically found in Bibles used by Protestants, the Catholic Church declares, Easy access to Sacred Scripture should be provided for all the Christian faithful. Not all the books in the Septuagint are included among those that the Catholic Church considers to be part of the Old Testament, on the other hand, the early Eastern translation known as the Peshitta excluded five New Testament books that the Catholic Church declares to be canonical. Translations used by Protestants typically use the shorter Masoretic Text as their basis regarding the Old Testament, the Luther Bible included what he called the Apocrypha and changed the traditional order of some of the New Testament books. The editors stated aim for the RSV Catholic Edition was to make the number of alterations. The RSV-CE was based on the 1962 printing of the Protestant RSV, some minor changes were made to New Testament texts where variant readings aligned better with Catholic understanding and tradition. An appendix to the RSV Catholic Edition documented its departures from the 1962 RSV New Testament, some disputed verses or phrases that had been footnoted in the RSV were restored in the Catholic Edition. Footnotes regarding the value of New Testament coins were rewritten in terms of how long it took the average worker to earn the money, the book of Revelation, called The Revelation To John, had added as a subtitle. Some of the made in the RSV Catholic Edition were later introduced into the RSV Second Edition of the New Testament in 1971 in preparation for the issuance of the RSV Common Bible. When the New Revised Standard Version was released in 1989, the original RSV-CE went out of print and it was the first truly ecumenical Bible and brought together the two traditions – the Catholic Douay-Rheims Bible and the Protestant Authorised Version. Ignatius Press, in particular, revived interest the RSV-CE in 1994, today, the original 1966 edition of the RSV-CE is still published by Ignatius Press, Scepter Publishers, Oxford University Press, and Saint Benedict Press. In early 2006, Ignatius Press released the Revised Standard Version, prefers a rendering of Psalm 139.14 that is closer to recent translations – I praise you, for I am wondrously made
