A CIVILIZATION OF LOVE

What Every Catholic Can Do to Transform the World

By Carl Anderson

Harper One, 2008

203 pages, $19.95

To order: harpercollins.com

1-212-207-7000

Pope Benedict XVI’s stirring call to the young in his World Youth Day message for 2007, to be part of building the “civilization of love,” was also a summons for people of any age and place. Carl Anderson, the supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus, knew it. In his new book, A Civilization of Love, aptly subtitled: What Every Catholic Can Do to Transform the World, he has given us direction on what the call means and how to answer it.

To build the civilization of love we’ve got to beat the culture of death. Only the culture of life makes sense for both body and soul, Anderson says, explaining clearly and reasonably where the other culture came from and some of its characteristics that influence society.

He does this by skillfully weaving together quotes and observations from historians, philosophers and theologians both Christian and secular. It’s not a quick-read book but a page-turner nevertheless because the author has a knack for interlocking thoughts and keeping them flowing.

Anderson doesn’t shy away from quoting some of the most influential anti-religious thinkers to show where problems lie, but he immediately turns to those who put us squarely on the path Christ told us to walk to build the civilization of love. He relies heavily on our two most recent Popes, John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

Brilliantly interweaving these two guiding lights of Catholicism, from the early writings of Karol Wojtyla and Joseph Ratzinger to their encyclicals and apostolic exhortations, Anderson builds an airtight case for the culture of life not just because he knows the encyclicals and writings inside and out, but because he knows their depth from private discussions over the years he’s privileged to have had with John Paul.

Whatever the chapter’s focus, the dominant theme is that the key to the culture of life is everyone’s vocation to love and the inherent dignity of every human being no matter their condition. One chapter focuses on the family, the “domestic Church,” as “the essential building block of the civilization of love.”

Anderson writes, “Just as important, the family is the vehicle for transmitting to the rising generation the values that will shape it and guide it into the future. If the truths of human existence and destiny are to be imparted to our children, it will happen primarily in this nexus. For this reason it is no exaggeration to say that the ultimate fate of the human race lies in the family. And the ultimate fate of the family lies in the integrity of the intimate life of husband and wife.”

Throughout, several illustrations show how people are building this civilization. Many highlight the way the Knights of Columbus have responded. As admirable as this is, examples from non-Knights sources would have further rounded out the models to follow.

Yet the book is firmly grounded in hope, and each chapter ends with “Suggestions for Contemplation and Action.” For instance, Anderson treats the illegal immigration controversy from the perspective of the Gospel, and ultimately concludes, in part, “Because of Our Lady of Guadalupe, our Church faces a bright future on this continent.”

There’s one sure, true way to build the civilization of love, and Carl Anderson has provided a map in this book.

Staff writer Joseph Pronechen

writes from Trumbull, Connecticut.