Bestselling Authors Offer Ancient Antidote to Fear, Suspicion

We are a nation in the midst of a crisis of trust since 9/11 and with the scandals rocking Catholicism. The authors are available as experts and guests during the 9/11 anniversary.

In an age of terror, it is difficult to look into the eyes of a stranger without cringing. We carefully peruse our fellow passengers before we board a plane. We bolt our doors and feel safest when we are with our close friends and family. It may seem natural, given the devastating recent attacks on our country, but isn=t there a better way to live?

From the authors who delighted thousands of readers with Benedict=s Way: An Ancient Monk=s Insights for a Balanced Life comes a new book with a bold challenge: Radical Hospitality: Benedict=s Way of Love (Paraclete Press, September 2002, $19.95). In this book, Lonni Collins Pratt, a Catholic laywoman, and Daniel Homan, a Benedictine monk, blend their unique voices to present a radical vision for a kinder world.

According to Pratt and Homan, Benedictine hospitality is not cozy and comforting, but risky and world-rattling. It is not about Asipping tea and making bland talk with people who live next door or work with you,@ but it is about mutual reverenceCAa call to revere what is sacred in every person ever born.@

Radical Hospitality contains 15 chapters, applying Benedictine hospitality to such issues as:
$   Welcoming and accepting the other (even if Athe other@ is a weed-smoking teen)
$   Welcoming the stranger within ourselves and the stranger in those we love
$   Making room for ourselves by establishing boundaries in hospitality
$   Applying the monastic balance between cloister and community
$   The real meaning of companionship and intimacy
(more)

Anecdotes from the authors= personal experience sprinkle each chapter. Describing the Benedictine understanding of intimacy, Fr. Homan confides the difficulty that the monks sometimes have in understanding and appreciating some of the other monks. In a chapter on helping others through painful times, Collins Pratt describes her baby daughter=s ordeal with a cancer, and how a courageous stranger became for Lonni the face of GodCAIt was the hardest time I=ve ever known and during it, God=s name was Linda,@ she writes.

For people of all faiths and walks of life who seek to live with compassion and generosity, Radical Hospitality provides an essential introduction to the timeless wisdom contained in Benedictine spirituality. It will appeal to the general reader as well as to serious spiritual seekers.

Radical Hospitality is available from major distributors, booksellers, and directly from Paraclete Press, www.paracletepress.com.

For an interview with the authors, call Jennifer Lynch, 508-255-4685, ext. 357.

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Radical Hospitality: Benedict=s Way of Love
Lonni Collins Pratt and Daniel Homan, O.S.B.
ISBN: 1-55725-309-9
Pub Date: September 2002
Hardcover, 144 pp., $19.95