St. Thomas Aquinas enables the reader to appreciate both Thomas's continuity with earlier thought and his creative independence. After a useful account of the life and work of St. Thomas, McInerny shows how the thoughts of Aristotle, Boethius, and Augustine and Pseudo-Dionysius were assimilated into the personal wisdom of St. Thomas. He also offers a helpful study of the distinctive features of Aquinas's Christian theology.
Long associated with the Roman Catholic tradition, natural law is seen here as a legitimate philosophical position that can be justified without recourse to Christian theology. . . . Though the Christian ethics are a concern to many readers, McInerny is working from within the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition, arguing that, while distinct from theology, moral philosophy is best done in the context of faith. Recommended for philosophy and religion collections."--Library Journal
Tough times and the unsolved murders of anyone with ties to the Deveres---a family of wealthy parish patrons---back Father Dowling up against a wall in his struggle to save his church from the chopping block. With too many churches and not enough people to fill them, the Archdiocese has to make some cuts, and many of them, including the proposed closing of St. Hilary's, are dangerously close to the bone. Father Dowling rushes to drum up support from church officials and parishioners, including the Deveres, who don't want to see the stained glass windows they donated go anywhere other than the church they were meant for, but they can hardly be of help when those closest to them start turning up dead. Church politics, long-kept family secrets, and a determined killer come together to put St. Hilary's---a church that countless characters and devoted readers have come to love---and its parishioners in peril in Stained Glass, the latest in Ralph McInerny's treasured mystery series.
With parishioners up in arms, Father Dowling has to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that a conviction is no proof of guilt in Ash Wednesday, the newest addition to Ralph McInerny's acclaimed and beloved mystery series. Father Dowling has been serving as parish priest and resident sleuth at St. Hilary's for a while now, but he's no lifer, and there's plenty that he doesn't know about the old guard. So when a stranger comes to Fox River who isn't a stranger to anyone but him, he has to rely on his prying housekeeper to tell him that the mystery man is actually a well-known murderer. Ten years ago, Nathaniel Green's wife was dying of cancer, and after a short remission she relapsed into a coma. That small sliver of hope so utterly dashed must have been too much for him because when the nurses came to check on her they found that he had taken her off of her life support. Green's return divides the community, but the more Father Dowling ponders the moral questions and reinvestigates the case, the more he wonders if Green committed any crime at all.
Enlisted by the head of a local family to help her niece relinquish her ambitions for more earthly pursuits, Father Dowling becomes enmeshed in the family's edgy interrelations, which are marked by an unsolved murder.
Gregory Barrett, a classmate of Father Dowling's, left the priesthood twenty-five years ago. Now, after all these years, a woman threatens to bring a multimillion-dollar suit against him, alleging he sexually exploited her when he was still a priest and she was sixteen. Barrett has no memory of her, but is devastated at what these claims will do to his career as a radio host and to his new family. So he comes to Father Dowling for advice. Father Dowling, a parish priest in Fox River, Illinois, as usual, serves as part counselor, part sounding board, and part moral compass for priests and parishioners alike---not to mention cops and lawyers---and offers help to both Barrett and his accuser. Before Barrett can decide what to do, and before the now-adult woman has made her demands known to the archdiocese, a body washes up on the shore of Lake Michigan, and Barrett becomes the primary suspect in the murder. Also in the mix in this astutely drawn mystery are a failed writer, a parish busybody, an inept lawyer, and an embittered young man, each with his or her own agenda, and it is up to Father Dowling to unravel the links between these people whose lives were separated long ago, only to reconnect in tragedy.
To many Notre Dame alumni, being a good Fighting Irish fan is as important as being a good Catholic. Billionaire Marcus Bramble is obsessed with the sport and with the father of all college football coaching - the great Knute Rockne. But when Bramble offers the school ten million dollars to memorialize the Rock, things get dangerously competitive. While debate rages over how to honor the coach, one trustee - the outspoken Madeline Rune - ends up dead. Rune was the daughter of the great sports historian F.X. Bourke and the heir to his estate. The most likely suspect in Rune's murder is her embittered and philandering husband, but lurking in the background are forces more political than marital. When the murder suspect also becomes a victim, surprising information ends up in the hands of the Knight brothers: Philip, the private eye, and Roger, the brilliant Notre Dame philosophy professor. With help from an intriguing cast of local characters, the Knight brothers embark on the most clever and energetic McInerny series to date.
Another cleverly constructed and witty installment from one of the genre's masters, The Book of Kills is a delightfully sinister stroll through the hallowed halls of academia. Prior to the kidnapping of several school administrators and the desecration of headstones in the Cedar Grove Cemetery, the University of Notre Dame's biggest worry had seemed to be this season's challenging football schedule. But these "pranks" are getting more and more serious. Then, Orion Plant, an eccentric scholar in the history program, began attracting negative media attention by claiming the university founder, Father Edward Sorin, stole the land on which the school sits from Native Americans. All in all, it's more than the board of trustees can handle. A potentially costly lawsuit, embarrassing publicity, and a scandalous half-time prank broadcast on national television, cause university chancellor Father Bloom to turn to detective Philip Knight and his brother, brilliant philosophy professor Roger Knight, for help. But just as the brothers dig into the investigation, the scholar turns up dead, an Indian headdress wrapped around his bloody head. The South Bend police department is stumped, leaving the Knights once again to bring the killer to justice.
Father Roger Dowling is a busy man. He's got the ambitious and all-encompassing task of running St. Hilary's Parish, dealing with his busybody housekeeper, Mrs. Murkin, and counseling his flock with his characteristic blend of faith and compassion. He's not complaining, but it's no surprise that even a superior priest like Father Dowling needs a break now and again. So off he heads for a week-long retreat in Indiana on the quiet grounds of an old Catholic religious order, where he can meditate, reflect, and pray for a quick recharge of his waning energy. Unfortunately, Father Dowling's spiritual retreat turns into a baffling murder investigation when a dead man is found in a grotto on the grounds with the handle of an axe protruding from his back. Complicating matters is a long-running real-estate dispute that has pitted the brothers of the order against the previous owners of the huge and valuable piece of land on which their sanctuary sits. Who could have killed the man and why, and does it have something to do with the high-stakes mind games being played out between the parties vying for the land? No one's too sure, but what is clear is that Father Dowling is once again at the center of it all in another winning entry in a mystery series that's become an institution.
Wealthy Mitchell Striker is found dead in his car, and to keep an innocent man from being convicted of the murder, Father Roger Dowling sets out to investigate the case.
One early morning during spring break, Detectives Phil Knight and Jimmie Stewart are enjoying a golf game at the University of Notre Dame when they find a man apparently suffering a heart attack on the green. They summon help and the man is rushed to the emergency room. But it's too late--the man dies at the hospital and an autopsy suggests that his death was not an accident. The victim--poisoned with deadly nightshade--turns out to be Mortimer Sadler, something of a boor but also an extremely generous donor to the university. He'd returned to campus for an unofficial class reunion, along with several classmates, including his three college roommates. Soon, long-buried animosities surface among the old friends. But are these old wounds strong enough to result in murder? Or was there a more recent disagreement brewing? Phil and his brother Professor Roger Knight team up to uncover the truth behind Sadler's death. Green Thumb is an intriguing addition to this series by the author of the beloved Father Dowling mysteries. Filled with suspense and plot twists galore, not to mention McInerny's trademark clever wit, it's guaranteed to enchant new readers as well as dedicated fans.
In a small midwestern community, the Society of St. Brendan maintains a retirement community for priests as well as a rapidly growing college. When the need for a new girls' dormitory means that the order's original building will be demolished, controversy arises. At the same time, the order's founder lies stricken in the infirmary, pitting retired priests against faculty as the community faces the need for new leadership.
In the midst of a disastrous football season for Notre Dame, the alumni are in an uproar. Somebody has to go, but will a new coach satisfy everyone? When a protest turns ugly, Roger Knight, professor of Catholic Studies, becomes a marked man.
In the latest installment of Ralph McInerny's beloved series, Father Dowling is caught in the middle of a dispute between former radio celebrity Jack Gallagher and Austin Rooney over one woman's affections. Meanwhile, Jack is the prime suspect in the death of another woman, Agatha Rossner, a lawyer better known as a seductress than a litigator. The Fox River police once again must turn to Father Dowling for help in sorting out this intricate tale of murderous affairs. "The indefatigable Father Roger Dowling solves another mystery steeped in human drama and spiritual significance. ... Father Dowling has a down-to-earth demeanor that will appeal, as always, to a variety of readers who enjoy mysteries with a religious twist. - Booklist
In Chapters 5 and 6, he presents a strong critique not only of the egregrious Rolf Hochhuth, whose play The Deputy was the origin of this defamation, but covers several modern critics, leaving his strongest words for the anti-Catholic Catholics that blossom wherever microphones can be found. He closes by tying this calumny to the real "culprit" (from the point of view of the critiques), the Catholic Church as the bulwark against the Culture of Death."--BOOK JACKET.
Set against the backdrop of an exciting Notre Dame basketball season, Irish Coffee will delight fans of both Notre Dame lore and of Ralph McInerny's impeccably plotted mysteries. When Fred Neville of the Notre Dame athletic department winds up dead under mysterious circumstances, amateur sleuth and academic Roger Knight, and his brother, Phil, a P.I., investigate the apparent murder. The trouble: no suspects. No suspects, that is, until the day of Fred's funeral, when several likely candidates suddenly appear at the poor man's wake. First, Mary Schuster, daughter of a faculty widow, shows up at the event dressed all in black, with the startling announcement that she and the deceased were secretly in love. Then the controversy doubles when another woman arrives with a huge diamond ring on her finger, claiming to have been Fred's intended. Could it be that unassuming Fred Neville was actually involved with two women, in secret and at the same time? Roger thinks not, and finds a notable piece of evidence to back up his hunch when a secret stash of Fred's poetry turns up, clearly written with a single woman in mind. Unfortunately, the object of Fred's intense love remains unnamed in his verse. Suddenly, both women are suspects in a vicious crime. But it's up to Roger to plug into the campus gossip grid and, with a little help from Phil, not to mention his vast knowledge of just about everything that happens on campus, determine the exact chain of events that led to murder.
A baby is found in a pew of Roger Dowling's church, and against his better judgement, he honors the mother's request that he hide the baby for a while. But a brutal murder follows a strange chain of events, and Father Dowling has a new mystery to solve.
Bouchercon Lifetime Achievement Award winner Ralph McInerny's Irish Alibi is a great addition to this stellar series, in which the past, no matter how distant, is never forgotten and always poised to rise again. With the Fighting Irish set to square off against Georgia Tech, Roger Knight, the rotund professor of Catholic studies, and his brother Philip, a semi-retired P.I., know that Notre Dame fans will be out in force. The faithful swear that on game day the entire campus comes alive to cheer on the football team, and they don't have to look any further than Touchdown Jesus or Fair Catch Corby, a statue of a Civil War chaplain who seems to be signaling another pass completion, for proof, misguided as it may be. But this year, this friendly and sometimes heated North-South rivalry turns downright hostile when Notre Dame's ties to the Union during the Civil War are dug up, and two students, brothers and Southern gentlemen, are spurred to defend their honor with a prank nearly 150 years after the fact. While they both admit to being the culprit, only one of them could've actually committed the vandalism. But which one? By stretching one alibi over two people, they may dodge expulsion. But then they become suspects in a seemingly unrelated murder case that the Knights must solve, or else getting thrown out will be the least of the boys' problems.
Father Dowling, respected by all, is well-known for being willing to lend a helping hand whenever he can. So it's no surprise when Stanley Collins shows up at the St. Hilary rectory to confide in Father Dowling about the troubled marriage of one of the church's parishioners. Dowling promises to do his best to find a way to help, but it soon becomes too late. One of the parties involved is viciously killed in a hit and run car accident. Is it murder? Dowling knows there is good reason to suspect it might be, but when his friend, Detective Phil Keegan, labels it an accident, Dowling 's hands are tied. It's a question of ethics. Unable to break Collins's confidence, he can only keep tabs on the investigation from afar. While searching for the truth, Dowling must protect the secrets of his parishioners at all costs. In Requiem for a Realtor, the charming Father Dowling returns once again, tangled in a web of deceit that will intrigue and delight his dedicated fans in a complex, satisfying mystery from Ralph McInerny.
The sleuthing brothers, Roger and Philip Knight, investigate murder against the background of a theological conference and a college football game between Catholic Notre Dame and Protestant Baylor.
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