A Civilization of Love: A New Approach for the Average Layperson

New book by Knights of Columbus leader, released on March 25, has something for every reader.

With so many self-help and “seven ways to success” books on the market, Carl Anderson has taken the road less traveled by writing a book about the pursuit of happiness through service to others. As supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus, he writes from a specifically Catholic perspective, but the points he makes and the vision he outlines are universal and accessible to those who seek to live more meaningful lives while working to improve the lot of their neighbors, communities and countries.

What sets A Civilization of Love: What Every Catholic Can Do to Transform the World apart as a book are the discussion questions and suggestions for practical action placed at the end of each chapter. This feature prompted one reviewer to call Mr. Anderson’s book “a practical guide for idealists.”

The title of the book, to be released on March 25 by HarperOne, comes from Pope John Paul II, who called many times throughout his long pontificate for nations, cultures, religions and individuals to labor for the common good and build a “civilization of love.”

To Mr. Anderson, these words were not the mystical or naïve locution of an insulated religious leader, but a practical call to action from a Polish pontiff who suffered through Nazism and Communism, and exercised a strong hand through his popular personality in helping to bring down the Soviet Union.

Mr. Anderson also draws upon the teachings of the Second Vatican Council on social justice, the dignity of the human person and the centrality of the family, with insights culled from his work with a number of Vatican offices, including the Pontifical Councils for the Laity, the Family and Peace and Justice, and the Academy for Life.

Throughout his book, he shows how the venerable wisdom of the Catholic Church holds surprising answers to many of the problems of the modern world. He highlights how pursuit of truth keeps individuals, cultures and societies on the path to growth and renewal, as objective norms are applied to contemporary issues.

Even if you never gave much thought to the theories of Marx, Nietzsche or Sartre, whom Mr. Anderson dubs “masters of suspicion,” this book will show you in very readable terms how their ideas helped usher in the modern age of skepticism and relativism that is at the root of our cultural confusion. Mr. Anderson sees in the present leader of the universal Church, Pope Benedict XVI, a vibrant antidote to these cultural trends, citing the pope’s homily against the “dictatorship of relativism.”

The time-tested teachings of the Church have been too often misrepresented or simply ignored in recent decades as the world seeks solutions to problems of war, poverty, ethnic conflicts, economic justice and labor, Mr. Anderson insists.

“Since the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65, the Catholic Church has challenged cultures on a global basis by a set of values inspired by its understanding of each person’s true vocation,” he writes. Although John Paul and Benedict are among the best-known individuals on earth, he adds, “It is surprising how little-known is the vision of these popes.”

In a fresh and engaging style, Mr. Anderson brings the vision of the Church and its recent popes to life. Prompted by the chapter-by-chapter discussion questions and suggestions, the reader is led to ask, “What can I do to help better the world in which I live?”