“Happy Are They: Living the Beatitudes in America,” by Jim Langford, director of the University of Notre Dame Press, has recently been published by Triumph Books.p. According to Langford, the book’s 12 essays attempt “to tell stories of regular people who do good even when no one is watching, and, in the process, realize happiness. It also supports my belief that a new age is dawning, one that will see a renewal of care for one another, especially in the private and religious spheres, a movement that will be far more effective than the state has ever been.”p. Among those profiled in the book are 1991 Notre Dame graduate and football player Chris Zorich, now a member of the Chicago Bears, whose numerous charitable activities have earned him the nickname “Care Bear”; Lois Mason of South Bend, Ind., founder of the Cornerstone Academy for Excellence, a program for teen mothers and their children; and James Gingerich, a Goshen, Ind., physician who founded the Maple City Health Care Center, a community-owned facility which provides medical care with dignity for poor people.p. “Happy Are They” and its author have been praised by a similarly varied field of critics. Indiana Congressman Timothy Roemer wrote that Langford “not only chronicles this practicing of the Beatitudes, he lives it too.” Sister Mary Rose McGeady, D.C., president of Covenant House, called the book “a great source of inspiration,” and religion journalist Raymond Schroth, S.J. said it should be read “when we are tempted to think the world has fallen apart and nothing can be done to fix it.”p. Langford, who has directed the University of Notre Dame Press and served on the University’s faculty since 1974, is the author of several books including “Galileo, Science and the Church,” “The Game is Never Over: An Appreciative History of the Chicago Cubs,” and “Rookie: The Story of a Season.” He recently coedited, with Leroy Rouner, a book entitled “Philosophy, Religion and Contemporary Life.” He and his wife, Jill, are cofounders of There Are Children Here, a non-profit facility and program for disadvantaged children in Lakeville, Ind.
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