A Great Marian Book: Under the Mantle by Fr. Don Calloway

We are living in an extraordinary time of grace and mercy. With an increasingly secularized world growing ever more hostile to the Christian faith, it is in these times that Jesus, through the Immaculata, is raising up a new generation of Catholics who know, love, and live their faith.

This is a time in which many people, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, are experiencing a renewed hunger for the sacred and unchanging truths of the Catholic Church.

 “She [Mary] holds all the great Truths of Christianity together, as a piece of wood holds a kite. Children wrap the string of a kite around a stick and release the string as the kite climbs to the heavens. Mary is like that piece of wood. Around her we wrap all the precious strings of the great Truths of our holy Faith— for example, the Incarnation, the Eucharist, the Church. No matter how far we get above the earth, as the kite may, we always have need of Mary to hold the doctrines of the Creed together. If we threw away the stick, we would no longer have the kite; if we threw away Mary, we would never have Our Lord. He would be lost in the Heavens, like our runaway kite, and that would be terrible, indeed, for us on earth.” -Venerable Fulton Sheen

If we are to truly know our faith, we need to know Mary, the Mother of God. If we are to love our faith, we need to love Mary Immaculate; if we are to live our faith, we need to live under Mary’s mantle.

“Among creatures no one knows Christ better than Mary; no one can introduce us to a profound knowledge of His mystery better than His Mother.” -Blessed Pope John Paul II

What does the Blessed Virgin Mary teach us about Christ? How does she hold all the Truths of the Christian faith together?

Under the Mantle: Marian Thoughts from a 21st Century Priest This new book dedicated to Our Lady explains it all with clarity. A book that will allow you to grow in your appreciation for Immaculate Mary, and in so doing, also in your love for Jesus and His Church. This is a book you will want to read slowly and absorb over time . . . yet one that you won’t want to put down because it’s raw, unapologetic, and inspiring!

A book written by a Marian priest as a beautiful tribute to Our Blessed Mother. “Mary is a princess. All girls want to be one, and all men want one. I’m a man, so I write about my princess. She is my beautiful lady and I see myself as a Knight for her, and I want to honor her in any way that I can. One way is to write about her.”

In this work, the knight-priest-author begins the journey with Our Lady, who then guides the reader through the rich treasures found in the Church established by her Son, Jesus Christ. Through the Sacraments, to the depth of devotion found in our spiritual practices and doctrines, and then with a rich appreciation of what authentic manhood and femininity truly are, the author explores the many facets of our Catholic faith and its Truth. . . plainly and boldly. This is a book written in a no-nonsense, straightforward writing style that a beginner will find engaging and easy to read, yet with enough depth and insight to satisfy even those well-seasoned in Catholic theology.

This is a book for grandparents and teenagers alike, for priests and laity, for sinners and theologians, for those far away from the Church and for those close to it. No matter who you are, you will not be disappointed!

Fr. Calloway, as a former rebel, Catholic convert, and a 21st century priest, shares unique insights about Mary & Catholic theology. He does this by using interesting yet everyday analogies to convey spiritual truths in a style that anyone can comprehend and appreciate…. even his surfing buddies.

In Under the Mantle there are nine chapters divided into three sections. Each chapter summarizes nine different talks Fr. Calloway has delivered to Catholics all over the world, and they all weave together one magnificent tapestry that illuminates how beautifully Our Lady keeps the Church – and each of us individually as her children – under her mantle. Fr. Calloway finds Mary in ways that you may least expect.

In each of the sections Fr. Calloway develops and argues for a specific theme or aspect of Catholic doctrine, not only giving a defense of the doctrine but showing how Mary, as Mother and Bride, is at the heart of it all. At the conclusion of each section Fr. Calloway provides a list of Marian Gems, which is a compilation of quotes about Our Lady from Saints, Blesseds, Venerables, Servants of God, and Popes. They are profound statements made about Our Lady which support the arguments made in that section. These Marian quotes— which took Fr. Calloway nearly a decade to collect— are by themselves worth the whole book. Under the Mantle satiates the hunger and thirst for deeper knowledge of spiritual and mystical truths that are more difficult to comprehend, and will be a pleasure to read and re-read.

In this book you will learn about:

• Prayer as a spiritual Marriage
• Jesus as Noah, Mary & Church as the Ark
• The Cross as wedding ring
• Priests as a band of brothers
• Mary as the Church perfected
• Mary as the model of authentic womanhood
• Mary as what reminds men and priests to fight
• The Immaculate Conception as an act of Divine Mercy

“Our Lady is God's masterpiece . . . she is the prototype of what it means to be pleasing to God." She is the heart beating in the Mystical Body of Christ, circulating the life-blood of grace to its members. She is the woman whose heart became a spiritual womb; the sword-thrust it endured on Calvary was the labor pain that gave spiritual birth to the Church. She is the mother whose womb baked for her children the Bread of Life.

“I guarantee that a priest will have an extremely fruitful ministry if he places before the eyes and hearts of his people the beauty and loveliness of Mary.” - Fr. Calloway

To those who are yearning to learn more about the faith with clear, rich explanations of the beauty of the teachings of the Catholic Church – this is your book!