Christopher de Vinck

The poems in this collection are celebrations of the muse who speaks directly to us. She is described not in the manner of courtly love, from a distance, but up close, from a notion that passion mixed with beauty exists in us all; and how that combination is expressed, repressed or pursued in these lurid, ugly times determines who we are.

Have you forgotten how wondrous life can be? Christopher de Vinck offers a timeless collection of wisdom on family, childhood, God, love, compassion, buttered toast, snowmen, Hamlet, Bugs Bunny, bees. For anyone who is caught up in the hustle and bustle of life, weary and perhaps a little jaded by all that seems wrong in the world, this is a book that helps us to see again. In essays that are warm, evocative, and often amusing, Christopher De Vinck gives us back the eyes of a child, the fresh vision of delight, and a renewed reminder that we are surrounded with awe that we often take for granted. This is a book about living with a perpetual array of treasures: the voices of people we love, the taste of marzipan, the sounds of October geese. This is a book that reminds us to look, smell, see, touch, and listen to what is revealed to us each morning. Chris invites us to realize life as we live it, every minute.Reflecting on the joys of family, writing, and education, Chris doesn’t shy away from loneliness, disappointments and regrets. His is a voice that combines both the joys and sorrows of living, speaking with hope and acceptance, and celebrating the power of simplicity in our modern age."In his classic book The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry famously suggested that ‘it is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.’ With the elegance of a poet, the wonder of child-like eyes, and the discipline of one who steadfastly pays attention to the world around and within him, Christopher de Vinck’s Things That Matter Most helps us see with our hearts—to see rightly—those things that are essential to a life well-lived: A place to truly call home, friends who sustain and nurture one another, and the love of a God who knows us as children of great worth.” —Jeff Crosby, author of Language of the Soul: Meeting God in the Longings of Our Hearts

Sensitive and heartwarming, Mr. Nicholas is a magical Christmas story in which lives and hearts are changed by a small boy and the power of his relentless love. Every town has its secrets. When it becomes known that Mr. Nicholas, the eccentric owner of the local hardware store, is somehow involved with reindeer, toys, and children, the town becomes more and more suspicious that this man is more than just a clerk on Main Street. JB, a clever, open ten-year-old boy with Down syndrome, is able to figure out the secret from the first time Mr. Nicholas gives him a chocolate deer wrapped in gold foil. JB's father and mother, both cynical and on the brink of divorce, follow the adventures of JB as he flies on the back of a reindeer, feeds Mister Rogers's fish, and defines what can be forgotten by those who are too busy to remember the magic of Christmas, cuckoo-clocks, and love. "In Christopher de Vinck's novel Mr. Nicholas, a hardened newspaperman's life is rocked by a small boy's love and an encounter with a mysterious old man.On his way to interview a beekeeper, Jim sees Anna's car clinging to the edge of the road. He stops to help, and they connect--as if each were tapped into the same current. But once married, their differences open a gap between them. Anna suggests that a baby could bridge that gap.But when JB is born with Down syndrome, Jim's rejection of his son leads Anna to file for separation. Jim feels disappointed in his career; he faces a sad and lonely Christmas. Gradually, though, the time he spends with his son opens his eyes to a world in which magic is real and everyone is worth loving.Anna cannot see the changes in Jim, and when JB goes missing, she blames him. She suspects that JB's friend, Mr. Nicholas, a scavenger and owner of a hardware store that hides a mystery, is responsible, too.Told in Jim's voice, this is a story about the power of a boy's relentless love. Tense and stressful at first, it makes the changes in Jim palpable through his inner reflections, his conversations with others, and through small actions that reveal his growing love for his son.Suspense grows as Mr. Nicholas comes under investigation for JB's disappearance. Jim questions the old man, who asks him some probing questions in return. In the book's satisfying conclusion, Jim realizes the importance and beauty of the ordinariness that makes life worth living and gives Christmas its true meaning. Sensitive and heartwarming, Mr. Nicholas is a magical Christmas story in which lives and hearts are changed by a small boy's unconditional love." --Foreword Reviews (September / October 2021)

WINNER OF THE ‘FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR’ AT CRT 2021A deeply touching novel about two young women whose differences, which once united them, will tear them apart forever, during Hitler’s Nazi occupation of Belgium and France. Based on true events.For fans of All The Light We Cannot See and Tattooist of Auschwitz. Belgium, July 1939: Simone Lyon is the daughter of a Belgium national hero, the famous General Joseph Lyon. Her best friend Hava Daniels, is the eldest daughter of a devout Jewish family. Despite growing up in different worlds, they are inseparable.But when, in the spring of 1940, Nazi planes and tanks begin bombing Brussels, their resilience and strength are tested. Hava and Simone find themselves caught in the advancing onslaught and are forced to flee.In an emotionally-charged race for survival, even the most harrowing horrors cannot break their bonds of love and friendship. The two teenage girls, will see their innocence fall, against the ugly backdrop of a war dictating that theirs was a friendship that should never have been.

Christopher De Vinck's moving account of his life with his brother made a deep impression on the hearts and minds of Americans. Due to a tragedy at birth, Oliver de Vinck was born severely handicapped--blind, mute, crippled, helpless. Despite the doctors' bleak prognosis, his loving parents took him home, where they and their children cared for him. He lived for thirty-three years.

Michael Buckley argues that a theology of papal primacy, as opposed to an ideology, must focus on its nature as a unique relationship whose term or purpose is the unity of bishops among themselves and through them the unity of the entire Church. Founded upon the sacramental life of the Church, upon the specification to the see of Rome, and upon its exercise of a truly episcopal ministry, papal primacy is successful to the degree that it strengthens the bishops in their vital communion with one another and in their collegial service to the communion of the whole people of God. Buckley suggests that the papacy could exercise this mission more effectively today if it led the Church to restore such ancient canons as those that gave a decisive voice to the local church in the choice of its bishop and forbade the translation of bishops from one see to another.