Michael J. Walsh

The central act of Christian worship is the Mass or Eucharist. This, however, is a formal public act, and generally a once-in-a-week event, which does not entirely answer the spiritual aspirations of the vast majority of Christians who express these through prayer and "devotional practices". The cult of relics and of saints in general; banding together into confraternities to foster a special devotion; going on pilgrimages, wearing medals, badges and scapulars - all these are forms of devotion. Where did they all come from? They have left their mark on the Church, in the history of books and in manuals of prayers, but relatively little is known about them. The idea for this book arose when, in the senior common room of a university theological faculty, it became clear that none of those present knew why there was an "Infant of Prague". The book is in a dictionary format. Mainly historical in its approach, it explains how a particular devotion arose, sets it in its context and explains the purpose it served in the life of the Church. It is critical without being judgemental on subjects such as the "truth" behind apparitions of the Virgin Mary. Some 600 entries range over topics such as relics, pilgrimages and the cult of the saints, as well as more specialized and local devotions. The work is designed to be of use to historians and those engaged in religious studies, as well as being of interest to the general public. The topics are confined to the Christian religion and, in effect, almost entirely to the Roman Catholic tradition. Tables provide a comparison of the Liturgical Calendar (fixed and moveable feasts) before and after the Reform of 1969. A comprehensive index enables readers to follow virtually any subject through its different aspects, as well as providing a quick guide to the contents of the dictionary. Michael Walsh is the editor of Bishop Butler's "Lives of the Saints" in one concise volume, and the author of a companion volume, "Patron Saints".

Singing Forever in My Memories is true to its title because Mike’s shared verses cover a lifetime of the visions and experiences of a literary artist. Infact, the title could have been called a Swinging collection of memories that dance across the page in rhythmic patterns & accompanying, lyrical harmonies. The words become his metaphorical pictures, images and feelings of happiness, comfort and our own uncertainty about the future when like him, "" Who am I & why am I here?”lingers still in our memories. Mike’s poems become an album of his life filled with the benchmarks of his journeys and challenges over sixty years. For example, when a piece of burning cigarette foil become his concern for our survival on Earth in 1962 (Cuban Missile Crisis). Then a 1973 update of the same poem became a team exercise with Arts students in a classroom. Then with his Vignettes he captures snapshots of Nature’s landscape, which then reappears in a Walt Whitman-styled poem, “Life’s Journey is a River”detailing the colours, smells, sounds, tastes, and touches of our journeys on the river of time and finally reaching the Oasis.

Welcome to Volume 2 of a personal memoir by Michael J. Walsh, which takes the reader from his early years in London, England after WWII to his departure in 1956 for a new life in Canada as a young teenager. Roughin’ in in Kanata, eh! is the down to earth story of a life lived in two countries and the challenges that all outsiders experience. It is an honest description of the “new boy” in town trying desperately to be accepted in Windsor and London, Ontario. Readers will follow his teenage journey first at an all-boys school where the mantra, "Teach Me Goodness Discipline & Knowledge" frequently becomes a lesson at the end of a strap. It is the truthful, down to earth story of an English schoolboy, who learns that roughing it is its own reward when the outsider lives in the present but never forgets the people, places, and experiences that brought him here in 1956.

The calendar introduced by Pope Gregory XIII is now the most widely used civil calendar in the world. The older calendar introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 B.C. underestimated the length of the year by about 11 minutes. As centuries passed, the accumulated error grew. By the late 1500s the Julian calendar was behind by twelve days. Set amid the backdrop of the Reformation and the Renaissance, a time of great schism in the Christian world, the story of the calendar reform is an intriguing one. A central part concerns the antagonistic relationship between two of the great intellectual figures of the 16th century: the pro-reform mathematician Christopher Clavius and the anti-reform literary scholar Joseph Scaliger. In this book, the author provides an accessible mathematical description of the old and new calendars as well as a detailed discussion of the historical context for, and the main players involved in the calendar reform.

Buddhist monasteries in medieval China employed a variety of practices to ensure their ascendancy and survival. Most successful was the exchange of material goods for salvation, as in the donation of land, which allowed monks to spread their teachings throughout China. By investigating a variety of socioeconomic spaces produced and perpetuated by Chinese monasteries, Michael J. Walsh reveals the "sacred economies" that shaped early Buddhism and its relationship with consumption and salvation. Centering his study on Tiantong, a Buddhist monastery that has thrived for close to seventeen centuries in southeast China, Walsh follows three main topics: the spaces monks produced, within and around which a community could pursue a meaningful existence; the social and economic avenues through which monasteries provided diverse sacred resources and secured the primacy of Buddhist teachings within an agrarian culture; and the nature of "transactive" participation within monastic spaces, which later became a fundamental component of a broader Chinese religiosity. Unpacking these sacred economies and repositioning them within the history of religion in China, Walsh encourages a different approach to the study of Chinese religion, emphasizing the critical link between religious exchange and the production of material culture.

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