A Time to Build Anew: How to Find the True, Good, and Beautiful in America

America is in crisis. This book is a response to that crisis. But it is not about politics as usually understood. It is not a diagnosis of cultural malaise. It is not a theoretical proposal or plan. This is a book of examples, of models, of how to live in America. The hour of criticism has passed. It is time for rebuilding. Catholics and all persons of good will need to create anew. For some this will mean writing beautiful poems or making beautiful works of art. For some it will mean sacrificial service of the poor. For some it will mean establishing schools and other Catholic institutions to replace those that have lost their way. For many it will simply mean building strong families. In short, this is a time to focus on the true, the beautiful, and the good, first through contemplation and second through building, making, and revitalizing. A Time to Build Anew provides models of men and women who have produced works of beauty in challenging circumstances, who have taught truth without fear, who have served the most vulnerable with great joy.

“This is important eyewitness testimony to real life examples and models of how to live the faith effectively in secularized America today. There’s much to lament in our times, but more to emulate. Todd Hartch sees new oases of renewed Catholic culture arising. This is a book to inspire its leaders, and cheer those whose spirits are sad.”—SCOTT HAHN, co-author of It Is Right and Just: Why the Future of Civilization Depends on True Religion

“One of the great stories of the last century was the Catholic Church’s critical response to the intellectual and spiritual impoverishment of modernity. The Church saw through it all with the help of Thomas Aquinas and its own rich tradition. But a knowing criticism, however clever, is not enough. In fact it is nothing in comparison with setting out in hope to build something new, good, true, and beautiful. In this marvelous history, Todd Hartch sketches a handful of modern success stories, moments where recovering classicism in sculpture, founding a new school or religious order, gave the world images worthy of emulation. Our task is to learn from them and build new institutions capable of attractively handing on the truth for the sake of future generations.”—JAMES MATTHEW WILSON, author of The Vision of the Soul: Truth, Goodness, and Beauty in the Western Tradition

“In a time of division and negativity, Todd Hartch’s A Time to Build Anew offers American Catholics a much-needed dose of hope. Not an abstract theological hope—even if rooted in God’s goodness and providence—but a practical hope grounded in real stories of good work being done right now. The author not only reminds us that we are called to build for the common good in the here and now, no matter how adverse the conditions may seem, but shows us how to do it.”—BRANDON MCGINLEY, author of The Prodigal Church: Restoring Catholic Tradition in an Age of Deception