Augustinian Book Series by ATF Press
ATF Press Publishing Group, established in 1993, is an Australian-based independent publisher that produces books focused on ethical and social issues, including the environment, science, space exploration, art and religion. The group has published several books with Augustinian authors, contributors, and editors, especially about Pope Leo XIV.
Augustinian, Chicago and Peru Reflections on Pope Leo XIV
About the book
‘The contributors of this current work address different facets of Pope Leo’s (aka Robert Prevost, OSA) theological, ministerial and spiritual journey from early personal encounters with him to current discourse impacting a world hungry for a message of hope.
This project offers personal enrichment, capturing the bridge between the historical ‘personal encounters’ and his ‘current discourse’. This offers a powerful way to frame his legacy and offer a message of hope to a world entangled in disarray.
It is source of great joy and satisfaction to myself, and the Midwest Province, that this volume is a publication in a new Augustinian Series. I thank all those involved in any aspect of this production. It is edited by an Augustinian friar, has a number of Augustinian contributors, and gives details of ‘Bob’s’ (Pope Leo) life as friar, both in the US and Peru, and his time when he was Prior Provincial of the Midwest Province as well as Prior General of the Order of St Augustine, Bishop of Chiclayo, Peru and then Cardinal Prefect. This book then, adds to the various books being researched, written and published about his life and ministry, but more importantly is one which brings a very distinctive Augustinian ‘flavor and focus’. I can only commend it to all readers, Augustinians and beyond!’
From the Foreword by Anthony B Pizzo, OSA
Contributors: Dianne Bergant, CSA, Enzo Del Brocco, CP, Edinson Edgardo Farfán Córdova, OSA Mark R Francis, CSV, John Lydon, OSA, John T Pawlikowski, OSM, Anthony Pizzo, OSA, Thomas Taylor, OSA, Daniel Turley, OSA
About the editor:
John Lydon, OSA, Born and raised in Canada, John Lydon studied at Villanova University, graduating in 1977. After finishing these studies, he entered the Augustinians and did theological studies in Washington, DC. Immediately upon finishing theology, he volunteered to go to the Augustinian missions in Chulucanas, Peru, working in the parish of San José Obrero for five years. In 1987, the Augustinians decided to open their own formation house in Trujillo, Peru, and he was sent to Rome to finish his doctorate in Missiology at the Gregorian University in order to collaborate in that endeavour. Upon his return in 1990, he was sent to Trujillo to work in the Major Seminary, San Carlos and San Marcelo as a professor and to work as a member of the formation house community. Shortly afterwards, he was elected to his first of three terms as the major superior of the Augustinians in northern Peru. He was also chosen as the Secretary-General of the Organization of Augustinians of Latin America (OALA) for two terms. He served as pastor in Trujillo, then in a small village on the Pacific coast (Pacasmayo), and finally as president (rector) of the Catholic University of Trujillo for 6 years. He was for numerous years Vicar General in the Archdiocese of Trujillo. In 2023, he began a new ministry at Villanova University and in 2025 was named the first director of the Mother Cabrini Institute on Immigration at Villanova.
His most recent publication was Catholic Social Doctrine, Its History and Teachings, first published by the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Editorial PUCP, with the English translation by AFT Press of Australia.
Adventure in Faith: The Story of the Chulucanas Prelature
About the book
An Adventure in Faith: The Story of the Chulucanas Prelature, first published in 1989, detailed the history of the mission of the American Augustinian provinces (led first by the Midwest Province, then with the Eastern and Western provinces) from the mid 1960’s through to the 1980s. This new edition published in 2026 adds to the 1989 edition with 2 new pieces. In the first few pages there is an article written by John Lydon OSA, from the Villanova Province who lived in Peru in a period which overlapped with the period in which Robert Prevost OSA, now Pope Leo XIV, also worked in Peru. At the end of the new edition there is a piece by Bishop Edinson Farfán Córdova, OSA Bishop of Chiclayo, who succeeded Robert Prevost OSA as Bishop of Chiclayo.
About the author
John Joseph Kelly, OSA was born on November 26, 1915, in DuBois, Pennsylvania, and professed simple vows on Sept. 10, 1935. He received a MA in Theology from The Catholic University, Washington D.C. and was ordained to the priesthood on May 28, 1942.
From 1943 to 1949, Fr Kelly served in Cuba in parishes of San Agustin and Santa Rita, and at the Augustinian Universidad de Santo Tomas de Villanueva. In 1948 he completed his Doctorate in Philosophy and Letters at the Universidad de Havana. In 1951, he was named President of the Augustinian University. Expelled from Cuba by the Castro regime, Prior General Luciano Rubio asked Fr Kelly to serve in Santiago, Chile. He was there from 1962 to 1964. In 1964, Fr Kelly returned to the United States and served in the California Province. In 1976, Fr Kelly requested assignment to the missions in Chulucanas, Peru and he worked there until 1985, when he returned to the United States and served at Biscayne College/Saint Thomas University in Miami. He died in 2006 just short of his 91st birthday. Fr Kelly wrote a biography of Fr Lorenzo Spirale, OSA, God’s Street Sweeper, and other publications about the Peruvian missions, Adventure in Faith: The Story of the Chulucanas Prelature, and Morropon Mission Letters. He also wrote a brief history of the Universidad de Santo Tomas de Villanueva, Havan
The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church
About the book
‘This book presents the social doctrine of the Catholic Church in an orderly and systematic way. It is orderly because it follows the historical line—after a fundamental biblical analysis—from Pope Leo XIII’s famous encyclical, Rerum novarum, to the most recent documents of Pope Francis, without omitting any and at the same time showing the doctrinal connection that links each new document to its predecessors.
On the other hand, it also has the quality of being a systematic book because, from the first chapter, it highlights the ethical line of criteria and principles that have guided and continue to guide the Church’s reflections on social issues over the last 130 years.
The author deserves credit for having succeeded in synthesising 130 years of ecclesial reflection on social issues.
What can we learn from the social doctrine of the Catholic Church? I believe that the essence of the answer to this question has already been stated. The lesson lies in how we approach social problems. Respecting reality, considering the necessary moral principles in a timely manner, acting without impositions or pretensions of universality, responding to the real problems of today. But now, a question that was not apparent before comes to the fore: Who are the recipients of this social doctrine of the Church? This is a fundamental question because without specific recipients, the Church’s reflection becomes mere library material. On this point, we may find different answers. Some will say that it is addressed to the ecclesiastical hierarchy, to priests, to lay people and their communities, or perhaps to people of good will who participate in social movements or hold public office. The range of recipients may be very broad, but I share the author’s intention to direct the reflection of the Church’s social doctrine to young university students:’
From the Foreword by Robert Prevost OSA
About the author
John J Lydon OSA, is an Augustinian Priest. He was born in Toronto, Canada. In 1977, he graduated from Villanova University, Pennsylvania, and in 1978 he entered the Order of St Augustine (the Augustinians). He was ordained a priest in 1984 and received a doctorate in Missiology from the Gregorian University in Rome.
He worked in Peru from January 1983. He has been a professor at the Faculty of Theology of the San Carlos and San Marcelo Seminary in Trujillo, also serving in parishes in Chulucanas, Trujillo and Pacasmayo in Peru. He was superior of the Augustinians of the Vicariate of Chulucanas on three occasions and Secretary General of the Organisation of Augustinians of Latin America (OALA) for two terms. In April 2016, he was appointed rector of the Catholic University in Trujilio, of Trujillo (Peru), where he served until February 2022 and since then has been back in the United States of America serving in a number of different ministries with the Augustinian Order.
