Title: You Can Change the World: Anniversary Edition  Author: Father James Keller,  Founder of the Christophers  Edited and Abridged with a New Introduction  by Gerald M. Costello  ISBN: 0-8189-1234-0  Paperback: xlvi + 216 pp. illustrated  Price: $14.95 + shipping  To Order call:  1 800-343-ALBA (2522)  Please have your Master, Visa  or American Express card ready. To order online click here.

This revised and abridged edition of Father Keller's highly acclaimed classic is as relevant today -- if not even more so -- than it was when it first came out. Dynamic, thought-provoking, and intensely practical, this book tells in clear, specific terms how one's role in life, though it may be a humble one, can be a vital force in creating a decent world for all of us. With dramatic use of incidents from everyday life, the Founder of "The Christopher Movement" and pioneer in the use of the media of television and motion pictures for spreading the Gospel message of love and peace throughout the world, the late Father James Keller shows how each individual -- how you -- can influence others; how, whether you are Protestant, Catholic, Muslim or Jew, you can work for the good of all within your own limited sphere: You Can Change the World. May a whole new generation of readers be inspired and encouraged by its message to do what they can to literally change for the better the world in which they live.

 

Gerald M. Costello is a former President of "The Christophers." A 1952 graduate of the University of Notre Dame, he was the founding editor of two Catholic newspapers: The Beacon in Paterson, New Jersey, and Catholic New York. Now retired, he holds an honorary doctorate in letters from St. John's University, New York. The Catholic Press Association has presented him with both the St. Francis de Sales Award and the Bishop John England Award. Reviews Father James Keller, the Maryknoll missionary priest who founded in 1945 the lay Catholic organization the Christophers, originally published "You Can Change the World" in 1948 to motivate lay Catholics to become active in living and spreading their faith. Gerald Costello, former president of the Christophers, attempts to bring Father Keller's message into the 21st century with this edited and abridged version on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Christophers. This anniversary edition renews our call to imitate Mary, mother of Jesus and the first Christ-bearer, and reminds us of the possibilities we have to change the world for the better in the light of Gospel values Christ continues to give us today. -- Edward G. Scheid in Pittsburgh Catholic It was a special grace to read Archbishop John Foley's Foreword to this new edition of Fr. James Keller's You Can Change the World. My own recollection of Fr. Keller was an interview that he was kind enough to give me in the 1950's when Archbishop John J. Maguire, then Coadjutor Archbishop of New York, sent me to meet him and to find out from him how he thought a young priest of New York could be useful in somehow helping "to change the world." I will never forget that interview, although it is almost 50 years ago. His graciousness in giving me the time, his thoughtfulness in providing me with a glimpse of his own great vision and his encouragement were unforgettable elements of a great half hour in my life. I am so pleased that Alba House is making it possible for a new generation to read the book that truly helped change the world because it helped so many people know that they could have a role in that great enterprise. Fr. Keller writes with clarity, with affection and with deep faith. I welcome this new Anniversary Edition and hope that it can be put in the hands of millions of people who need to be reminded of the role that they can play in making this tired, old world of ours come alive with love again. --Cardinal Theodore McCarrick Archbishop of Washington. A couple of years ago Jerry Costello and I were talking about Father Keller's best-selling book, You Can Change the World, and we agreed that with some modest updating, the spirit of what Father Keller wrote in 1948 would still be perfectly appropriate today. Jerry took on the task of revising the book, and has done an excellent job of keeping the truth and wisdom of the challenge Father Keller made to us nearly sixty years ago. The original message of You Can Change the World applies just as much today as it did then. Each of us has the God-given talents and abilities to change the world. Father Keller encourages us to take the steps that will make a positive difference in our lives and in our world. An entire generation enjoyed and profited from Father Keller's book when it first appeared. Now, with the release of this Anniversary Edition, today's readers can do exactly the same. --Dennis W. Heaney, President, The Christophers You Can Change the World made me believe that I could somehow be a force for good when I was still a teenager. Father Keller inspired me to think big as television flowered in the early 50's, and dare to dream that I might find a way of using television to help inform and educate people. Father Keller and The Christophers have influenced generations of young people to believe they could make a difference. I am thrilled to see the Anniversary Edition of his book which I believe will continue to infuse readers with a sense of purpose and with the idealism that Father Keller so passionately intended and so forcefully taught. --Joan Ganz Cooney, Co-founder Sesame Workshop, Creator of Sesame Street Top of Page