Book Kimberly
Kimberly is an attorney with decades of experience strengthening conservative causes. She is president of the Clare Boothe Luce Center for Conservative Women, a non-profit organization that prepares and promotes conservative women leaders. She is the author of Unbreakable: Saints Who Inspired Saints to Moral Courage (TAN Books) and co-author with Mike Ortner of The Catholic School Playbook (Word on Fire Publishing). She serves on the board of directors of the Luce Center and Young America’s Foundation, as well as the board of overseers of the Dominican House of Studies. She lives in Herndon, Virginia, with her husband, Ian, and their five children.
Clare Boothe Luce Center For Conservative Women
The mission of the Clare Boothe Luce Center for Conservative Women is to prepare and promote conservative women leaders. Since 1993, we have inspired thousands of young women through internships, national student summits, campus speakers, firearms training, and other specialized programs. We recognize that the Left targets women from a young age, presenting a flawed vision of womanhood that sabotages their happiness and the well-being of their families, friends, and communities. This is a matter of national importance because today’s young women will play a crucial role in shaping America’s future—as wives, mothers, and leaders in public policy, education, and business. We are the only organization that specializes in providing conservative education, mentorship, and camaraderie to help young women—and their families and fellow Americans—flourish in all areas of their lives.
Unbreakable: Saints Who Inspired Saints to Moral Courage
In the battle for our children’s souls, Catholic parents have a key advantage over the world: our children were made for heaven. God willed us to exist now—in a world that celebrates sin as virtue and punishes Christians as “haters”—as part of His merciful plan. Unbreakable helps Catholic parents raise strong children able to resist the soul-endangering temptation to “get along” to “get ahead” in the world.
Recognizing that what occupies our children’s imagination is of profound importance, this book tells the stories of four of the Church’s most courageous saints—Saint Joan of Arc, Saint José Luis Sánchez del Río, Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko, and Saint Teresa of Calcutta—and ten saints who inspired them during their lives, including Saint Michael the Archangel, Saint Juan Diego, Saint Maximilian Kolbe, and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, among others.
Written for modern parents, Unbreakable continues a long tradition of helping families build a Catholic culture in their homes that can be passed on for generations.
In God’s abundant generosity, He confers on all His children the power to know, love, and serve Him. But He requires our participation. In order to spend eternity with Him in heaven, we must answer His call now.
EDITORIAL REVIEWS
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Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D.
President, Ethics and Public Policy Center
"Unbreakable is as beautifully written as it is spiritually profound. Kimberly Begg has written a must-read for parents to help us introduce our children to fourteen inspirational saints—all at the service of raising children to desire sanctity. My wife and I will be using this book with our kids. Warmly recommended."
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Very Rev. Thomas Petri, O.P.
President, The Dominican House of Studies, Washington, DC
“We know that like attracts like, and sanctity in one often overflows to others. This is why history is filled with saints who knew and loved each other in life: Peter and Paul, Cosmos and Damian, Monica and Augustine, Francis and Clare, Theresa of Avila and John of the Cross. The list goes on. What Kimberly Begg shows in Unbreakable, however, is that the friendship of saints often crosses the divide of death, with saintly men and women still on earth drawing inspiration as well as intercession from saints already in heaven who, no doubt, waited for the pilgrims to join them in paradise. Begg's book encourages every pilgrim pursuing holiness to be inspired by the true friendship we can have with the saints even now as we long to join them in the eternal happiness of God.”
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Michael and Catherine Pakaluk
Professors, Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America
"Unbreakable is a modern spiritual treasure for parents. Beautifully written, fast paced, and deeply moving, the book presents stories of great heroes and heroines of the faith. The text springs from Begg's own deep faith, evident on every page, and she urges us to see the nature of spiritual parenthood: become a saint, because saints give rise to saints! Read this book, and see how quickly these stories will enliven your faith and provide occasions for reflection about our sacred task."
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Abby Johnson
Pro-life activist and author of Unplanned
“The battle for our children’s souls is as real and relentless as it is winnable. Evil is no match for God’s children who truly know who they are and why they were made. Written to be a resource for Catholic parents, Unbreakable tells the fascinating stories of saints—including one of my pro-life heroes, St. Teresa of Calcutta—who courageously embraced their calling in the world by drawing on the inspiration of their favorite saints. My message to Catholic parents is this: keep a copy of this powerful book in your home library and pass it on to your children when they become parents. There is nothing more important than guiding your family on your path to Heaven.”
The Catholic School Playbook
Discover the 7 proven strategies successful Catholic schools are using to grow enrollment, support parents, and form faithful students full of wonder.
EDITORIAL REVIEWS
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Bishop James D. Conley
Diocese of Lincoln
“In recent years there has been an explosion of growth in a renewal of authentic Catholic education. By chronicling the many success stories of schools who are leading the way, The Catholic School Playbook provides a clear and practical blueprint for the future of Catholic education. This is an extremely important book and a must-read for all Catholic educators. I am convinced that unless Catholic schools move in the direction mapped out in this book, they are doomed to fail.”
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George Weigel
Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center
“Catholic schools that are truly Catholic make a significant contribution to the New Evangelization and to the renewal of American culture. Inner-city Catholic schools are the best anti-poverty program the Church has ever devised. So the flourishing of Catholic schools is essential to both the Church and the country. May the examples in this ‘playbook’ inspire many others to take up this great cause.”
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Mark Bauerlein
Senior editor at First Things and Emeritus Professor of English at Emory University
“This volume is exactly what Catholic dioceses need at the present time, when, after decades of decline, Catholic schools are undergoing fresh demand and wondering how best to meet it. Michael Ortner and Kimberly Begg have produced a guidebook for school leaders that ranges from the highest ideas and Christ-centered curricula to the nuts and bolts of funding, community events, and parent involvement. Teachers and administrators who are overwhelmed by the secular demands of achievement and worldly success will find in The Catholic School Playbook tools that will help them resist those dehumanizing twenty-first-century trends. Most important of all, Ortner and Begg show the way to another kind of success, a school Catholic through and through, which is what so many parents have wanted all along. Every bishop in America who has seen his enrollments dropping and teachers leaving should take this book as an itinerary of recovery and flourishing.”
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Jeremy Tate
Chief Executive Officer, Classic Learning Test
“The Catholic School Playbook is the ‘common sense’ manifesto for Catholic education. It is the critical link between what has been a quiet, under-the-radar educational renewal movement in mainstream Catholic education. In a decade, every Catholic school administration will have read it.”
