I really enjoy reading and learning from the writings of the Catholic Church, past and present. Many of the encyclicals are available freely all over the web. I am wondering if anyone here would be interested if I would to convert some of these writings and upload them to our library here on MR.

Is there any interest in these types of documents?

I do like some of that sort of thing, especially the older stuff

If you can be sure that the documents can be legitimately posted then go ahead.

I Googled on 'Encyclical' and the second hit was the Vatican posting of Deus Caritas est at
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est_en.html
At the bottom of the document is the notice: '© Copyright 2005 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana.'

Papal Encyclicals.net has a small notice hidden away saying that they have permission to post the encyclicals.
http://www.papalencyclicals.net/

So, you had best check that it is ok to copy them. Perhaps email the siteowner of Papal Encyclicals.net?

Thanks for the response Patricia. I do have some connections to obtain the necessary permissions. I am working on a startup website with which I am starting to integrate some of these works - http://www.churchshorts.com .

Ever since reading Thomas Merton's The Wisdom of the Desert, I've been wanting to read more of the Verba Seniorum. But I'm not Catholic, and I don't know Latin, and I have no idea how to even get ahold of the treebooks, let alone ebooks. My last attempt to find this stuff online resulted in a pricey pay-to-access-and-read-online site that didn't appeal to me at all. Would this fall into the category of what you were thinking of putting up? I'd give the pope a pedicure with my tongue for a good English (or German or Dutch) translation of that.

I doubt whether Papa Ratzi would enjoy that.
It sounds as though you were looking at the online Patrologia Latina site.

I've done a search and found this:
http://maritain.nd.edu/jmc/etext/wd.htm

I hope it helps. I may well convert it later this evening.

(Added a couple of hours later: I've now posted the book in our Book upload section in lrf, prc and imp formats. Look for:
Hannay, James O: The Wisdom of the Desert, v.1, 5 June 2008.)

I have since discovered that the text is also available at Manybooks, which oddly, uses the author's pseudomym:
http://manybooks.net/titles/birminghamgother06wisdom_of_desert.html

And this might also be of interest:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140447318

Thank-you so much! Here is a cookie for your kindness:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Choco_chip_cookie.jpg/275px-Choco_chip_cookie.jpg

Don't know if anyone's noticed, but it filled my classicist's heart with joy to see that "Uncle Joe", being a big Latin fan, has ordered the setting up of a Latin version of the Vatican web site. Lots of fun stuff on there, including the complete "Vulgate" Latin Bible.

Yes, it's the Nova Vulgata, though; not the Biblia Vulgata Clementina.

Hadn't spotted that - thanks!

I really enjoy reading and learning from the writings of the Catholic Church, past and present. Many of the encyclicals are available freely all over the web. I am wondering if anyone here would be interested if I would to convert some of these writings and upload them to our library here on MR.

Is there any interest in these types of documents? Have you seen the Internet Sacred Texts Library at http://www.sacred-texts.com/ ?? Writings of the early church fathers can be found at http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/index.htm

Another site with source documents is Christian Classic Ethereal Library at http://www.ccel.org/

And, to answer your question, I would be interested in having significant documents converted to eBook format and uploaded here. (Hint: I use MobiPocket books.)

@elsi
I've known about the site, but did not come across the "Church Fathers" section thanks.

Does anybody know if there is a copy of

"The way of divine love" by Sister Josefa Menendez

I've seen fragments on the net but never her complete works.

=X=

This is a neat site. No cute kitty photos.

http://bestiary.ca/

@elsi
I've known about the site, but did not come across the "Church Fathers" section thanks.

Does anybody know if there is a copy of

"The way of divine love" by Sister Josefa Menendez

I've seen fragments on the net but never her complete works.

=X=

I don't think that the complete book is available as an ebook. She died in 1923. But it was a long time before the convent authorities edited and published her writings. Then a longer time before they were translated.
Amazon.com has several books by this nun.

Okay that explains it. I've seen pieces of the text scattered but never a full book.

=X=

Ever since reading Thomas Merton's The Wisdom of the Desert, I've been wanting to read more of the Verba Seniorum.

I've now also uploaded the 'Sayings of the Desert Fathers'.