As we celebrate the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. this month, it is worth remembering that despite the intensely political nature of his ministry and activism, Dr. King was himself not a politician so much as a prophet.

In her fourth book, The Virgin of Prince Street: Expeditions Into Devotion, Sonja Livingston introduces herself as a “pilgrimess” returning to her childhood church in Rochester, N.Y., after not regularly attending Mass for 20 years.

In the Philippines, the Christmas spirit can be found in a shopping mall chapel.

The congregation's task has always been “the transmission and dissemination of the faith throughout the whole world.”

Father Sosa said the Society of Jesus will also seek to respond to “the concrete requests of Pope Francis” in support of his work for the renewal of the church and its structures.

Asked in 1986 to describe himself, Fred Rogers listed off a long catalog of descriptors, including performer and television producer, but he concluded with “a husband and a father. And I am a minister.”