John A. Coleman, S.J., reviews "A Church of the Poor: Pope Francis and the Transformation of Orthodoxy" by Clemens Sedmak.

'Inventing American Religion,' by Robert Wuthnow

This stellar biography shows a truly courageous and holy man but also deeply unjust and humiliating actions by some church officials.

"Lost Classroom, Lost Community," by Margaret F. Brinig and Nicole Stelle Garnett

Many of us know the ruckus that emerged when Pope Francis tweeted "Idquo Iniquitas Radix Malorum," "Inequality is the root of evil." He got accused by the likes of Rush Limbaugh of being a Marxist.

I have been mulling over the dialogue in Robert Frost 39 s classic poem nbsp ldquo Mending rdquo In it a neighbor of the nbsp narrator of the poem is shoring up a broken wall His motto rings out quot Good fences make good neighbors quot But the poem 39 s narrator has his doubts quot So

The Vatican through the pope 39 s press spokesman announced that Pope Francis is working on his first encyclical dealing with the environment Not surprising that he chose this topic since it is a theme he has often broached On March 16 2013 Francis stated he chose the name of Francis of Assi

Thirty-five years ago by chance I came across a new edition of nbsp The Showings nbsp of Julian of Norwich I spent an entire summer reading and re-reading and continuously praying over that mystic 39 s writings based on the revelations she received in 1373 as she lay dying There are two versions

Robert Wuthnow of Princeton University is now pretty much the dean of American sociologists of religion. Much like the late Rev. Andrew Greeley, Wuthnow is a very prolific author, penning a book about once a year.

I saw the other night the world premiere of a brilliant and ironic new play Lasso of Truth by Carson Kreitzer at the Marin Theatre Company The play raises for us some of the subtle ironies behind the cartoon character Wonder Woman and some of the vagaries of contemporary feminism In it a pr