Bishop Thomas Gumbleton appears in 'No Guilty Bystander' to be an institutional “lifer,” resolved to remain part of a gradually evolving system but reserving the right to dissent when he sees fit.

A new collective tribute by a baker’s dozen of erudite specialists adds up to an erudite, if in some parts abstruse, overview of the remarkable life and ecclesiastic career of Cardinal Sforza Pallavicino.

Molière faced opposition from church figures during his life over his controversial works. Four centuries after his birth, what religious themes and tensions can be found in his plays?

Gustave Flaubert's prose reflects a lifetime of grappling with religious and spiritual themes. He saw his Catholicism as a singular form of asceticism, allied to his vocation as a writer.

Patrick Collins gives a close read of Thomas Merton’s correspondence in “A Focus on Truth: Thomas Merton's Uncensored Mind.”

“O Come, All Ye Faithful” is a song almost everyone knows. But where did it come from, and why is it so popular?

“Please have no leniency on me,” Sister Rice once said at trial. ”To remain in prison for the rest of my life would be the greatest honor you could give me.”

‘Lifeblood of the Parish’ is an ethnographic look at Italian-American communal rituals in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.

A prominent figure in United Nations efforts to help women in Africa escape poverty, Margaret Snyder was inspired by her parents and by Catholic mentors from her hometown.

A new book of essays on the Catholic Church in China ably captures the evolving turmoil the church faces in a complicated situation.