A century ago, Al Smith was a force in American politics—and the first Catholic to mount a major run at the White House. And if he is to be believed, he didn't know what an encyclical was.

'Hockey Priest: Father David Bauer and the Spirit of the Canadian Game' shows the interplay of spirituality and sport in the world that Father Bauer helped create.

'A Ministry of Risk,' a collection of the writings and speeches of the late Phil Berrigan (1923-2002), is a provocative anthology destined to leave most readers bewildered, challenged and perhaps even a little angry.

The novelist and memoirist André Aciman chronicles his formative year in Rome as a teenager in 'Roman Year.'

'American Mother,' Diane Foley's and Colum McCann's story of Foley’s life and that of her son, James Foley, is written with a mother’s love, her eventual understanding of hostage situations and her desire for others to understand the struggle she faced.

I was delighted recently to discover that three of my favorite authors, all from extremely different backgrounds and perspectives, have written three extremely different books on aging. Yet even with their differences, they agree on the big points.