Reclaiming Francis: How Saint Francis and Pope Francis Are Renewing the Church

Description

As Pope Francis continues to call for the rebuilding of the Church, Msgr Charles M Murphy, author of The Spirituality of Fasting and Eucharistic Adoration, offers a timely look at what today’s Church can learn from Saint Francis of Assisi about evangelization and renewal. When Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio chose the name Francis, a renewed sense of hope and energy swept through the Church. In this timely book, Msgr Charles M Murphy examines the correlations between the two Francises and shows why Saint Francis is an ideal model for today. Just as in Saintt Francis’s time, today’s Church can only be rebuilt and reinforced by a spiritual renewal that comes from within itself, a vision that Pope Francis carries forward in the New Evangelisation. Pope Paul VI, the first modern pope to focus on evangelization, once said, “People today listen more to witnesses than to teachers.” Pope Francis knows that St Francis is just such a witness and Murphy enlivens them both for his readers.
Author
Monsignor Charles M Murphy is the director of the permanent diaconate for the Diocese of Portland, Maine. He is the author of a number of scholarly articles and several books, including The Spirituality of Fasting, At Home on the Earth, Wallace Stevens: A Spiritual Poet in a Secular Age, and Belonging to God.