"Father McGivney's vision remains as relevant as ever in the changed
circumstances of today's church and society" —Pope John Paul II

Father Michael McGivney was a man to whom "family values" represented more than mere rhetoric, a man who has left: a legacy of hope still celebrated around the world.

In the late 1800s, discrimination against American Catholics was widespread. Called to action in 1882, Father McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus, an organization that helped to save countless families. It has since grown to an international membership of 1, 7 million men. At heart, though. Father McGivney was never anything more than an American parish priest, and nothing less than that, either.

In an incredible work of academic research, Douglas Brinkley and Julie M, Fenster re-create the life of Father McGivney, a fiercely dynamic and yet tenderhearted man. Moving and inspirational, Parish Priest chronicles the process of canonization that may well make Father McGivney the first American-born parish priest to be declared a saint by the Vatican.

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY is a Clark professor of history and director of the Theodore Roosevelt Center at Tulane University, His most recent publications include New York Times bestsellers The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc and Tour of Duty, and The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation with Stephen A, Ambrose.

JULIE M. FENSTER is an award-winning author of historical books including Ether Day and Race Of The Century, Her articles have appeared in American Heritage, the New York Times and American History, She won the Audio Publishers Award for best original writing for Zeus: A Thunderbolt From the Sky.