Books like The Homeless Bishop

Author Joseph Girzone became well known for his break-through novel "Joshua". I read this in the 1980s, and had a chance to hear him speak and meet him in that decade. I was impressed by his simple storytelling style, and also for his earnestness. He wrote "Joshua", among other things, as a counter to legalism and clericalism in the church and society. "The Homeless Bishop", written two decades after "Joshua", continues in the same vein. Girzone presents the figure of a young Catholic bishop who is very talented, but concerned that he may be distancing himself from Jesus. Things have come easy for him, but he longs for a closer faith-relationship with God. Thus, as the book opens we find that he has just been ordained bishop, but secures permission from the pope to go on a pilgrimage/retreat before he begins his ministry as Archbishop of Taranto, in southern Italy. The retreat extends beyond a week to eighteen life-changing months. The pilgrimage takes up the first half of the novel; the second half chronicles the 9 years following that experience. The pilgrimage has brought the bishop to seriously question whether his values are in synch with the Gospel concerns of Jesus as he looks for Jesus through the eyes of those who are hurting, especially through the eyes of children and the poor. Challenges that the homeless bishop faces include those that seem to plague Western Society, as well as those that stump the contemporary Catholic Church: clericalism, legalism, abuse, corruption, profiteering, organized crime, drug smuggling, racism, Islamic-Western conflicts, and more. Published in 2011, "The Homeless Bishop" anticipates some of the issues that Pope Francis would ask the church to address (Francis was elected two years after the appearance of this novel), as well as much of the opposition hurled at Pope Francis in the real world. Because of this, "The Homeless Bishop" is a good discussion starter for Catholics and others who want to work toward dialogue and authenticity in these early years of the 21st century.