Support our Vatican Coverage:
 

Help us raise $300,000 for NCR!

We have raised $201,258 from 1,126 supporters. We are 67% of the way to our goal!

Robert Ellsberg

Robert Ellsberg is the publisher of Orbis Books. He has edited five volumes of Dorothy Day's writings, most recently On Pilgrimage: The Seventies, and written many books on saints and spiritual teachers. He is on Twitter: @RobertEllsberg.

By this Author

Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton in 1985 (NCR photo/Vincent Golphin)

Bishop Thomas Gumbleton had a dangerous habit of listening

Bishop Thomas Gumbleton listened, and once he had heard something he could not unhear it. That is why he kept returning to the battle zones, the picket lines and the prisons, writes Robert Ellsberg.

Sr. Wendy Beckett and Orbis Books publisher Robert Ellsberg exchanged letters on a near daily basis during the last three years of Sister Wendy’s life. Initially, the two corresponded about the lives of saints, the meaning of holiness and the spiritual life, but they soon delved into a deep and intimate exchange that encompassed the subjects of love, suffering, joy and the presence of grace in everyday life. (Courtesy of Robert Ellsberg)

The surprising friendship of Robert Ellsberg and Sr. Wendy Beckett

I knew Sister Wendy through publishing U.S. editions of her books, yet I would not have considered her a "friend." But in the last three years of her life, we formed a remarkable, deep friendship in correspondence.

Jim Forest (Robert Ellsberg)

Author Jim Forest, chronicler of giants like Day and Berrigan, strengthened many

Appreciation: Jim Forest, who lived a life of dedication to the Gospel call of peacemaking, died on Jan. 13 at the age 80. Since then, I have reflected on the deep and mysterious ways our journeys were intertwined.

(Unsplash/Frank McKenna)

Seeking wisdom from masters of social isolation

Soul Seeing: So many saints and spiritual mentors elected solitude, or had it imposed by circumstances. What kind of wisdom, I wondered, might they impart to "ordinary" people entering into this unfamiliar world?

Francis' repeated call to us: Welcome migrants

Book Review: Pope Francis established his concern for the plight of migrants and refugees on his very first trip outside of Rome, just months after his election as pope. On the Italian island of Lampedusa, a waystation for many refugees making their way to Europe, he celebrated Mass and commemorated the thousands who have died at sea.

Advertisement