Cartoonist Rocky Stellar has just lost his job. Out of work for the first time in forty years, Rocky knows he is not ready for retirement and wants to rediscover his artistic passion. Seeking advice, he visits a quirky Arizona desert recluse and storyteller. Through powerful questions and stories, Padre Cisco challenges Rocky as he embarks on a journey of reflection and self-discovery. His story unfolds in unexpected ways as his desire to repair his art life and his contentious relationships with his father and daughter take precedence. Driven to find a clear path to fulfillment, Rocky must learn to balance his inner-struggles with Padre Cisco’s wisdom as he seeks to answer the padre’s pivotal question: “Are you willing to give up what you know to learn what you do not?” Padre Cisco: Conversations with a Desert Father shares the introspective journey of an out-of-work cartoonist as he searches for spiritual understanding through his own reflections and the wisdom of an Arizona storyteller. “It isn’t often I get to learn from someone who delivers the truth on a punch line.” ~ Rocky Stellar

Relive one man's dedication and determination to increase the quality of life for residents in east central California from the early 1900s through the Depression years. You'll meet and fall in love with Father John J. Crowley--a monumental man in his devotion and faith in God, his determination to fight for causes that would better the common man, and his vivacious attitude toward life. Until now, the story of one of the California desert's most dominant figures of the early twentieth century was fated to slip into anonymity. Here you'll discover his devotion to the spiritual and economic welfare of the people in the Owens Valley and Death Valley regions through vignettes told by his parishioners, friends, and relatives. Many of Father Crowley's weekly "Sage and Tumbleweed" columns enrich this historical account by glimpsing into his thoughts and actions. This intriguing biography will engage historians, people of all faiths, and lovers of true literary prose. It will revive your spiritual and community allegiance while entertaining you with the story of a real man among men.--From publisher description.

Through a great and terrible wilderness, with serpents, scorpions, and thirsty ground, he sowed peace and sustenance and left an enduring mark on the New World. A celebrated teacher of mathematics and astronomy, Eusebio Kino’s future promised to be comfortable and secure. Jesuit elders urged the young priest to continue his ministry in education. But a greater voice called, and Father Kino answered by pursuing a lifetime of danger and uncertainty. Leaving the cool Italian Alps for the blistering unexplored Spanish Territory—in areas now known as Sonora, Mexico, and the state of Arizona in the United States—Father Kino spread the joy and salvation of Christ while honoring and respecting the cultures and beliefs of the indigenous people he served. Though a man of peace and humility, Father Kino righteously clashed with the Spanish colonists, military, and government over their exploitation and enslavement of local tribes. To the priest fighting for social justice, it often seemed his fellow Europeans needed more ministry than the so-called “heathens” they were trying to control. Prevailing over nature, distrust, betrayal, and cultural barriers, Father Kino travelled 50,000 miles on horseback to establish over twenty Jesuit missions, personally baptize over four thousand, and solve one of Baja, California’s greatest mysteries.

Borderland immigration and drug trafficking are heated issues for most people living in the Southwest. But for Arizona rancher-author Richard Collins, who operates a 13,000 acre ranch near the Mexican border, they are a daily occurrence. Wanting to hear firsthand from those living and working in the middle of the action, Collins embarks on a horseback journey along the Arizona-Sonoran borderlands in Riding Behind the Padre: Horseback Views from Both Sides of the Border. In this true story, Collins joins up with a congenial group of Mexican riders retracing the pathways of Eusebio Francisco Kino, the pioneering Jesuit priest who explored the same borderlands three hundred years prior. The riders include a cross-section of Mexico's growing middle class, bonded by faith in the Catholic Church, love of family and their country, and dedicated to the cause of Kino's sainthood. They are also troubled by America's failed war on drugs and its outdated immigration policies, and they often wonder if the United States is their ally or adversary. Through their perspectives and insights, the reader comes away with a better understanding of borderland complexities and a difficult but workable road map for the future. With a passion for landscape, horses, and history, this modern-day cowboy adventure unfolds in the Sonoran Desert where the dangers are fewer than advertised, beauty far outweighs ugliness, and most people are still friendly and caring.

Padre Pio, a Capuchin priest, from 1918 until his death in 1968, bore the wounds of Christ. Because of his holy life, he was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002. Although Padre Pio's earthly life has ended, devout admirers from the world over continue to stream into the town which has become synonymous with his name. They come seeking blessings, favors, and even miracles, as did countless believers before, while this inspiring stigmatist lived. Pio's life has been surrounded with accounts of unusual spiritual phenomena and astonishing gifts of knowledge above the natural order, and yet, with peculiar suffering as well. He had throngs of followers and devotees but was not spared the humiliation of detractors and the derision of harsh critics. Miss Gaudiose, drawing from years of on-the-scene observation, offers a devout though detached presentation of the life of this amazing mystic and of the loving power of the Savior beyond the pain.