Introduction

[John]

A selection of the Literary Guild, it was published in more than a dozen languages and sold over two million copies. Later made into an Academy Award-nominated film directed by Otto Preminger and starring John Huston, the book tells a story that captured the nation's attention: a working-class American's rise to become a cardinal of the Catholic Church. The daily trials and triumphs of Stephen Fermoyle, from the working-class suburbs of Boston, drive him to become first a parish priest, then secretary to a cardinal, later a bishop, and finally a wearer of the Red Hat.

[John]

I am only providing three or four generic fiction questions and am asking everybody to add a question of their own.

[Jill]

Question: Do you agree with the author's (or various characters') assessment of the American Catholic Church? Are these observations still relevant today?