Birth of a Church

In 1964, Fr. Nangle, a young Franciscan priest from the U.S., was assigned to found a new parish in a middle-class neighborhood in Lima, Peru. This book tells the inspiring story of his journey with that parish--eleven years that saw the impact of Vatican II and Medellín--and what happened when they made an ""option for the poor."" Unlike most accounts of liberation theology, set among the poor and marginalized, this story highlights the impact of renewal on a middle-class parish. As such, it has uncanny relevance for the typical North American parish. Ultimately it is a story about new life and conversion; it is an image of a church reborn.