In his book "Hidden Mercy: AIDS, Catholics, and the Untold Stories of Compassion in the Face of Fear," Michael O’Loughlin has named some of the hidden glories of the Catholic Church’s responses to H.I.V./AIDS in the 1980s and 1990s in the United States.

The latest novel by Richard Powers, "Bewilderment," is a meditation on love for our planet as well as our individual love for one another.

Reading Andrew Sullivan’s collection, ‘Out on a Limb: Selected Writing, 1989-2021,’ made me realize I’d never heard Sullivan mentioned in conversations about Catholic writers. Why wasn’t he there? And why wasn’t I surprised?

Joan Didion was capable both of conjuring up the horrors of modern life and of offering solace that there was still a point to it all.

Anne Rice's lush fantasy fiction reflected the lifelong influences of religion and spirituality in her life.

John Updike, long one of the nation's finest novelists and short story writers, also wrote extensively about the Christian imagination (and once on his misgivings about Santa Claus).