James Martin, a Jesuit priest who has become a bestselling author and the new face of Catholicism in the media (he has made so many appearances on The Colbert Report he’s been called its “the unofficial chaplain”) drew a capacity crowd to the Anaheim Convention Center’s arena on Saturday (Mar. 19) at the L.A. Religious Education Congress.
Martin’s address on finding spirituality in everyday life through Ignatian practices was laced with Jesuit jokes that drew laughs from the audience (who knew there was Jesuit stand-up?). More than 200 copies of The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything (HarperOne) were sold at the Congress.The Jesuit Guide spent three weeks on the New York Times list after its release last fall and now has 75,000 copies in print; the paperback edition will be out next March.
Martin’s second book for Harper, Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life, releases this October; a third book is slated for 2013. Martin also has books with Loyola Press (My Life With the Saints, 2007) and Paulist Press (Becoming Who You Are, 2006). Orbis, which originally published his This Our Exile: A Spiritual Journey with the Refugees in East Africa in 1999, is releasing a new paperback edition next month (April).
