Listen to the August 20th episode in which theologians Phyllis Zagano and Paul Lakeland analyze comments Pope Francis made during an impromptu press conference on his flight home from Brazil.

Phyllis Zagano, a professor at Hofstra University in New York, who’s written extensively on the history of women deacons in the Roman Catholic Church. Her new book is titled Mysticism and the Spiritual Quest (Paulist Press). She’ll be coming to Connecticut to speak on “Exploring Catholic Culture: Women in Ministry,”  at Wisdom House, 229 East Litchfield Rd., Litchfield, on Sept. 20 and 21; go to http://www.wisdomhouse.org for details. She’ll also speak at Yale University’s St. Thomas More Chapel, 286 Park St., New Haven, CT, at 6 p.m.  on Oct. 13.

Paul Lakeland, a professor at Fairfield University who has written extensively on the laity. His forthcoming book is titled A Council that Will Never End: Lumen Gentium and the Church Today (Liturgical Press.)

Listen to the 8-6-13 episode for a book discussion of 12th-century mystic Hildegard of Bingen; a reincarnated Egyptian goddess; the story behind the Bible; and the “failed tradition” of the priesthood.

Novelist Jennifer Eifrig, author of Discovering Ren , and Denise Stankovics, editor of  Today’s American Catholic.