"The fruit of Richard Lennan's thirty years of teaching, reflections, and ministry, Tilling the Church applies to the Catholic Church the much-needed rationale, imperative, and dynamics of tilling the earth. Responding to Pope Francis's call for 'ecological conversion,' Lennan explores the elements in the church that promote conversion: learning from both past accomplishments and failures, nourishing present signs of life, and being open to the possibilities in the unknowable future. Like a patient and experienced farmer, Lennan teaches us where, when, and how to plant the seeds of grace in the church-field, a task destined to remain an 'unfinished project' until the eschaton."Peter C. Phan, The Ignacio Ellacuria Chair of Catholic Thought, Georgetown University