After spending 12 years in Rome as Superior General of the worldwide Viatorian Community, Fr. Mark Francis, CSV, took a one-year sabbatical at Santa Clara University, where he immersed himself in research for his next book: “Local Worship, Global Church.”
It turns out his time was well spent. The book, published in 2014 by Liturgical Press recently won first place in the “liturgy” category of the Catholic Press Association’s 2015 book awards, which was handed out at the Catholic Media Conference in Buffalo. 
Fr. Francis holds a doctorate in liturgy, which he earned at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute of Sant’ Anselmo in Rome, and he spent 13 years teaching liturgy to seminarians at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, where he now serves as president.
“This book is an attempt to describe how the culture of the common people — who identified themselves as Christians down through the ages — influenced the official liturgy of the Church,” says Fr. Francis. “It’s a look at liturgy from the “bottom up” rather than the “top down.”
Local Worship, Global Church is available in paperback format and on the Kindle, both through Amazon.com.