Author and theologian George Weigel will discuss the Catholic defense of religious freedom at home and abroad and the future of the Catholic Church in the U.S. as a community of evangelical possibility in a talk Monday, Sept. 10, at 7 p.m. at Our Lady of Grace Parish, Greensburg. It is open to the public with no admission charge.

Weigel also will be the guest speaker at the annual Red Mass earlier that day at noon in St. Joseph Chapel at the Bishop William G. Connare Center near Greensburg. The Mass is open to the public.

Weigel is perhaps best known for his two major biographies on Blessed Pope John Paul II: “Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II” and “The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II — The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years and the Legacy.”

He has written or edited more than 20 books. They include: “The Truth of Catholicism: Ten Controversies Explored,” “The Courage to be Catholic: Crisis, Reform and the Future of the Church,” “Letters to a Young Catholic” and “The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America and Politics Without God.”