Much has been written about women religious -- known as nuns or sisters -- since Vatican II, which brought about major changes to the Roman Catholic Church worldwide. In this book several Dominican Sisters tell with candor what it was really like to live the religious life in Grand Rapids, Michigan, during those years. Organized around the four basic principles of Dominican life -- prayer, study, common life, and service -- Tapestry in Time weaves together written and oral histories from the Sisters themselves to describe how the introduction of then-radical changes such as worship in the vernacular provided the thrill of something new and meaningful -- but also how the move toward inclusivity was met with challenges and opposition.
The spirituality of St. Dominic and his early followers was a force in 13th-century Europe. Here is a selection of works that represent the simplicity, ruggedness and clarity of the Dominicans' biblically-based, Christ-centered spirituality.
"Period Pieces presents a narrative of one group of American women religious, the Sisters of Saint Dominic of Grand Rapids, Michigan, from 1853-1966"--Foreword. Also includes the history of the Congregation of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Marywood Dominicans.
An outstanding book on prayer and the spiritual life written by one of the best spiritual directors of our time. Dubay synthesizes the teachings on prayer of the two great Doctors of the Church--St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila--and the teaching of Sacred Scripture.
For Irish Americans as well as for Chicago's other ethnic groups, the local parish once formed the nucleus of daily life. Focusing on the parish of St. Sabina's in the southwest Chicago neighborhood of Auburn-Gresham, Eileen McMahon takes a penetrating look at the response of Catholic ethnics to life in twentieth-century America. She reveals the role the parish church played in achieving a cohesive and vital ethnic neighborhood and shows how ethno-religious distinctions gave way to racial differences as a central point of identity and conflict. For most of this century the parish served as an important mechanism for helping Irish Catholics cope with a dominant Protestant-American culture. Anti-Catholicism in the society at large contributed to dependency on parishes and to a desire for separateness from the American mainstream. As much as Catholics may have wanted to insulate themselves in their parish communities, however, Chicago demographics and the fluid nature of the larger society made this ultimately impossible. Despite efforts at integration attempted by St. Sabina's liberal clergy, white parishioners viewed black migration into their neighborhood as a threat to their way of life and resisted it even as they relocated to the suburbs. The transition from white to black neighborhoods and parishes is a major theme of twentieth-century urban history. The experience of St. Sabina's, which changed from a predominantly Irish parish to a vibrant African-American Catholic community, provides insights into this social trend and suggests how the interplay between faith and ethnicity contributes to a resistance to change.
