October 2010

Vol. 75, No. 10

Cover

The need for closure: When a parish shuts its doors

By J.D. Long-Garcia
The death of a parish is traumatic enough, but grief can turn to anger when members feel foul play was involved. But even if the end is inevitable, there are ways to prevent the pointing of fingers.

Sidebar:

Merging parishes with a minimum of misery

Related:

The value of a faith community can’t be crunched on a balance sheet

Reader Survey

Used books

By Meghan Murphy-Gill
U.S. Catholic readers love to, well, read, from magazines to blogs to books, books, books, writes Meghan Murphy-Gill in this Reader Survey. They’ve bookmarked the authors who keep them turning pages.

Web-only sidebar:

Reading list: Suggested reading from the readers of U.S. Catholic

Feature

Act II

By Tara Dix Osborne
While the incarcerated women of the Persephone Project may never see their names in lights, theater is bringing them a new confidence fame could never deliver.

Essays

(Essays, short stories, and poems may not be available online.)

Read into it

By Colleen Mary Carpenter
We know that God comes to us in sacraments and scripture, but that favorite novel may be a window to the divine as well.

She’s Nobody

By Joan Sauro, C.S.J.
Emily Dickinson may have found it dreary to be Somebody but Joan Sauro, C.S.J. still finds her worthy of remembrance.

Who wants to be a Bible scholar?

By Fr. Paul Boudreau and Alice Camille
While they can’t offer you a million-dollar prize, Paul Boudreau and Alice Camille promise your reward will be great in heaven if you can score high on their test of Holy Writ.

Wise Guides: Southern misfit

By Ted Rosean
Georgia writer Flannery O’Connor was no shrinking violet. Not only did she have an uncanny ability to look evil in the face, she could see right through it to the grace that cannot be overcome.

Departments

Editors’ Note

You May Be Right (Letters to the Editor)

Signs of the Times (News)

Catholic Tastes (Humor)

Culture in Context: Music, film, and book reviews

At Home with Our Faith  (Family spirituality)

Eye of the Beholder (Art meditation)

Glad You Asked: Does the church still ban books?

Columns

The Examined Life: Will the center hold?
By Bryan Cones

Margin Notes: Born in the U.S.A.
By Kevin Clarke

Culture in Context: Eat, pay, work
By Patrick McCormick

Testaments: The Gospel truth
By Alice Camille