In this series, we highlight books we think our readers may enjoy, written by authors affiliated with the Collegeville Institute.
We Carry Our Homes with Us
Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2016
By Marisella Veiga,
In her memoir, Marisella Veiga tells the story of her family’s journey from Cuba to the United States as political refugees in 1960. After initially landing in Florida, with the help of Catholic Relief Services, the family resettled in culturally foreign Minnesota. Veiga’s stories are rich with detail and character as she describes learning to ice-skate before learning to speak English. Readers will gain insight into the dynamics of one family’s cultural and linguistic assimilation in a radically different landscape. We Carry Our Homes with Us is a tribute to Veiga’s Catholic Cuban family’s faith and commitment to education, which she credits as their greatest legacies.
Postils for Preaching: Commentaries on the Revised Common Lectionary, Year A
Wipf and Stock, 2016
By John Rollefson, 2012 and 2016 Summer writing workshop participant and 1979/80 Resident Scholar.
John Rollefson’s Postils for Preaching: Commentaries on the Revised Common Lectionary is a guide for ministers who embrace their time-honored calling of preaching the Word. These essays aren’t sermons but sermon-starters, goads and incitements to consider the assigned texts with serious imagination and good humor. Rollefson’s reflections dip into a lifetime of exegetical and homiletical “bag of tricks.” This book is an ideal companion to faith leaders who are looking for fresh ideas in sermon writing, as well as laity who follow the revised common lectionary in their personal Bible reading. Year B is now also available; Year C will release next month.
Questioning Return
Mandel Vilar Press, 2016
By Beth Kissileff, participant in a 2010 summer writing workshop at the Collegeville Institute
In her debut novel, author Beth Kissileff explores questions of faith and doubt through the eyes of protagonist Wendy Goldberg, an academic spending a year in Israel. On the plane to begin her year abroad, Wendy has a conversation with a religious professor from her department at Princeton that shakes up her preconceived notions. What kind of person or Jew is she? Can a skeptic connect to some kind of religious identity? Can one have doubts and hold on to faith at the same time? Questioning Return follows Wendy’s journey in Israel as she tackles unanswerable questions of faith and identity.
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