Join Our Reading Group! Faith and Fiction: The Catholic Imagination in American Literature

Mondays: October 27, November 3, November 10, & November 17

6:30-8:00 p.m. 

Singler Hall, St. Pius V

Join us for a four-part reading group that will explore the idea of the Catholic imagination through short stories. 

In The Catholic Imagination, the American priest-sociologist Andrew Greeley argued that Catholicism invites a Catholic or “sacramental” imagination, a way of seeing the world in which even ordinary experience can be graced by the presence of God. A meal, lovingly prepared, can become an analogy for the Eucharist; a heart-to-heart conversation, honestly shared, can become an analogy for confession. For the Catholic imagination, sacraments are everywhere. 

Each meeting, we’ll explore the Catholic imagination through a single short story: Kirsten Valdez Quade’s “Jubilee” and “Ordinary Sins,” a selection of Alice McDermott’s novel After This, and finally Flannery O’Connor’s “Revelation.” Sessions will be facilitated by St. Pius V parishioner Paul Lynch, who teaches “The Sacramental Imagination” at Saint Louis University. 

Participation is free and open to all. Electronic copies of the stories will be emailed to participants. No other preparation is required.

To Sign Up

Register at this link: https://www.osvhub.com/stpiusv/forms/4-part-reading-group

Or simply email Paul Lynch: paul.lynch@slu.edu.