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The Grace of Everyday Saints: How a Band of Believers Lost Their Church and Found Their Faith
The Grace of Everyday Saints How a Band of Believers Lost Their Church and Found Their Faith by Guthrie, Julian. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,2011, Hardcover
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
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225 people want to read
About the author
Julian Guthrie
14 books91 followersJulian Guthrie is a NYT best-selling author who spent 20 years as a journalist with the San Francisco Chronicle. She is drawn to improbable underdog stories that combine great human drama with game-changing innovations. Her feature writing and enterprise reporting have been nominated multiple times for the Pulitzer Prize.
Ms. Guthrie's new book, Alpha Girls: The Women Upstarts Who Took on Silicon Valley's Male Culture and Made the Deals of a Lifetime, was published by Currency in April 2019.
This is her fourth nonfiction book. Alpha Girls shines a light on trailblazing women who were written out of history - until now. Alpha Girls is being adapted for television by Academy Award-winning producer Cathy Schulman.
Ms. Guthrie's new book, Alpha Girls: The Women Upstarts Who Took on Silicon Valley's Male Culture and Made the Deals of a Lifetime, was published by Currency in April 2019.
This is her fourth nonfiction book. Alpha Girls shines a light on trailblazing women who were written out of history - until now. Alpha Girls is being adapted for television by Academy Award-winning producer Cathy Schulman.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 30, 2017
This book was a real mixed bag, written by a newspaper reporter who was no way near as objective as she should have been. She also tended not to ask tough questions, and sugarcoated so much that the book has the tone of a children`s book. Ms. Guthrie's biggest mistake, however, was glorifying the life of the late Joe Dignan to the extent that one wonders if she possibly thinks the Catholic Church should canonize him--making him the patron saint of distraught parishioners whose churches have been closed. Mr. Dignan was one of three men Ms. Guthrie identifies as the leaders of the Committee to Save St. Bridget. It is interesting all three were men, just as the Catholic hierarchy would have liked, if they had actually liked the group. Actually, all the Committee and Church "stars" in this book are men. All the women on the Committee tended to blend together into the background.
The first leader was Father Cyril O' Sullivan, a priest from Ireland , who was one of two priests at St. Bridget when the closing was announced. He was the first person to suggest to the congregation that they should fight the closing of St. Bridget. It is hard to know what to make of him from the author's description. At times, it seems like she was trying too hard to make him out to be "the good priest", a present day Father O'Malley. It's not that he appeared at all to be a bad priest; it just seemed like the image of him was a glossy snapshot of sorts, and he was actually playing both sides of the fence. The author could have clarified the fence situation, if she had asked him some tougher questions about his role in the Church and his role with the Committee, but she did not. It is also interesting to note that although nuns run a school adjacent to St. Bridget, and were certainly involved in the church, not one nun was quoted in this story. Did the author ask for their opinions? Did they refuse to be interviewed? Ms. Guthrie should have included the answer to those questions in her book.
The second leader was Robert Bryan, a crusading death row attorney with a bullhorn. He jumped right into the fight and led it for years. He wasn't even a Catholic at the beginning, but a Baptist from the South. Although he was always buried in death row appeal cases, he obviously gave the fight to reopen St. Bridget everything he could give, even going to the Vatican. Some believed his arrogance and aggressive fighting with Church leaders actually hurt the cause; he simply didn't understand how the Catholic Church worked. Mr. Bryan also had the distinction of being the first person to announce churches in San Francisco were being closed and sold due to payoffs to people who were sexually abused by priests. He found this out from hiring private detectives, and even beat the newspapers with that news. One can't help but wonder if that was one of the main reasons the Catholic hierarchy would never give him what he fought so hard to get--he exposed their dirtiest secret.
After Robert Bryan decided it was time to step down from leading the committee, Joe Dignan, a free-lance writer with family money, took over. Julian Guthrie's preoccupation with Mr. Dignan's life is what threw this book way off course. The private lives of the other committee members were also covered in this book, but nothing to the extent of Joe Dignan's life. Is that because he died or because he was gay? Ms. Guthrie says on her website that she particularly does not like the way the Catholic Church treats gays or women. Well, she certainly went all out to treat gay men in the story in a good way, but did so at the expense of the women in the story. First, she describes Mr. Dignan's marriage to a woman from England, who had no idea he was gay, in a way that the reader was suppose to feel sympathy not for her, but for poor confused Joe. Even though he was having affairs with men during his marriage, Mr. Guthrie did not ask him wasn't he concerned about getting AIDS and infecting his wife? The reader apparently is not suppose to think of such things, even though Mr. Dignan lived in San Francisco, and was described as a "serial dater"(aka promiscuous)who dated some very strange men.
Then, there was his adolescent behavior. Apparently, it was well observed by the other members of the committee, but was accepted because Joe was "getting the job done". One did not know whether to be amused or aghast by that matter; considering that grown men who behave like adolescents in their personal lives, often believe they have the right to do so because they are "getting the job done", are bringing in results or income, are acting like adults at work. One can imagine one of the main reasons pervert priests were transferred to other churches, instead of being booted out of the Church, was because they were still capable of carrying out their duties as a priest. They could still get the job done. (And hopefully, would no longer rape children.) Thus, here is a guy in his 40s, displaying some very bad behavior, being coddled by a committee that appeared to be mostly women. Oh, my. What type of women are most likely to tolerate grown men who act like adolescents? Women with martyr complexes. What religion has mass produced women with martyr complexes? The Catholic Church. This is not to say the women on the committee were martyr types. One could not possibly know that from the short descriptions of their lives in the book. This is to suggest that a woman who behaved like Mr. Dignan would never have been chosen as a leader of the Committee. Also, what was Ms. Guthrie's reason for including in this book that very odd, out-of-place picture of Mr. Dignan sitting alone on a couch, with his hands covering his face, which had the following caption: "Joe Dignan breaks down in the living room of his mother's home"?
One of the most telling stories in Ms. Guthrie's book about Mr. Dignan is where he takes a female member of the committee to a gay bar. She was a devout Catholic convert, who had a very strict upbringing in Hong Kong . He took her to the bar, as told by Ms. Guthrie, because he wanted a friend with him. As the book described: "He knew she loved him like a sister loved her brother or a mother her son. She was protective--and forgiving." (Note: She was two years his junior.) So, he leaves her at a table, while he goes roaming around, and then he returns. As the book goes on: "With great flair and a love of gory details, he launched into an X-rated description of two men entwined in another room." She stopped him. "Joe, I don't want to hear it," she said, "punching him gently on the shoulder." She knew he did such things to "irritate" her. (Apparently, she never considered all the things he did to "irritate" her may have actually been done to "provoke" her. ) Oh, that naughty Joe! And "naughty" is exactly one of the words used in this book to describe Mr. Dignan. Ms. Guthrie needs to go to her website and correct the line where she says she's concerned about the way gays and women are treated. She is obviously only concerned about the way gays are treated, not women--at least not heterosexual women. That bar story was not a funny or touching story about friendship, as the author apparently wanted the reader to believe. That was a story about a woman being used and degraded by a gay man.
Isn't that what the Catholic Church has always wanted, too? (Well, not that women should go to gay bars.) Women should be subservient and saintly, unconditionally loving and forgiving mommies forever. Such women do not question the bad behavior of men, or will turn a blind eye to it. That way men, including priests, can get away with some very bad behavior, including sexually molesting children. The sex abuse situation in the Catholic Church plays a major role in Ms. Guthrie's book. That was actually one of the strongest points in the book. She did a good job of implicating the Pope and Archbishop Lavada of trying to cover up and aid and abet pervert priests. She further noted both Archbishop Lavada and Archbishop Law of Boston were transferred to the Vatican, and given very high ranking jobs there by the Pope. (She failed to mention, however, that the U.S. does not have an extradition policy with the Vatican.) After reading about those two job promotions, one realizes there is obviously no possibility of "cleaning house" at the Vatican. It also made one wonder if you took away all the rituals and robes from those holy old men at the Vatican, would you be left with nothing but dirty old men?
Unfortunately, on the other hand, Ms. Guthrie's concentration on the sex abuse issue made the parishioners at St. Bridget seem too indifferent towards it all. It appeared like they hardly gave a second thought to the victims, but only were concerned about saving their church. The reason there was so little talk about the victims, though, was because most of the story in this book took place between 1994 and 2004. Also, there were no sex abuse incidents reported at St. Bridget Church. But, since she gave the issue such a prominent place in her book, Ms. Guthrie should have asked some tougher questions. She should have specifically asked some of the Committee members back then or today their views on the sex abuse scandals and the victims. For example, what if closing and selling churches was the only way to pay the victims? Should churches not be closed, and they should not be paid? In addition, she should have asked Father O'Sullivan some pointed questions about the matter. Not because he is suspect as an Irish priest, but because many will have a hard time ever again identifying Irish priests with good things, such as sentimental Bing Crosby movies. Now is the time for good Irish priests to speak out, or forever be associated with horrific child abuse.
Actually, there were many instances in this book where more challenging questions should have been asked of individuals, and longer answers should have been reported. Maybe the problem was that Ms. Guthrie is a newspaper reporter and not a book writer. Newspaper reporting is not the same as book writing. Books have to be deeper and more complex. The author definitely did her research, though, and put a lot of time and energy into this story. But making Joe Dignan the superstar of the story was a mistake. (Unless, of course, the author is hoping for a movie contract.) Telling Mr. Dignan's life story just distracted the reader from the real story. He deserved no more sympathy or empathy than any of the other individuals in this story who so tirelessly and ferociously fought to save St. Bridget Church.
(Note: I received a free ARC of this book from Amazon Vine.)
The first leader was Father Cyril O' Sullivan, a priest from Ireland , who was one of two priests at St. Bridget when the closing was announced. He was the first person to suggest to the congregation that they should fight the closing of St. Bridget. It is hard to know what to make of him from the author's description. At times, it seems like she was trying too hard to make him out to be "the good priest", a present day Father O'Malley. It's not that he appeared at all to be a bad priest; it just seemed like the image of him was a glossy snapshot of sorts, and he was actually playing both sides of the fence. The author could have clarified the fence situation, if she had asked him some tougher questions about his role in the Church and his role with the Committee, but she did not. It is also interesting to note that although nuns run a school adjacent to St. Bridget, and were certainly involved in the church, not one nun was quoted in this story. Did the author ask for their opinions? Did they refuse to be interviewed? Ms. Guthrie should have included the answer to those questions in her book.
The second leader was Robert Bryan, a crusading death row attorney with a bullhorn. He jumped right into the fight and led it for years. He wasn't even a Catholic at the beginning, but a Baptist from the South. Although he was always buried in death row appeal cases, he obviously gave the fight to reopen St. Bridget everything he could give, even going to the Vatican. Some believed his arrogance and aggressive fighting with Church leaders actually hurt the cause; he simply didn't understand how the Catholic Church worked. Mr. Bryan also had the distinction of being the first person to announce churches in San Francisco were being closed and sold due to payoffs to people who were sexually abused by priests. He found this out from hiring private detectives, and even beat the newspapers with that news. One can't help but wonder if that was one of the main reasons the Catholic hierarchy would never give him what he fought so hard to get--he exposed their dirtiest secret.
After Robert Bryan decided it was time to step down from leading the committee, Joe Dignan, a free-lance writer with family money, took over. Julian Guthrie's preoccupation with Mr. Dignan's life is what threw this book way off course. The private lives of the other committee members were also covered in this book, but nothing to the extent of Joe Dignan's life. Is that because he died or because he was gay? Ms. Guthrie says on her website that she particularly does not like the way the Catholic Church treats gays or women. Well, she certainly went all out to treat gay men in the story in a good way, but did so at the expense of the women in the story. First, she describes Mr. Dignan's marriage to a woman from England, who had no idea he was gay, in a way that the reader was suppose to feel sympathy not for her, but for poor confused Joe. Even though he was having affairs with men during his marriage, Mr. Guthrie did not ask him wasn't he concerned about getting AIDS and infecting his wife? The reader apparently is not suppose to think of such things, even though Mr. Dignan lived in San Francisco, and was described as a "serial dater"(aka promiscuous)who dated some very strange men.
Then, there was his adolescent behavior. Apparently, it was well observed by the other members of the committee, but was accepted because Joe was "getting the job done". One did not know whether to be amused or aghast by that matter; considering that grown men who behave like adolescents in their personal lives, often believe they have the right to do so because they are "getting the job done", are bringing in results or income, are acting like adults at work. One can imagine one of the main reasons pervert priests were transferred to other churches, instead of being booted out of the Church, was because they were still capable of carrying out their duties as a priest. They could still get the job done. (And hopefully, would no longer rape children.) Thus, here is a guy in his 40s, displaying some very bad behavior, being coddled by a committee that appeared to be mostly women. Oh, my. What type of women are most likely to tolerate grown men who act like adolescents? Women with martyr complexes. What religion has mass produced women with martyr complexes? The Catholic Church. This is not to say the women on the committee were martyr types. One could not possibly know that from the short descriptions of their lives in the book. This is to suggest that a woman who behaved like Mr. Dignan would never have been chosen as a leader of the Committee. Also, what was Ms. Guthrie's reason for including in this book that very odd, out-of-place picture of Mr. Dignan sitting alone on a couch, with his hands covering his face, which had the following caption: "Joe Dignan breaks down in the living room of his mother's home"?
One of the most telling stories in Ms. Guthrie's book about Mr. Dignan is where he takes a female member of the committee to a gay bar. She was a devout Catholic convert, who had a very strict upbringing in Hong Kong . He took her to the bar, as told by Ms. Guthrie, because he wanted a friend with him. As the book described: "He knew she loved him like a sister loved her brother or a mother her son. She was protective--and forgiving." (Note: She was two years his junior.) So, he leaves her at a table, while he goes roaming around, and then he returns. As the book goes on: "With great flair and a love of gory details, he launched into an X-rated description of two men entwined in another room." She stopped him. "Joe, I don't want to hear it," she said, "punching him gently on the shoulder." She knew he did such things to "irritate" her. (Apparently, she never considered all the things he did to "irritate" her may have actually been done to "provoke" her. ) Oh, that naughty Joe! And "naughty" is exactly one of the words used in this book to describe Mr. Dignan. Ms. Guthrie needs to go to her website and correct the line where she says she's concerned about the way gays and women are treated. She is obviously only concerned about the way gays are treated, not women--at least not heterosexual women. That bar story was not a funny or touching story about friendship, as the author apparently wanted the reader to believe. That was a story about a woman being used and degraded by a gay man.
Isn't that what the Catholic Church has always wanted, too? (Well, not that women should go to gay bars.) Women should be subservient and saintly, unconditionally loving and forgiving mommies forever. Such women do not question the bad behavior of men, or will turn a blind eye to it. That way men, including priests, can get away with some very bad behavior, including sexually molesting children. The sex abuse situation in the Catholic Church plays a major role in Ms. Guthrie's book. That was actually one of the strongest points in the book. She did a good job of implicating the Pope and Archbishop Lavada of trying to cover up and aid and abet pervert priests. She further noted both Archbishop Lavada and Archbishop Law of Boston were transferred to the Vatican, and given very high ranking jobs there by the Pope. (She failed to mention, however, that the U.S. does not have an extradition policy with the Vatican.) After reading about those two job promotions, one realizes there is obviously no possibility of "cleaning house" at the Vatican. It also made one wonder if you took away all the rituals and robes from those holy old men at the Vatican, would you be left with nothing but dirty old men?
Unfortunately, on the other hand, Ms. Guthrie's concentration on the sex abuse issue made the parishioners at St. Bridget seem too indifferent towards it all. It appeared like they hardly gave a second thought to the victims, but only were concerned about saving their church. The reason there was so little talk about the victims, though, was because most of the story in this book took place between 1994 and 2004. Also, there were no sex abuse incidents reported at St. Bridget Church. But, since she gave the issue such a prominent place in her book, Ms. Guthrie should have asked some tougher questions. She should have specifically asked some of the Committee members back then or today their views on the sex abuse scandals and the victims. For example, what if closing and selling churches was the only way to pay the victims? Should churches not be closed, and they should not be paid? In addition, she should have asked Father O'Sullivan some pointed questions about the matter. Not because he is suspect as an Irish priest, but because many will have a hard time ever again identifying Irish priests with good things, such as sentimental Bing Crosby movies. Now is the time for good Irish priests to speak out, or forever be associated with horrific child abuse.
Actually, there were many instances in this book where more challenging questions should have been asked of individuals, and longer answers should have been reported. Maybe the problem was that Ms. Guthrie is a newspaper reporter and not a book writer. Newspaper reporting is not the same as book writing. Books have to be deeper and more complex. The author definitely did her research, though, and put a lot of time and energy into this story. But making Joe Dignan the superstar of the story was a mistake. (Unless, of course, the author is hoping for a movie contract.) Telling Mr. Dignan's life story just distracted the reader from the real story. He deserved no more sympathy or empathy than any of the other individuals in this story who so tirelessly and ferociously fought to save St. Bridget Church.
(Note: I received a free ARC of this book from Amazon Vine.)
September 15, 2017
Another random library book I was glad to happen upon in the stacks. The book takes a hard look at the Roman Catholic Church's top-heavy and heavy-handed organization. The way the people of St. Brigid's really became a church when their parish was closed was inspiring. A complicated story, well written and full of inspirational ordinary people.
September 16, 2011
[This review is based on an Advance Reading Copy]
When the Archdiocese of San Francisco announces that it intends to close the historic St. Brigid Church, the parishioners are initially stunned. But they quickly rally to defend their church, a fight that would drag on to become the longest running parish protest in the United States. This is the story of that parish and of the parishioners devoted to saving their landmark church. Their battle takes them to the Vatican, to city hall and to the state capital, all while the Catholic Church finds itself plunged into the chaos of the sex abuse scandal that was coming to light at the same time. The members of the Committee to Save St. Brigid come to understand themselves and their faith more deeply and strongly through their long struggle, and in the end learn that as important as the church building might feel, the real strength of a parish is the people who form the body of the parish.
While some might consider this book heavily biased against the Archdiocese, the book is generally well written and provides quite an intimate look at the motivations and beliefs of those who struggled to save St. Brigid. It is especially powerful in showing how these people’s faith actually grew through the conflict, even in the face of the resistance of the Church leadership and the growing sex abuse scandal that enveloped the Church. It is clear that through all the disappointments and disillusionment, these people still found something in the Church that was worth holding on to and fighting for. That they have been largely unsuccessful in achieving their goals does not necessarily mean that they have failed.
When the Archdiocese of San Francisco announces that it intends to close the historic St. Brigid Church, the parishioners are initially stunned. But they quickly rally to defend their church, a fight that would drag on to become the longest running parish protest in the United States. This is the story of that parish and of the parishioners devoted to saving their landmark church. Their battle takes them to the Vatican, to city hall and to the state capital, all while the Catholic Church finds itself plunged into the chaos of the sex abuse scandal that was coming to light at the same time. The members of the Committee to Save St. Brigid come to understand themselves and their faith more deeply and strongly through their long struggle, and in the end learn that as important as the church building might feel, the real strength of a parish is the people who form the body of the parish.
While some might consider this book heavily biased against the Archdiocese, the book is generally well written and provides quite an intimate look at the motivations and beliefs of those who struggled to save St. Brigid. It is especially powerful in showing how these people’s faith actually grew through the conflict, even in the face of the resistance of the Church leadership and the growing sex abuse scandal that enveloped the Church. It is clear that through all the disappointments and disillusionment, these people still found something in the Church that was worth holding on to and fighting for. That they have been largely unsuccessful in achieving their goals does not necessarily mean that they have failed.
January 23, 2012
a biography of the closing of and attempt to save st. brigid's, a 150 year old catholic church in san francisco. the church survived a half dozen major earthquakes but couldn't survive the greed and arrogance of the san francisco archdiocese "leadership" and rome.
the congregation, to the dissappointment of catholic hierarchy, still survives acting Christlike while many of those involved in shutting it down involve themselves in paying off victims of pediphile priests and dodging charges of pediphilia. (doesn't it bother people in rome that the number two official in the vatican is such a constant liar? this in regard to statements to the congregation, Not vis a vis pediphilia)
this is not a catholic bashing book because many people in the act of trying to save the building become a Christian community, one given to continual acts of charity and love. certainly the leadership of the church blocked the worship of Christ for some.
Julian Guthrie is a terrific writer, i'm looking forward to whatever she does next. one small complaint, and since i read the advanced reader not the actual book, maybe an unfair one; she writes often of the beauty of the church the arc only has the color cover photo and one b&w photo of the amazing front doors in w/the text.
the congregation, to the dissappointment of catholic hierarchy, still survives acting Christlike while many of those involved in shutting it down involve themselves in paying off victims of pediphile priests and dodging charges of pediphilia. (doesn't it bother people in rome that the number two official in the vatican is such a constant liar? this in regard to statements to the congregation, Not vis a vis pediphilia)
this is not a catholic bashing book because many people in the act of trying to save the building become a Christian community, one given to continual acts of charity and love. certainly the leadership of the church blocked the worship of Christ for some.
Julian Guthrie is a terrific writer, i'm looking forward to whatever she does next. one small complaint, and since i read the advanced reader not the actual book, maybe an unfair one; she writes often of the beauty of the church the arc only has the color cover photo and one b&w photo of the amazing front doors in w/the text.
June 16, 2012
Not sure how to explain this - but I was bothered when reading this book. I understand that this is based on real story, with real people. But I don't really feel like I can identify with these people, and nor with their plights - with maybe an exception of one person, whose story is more a quite contemplation. I don't think that the author did a good job in fleshing them out - and having the story presented in 2-5 pages of "act", the constantly having to switch focus from person point of view to another (and for every short time) is really a barrier to relating to any of the character. And at the end, maybe I am also disappointed at these people. This is not to say that I think the leaders of the church is justified in closing the church, but I kept wanting to find these parishioners to realize that what makes them Catholic is more than just a building - even if that building contains your life history.
July 8, 2016
The author writes, "...It is my hope that people of any faith, or no faith, will enjoy this book for its drama, its twists and turns, the secrets revealed, and for the incredible characters, who are funny and flawed, stubborn and forgiving." And it's all true!
An Amazon reviewer writes: "It is an extraordinary story of both anti-Christian and super-Christian behavior. Guthrie crafts the story of how a diverse group of churchgoers united to save their church and became a [closely knit] community of faithful believers and lovers of God and one another."
It's hard not to see the SF Archdiocese as the villain here. Its representatives lie, mislead, and stonewall the very parishioners they are supposed to serve. It was heartbreaking to see the parishioners' hope, because I know how it's going to turn out for them.
Julian Guthrie does a great job of making you feel like you're in the room. I took away the message that "church", like "family", is where you make it.
An Amazon reviewer writes: "It is an extraordinary story of both anti-Christian and super-Christian behavior. Guthrie crafts the story of how a diverse group of churchgoers united to save their church and became a [closely knit] community of faithful believers and lovers of God and one another."
It's hard not to see the SF Archdiocese as the villain here. Its representatives lie, mislead, and stonewall the very parishioners they are supposed to serve. It was heartbreaking to see the parishioners' hope, because I know how it's going to turn out for them.
Julian Guthrie does a great job of making you feel like you're in the room. I took away the message that "church", like "family", is where you make it.
November 18, 2016
Extremely saddening reading stories like this about the church and quite encouraging of the lessons we can learn from all these. A 10 + year protest in the face of insurmountable opposition but holding on to the little hope is quite something beautiful, really.
Through circumstances, God speaks to people. And to these people at this Church, they experienced community - and at the end of the day, maybe that's what really matters.
Well, written, simple and methodical. Quite captivating aswm well.
Through circumstances, God speaks to people. And to these people at this Church, they experienced community - and at the end of the day, maybe that's what really matters.
Well, written, simple and methodical. Quite captivating aswm well.
December 29, 2011
Whether you are interested in Catholicism or not, this is an interesting account of how a very diverse group of people were able to overcome their differences to work towards a common goal and how they dealt with the dillusionment and betrayal.
February 15, 2014
A well-written history of the fight to save St. Brigid Church on the corner of VanNess and broadway in San Francisco. I loved reading it. Even more because I lived a round the corner from this church for the first 12 years in SF.
October 5, 2016
A compelling and inspiring read about a group of Catholics who banded together to save their beloved church. Their faith grew over the years of their exile even though the Church they thought they knew turned it's back on them.
January 18, 2012
A powerful and moving account of what a small group can achieve. Save St Brigid!
March 2, 2012
A discouraging story of a faith community trying to save their parish against overwhelming odds.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews