MONUMENTS, MARVELS AND MIRACLES

Here’s how this week’s arts and culture column begins:

Marion Amberg’s delightful Monuments, Marvels, and Miracles: A Traveler’s Guide to Catholic America, is just out from Our Sunday Visitor.

The book is divided into seven sections: Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest, Mountain West, Southwest and Pacific West. Each state, as well as the District of Columbia, has its own chapter.

“America’s got faith! It’s all around us,” the Introduction begins, and Amberg proceeds to to prove it. The entries may be notable because of architecture, or Old World traditions, pr history, or relics, or “astounding answers to prayer.”

Our cultural diversity is amply reflected: we American Catholics have roots in, among many other places, Vietnam, Cuba, the Philippines, Poland, Lithuania, Ireland, Sicily, Switzerland, Portugal, Lebanon, and France.

There are “fun facts,” trivia questions, and oddball “only-in-the-Church” one-offs. The entries are short and snappy, with addresses, phone numbers and websites. The accompanying maps are bright and easy to read, and the whole book is beautifully accessible.

READ THE WHOLE PIECE HERE.