Living Devotions

by Mary Clark Moschella

Overview

Living Devotions explores how a particular community has creatively negotiated its religious bonds of connection in the context of immigration. These matters cannot be studied in the abstract. Religious practice is not something separate from the economic, cultural, and psychological dimensions of life, but rather something integral, which shapes and is being shaped by all of these other realities. The author examines these dynamics through an ethnographic case study of the living devotions of a group of Italian Catholic immigrants to San Pedro, California. The narrative describes how the group's historical experiences of immigration and fishing find expression in their particular forms of prayer, art, artifacts, and food. The healing and transformative power of these shared religious practices is explored. As contemporary theologians, pastors, and congregations seek to welcome and care for immigrants and other strangers in a shifting social landscape, we need ways to engage in care-full and attentive relationships. The ethnographic method employed here suggests a way to lift up the voices of ordinary people, allowing them to tell their own stories, while piecing together emerging bits of theological wisdom and compelling care practices. While the particular insights of any community are situated and specific, theological reflection in one context can animate a broader discussion of transformative pastoral theology and practice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781556352881
Publisher:	Pickwick Publications
Publication date:	01/01/2008
Series:	Princeton Theological Monograph , #78
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	244
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Mary Clark Moschella is Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology and Congregational Care at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. She is the author of Ethnography as a Pastoral Practice: An Introduction (Pilgrim Press 2008).

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Living Devotions describes a Catholic community in San Pedro, California, in which a visual and material piety infuses the activities of daily life. In this community, the sacred and the mundane—praying and partying, catching fish and feeding others—are easily integrated. In this engaging book, Moschella considers critical questions and explores theological and psychological conceptual frameworks that assist understanding without allowing theory to overpower the voices of the people who told her about their 'sacramental way of life.' Living Devotions is a moving account of the beliefs, values, and practices that inform and support their vibrant faith."
—Margaret R. Miles, Professor of Historical Theology, Emerita, Graduate Theological Union

"This is simply a wonderful book. Beautifully written, captivating in its detail, wise in its analysis, pastoral in its sensitivity, Living Devotions offers an illuminating 'ethnographic narrative' of an Italian Catholic immigrant community 'told in a pastoral theological voice.' For all those who hope to understand religion as it is woven richly into life—religion scholars and practitioners alike—this book is a must-read. It will equip scholars to enter the world of lived beliefs while enhancing the imagination of those in ministry."
—Bonnie Miller-McLemore, Vanderbilt University Divinity School

"Living Devotions is one of those rare books that will enliven the imaginations of students even as it deepens the insights of scholars and practitioners. Used as a textbook, this captivating portrayal of an Italian and Sicilian Catholic immigrant community will engagingly illustrate skilled ethnographic research and analysis for students and teachers in many parts of the academy—especially history, religious and theological studies, and psychology. At the same time, in Living Devotions, Mary Moschella provides for scholars and practitioners in many fields a stunning example of a truly interdisciplinary work that illuminates the wonderfully complex relatedness between history, religious practices, ethnic diversity and particularity, immigration, and care for the human soul."
—Kathleen J. Greider, Claremont Graduate University

"If you like minestrone soup, you will enjoy this book. It is a rich mixture of social history, a study of the practices of devotional piety, storytelling, and theological reflection—all done with respect and a spirit of appreciative inquiry toward the good people of Mary Star of the Sea Church and San Pedro, California."
—Herbert Anderson, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary 

"Living Devotions is a beautifully and skillfully written resource I recommend to pastors and will use with seminarians and graduate students. Moschella's exploration of and reflections on the power of lived religion within a community shaped by its ethnic identity demonstrates the significance and transformative potential of religious practices not only in the growing number of such communities in the U.S. but also in any congregation. In Living Devotions Moschella skillfully demonstrates ways to hear deeply the experience of another and to reflect upon those experiences as embodied knowledge that has transforming potential."
—Nancy J. Ramsay, Dean and Professor of Pastoral Theology and Pastoral Care, Brite Divinity School

"Mary Moschella has woven together a reverent and riveting testimony to the devotional practices of Italian and Sicilian immigrants that manages to honor the sacredness of their individual stories while also adding a deeper appreciation of these stories by seeing them through pastoral theological lenses and her own cultural context. This allows her to identify with remarkable acuity and sensitivity the interdependence of immigration, identity, and religious imagination. This text will appeal to pastoral theologian, historian, anthropologist, and liturgist alike, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant. Mary Moschella's ability to both capture and transcend the stories of a particular community of faith lends itself to a far-ranging audience. The book is a delectable feast for the soul, reminiscent of the St Joseph's table of which she so respectfully writes. Her writing, like the table, encapsulates the richness, abundance, hospitality, faith, enjoyment, hard work, connections, and ethnic pride of a people."
—Roslyn Karaban, St Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry

Editorial Reviews

"Living Devotions describes a Catholic community in San Pedro, California, in which a visual and material piety infuses the activities of daily life. In this community, the sacred and the mundane—praying and partying, catching fish and feeding others—are easily integrated. In this engaging book, Moschella considers critical questions and explores theological and psychological conceptual frameworks that assist understanding without allowing theory to overpower the voices of the people who told her about their 'sacramental way of life.' Living Devotions is a moving account of the beliefs, values, and practices that inform and support their vibrant faith."
—Margaret R. Miles, Professor of Historical Theology, Emerita, Graduate Theological Union

"This is simply a wonderful book. Beautifully written, captivating in its detail, wise in its analysis, pastoral in its sensitivity, Living Devotions offers an illuminating 'ethnographic narrative' of an Italian Catholic immigrant community 'told in a pastoral theological voice.' For all those who hope to understand religion as it is woven richly into life—religion scholars and practitioners alike—this book is a must-read. It will equip scholars to enter the world of lived beliefs while enhancing the imagination of those in ministry."
—Bonnie Miller-McLemore, Vanderbilt University Divinity School

"Living Devotions is one of those rare books that will enliven the imaginations of students even as it deepens the insights of scholars and practitioners. Used as a textbook, this captivating portrayal of an Italian and Sicilian Catholic immigrant community will engagingly illustrate skilled ethnographic research and analysis for students and teachers in many parts of the academy—especially history, religious and theological studies, and psychology. At the same time, in Living Devotions, Mary Moschella provides for scholars and practitioners in many fields a stunning example of a truly interdisciplinary work that illuminates the wonderfully complex relatedness between history, religious practices, ethnic diversity and particularity, immigration, and care for the human soul."
—Kathleen J. Greider, Claremont Graduate University

"If you like minestrone soup, you will enjoy this book. It is a rich mixture of social history, a study of the practices of devotional piety, storytelling, and theological reflection—all done with respect and a spirit of appreciative inquiry toward the good people of Mary Star of the Sea Church and San Pedro, California."
—Herbert Anderson, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary 

"Living Devotions is a beautifully and skillfully written resource I recommend to pastors and will use with seminarians and graduate students. Moschella's exploration of and reflections on the power of lived religion within a community shaped by its ethnic identity demonstrates the significance and transformative potential of religious practices not only in the growing number of such communities in the U.S. but also in any congregation. In Living Devotions Moschella skillfully demonstrates ways to hear deeply the experience of another and to reflect upon those experiences as embodied knowledge that has transforming potential."
—Nancy J. Ramsay, Dean and Professor of Pastoral Theology and Pastoral Care, Brite Divinity School

"Mary Moschella has woven together a reverent and riveting testimony to the devotional practices of Italian and Sicilian immigrants that manages to honor the sacredness of their individual stories while also adding a deeper appreciation of these stories by seeing them through pastoral theological lenses and her own cultural context. This allows her to identify with remarkable acuity and sensitivity the interdependence of immigration, identity, and religious imagination. This text will appeal to pastoral theologian, historian, anthropologist, and liturgist alike, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant. Mary Moschella's ability to both capture and transcend the stories of a particular community of faith lends itself to a far-ranging audience. The book is a delectable feast for the soul, reminiscent of the St Joseph's table of which she so respectfully writes. Her writing, like the table, encapsulates the richness, abundance, hospitality, faith, enjoyment, hard work, connections, and ethnic pride of a people."
—Roslyn Karaban, St Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry

From the Publisher