Books by Local Clergy

Books by Local Clergy

To Dance with Grief: Following the Rhythms and Motions of Mourning

by Domenic K. Ciannella, M. Div

"Drawing upon the insights gained over two decades of accompanying individuals on their grief journey, Domenic believes that grief work is a spiritual journey grounded in compassion, mutual conversation, and reconciliation of the deep pain that enfolds the griever. This is made possible through the sharing of story, which becomes the heart of the sacred journey of discovery, connection, and healing." ♦

She Keeled Over Into the Liver Pâté! and Other True Humorous Stories in the Life of an Episcopal Priest

by The Rev. Scott H. Seabury

"During almost forty years of ordained ministry, and many years before, I have found myself the object of humorous situations, at least, as I viewed them, in which I am continually reminded that God has a sense of humor. I am convinced that God must have a sense of humor to have created the likes of me!

Several years ago, while on a sabbatical from my parish duties, I had a unique opportunity to pause, reflect, and compose these humorous true incidents. My intention at the time was to compile these stories and self-publish them to share with my family and friends. However, I put this project aside and forgot about it.

Although this book is intended for my family and friends, if you happen to read this, I hope it brings a smile to your face and an understanding that God loves us and smiles with us throughout our journey in life." ♦

The Just Kitchen: Invitations to Sustainability, Cooking, Connection, and Celebration

by Derrick Weston and Anna Woofenden

"Join the call of a just kitchen: where meal preparation is as much an act of resistance against injustice as marches and protests.

For food and faith writers and podcasters Derrick Weston and Anna Woofenden, The Just Kitchen is about a passion for food, sharing meals, showing hospitality, and understanding cultures, faith traditions, food histories, and local foodways.

Their authentic podcast conversations spill over the pages of this book and explore how the kitchen can be a place where the things we care about most in the world are reflected in the foods we prepare and the way we prepare them. In a world where disconnection from the earth, our food, our faith, and each other is becoming the norm, Weston and Woofenden bring together voices of hope who are working for a world of organic reconnections. They invite us to dig deeply into the complexity of ecology and food systems, as well as how faith communities are connected to them." ♦

Pickett's Dream

by Christopher Carlisle

"When smart and beautiful Athena Van Fleet attends her sister’s wedding, she encounters John Pickett, the officiating priest she knew as a student in college. Now married to retired tennis star, Ted Talbot, she moves to Newport, Rhode Island when her husband is named President of the Tennis Hall of Fame. Smitten by Pickett, Athena uses her sway as the daughter of a former bishop to secure the young priest an improbable call to her wealthy Newport parish.

As Ted begins to sense Athena’s enchantment, he jealously makes Pickett his prey. Then unaccountably, the penniless priest becomes proprietor of Rosecliff mansion-igniting rumors up and down the Eastern Seaboard that the priest is a tycoon or a drug lord. Narrator Brooke Adams, feeling like a “bystander implicated at the scene of the crime,” watches as Pickett’s incredible scheme is unraveled to an unintended end.

From the sad abandoned mill towns of industrial New England to the ballrooms and hunt fields of Newport, from an aged acolyte in rural Massachusetts to pretentious Park Avenue bishops, and from the shining spectacle of the Champs-Élysées to the elusive Bishop’s House in Providence, Pickett’s Dream is borne from the Yuppie Go-Go 80’s to the mean streets of our time, and the innocence of a heretical dreamer to the world we find ourselves in." ♦

Available March 28, 2024

The Land of the Living

by Tim Crellin

"The immigrant experience in America was shaped by war throughout the 20th century. Played out over three generations and three wars, The Land of the Living is the gripping story of one Sicilian woman’s sacrifice as an immigrant who comes to America with her husband to pursue the Dream, only to lose everything. She perseveres in Gloucester, Massachusetts, her adopted home, until an unknown grandson enters her life. Her purpose revealed, her strength becomes the force that confronts war’s impact, heals her family, and opens the way for her own return to her homeland at the end of her life.

The Rt. Rev. Douglas J. Fisher calls it, 'a powerful, spiritual story.'” ♦

Coming February 2025

The Asylum Seekers: A Chronicle of Life, Death, and Community at the Border

by Cristina Rathbone

"Journalist turned Episcopal priest Cristina Rathbone spends months working with a remarkable community of asylum seekers gathered at the US-Mexico border. Living in tents and makeshift houses of cardboard, they organize and develop systems of self-governance, prayer, and strategies for getting the most families across the border. This book offers an unprecedented account of the day-today lives of people rarely heard from and of the often-struggling priest they welcome into their midst.

'Cristina Rathbone’s new book The Asylum Seekers, her deeply observed account of time at the border, is elegant, unsentimental, loving, and piercingly honest. It is a prayer— and almost a miracle. Not because prayer is magic, but because it is the planting ground for hope. For those who despair and those who rage, for all who thirst, Cristina Rathbone digs a furrow in the dirt of our shared suffering, and makes a space where we can abide together.' - Sara Miles, author of Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion and City of God." ♦

Coming January 2025 from Broadleaf Books