Cultural conflicts about the family - including those surrounding women's social roles, abortion, same-sex marriage, and contraception - have intensified over the last few decades among Catholics, as well as among Americans generally. In fact, they are the source of much of the political polarization we see. But how do individuals in local settings and cultures - especially religious ones - experience and participate in these conflicts? Why are they so resonant? By exploring how religion and family life are intertwined in local parish settings, Mary Ellen Konieczny seeks to explain how and why Catholics are divided about the family. The Spirit's Tether presents a detailed comparative ethnographic analysis of the families and local religious cultures in two Catholic parishes, one conservative and one progressive. Through an examination of the activities of parish life and the faith stories of parishioners, this book reveals how parishes support and shape the ways in which Catholics work out the routines of marriage, childrearing, and work-family balance, as well as how they connect these everyday challenges to public politics. Local parishes, Konieczny argues, promote polarization through practices that unintentionally fragment the Catholic tradition.

The Spirit's Tether: Eight Lives in Ministry tells the stories of eight men and women from their days as students at Union Theological Seminary in New York through their work today as pastors in local congregations over thirty years later. Since 1976 when they entered Union, Malcolm L. Warford has documented their experiences, first in theological education and then through their ministries. Finally, he has asked them to reflect on their vocational journeys and express what their calling has meant to them personally and professionally. The book reveals eight richly textured narratives full of the insight, heartache, and delight that go hand in hand with the practice of ministry--unvarnished truths from eight who have been formed by this work and calling. The Spirit's Tether is a distinctive resource for ministers, congregational leaders, and those in theological education whose role it is to prepare women and men for their sojourns into ordained ministry.

Through detailed ethnographic analysis of one conservative and one progressive parish, this book reveals how church metaphors and religious identities matter to parishioners' marriages, childrearing, and work-family balance; connect everyday life with public politics; and unintentionally fragment the Catholic tradition.

It's 2015. Tony and Rachel's son Jacob is coming to Baltimore to start graduate school at the world famous Peabody Conservatory of Music. He will live at Godfather Jim and Uncle Joe's Baltimore house. The sequel to Dialogues on the Beach, Spirit's Tether traces a year of growth and of mourning, the complexities of families of origin and of choice, the joys and torments of first love and coming out, and the spirit's tether binding love, sex, and romance throughout a life span.

Three questing strangers, one desperate chase, and a magical mystery that will push them to the edge. Tethered Spirits is a YA fantasy novel full of magic and memorable characters.

"One of the mysteries of life is how God's spirit can take hold of us and change us." Writes Leonard H. Budd. "Think of this force in your life as the Spirit's tether. In my mind, a tether is the image of the Counselor that Jesus promised. It is the experience of God's spirit that has been part of my living: The Holy Spirit's tether." The fourteen sermons in this book are based on gospel texts, primarily from Mark. Sermons follow the Revised Common, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic lectionaries. Our confrontation with Jesus Christ opens to each of us the blessed opportunity of forgiveness, and in that unburdening, the opportunity for a new start in our relationship to God and to one another. (from the Proper 5 sermon) Leonard H. Budd is senior minister of Church of the Saviour, Cleveland Heights, Ohio. He is a former United Methodist district superintendent. He is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, Oberlin Graduate School of Theology, and Methodist Theological School in Ohio.