Category: Trying to say God

  • Trying to Say God—Saturday and it’s over

    The day started with “The future of Catholic publishing” which was tied up closely with the future of publishing in general. It was observed that the devotional and catechetical sides of the business (for the publishers associated with religious orders) are doing well, but the trade side of the business is diminishing.  Greg Wolfe’s observation is…

  • Trying to say God—Friday afternoon and evening

    After lunch, I heard Valerie Sayers talking about the genesis of her novel, The Powers, talking about the use of photographs, not only in the research for the book but in the final novel itself. When asked about her timeline for her books, she said that she spends more time on them now, but when she…

  • Trying to Say God—Friday morning

    The morning  egan with Randy Boyagoda’s talk, “Trying to say God without sounding like Marilynne Robinson.” Boyagoda’s thesis was that the first and primary purpose of literature i to increase charity and towards that end he did a dive into a novel by Mary McCarthy, The Group and a story by David Constantin, “The Loss.” This was…

  • Opening day of the Trying to Say God conference

    After a two hour trip on the South Shore Railroad (“The most uncomfortable seats on rails”™), I ended up at the South Bend Airport (“both taxis in South Bend are already here”™) and made my way to  otre Dame University for the “Trying to Say God” conference. This is a conference whose animating spirit is “revitalizing…