The Virgin of Prince Street

2019 Foreword INDIES Award, Gold for Essay With organized religion becoming increasingly divisive and politicized and Americans abandoning their pews in droves, its easy to question aspects of traditional spirituality and devotion. In response to this shifting landscape, Sonja Livingston undertakes a variety of expeditionsfrom a mobile confessional in Cajun Country to a eucharistic procession in Galway, Ireland, to the Death and Marigolds Parade in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Mass in a county jail on Thanksgiving Dayto better understand devotion in her own life. The Virgin of Prince Street chronicles her quest, offering an intimate and unusually candid view into Livingstons relationship with the swiftly changing Catholic Church and into her own changing heart. Ultimately, Livingstons meditations on quirky rituals and fading traditions thoughtfully and dynamically interrogate traditional elements of sacramental devotion, especially as they relate to concepts of religion, relationships, and the sacred.