Book Recommendation

Chantal Morales McKinney is an ordained Episcopal priest who began her career in a fairly traditional way - as an associate rector at a large and prosperous church. She was young, married, with two young children. As she states plainly and without apology, her family needed her to have the job, the salary, the health benefits. Plus her two sons attended the preschool at that parish. She was also a dedicated, talented, intelligent priest who deeply loved her vocation and this particular congregation. Not long after she arrived, the rector (senior priest) began harassing her, coming on to her, trying to catch her alone, and threatening that he would say it was consensual if she blew the whistle on him. The abuse escalated until finally one day he put his threats into an email. Now that she had written confirmation, she approached a superior who told her to bring charges. And then another layer of horror began: the way the church handled her accusation. McKinney tells the story well, and I believe it would be healing for other victims of abuse (at the hands of clergy or otherwise) to read it.

That chapter in McKinney's professional life led to a long period of healing and discernment. The way she was treated at the white suburban church helped lead her to ministry in a lower-middle-class neighborhood where she began to experience grace and church at its best. She is now an advocate for different kinds of church communities - some in buildings, some not, some traditional, many not. She writes directly to people who have been turned off to the church for many reasons, but who still are compelled by the story of Jesus.

She also describes her expansive theology and spirituality, informed by nature, by her Hispanic heritage, by native spirituality, by feminist thought, and through a deep dive into other religious traditions.

Anyone looking for a new way to imagine a faith life and community that makes sense in this time and place: you have a kindred spirit, a guide and a resource.