The gripping, true story of a parish community set in one of the most violent places on earth: the Anapra barrio in Juarez, Mexico.
Kevin Mullins, a rowdy Australian priest, and his housekeeper Rayna risk everything to build a parish while dealing with murderous drug cartels, oppressive poverty, powerful cults, roving street gangs, and crooked government officials. As homes burn, people disappear, and bodies are discovered, Father Kevin and Rayna battle to keep their parishioners alive while transforming the community into a force against evil. The page-turning, thought-provoking narrative is told with unflinching honesty by author and New York Times writer Greg Jordan.
Perfect for parish reading groups, this is an illuminating tale of spiritual resistance, and the church’s mission in a dangerous and complex world. Supplemental reading guide included.
Excerpt from this book:
“ Father Kevin Mullins knew they would come for him, but he had expected, even hoped, that they would come with less cliché. Not a big truck rumbling outside in the moonlight; not the sounds of machismo echoing off the cinder block shacks; not the knock on the door that he heard now. As he sat there afraid—yes, he admitted, afraid—he imagined the playing out of the cliché: take the keys off the hook on the wall as they hold a gun to his head. Stumble down the dirt road to the church with the gun in his side, unlock the church, fumble with the safe until they push the gun into his neck, finally get the code right, swing open the door, step back to show its perfect emptiness. And then either be shot or, if they have a sense of irony, beaten repeatedly with the brass chalice that they would they carry off in grim hope that it might just be gold.”
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