Struck Down, Not Destroyed - by Colleen Dulle (Hardcover)

About the Book

"This work is a bold, inspiring call not to lose spiritual hope from a Vatican reporter who has seen the Catholic Church's darkness-but has learned that the light will always overpower the dark"--

Book Synopsis

A bold, inspiring call not to lose spiritual hope from a Vatican reporter who has seen the Catholic Church's darkness--and has learned that it cannot overpower the light

"A compelling, fortifying read for anyone who is grappling with the fallen side of the church."--Abigail Favale, author of The Genesis of Gender

For too many Catholics, the darkness of creeping doubt, of drifting out into the spiritual cold of God's absence, is felt not outside the church but within it. With each of the church's moral failures--the sexual abuse, systematic mistreatment of women, shady financial management, its cozy relationships with corrupt political power--people lose faith or they wonder if they can, in good conscience, remain part of the church at all. For Catholic journalists who report on the church's failures in detail, the struggle to keep the faith can feel like an intolerable cognitive dissonance.

In Struck Down, Not Destroyed, Vatican reporter for America magazine Colleen Dulle takes readers for the first time into her own experience of reporting: how the church has put her own faith into crisis, and how she has managed to stay Catholic by meeting again and again the spiritual reality at the heart of the church--God and the saints. With each chapter, Dulle revisits her reporting on a church crisis, revealing to readers that in every instance of anger, betrayal, and hurt, she was ultimately renewed in hope, courage, and resolve.

Recounting efforts to pray honestly and finding herself yelling at God, attending Mass at churches where she was treated like the "wrong" kind of Catholic, or learning that one of her spiritual heroes was a sexual abuser, Dulle offers readers the gift of solidarity: they are not alone and there is hope. At the times when the church seemed merely human, just an institution for power and politicking, Dulle found herself spiritually upheld by difficult prayer, other faithful Catholics, fellow reporters, faithful priests, and, ultimately, the Holy Spirit. Dulle holds out this same promise for readers. She provides no easy solutions, nor does she pretend to resolve the feelings of dissonance; instead, she passes on the courage she received with a vivid reminder that the church's faith is still worth believing in and fighting for.

Review Quotes

"In Struck Down, Not Destroyed, Colleen Dulle takes a unique spiritual pilgrimage, one that confronts candidly the institutional mistakes and failures of the Catholic Church, while holding on to faith. It's a book that will resonate with many Catholics, young and old, who are trying to understand the scandals of recent years and move beyond them."--John Thavis, New York Times bestselling author of The Vatican Diaries

"This is an exceptional book, relentlessly honest, never avoiding the challenges to a life of faith that come from reporting on the church, ever willing to work through the ambiguities and contradictions in the church community with the courage that a paschal faith should foster in each of us. Colleen Dulle has kept her eyes open both to the grace and the brokenness of the church's leadership and members. This book will be a gift for those who are struggling to keep faith when confronted with failures in living out that faith with integrity. And it is an especially valuable read for those in positions of leadership and authority in the church at all levels, who need to keep our eyes open to both the holiness and the sinfulness within the community, trusting in God, taking to heart and speaking the call to conversion, and, by hard work and the grace of God, keeping it all in perspective."--Donald Bolen, archbishop of Regina, Canada

"Resisting cynicism and simplistic tribalism, Dulle writes frankly about recent scandals in the church and movingly about how she's managed to keep her faith. Like Jacob wrestling with God in the dead of night, she holds on--and in the midst of the struggle, somehow a blessing comes. This is a compelling, fortifying read for anyone who is grappling with the fallen side of the church."--Abigail Favale, author of The Genesis of Gender

"With courage and candor, Ms. Dulle lays bare her inner turmoil as she, a faithful Catholic and a correspondent for America magazine, reveals how her faith was tested when confronted with one scandal after another in the institutional church. Confronting the 'dark side of the Good News' is not easy, but it can lead to a deeper understanding of what it means to be a Catholic today. We are the church, the body of Christ, a living organism that proclaims redemption even as it begs for forgiveness. Thank you, Ms. Dulle, for reminding us of this difficult yet compelling truth."--Most Reverend John C. Wester, archbishop of Santa Fe

About the Author

Colleen Dulle is a multimedia journalist covering Catholic and Vatican news and analysis at America Media, where she hosts and produces the weekly news podcast Inside the Vatican. She has reported national and international news for Catholic News Service, the Associated Press, The Times-Picayune, and the St. Louis Review. Dulle's work has earned regional and national accolades from the Catholic Media Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Louisiana-Mississippi Associated Press Media Editors. Dulle was twice named the Catholic Media Association Multimedia Journalist of the Year.