The Last Sunday in Ordinary Time

By James McCormack

Marty Donovan ended his sophomore year in May, 1966 with no expectations. He lived an uneventful life as the only son of quiet parents in an obscure Catholic parish on the West Side of Chicago. He admired the big, loud, Irish families that populate the neighborhood all around him, especially the Kilnagaels, the wealthiest family in Our Lady of Holy Truth, and more specifically, their beautiful daughter Colleen. Easter came late that year, and the parish entered ordinary time, the period between the end of the Eastern season and the beginning of the Christmas season six months later. 1966 proved to be a different kind of year. Marty began his first job, Colleen became his first girlfriend, and he even tasted his first pizza. Meanwhile, Democratic Mayor Richard J. Daley ran a desperate campaign to prevent Republican Richard Ogilvie from winning the States Attorney's office and the power to investigate the Democrats. Lyndon Johnson increased the American presence in Viet Nam, sending some boys from Holy Truth to the war, including Colleen's brother, Danny. Our Lady of Holy Truth welcomed a new pastor, who arrived with instructions to enforce the new Vatican II changes to the Catholic mass. The older parishioners resist the changes, the younger parishioners embrace the changes, but the one thing they agree on is that they don't want Coloreds moving into the neighborhood. Martin Luther King led marchers through nearby White neighborhoods, and integration kept creeping closer to Holy Truth. Just when Marty felt like it was all coming together, it all began falling apart.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1521905673
• ISBN13: 9781521905678
• Release Date: July 2017
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 423 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.1" x 6.0"