Year of Trial, Year of Grace

Silver-medal Winner! 2013 Illumination Awards for best new titles written and published with a Christian worldview.

An inspiring and provocative revelation of one person’s religious faith, Year of Trial, Year of Grace: A Catholic’s Search for Faith is topical, deeply intimate and very readable. Written as a series of weekly reflections, this book provides support and encouragement for anyone who has struggled with faith and acceptance in the face of life’s day-to-day challenges.

With themes ranging from guilt and gossip to dreams and disappointment, from the Catholic priest scandal to the power of prayer, Year of Trial, Year of Grace offers a contemporary perspective that both questions and proclaims the role of faith in everyday life, and in the cultivation of a more personal and practical relationship with God.

Encouraged by her priest to write a column for the weekly bulletin, Clayvon Harris reluctantly begins writing about church history and other practical matters. However, her writings quickly evolve into a call to examine the issues of faith with which she is personally struggling. The reflections become a roadmap of both her spiritual doubt and spiritual development over a year that yields both personal challenges and indictments of religious officials in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Collected here, the topics range from guilt and gossip to dreams and disappointment, from the priest scandal to the power of prayer. Topical, deeply intimate and very readable, Year of Trial, Year of Grace – A Catholic’s Search for Faith offers a contemporary perspective on Catholicism that both proclaims and questions the role of faith in everyday life, and in the cultivation of a more personal and practical relationship with God. This is a book of encouragement and support for anyone who has, at one time or another, struggled with faith and acceptance.

Clayvon Harris lives and writes in the Philadelphia area. Raised as a Catholic, she attended Diocesan and private Catholic schools – including St. Athanasius and Cecilian Academy – from nursery through high school, as well as Swarthmore College, an institution rooted in the Quaker tradition. Shocked and disheartened by the priest scandal, she left the Catholic church in 2002, and after briefly studying Buddhism, joined a local Baptist church. During this time, she maintained ties to St. Athanasius through family, friends and former pastor, Monsignor Herbert Bevard, who always welcomed her and continued to send birthday blessings, even after his installation as Bishop of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Clayvon’s relationship with St. Athanasius continued as the new pastor, Fr. Joseph Okonski, and visiting priest Father Anayo Nna, both reached out with visits and spiritual support during a period of illness and challenge. Their faith and friendship combined with the continuing love and respect she holds for the Sisters of St. Joseph and the good and kind parishioners of St. Athanasius, inevitably drew her back into the fold.