Supermarket Sermons: Notes on Beauty, Grace and the Wisdom of Popular Religion
Michael E. DeSanctis
(self-published through SacraSage Press, 2025)
Soon after I resumed my role as book editor of Emmanuel Magazine, I learned that our senior editor, Michael DeSanctis, Ph.D., had recently written a new book of his own. When I questioned Dr. DeSanctis about the nature and scope of Supermarket Sermons, as he titled his latest publication, he noted it was a collection mostly of articles he had written for the monthly “Senior Spirituality” column he pens as part of a senior news tabloid distributed free-of-charge at outlets throughout Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio.
The book’s title offers a clear indication of its spiritual thrust and hints at one of the venues in which its contents would first have been made available to readers. The author was good enough to provide me a copy so that I could determine whether or not it might be of interest to readers of Emmanuel. After reviewing the book, I can give a strong affirmative to that question!
I believe that many Emmanuel enthusiasts might fit into the category of “seniors.” I myself am a proud member of the “Boomer” generation born between in 1946 and 1964. It is primarily—but not exclusively—to this audience that Dr. DeSanctis directs his “Sermons.”
What does DeSanctis bring to his writing that makes him credible? He brings knowledge of being a senior himself—a man of faith, a husband, a father, a professor of theology, a man who reads widely in Christianity and yet has a familiarity with Judaism, Muslim texts and a wide variety of Asian religions. Readers will sense that he is a man enriched by his practical experience with church architecture. His reflections do not emanate from an “ivory tower” but from the grittiness of real life known to all of us. They help us make sense of who we are where we are going.
Each of DeSanctis’ “Sermons” begins with a recounting of some incident in his life with which readers will likely share familiarity: a quest for meaning in time of loss, a father’s confusion at the choices made by his children, the loss of a sense of family around holiday celebrations, the ambiguity of New Year’s resolutions. DeSanctis takes these as a starting point and moves into theological reflections that invite members of his audience to contemplate where, as seniors or others, they are on their own journeys. From my perspective, these “Sermons” proved worthwhile.
Beyond his “Sermons,” Dr. DeSanctis’ book offers some articles that were previously published in Emmanuel, Today’s American Catholic and Commonweal. You can easily identify these as closer in length and orientation to academic writing. In one such example of the latter, DeSanctis describes how, as a former professor of fine arts and theology at Gannon University, a diocesan institution in Erie, Pennsylvania, he strove to introduce his students to the beauty of church architecture, liturgy and Catholic dogma through methods of teaching that melded theory with lived experience. As a former teacher of graduate courses on church history myself, I greatly admired the creative ways in which he moved students toward greater appreciation for the life of the Church as much through their senses as through their minds.
I am happy to bring this marvelous book to the attention of Emmanuel readers. I was enriched by this gem and hope that some of you might also pick it up and experience its luster.
Patrick J. Riley, D.Min.
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Download a pdf version of this article here.
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All rights reserved.
Readers may reach editor Michael E. DeSanctis at editor@blessedsacrament.com and by mail at Emmanuel Magazine, Editorial Office, 220 Seminole Dr., Erie, PA, 16505.
