My first impressions of Catholicism in America were not encouraging. Far fewer people are attending church in most parts of the United States than when I was last here; even in Boston, a historic centre of American Catholicism, parishes have been closing, a process that has caused pain and resentment – and even some litigation. The decline in church attendance does not apply only to Catholics; nevertheless there remains a particularly deep sense of anger from many Catholics against leaders who are thought to have covered up the abuse of children, or who are seen as governing the Church with neither competence nor humility. After a few weeks, I began to realise that on the part of those who do attend Mass, there seems to be a striking quality of living commitment: the faith and its p