Martin E. Segal Theater

Over the course of 130 years, Italian American Catholics in New York City have developed a repertoire of sacred spaces in their homes and neighborhoods. These ethnic traditions have been neglected by all but a few scholars. Joseph Sciorra spent thirty-five years interviewing these immigrant and native-born Catholics and researching their art forms. The result, Built with Faith, offers a place-centric, ethnographic study of religious material culture, written in an accessible style that will appeal to general readers and scholars alike. It is a unique study that explores the question of how value and meaning are produced at the level of everyday community life.