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Priest-author tells story of Catholicism in the American heartland


This is the cover of the book The Catholic Church in Southwest Iowa: A History of the Diocese of Des Moines by Steven M. Avella. The book is reviewed by Timothy Walch. (CNS photo/courtesy Liturgical Press)
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The Catholic Church in Southwest Iowa: A History of the Diocese of Des Moines by Steven M. Avella. Liturgical Press (Collegeville, Minnesota, 2018). 458 pp., $24.95.
Imagine, if you will, that the most important Catholic in the world decided to visit your diocese. How would you plan for such a visit? Where would you hold a Mass for, say, 350,000 people? That was the challenge and the opportunity embraced by Bishop Maurice Dingman when he learned that Pope John Paul II would honor the people of Iowa and the American heartland with a visit Oct. 4, 1979. ....

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