Hard Won Pilgrimages: Paul Elie discusses Literature, Bach’s Music, and his Journey as a Catholic

Artists Telling Stories

Paul Elie (from the Berkley Center at Georgetown University) talks about his two books, The Life You Save May be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage (2003) and Reinventing Bach (2012), especially the “hard won” pilgrimages of Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Flannery O’Connor, and Walker Percy. Elie goes on to speak of his own pilgrimage in and around the Catholic Church, his struggle to remain within its story while writing about some “awful things”—such as the sexual abuse crisis. He speaks of Bach’s unique place as religious artist and, finally, of his work on the American Pilgrimage Project, where he has discovered the healing power of a diversity of American religious experience beyond even his broadest expectations.
We are grateful for Elie’s own “hard won” pilgrimages in his books and his story. You will be too. You can also find his many contributions at NewYorker.com.
Take a little time to browse StudioAesculapius.com, here you may find something fresh in what may have been stale.

Artists Telling Stories Podcasts feature the stories of artists and the art of stories. We seek the personal stories of artists—their journeys—and the impact of their art on their own well-being and on those who encounter their work.
As the language of humanity, art tells stories of inspiration, hope, and healing even as it acknowledges the hurt and despair that afflicts us all.
Hosts Edward Dupuy and Gene Beyt draw out our human stories in the hope that in their telling, artists will offer a new story of humanity for you, the listener.
Learn more at StudioAesculapius.com.