In "The Poet X," Elizabeth Acevedo captures the complicated relationship many Dominicans have with Catholicism, particularly focusing on the ways in which faith can affect women.

(And what the Gospel says we should do instead)

The church may benefit from a more deliberate effort to reach out to Catholic women.

Few Catholic women say they look to the church for help in deciding how to vote, even while about half say Catholic teaching on key political issues is important to them.

While Kirstin Valdez Quade’s stories frequently feature Catholic characters, she says her relationship to the church “has always been a little bit complicated.”

Medics are useless if the wounded cannot reach them.