Today in class we were given a presentation on Konieczny’s book, “The Spirit’s Tether: Family, Work, and Religion among American Catholics. ” The presentation focused on two Catholic churches that were discussed in the book: Our Lady of Assumption and Saint Brigitta. These two churches contrasted, one being more traditional and family oriented, the other more modern and community oriented. Though both Catholic, each church had different views and different interpretations of the Bible resulting in very different church environments. Being that Our Lady of Assumption is more traditional, they had more traditional views like the traditional family unit and pro-life, they also had more mandatory hours of confession, and the church architecture was more traditional with its saints and stained glass windows. On the other hand, Saint Brigitta is less traditional in that there are less hours of confession, they are pro-life and pro-choice, and their mass is held in a gym setting where they are more focused on creating a community. I found this presentation to be very interesting as it made me realize that even Catholicism can and is changing. I thought of Catholicism as the Catholicism I encountered in Mexico, the Catholic Church like Our Lady of Assumption. Our Lady of Brigitta is simply another example of the shifting paradigms that are occurring in the US in order to survive the religious decline. Denominations aren’t so black and white; they vary even within the same denomination and I think that comes to show how churches are adapting to different times and values that different generations carry.