November 10, 2021—Sean Sammon ’70, FMS, Board of Trustees member and Scholar in Residence, and Landon Moore, ’15, Priest in the Episcopal Church and former Division I athlete on the Marist football team, recently released a collaborative book alongside John Kerrigan, a Deacon serving the Catholic Community at Stanford University. The book is titled Tales Told on the Road to Emmaus: Reflections on the World of God and Contemporary Christians.

The book includes a series of reflections that the authors hope will appeal to young people who fail to find a home in today’s Church communities. “Each of us has a different style and we’re working with diverse groups; all of us are concerned, however, with the number of young people in the US who find themselves alienated from organized religion,” said Sammon. “And so, we set out to transform what were originally sermons into a series of reflections on topics as diverse as forgiveness and reconciliation, racism, diversity, hope, poverty, COVID-19, as well as Marvel comics and superheroes!” While Moore was receiving his Masters of Divinity from Yale Divinity School and was later ordained, Moore’s relationship with Sammon, which began during his undergraduate experience continued. The idea of co-authoring a book became a reality once the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“It's a good approach coming from a younger generation, and an older generation and then getting together in this periphery moment, and having an honest conversation about where the church is, where people are, and where God is moving,” Moore said.

Moore elaborates that the book isn’t primarily for “church-goers” rather for people who have turned away from organized religion. ”The book is not really geared towards church-goers. We're trying to target an audience that has turned their back on organized religion. Rather than offer them a vision of a Church that dictates rules and regulations and includes some people and excludes others, we want to present them with a positive view of faith and with a God who has chosen them and loves them,“ said Moore.

While aimed at young people alienated from organized religion, Tales Told on the Road to Emmaus might very well appeal to a broader audience, both young and old, and to people of faith as well as those who continue to search for a challenge and some inspiration. “Personally, I hope that the book is read by a wide range of young people. You can open it at any point and find something that will be helpful and of interest,” said Sammon.

With three authors working collaboratively on this project, the book is diverse in thought and principle. “This was an ecumenical project. Landon is a young priest in the Episcopal Church; John and I are members of the Roman Catholic Church, and I’m a Marist Brother. My hope is that the richness of our two traditions is evident in the text,” said Sammon.