Speaking Aloud at Grace Church is devoted to homilies that the Rev. Dr. Charles A. Peek gave at Grace Church, Red Cloud, over the two decades spanning the turn of the 20th to the 21st Century.  Dr. George Day first suggested the homilies be collected, and Fr. Peek assembled the collection with gratitude for having been asked so often to preach at Grace Church and with warm memories of the many who responded so positively over those years. Where the homilies occurred at a Spring Conference, they often emphasized particular Cather works being emphasized in the conference program. The scripture was usually drawn from the lessons assigned to a Sunday or Feast day near the time of the conference; where the scripture reference is not clear in the text, I have listed the scriptures used in a footnote.

            -From the Preface

Charles A. Peek

Charles Peek, an Episcopal priest and a scholar with an intimate knowledge of Cather's life and work explores this “sacramental dimension” in his homilies given over the years in Grace Church.  With great skill and insight, he brings in to sharp relief aspects of Cather's personal history and writing which can only deepen and expand our appreciation of what makes her novels and stories timeless in their capacity to reveal truth and the inner working of the human spirit in both its frailty and strength. 

-From the Foreword

Most Rev. Frank Griswold,

Former Presiding Bishop

of the Episcopal Church