M
markomalley
Guest
From the Washington Post:
The Northeast Washington neighborhood of Brookland was long ago nicknamed “Little Rome,” its skyline defined by the dramatic Basilica of the National Shrine and its few main streets by Catholic University, the headquarters of the Catholic bishops and various seminaries. This is a place where you might spot priests in collars on a grassy field cheering on a team of nuns playing softball.
But in a city booming with new condos and cafes, the grassy fields are disappearing. And in a nation where the number of men and women becoming priests and nuns is plummeting, there are far fewer clergy to be seen around Brookland.
And now one of Little Rome’s intellectual hubs is about to disappear, too.
Newman Bookstore, where top cardinals in town from the Vatican have brushed elbows with young seminarians and urbane laypeople since the store opened in 1955, is closing up shop in May.
Sorry I didn’t post this earlier, but I just found out about it today.
For those of you in the DC/MD/VA area, I would suggest going while you still can. The Newman Bookstore was, by far, the finest Catholic bookstore I have ever seen anyplace in the country.
I didn’t go there all the time, but when I needed to find a Catholic book…particularly an obscure one…that was the place to go.
This is an unmitigated tragedy.
I hope they find someplace else to hang their shingle. There’s not enough room at the Paulist Bookstore in Old Town Alexandria…and the bookstore in the Shrine markets to a far more mainstream audience (they couldn’t sustain the wide variety of books that the Newman could).
But I can hope they find someplace, as this is going to leave a HUGE hole.
The Northeast Washington neighborhood of Brookland was long ago nicknamed “Little Rome,” its skyline defined by the dramatic Basilica of the National Shrine and its few main streets by Catholic University, the headquarters of the Catholic bishops and various seminaries. This is a place where you might spot priests in collars on a grassy field cheering on a team of nuns playing softball.
But in a city booming with new condos and cafes, the grassy fields are disappearing. And in a nation where the number of men and women becoming priests and nuns is plummeting, there are far fewer clergy to be seen around Brookland.
And now one of Little Rome’s intellectual hubs is about to disappear, too.
Newman Bookstore, where top cardinals in town from the Vatican have brushed elbows with young seminarians and urbane laypeople since the store opened in 1955, is closing up shop in May.
Sorry I didn’t post this earlier, but I just found out about it today.
For those of you in the DC/MD/VA area, I would suggest going while you still can. The Newman Bookstore was, by far, the finest Catholic bookstore I have ever seen anyplace in the country.
I didn’t go there all the time, but when I needed to find a Catholic book…particularly an obscure one…that was the place to go.
This is an unmitigated tragedy.
I hope they find someplace else to hang their shingle. There’s not enough room at the Paulist Bookstore in Old Town Alexandria…and the bookstore in the Shrine markets to a far more mainstream audience (they couldn’t sustain the wide variety of books that the Newman could).
But I can hope they find someplace, as this is going to leave a HUGE hole.