Vibrant stories bring New York Catholicism to life

"New York Catholics: Faith, Attitude & the Works!" by Patrick McNamara. Orbis Books (Maryknoll, New York, 2014). 210 pp., $24.Patrick McNamara, lifelong New York Catholic, historian and teacher, has written a wonderful tribute to the uniqueness and vitality of a most distinctive Catholic milieu."New York Catholics" is imbued with love, respect and admiration for the abundant generosity of 42 historical and 34 contemporary Catholics. McNamara's subjects -- administrators and journalists, priests and bishops, contemplative nuns and lay activists -- illustrate the manifold ways the gifts of the Holy Spirit are used to build up the church.There…