Sedona: City of Refugees

The Mass moved into the last stage, with many in the church stepping forward to accept Holy Communion, including the Buckleys.

But Kathleen did not get up. She sat, looking straight ahead. Her expression hardened as she watched her husband’s family piously communing with God despite their adulteries and cunning business deals.

There stood her brother-in-law, Philip, standing straight as an arrow, holding out his hands to receive the symbolic body of Christ. Kathleen knew Philip’s sudden sanctity was only for show. Even Scott, who took great pride in swinging a sweet deal whenever he could, was suspicious of Philip.

Then there was Jessica, whose string of well-muscled paid-off studs was the constant talk of Sedona. Kathleen once heard Jessica referred to as the slut of Sedona, a comment that did not surprise her considering Jessica’s voracious sexual appetite.

And then there was Natalie. Kathleen marveled how easily her youngest step daughter could receive communion when everyone in the community knew she left the church years ago to embrace New Age philosophies.

A wash of hopelessness enveloped Kathleen. The Buckleys only worship at their own temples, she thought. Only money and power make a difference to them, not God.