Over the decade, Catholics in Chicago have earned a reputation for "prayerful heterodoxy." That means they pray deeply about their faith and feel empowered and compelled to say what they believe, while respecting and celebrating the unity and diversity that both defines and challenges them. In this slim volume of stories, essays, poems, and passionate personal pleas, more than thirty Chicago Catholics reveal their hopes for the church they love- sometimes ardently, sometimes painfully, but always current Prioress of St Scholastica Monastery Patricia Crowley, PBS Business and Ethics Weekly correspondent Judy Valente, former Chicago Tribune writer and reporter Patrick Reardon, several current and former pastors, and multiple laymen and laywomen of various occupants. Taken together, their experience paint a portrait of the Catholicism being lived at this moment in this unique American city. An Irrepressible Hope is divided into three segments- Welcome, Struggle, Redemption - with drawings by world-famous Chicago Catholic artist Franklin McMahon. Questions for reflection are available from ACTA Publications.