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NOVEMBER 29, 1947
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LA YMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
THREE-A
BOOK REVIEWS
By EILEEN HALL
“THE DRY WOOD,” by Caryll
Houselander, (Sheed and Ward),
$3.00.
We had such high hopes for
Caryll Houselander’s first novel.
We’ll have to tell you all about it,
even though it makes this unduly
long. A friend whose opinion we
highly respect had told us, of Miss
Houselander's earlier books which
unfortunately we hadn’t read, “She
wastes no words. Her thoughts
are turned out hard and brilliant
and full of value like diamonds.”
Because of that recommendation
(and also because of Sheed. and
Ward’s incomparable “advertising
manager”), we wanted so much for
this to be the novel we’ve been
looking for the last three years.
But it isn’t.
For the average Catholic reader
(from whose viewpoint we should,
perhaps, be forming our opinions),
“The Dry Wood” is as good as the
average Catholic novel. If you like
poetry, Miss Houselander is an
excellent poet, even in her prose.
If you like spiritual books, her
thoughts are indeed "hard and
brilliant” . . . you’ll stop often
and close your eyes and let a par
ticularly penetrating one play with
your heart-strings. If you like fic
tion of the devotional-magazine,
“lace-paper valentine” type, you
couldn’t find a better story. But
if you want a novel that will do
what we want a Catholic novel to
do . . . you’ll keep waiting with
us, and hoping!
Before we try to describe that
ideal novel, which we haven’t yet
found, let’s dispose of the un
pleasant task of criticizing a book
we hoped to be able to say was
perfect. We dropped everything
when it came and gave it every
chance. When we thought we were
reading it too fast, we slowed
down. When we thought the chil
dren were distracting our atten
tion, we waited until they were
gone and the house was quiet. Still
the impression persisted: the
novel fails; the characters aren’t
alive; the situations don’t ring
true; the message (and the author
does have a message, definitely!)
isn’t put across. Our exceptionally
—gifted, agnostic friend, herself a
book reviewer and potential novel
ist, would be either frankly dis
gusted or politely apologetic, if
indeed she could be induced to
read it at all.
And with that statement we’ve
confessed. We’re inspecting Catho
lic ndyels through her eyes, and
those of many like her ... as well
as those other thousands of less
discerning, less talented, less
positive, less honest non-Ca’tholics
who read books . . . and whose at
tention to Catholic books would
be worth winning.
, Ruthlessly, she called “Miracle
of the Bells,” “tripe.” But then,
one Catholic expert even termed
that book “vulgar, dangerous and
blasphemous,’’ in spite of other
Catholic reviewers’ approval of
it. We didn’t read it. Our friend,
we are sure, would be no less
harsh on “The Dry Wood,” unless
it were simply out of courtesy to
us. But that doesn’t mean this
lovely, spiritual thing has any
thing else in common with the
sensational ", . .Bells” besides
incredibility. Don’t misunder
stand us.
Our friend read “Joy” and ad
mitted candidly that it was simply
beyond her understanding. “May
be you’ll know what it’s all about,”
she said as she handed it to us . . .
which was a compliment, because
she meant it. We had to read
“Joy” twice ourselves to get a
glimmering of what Bernanos was
so magnificently driving at. In
some ways that is the perfect
Catholic novel to date, perhaps,
but not for those outside the
Church, or even for the average
Catholic.
Somewhere between the two ex
tremes must be the answer. If it
exists, we just haven’t found it yet
We’re very doubtful about it’s
even having been written yet.
SO! YOU WANT TO GET MAR
RIED, by Dorothy Fremont Grant,
(Bruce), $2.50, a September choice
of the Thomas More Book Club;
Did you ever stop to consider
how few Catholic books on mar
riage there are, as compared to
Catholic books on every other
subject under the sun; and also,
as compared to the abundance of
available non-Catholic books on
marriage Only a well instructed
Catholic can make good use of
the latter, separating the good in
them from the bad . . . and how is
he to become instructed in the
first place without more Catholic
material on the subject? Given
that, even the best of the secular
books will be unnecessary. And
what subject is more important to
more people?
Mrs. Grant’s contribution is di
rected to Catholic girls in their
teens and twenties . . . girls who
are considering marriage as a
vocation, or girls who are already
young wives . . . and may every
one of those girls read it! (It
would *be a beautiful gift for any
bride-to-be.)
Wives of longer standing may
feel that the author has skimmed
the surface; yet what else could
she do with so vast a subject?
CATHOLIC BOOK WEEK MARKED IN AUGUSTA—Pictured above are a group of the prize
winners in the exhibit sponsored by pupils of the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades at the Sacred
Heart Schoql, conducted by Sisters of Mercy in Augusta, Georgia. Standing, left to right, are Helen
Forsmark, first prize winner; Helen Pfeiffer, second prize winner; and Barbara Grealish, also a first
prize winner. Standing, by the chair, in which Nellie Callahan, who submitted the best booklet, is
seated, are Patricia Ann Ward and Patricia Ann Pollard, first grade pupils.—-(Photo—Courtesy The
Augusta Herald).
What she has written has force
and beauty and humor . . . plus
good, sound Catholic truth. We
would even venture to guess that
there is no woman anywhere,
whatever her age or status, who
would fail to find something in
it worth serious pondering . ...
some new idea or new presenta
tion of an old one which will be
for her food for thought. (If she
knows how to think!)
Our question bears emphasiz
ing: what subject is more impor
tant to morb people than is mar
riage? What has more direct in
fluence on the temporal and spir
itual welfare of individuals and of
society? In what branch of human
knowledge are there more dis
torted ideas . . . among Catholics
as weir as non-Catholics? In what
field is truth more necessary,
more many-faceted, yet mere dif
ficult, even for the best-intention-
ed Catholic woman, to discover?
In what is UN-truth more wide
spread, more ready-at-hand in ev
ery “woman's magazine”,,and sec
ular book and over-the-cokes con
versation?
May we have more and more
and more books like this (and on
particular aspects of the subject
too, as well as over-all treatments
like this" one) until no longer can
any Catholic woman plead “in-,
vincible ignorance” for mistakes
she has discovered too late.
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REFLECTIONS ON THE SUN
DAY COLLECTS OF THE ROM
AN MISSAL, by Sister Mary Gon-
zaga Haessly, O. S. U., (Grail), $2.
For Saturday evening preview
of the morrow’s Mass (and inci
dentally, a better appreciation of
it when you follow it with your
missal Sunday morning), try
reading the Mass propers slowly
and thoughtfully—accompanied by
a book like this which explains
and draws out the depths of moan
ing in those majestic age-old
prayers.
There are several similar books
of meditations on the Introits, but.
this is the first we’ve seen based
on the Sunday Collects. Sister
Gonzaga’s work is painstaking and
scholarly—almost to a fault If
you remember even random bits
of that long-ago first year high
school Latin, you’ll enjoy the
way she’s scattered italicized Latin
words and phrases from the Col
lect here and there in her own
text where you just can’t help
translating them.
Maybe it’s primarily a student’s
book; yet maybe too, used as we
have suggested, these “reflec
tions” can aropse new understand
ing of the beauties of the liturgy
even in ordinary folks like you
and me.
AVE MARIA SHOP
367 Peachtree St., N. K.
Atlanta
THE SCHOOL OF LOVE, by
Archbishop Alban Goodier, S. J.,
(Grail), $1.50.
One of five popular little books
by the same author, formerly pub
lished only in England, now avail
able in this “First American Edi
tion.” The others (reviews of
which will follow here) are: “The
Meaning of Life,” “The Prince of
Peace,” 'The Crown o£ Sorrow”
and “Jesus Christ, the Son of
God.”
This volume contains 19 brief
esasys on spiritual subjects, by
far the best of which are the se
ries of four entitled “Some Hints
on Prayer.” All are instructive,
simply written, easy to read and
thought provoking We would par
ticularly recommend them for
young people or converts . . .
those young people and converts,
that is, whose spiritual reading
has been thus far limited, and who
would therefore ' find more ad
vanced texts a little beyond their
reach.
Particularly happy news it is
that the “Hints on Prayer” from
the volume are also published sep
arately, in pamphlet form, by the
Grail Press, price 15c.
BOOKLETS FROM THE GRAIL
PRESS:
1. “THIS PASSING WORLD,”
by Paschal Boland, O. S. B., 10c—
more of Father Paschal’s clever
and delightful “meditorials,” brief
bits of wisdom and humor and in
spiration. < '
2. “A PRAYER FROM HARLEY
GAOL,” and other varied texts
based on the Psalms—which failed
to impress us at- all—10c. -
3. “UNION WITH GOD,” part
2 of “The Glories- of Divine
Grace,” by Matthias Sheeben, 30c;
lessons (for meditation) 6n that
too-little-understood doctrine Of
the Divine Indwelling; that thrill-
in, breath-taking fact of the su
pernatural!^. person’s, actual
(NOT figurative) union with the
Trinity. We’d probably have ap
preciated this booklet more if we
hadn’t just previously discovered
a much more lucid, more piercing,
more captivating text on the. same
subject: Father Paul ,de Jaegher’s
“One With Jesus.”
4. “THOU ART MY STRENGTH,”
a group-of five poems on the
Mass, by Norbert En*gles, 10c. Ex
ceptional! We particularly like the
first and last of the five “The
Credo” and “The Communion.” To
OUR notion, they have'everything
a poem should have . .all those
indescribable (at least to us) qual
ities which make them impossible
to forget . ever! They are in
delibly recorded among our per
sonal “favorites,” along with Fa
ther Ryan’s “Song of the Mystic,”
Father Gareshe’s “The Young
Priest to His Hands,” Joyce Kil
mer’s “Prayer of a Soldier in
France” and many others.
THE MASS IN THE
MAL ANKARA RITE
A copy of “The Handbook of the
Holy Mass-Malankara' Rite,” . has
been received at the office of The
Bulletin.
This translation of the Malan-
kaia Liturgy, is by His Grace the
Most' Reverend Archbishop Mar
Ivdnios, 'Metropolitan of Trivand
rum, India, the leader of the most
successful reunion movement in
the twentieth century.
In May, 1932, Pope Pius XI, of
happy memory, whom the Eastern
Christians delight to call “The
Pope of the .Reunion of..Christen
dom,” conferred, personally, 1 lie
Sacred Pallium on a aewly reuni-
M0UNT ST. JOSEPH’S,
AUGUSTA, OBSERVES
CATHOLIC BOOK WEEK
AUGUSTA, Ga.—Catholic Book
Week as observed at Mount St.
Joseph Academy with an assembly
at which 1 Father Joseph Curtin,
O. M. I., presided and introduced
the speakers, who were, Robert
Martin, president of the Augusta
Players, who spoke on the drama,
and Mrs. John T. Buckley who
reviewed “The - Miracle of the
Bells.”
In connection with Catholic
Book Week, a book review contest
was held under the auspices of the
Augusta Deanery Council of
Catholic Women, and Miss Gene
Oetjen, a sophomore at Mount St.
Joseph’s, was awarded first prize
for her review of “These- Two
Hands,” by Father J. C. Edwards,
S. V. D.
’ The Mount St. Joseph Library
sponsored a” poster contest; using
the slogan of Catholic Book Week,
“Christian Books, Steping Stones
to World Unity” is its theme. Miss
Carol Sehier was awarded the first
prize for' her poster by the judges
who were Mrs. W. J. Mulherin and
Mrs. James L. Grogan.
An entertaining playlet, entitled
“It Won’t Hurt Me,” was present
ed by members of the junior class.
Miss Margie ( Cashin; and Miss
Carol Sehier have been nominated
to take the Pepsi-Cola scholarship
examinations from Mount St, Jo
seph's.
ted Metropolitan of the dissident
Eastern (Jacobite) Church, Arch
bishop Mar Ivanfos, who had made
his submission to the Catholic
Church in 1939.
Permission was given by the
Holy See for the continued use of
the Malankara Rite, which is only
the time-honored Indian adapta
tion of the Syrian Rite of Antioch;
In the Catholic Church, though
the Sacrifice- of the Mass is es
sentially the same everywhere,
various accidental modifications
and peculiarities of ritual enjoy
authoritative recognition and com
pose the various Rites in which
the Mass is offered in different
parts of the Catholic world, “The
Holy Qurbono” in the Malankara
Rite is one of these. m
The book has been prepared to
enable the English-speaking Cath
olics to assist at iv^ass, in , this
Rite, intelligently and with, de
votion. It is intefesfirig to notq
that the Mass in flic Malankarfi
Rite is celebrated in the language 1
spoken by Our Lord ana HiS
Blessed Mother.
One Of the Sticking differences
in the Mass in the’Molahkara'Ritb
from the Mass in the Latin Rite 1 is
the addition to the “Pater Nosier’'
of the- words: “For Thine is the
Kingdom and the Power and- the
Glory, forever and ever. Amen.”
Those who may desire to have a
copy of the booklet may obtain a
copy, at the cost o£ twenty-five
cents, by writing .for it to; the
CathoRo. Near -East Welfare
sociation, 480 Lexington Avenue,
New York, 17, N. Y. ,