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MAY 11, 1957.
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
THIRTY-ONE
BOOK REVIEWS
EDITED BY EILEEN HALL
3087 Old Jonesboro Hoad, Hapeville, Georgia
Each issue of this Book Page
is confided to the patronage of
Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces,
with the hope that every read
er and every contributor may
be specially favored by her
and her Divine Son.
RELIGION
RAIN FOR THESE ROOTS, by
Michael J. Cox, M. S., (Bruce
$3.75), reviewed b3' Rev. John
Schroder, S. J. Father Cox of
the LaSalette Fathers analyzes
the apparitions of Our Lady at
LaSalette, Lourdes and Fatima,
stressing their unity of appeal
and singleness of purpose, as
well as Mary’s role as mother
and recohcilor in this Marian era.
All these apparitions were accom
panied by cures and spectacular
manifestations, but these must be
considered accidental to the main
purpose, which was faith and all
that faith implies. At LaSalette
Mary lamented, “There are none
who go to Mass but, a few of the
aged women; the others work on
Sunday all during the summer;
and in the winter when they have
nothing else to do, they go to
Mass only to scoff at religion.”
At LaSalette Mari'- begged “her
people” to say “an Our Father
and a Hail Mary,” at least—more
if they could. At Lourdes it was
the Rosary; at Fatima the Rosary
and devotion to her Immaculate
Heart. “All the practices have
been hallowed by centuries of
Christian usage.” Father Cox
points out. “In every case they
underline the necessity of prayer
and the need there. is of man to
cling to his Creator if he hopes
to survive.” Our Lady could hard
ly talk to the simple peasants to
whom she appeared of such things
as evolution, positivism or ma
terialism in any of its forms, al
though these were undermining
their faith. The miracles that oc
cur at these shrines are her an
swer to the denial of the super
natural, of the possibility of
miracles.
YOUR WAY, by Alpyne, trans
lated by a Sister of Notre Dame
de Namur, (Bruce $1.00, paper).
Impressionistic meditations on
the mysteries of the Rosary, em
phasizing the triple role of wo
man in life, as mother, co-re-
demptrix and mediatrix; this lit
tle book is directed principally
to woman and calls the fifteen
mysteries “footprints already
marked for you on the way you
are walking, footprints which
have, one by one, passed through
all the stages of life, the simple
halts of every day, joyful or
monotonous, enthusiastic or cruci
fying.”
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
AND YOU, by William J. Grace,
S. J., (Bruce $1.90, paper). The
doctrine of the Church explained
in twenty-four talks, as given at
an inquiry forum. Good material
for the interested non-Catholic as
well as the Catholic who needs
a review of the fundamentals of
his faith.
SEVEN WORDS OF JESUS
AND MARY, by Fulton J. Sheen,
(Garden City $1.25). One of Bish
op Sheen’s earlier works, first
published in 1945, reprinted in
this slim, hard-cover edition, is
dedicated to “Mary Queen of the
Holy Rosary, Gracious Patroness
of the United States.” Our Lord’s
seven words on the cross are
compared to His Mother’s seven
recorded utterances in the Gos
pels, the author drawing interest
ing points for meditation from
each comparison.
CURRENT INTERESTS
THE JOURNAL OF A SOUTH
ERN PASTOR, by J. B. Gremil-
lion, preface by John LaFarge,
S.J., (Fides $3.95). Father Gremil-
lion, whose byline appears fre
quently in Our Sunday Visitor,
is pastor of St. Joseph’s parish in
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FATHER GREMILLION
suburban Shreveport, La., a young-
parish much like some of our
young Georgia parishes. He also
worked with a number of nation
al and diocesan organizations,
especially in the field of adult
education. In this book he dis
cusses with vigor and clarity a
variety of current interests, in
cluding race tensions, the par
ticipation of the laity in the work
of the Church, the Catholic press,
the parish as the “communion of
saints in seminal microcosm,” the
“deepening intellectual life of the
whole Church, both priests and
laity.” Whatever the subject he
discusses, his ideas enkindle ideas
in the minds of his readers and
that is good because (to borrow
and paraphrase his own explana
tion), however small and snivel
ling our ideas may be, how inane
and silly or how tentative, the be
getting of them still mirrors the
eternal generative act of God the
Father begetting and enunciating
the Logos, the Idea who is His
Son. No brief review can do jus
tice to this challenging book. It
must be read to be appreciated.
CRITICISM AND CENSOR
SHIP, by Walter F. Kerr, (Bruce
$1.25, reviewed by Flannery O’
Connor.
The present volume makes up
the fifth Gabriel Lecture and
was delivered by Mr. Kerr, the
drama critic for the New York
Herald Tribune at Trinity College
in 1954. Along with the recent ad
dress of Father John Courtney
Murray on the subject of censor
ship in a pluralistic society, this
lecture probably exhibits the
most intelligent approach to cen T
Isosrship that one is presently
liable to get from Catholic writers
on the subject. While admitting
the necessity of censorship, Mr.
Kerr deplores its practice by un
authorized groups in what is cal
led pre-censorship, a custom
which has created the tendency
to make every man a censor with
a “watchdog” attitude toward
art. Mr. Kerr says, “the generally
low taste of the Catholic com
munity in America has been a
minor scandal for quite some time
now. It stares at us from the
pages of the same diocesan news
papers that devote so much of
their space to censorial exhorta
tion.” That is a sentence that
would deserve, prompt publication
even if the rest of the lecture did
not. Mr. Kerr goes on to say that
“to inhibit taste one must first
kill love; after that, distinctions
won’t matter. I suspect then that
the generally low level of Catho
lic taste is not something that has
simply happened . . . it is more
likely something that has been
created, a kind of paralysis born
of inculcated feai\” Along with
the low level of taste, Mr. Kerr
says, goes the confidence that it
need not be improved. “Fear has
cut off that natural affection
which might have produced natu
ral taste; indifference has cut off
that serious study which might
have produced knowledge. The
subject of art, in all of its as
pects, is conveniently kept at
arm’s length.”
This book can be recommended
as a study manual for all NCCW
decent literature committees.
TOLERANCE AND THE CATH
OLIC, a symposium, translated by
George Lamb, (Sheed & Ward
$3.50), reviewed by Michael Pat
ron.
In France, at La Sarte in Huy,
in October 1951, a group of French
and Belgian theologians met to
discuss a much disputed topic:
just what is, or could be, the at
titude of Catholics toward other
members of a community, wheth
er majority or minority groups.
This book is a result of their work.
Carefully translated, it gives
English-speaking readers the full
and concise views of these emi
nent theologians. The first four
discussions in the book concen
trate on the. early times of the
Church and the Catholic’s rela
tionship with society in the past.
The other four consider the ap
plications of principles in the
world of today.
CHAMPION AWARD
The Champion Award, present
ed yearly by the Catholic Book
Club for long and distinguished
service in the cause of Catholic
letters, has been given to Paul
Hogan, novelist and historian. Mr.
Hogan received a silver and enam
el plaque picturing three aspects
of the life of Blessed Edmund
Campion, S. J., sixteenth century
scholar, author and martyr for
whom the award is named.
The Reverend Harold C. Gar
diner S. J., Editorial Chairman
of the Catholic Book Club, origi
nated the Campion Award which
in previous years has been given
to Helen Constance White (1956)
and to Jacques Maritain (1955).
Paul Horgan, the 1957 award-
winner, is one of America’s most
distinguished creative writers.
His first novel, “The Fault of
Angels,” was awarded the Harper
Prize. His subsequent novels were
deservedly popular, and his mon
umental two-volume historical
work, “G r e a t River: The Rio
Grande in North American His
tory,” published in 1954, won
three leading prizes: the Pulitzer
Prize, the Bancroft Prize and the
Collins Award of the Texas In
stitute of Letters. His historical
study of the Southwest “The Cen
turies of Santa Fe,” is his most
recently published book.
IS EVERYTHING
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