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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 BEST WISHES NEW-WAY LAUNDRY & CLEANERS, INC. GASTONIA, N. C. “Merchants of Cleanliness” Serving Gaston County Since 1924 Your Lump Sum Savings # t * Set aside your accumulated cash funds with this specialized Savings Association . . where your money consistently earns higher-than-average earnings . . . without worry, work, or risk on your part. Every six months, you’ll receive a check for the extra dollars your savings have earned. Open your account this week! Mutual Federal Savings & Loan Association JACKSON 3-8282 205 AUBURN AVENUE, N. E. ATLANTA, GA. Current Dividend Rate 3 Vi Percent Per Annum Each Account Insured Up To $10,000.00 SAVE BY MAIL 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. 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