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Bookshelf
By WILLIAM C. GRAHAM
The bishop of my home diocese, Duluth, Minn., was recently made
coadjutor bishop of Anchorage, Alaska. So now, Roger L. Schwietz of the Oblates
of Mary Immaculate is an Alaskan. I thought of him when the next book appeared
on the top of this month’s box, and I sent it off to him right away.
Arctic Journal II: A Time for Change (Novalis, 350 pages,
$32.95 hardbound), by Bern Will Brown, is the story of an Oblate who went as a
missioner to the Canadian Arctic. In a foreword, Oblate Bishop Denis Croteau
observes that few people have had the chance to taste the North in all its
flavor as has Brown, whose first volume, Arctic Journal, was published
in 1998.
Brown, who received permission from Rome to marry in 1971, remains
at Colville Lake, above the Arctic Circle, with his wife Margaret, who is part
Eskimo. Interesting chronicle!
A Confessor’s Handbook (Paulist, 153 pages, $11.95
paperback), by Benedictine Fr. Kurt Stasiak, is clearly the work of a
thoughtful priest, well versed in church teaching and resources, with
experiences as a sensitive confessor and as an educator of those preparing for
priestly ministry at St. Meinrad’s School of Theology in Indiana. This
book will be welcomed by those still in the seminary (professors and students
alike), by new priests, old priests, good confessors and those who will be
better confessors. I wish it had been available to me years ago when, as an
inexperienced priest, I said to a penitent, “I don’t think
that’s a sin.” She responded, “I don’t remember asking if
you thought it was a sin.”
Those who think there can never be enough books about St. Francis
will want to have Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Creatures: A
Modern Spiritual Path (Continuum, 144 pages, $14.95 paperback), by Paul M.
Allen and Joan deRis Allen. The book examines one of Francis’ most famous
prayers, considering along the way aspects of the saint’s life.
In Feminist Liturgy: A Matter of Justice (American Essays
in Liturgy: Liturgical Press, 93 pages, $9.95 paperback), Janet R. Walton
writes that the urgency and persistence of feminist liturgies are reminiscent
of the ways that slave communities in early America dealt with the fact that
white men controlled institutional worship. Even those who do not feel
sympathetic to the aims and claims will agree that Walton’s work is well
researched and presented in a manner that encourages reflection and discussion
rather than anger and acrimony.
Christ in Ten Thousand Places: Homilies Toward a New
Millennium (Paulist, 277 pages, $19.95 paperback), is by Jesuit Fr. Walter
J. Burghardt, still preaching the good word and publishing at age 84. This
book, the first part of the title of which is taken from a sonnet by fellow
Jesuit Gerard Manley Hopkins, is not just for preachers, but for all those who
will live the gospel, appreciate encouragement and savor the holy of
Christ’s redeeming presence in places and faces.
Spiritual Manifestos: Visions for Renewed Religious Life in
America for Young Spiritual Leaders of Many Faiths (Skylight Paths
Publishing [P.O. 237, Woodstock VT 05091], 226 pages, $21.95 hardbound) is
edited by Niles Elliot Goldstein, with a preface by Martin E. Marty. Ten
contributors to this volume, religious leaders in their 30s and from different
religious traditions from Jewish to Catholic to Unitarian to Buddhist, offer
their visions or manifestos for transforming spiritual communities and lives.
Those who seek to add zest to religious experience and tradition will profit
from reading these collected essays.
Experiencing Scripture in World Religions (Orbis, 178
pages, $16 paperback), by Harold Coward, is a good introductory text showing
the significance of scriptures in world religions from the Torah to the Quran,
with a look as well at the scriptures of Hinduism, Sikhism, and Buddhism.
In Stumbling Toward Justice: Stories of Place (Pennsylvania
State University Press, 250 pages, $35 hardbound), Lee Hoinacki, a former
Dominican priest, writes of his journey through the United States, Venezuela,
Mexico, Spain, Germany and India. He seeks to illustrate what he considers his
fundamental insight: “The promise of progress is a lie, a terrible and
cruel trap.” He hopes to sow doubt, but does report having “found a
hope hidden in contemporary existence.” His odyssey may be of interest to
fellow travelers.
I sent Sacred America: The Emerging Spirit of the People,
by Roger Housden (Simon & Schuster, 272 pages, $23 hardbound), to Bette
Manter as she writes away on her doctoral dissertation at Harvard. She
writes:
Sometimes a view from an outsider provides insight into
who we really are. One might think of de Tocqueville of the 19th century or
James Baldwin in the 1960s, to recall two clarifying moments in American
culture.
Housden, who is British, does not, however, disclose much that
Americans don’t already know. The dichotomy between the getting and
spending that drives consumerism and the drive for religious and spiritual
unity creates, for Housden, two Americas: the bad and the good.
He came to
America in search of the good - that which he calls Sacred America.
Housden travels broadly, yet his narrative moves like a slide-show
presentation. And like a tedious host, he wants so badly for you to share his
experience that, rather than trust your own responses, Housden draws
conclusions for you. Finding himself in the remote soil of Montana, Housden
browses a local directory and finds, to his amazement (and presumably yours), a
bookshop specializing in spirituality and religion on page 2!
Manter concludes that those who enjoy travelogues of meaningful
moments might find that this book makes excellent airport reading en route to
one’s America of choice.
Fr. William C. Graham’s Sacred Adventure: Beginning
Theological Study (University Press of America, 213 pages, $24.95 paperback)
includes a chapter by Jesuit Fr. Avery Dulles titled “The Basic Teaching
of Vatican II.” Graham receives e-mail at
NCRBkshelf@aol.com
National Catholic Reporter, July 28,
2000
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