My Little Book Review

I am humbled by the various responses to my short review in America of George Weigel's Letters To a Young Catholic. More than I bargained for, they have been both appreciative and corrective. The first response came from Father Jay Scott Newman, who graciously offered me the complete text of his homily, excerpted rather briefly in the book. I must admit the way it was framed in Weigel's chapter caused me to judge it and him more harshly than deserved. You can read his homily for yourself at his parish's website. I recommend taking a look also at the response from Dale Price, "When Jesuits Attack," on his blog. It lead to an interesting conversation, which is ongoing (in private, sorry). A book review has its limitations (the text of the book), and such responses have helped "fill out" my point of view on things. Dealing with the people themselves--imagine that!--offers insights a cold text cannot provide. Finally, I was pleased at a nice letter received via the post today from the author himself. George Weigel thanks me for the kind things I said, and takes me to task for some of the critical things. I appreciated the letter. I think he was surprised that a review of his work in America actually offered some praise for his effort! By the way, Fr. Newman's homilies are also available as audio files on the parish website. I had a brief listen to his latest and must say what I heard was quite good. So, I'm having a bit of humble pie for dessert tonight. As I keep saying, this is one dessert that we could all stand to indulge in a little more!