Michael Walsh (2)

When I read this back in the day I knew nothing about Opus Dei, its founder Josemaria Escriva or, for that matter, just about anything. I took the author's fear of this secret conservative Catholic group at face value, and worried about the future of the Catholic Church, and of the power it still yields throughout the world. Decades later, I'm slightly wiser and with the benefit of hindsight I realise I should have taken Walsh's fears with a grain or two of salt.

Of course much of Walsh's concerns may still come to pass (Catholics have been known to play the long game), but the main thrust of his fear is that an Opus Dei member will become not the next Pope but the one after, which, considering that Pope John Paul II was the then Pope, means that Pope Francis is the Pope Opus Dei supposedly has in the pocket. As Pope Francis is one of the more progressive pontiffs, I'm not sure that's right. Still, as a lifelong agnostic, there is much I don't know about this world, and the murky workings of the Vatican is certainly something I know little about.

There is probably something more up to date written about Opus Dei but you may well find something of interest in "Opus Dei"… (mere)

This is an abridged edition of Butler's four-volume set that sits on our shelves. This volume list one saint for each day of the year. The editor uses the day of their death, which has been restored as the principal occasion for liturgical observance of a saint's life, work, and virtue. The work has also been updated to list those blesseds who have been become saints as of 1956. The reduced number of biographies of the saints in this book has a slight bias to Anglo Saxon saints and the two wholly new saints are from the United States. The editor has also updated the entries and modified the language to modern English, He has also deleted pious exhortations allowing the saints achievements and eccentricities speak for themselves. Though a handy modern catholic beside book, it is no substitute for the original four-volume set.… (mere)