Customer Reviews

A Century of Catholic Converts

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When I first picked up "A Century of Catholic Converts" I was fully expecting to find a dozen or so of mini-bios of some of the more famous converts of the 20th century, men & women like Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton and Malcolm Muggridge. To my surprise and delight what I found were dozens(!) of stories of some very famous (for other reasons) and fascinating Catholic converts, many of whose names at one time graced the society or entertainment pages years ago. Before reading Duquin's book I thought I was "up" on who was (or is)Catholic, especially converts. I was not aware, until I read this book, that Dave Brubeck, Sir Alec Guinness and Clare Booth Luce, for instance, had converted to Catholicism. Many more such surprises await the reader of "A Century of Catholic Converts." Not only is the book easy reading, but the chapters are brief enough that each conversion story can be easily read in one sitting. Even if I were not Catholic I think I would have still enjoyed reading this volume.

What I enjoyed most about the book is reading the conversion stories of many men and women I never realized had converted to Catholicism. Chesterton I knew about. Same with Thomas Merton and Catherine de Hueck Doherty (whose amazing life Lorene Duquin chronicles in one of her earlier books, "They Called Her the Baroness"). But surprises abound in this 235 page book. I hadn't realized Sir Alec Guinness had converted to Catholicism. John Howard Griffin of "Black Like Me" fame has his conversion story told in these pages, as well as that of Israel Zolli (Chief Rabbi of Rome during the Second World War), and American jazz great Dave Brubeck. And that's not all. Not even close. If you like conversion stories you'll want to add a copy of this book to your personal library. Five stars all the way!

This fine descriptive work traces a number of conversion narratives, highlighting various points in the lives of these Catholic converts. I found the references for further reading very helpful. There is little to no commentary accompanying the narratives; the author lays out the events and lets them speak for themselves. The book is divided into decades and offers a brief overview of the historical moment in which the conversions in that section took place, which I found important for context.

The book works well as an entry into other, more in-depth readings/narratives about the converts whose stories we witness in these pages. It is a necessary addition to the ranks of extant collections of Catholic conversion stories, providing encouragement to those on their way to Rome and for those interested in faith turning points in a complex century.

Duquin has collected a fascinating collection of Catholic converts, people who converted during the 20th century.

Many of the people, such as G K Chesterton and Edith Stein and Evelyn Waugh and Scott Hahn, will be familiar to most readers.

Some, however, are bound to be a surprise. For example, did you know that the movie star, John Wayne, converted on his deathbed?

These are briskly written short biographies of the converts. What is most interesting was how utterly individual their conversions were.

Louis Budenz, for example, was raised in an atheist home. As an adult, he stridently attempted to promote communism. At one point he was actually the leader of the American Communist party.

You will be stunned when you read his biography to realize that Fulten Sheen--yes, the famous Fulten Sheen, although this was long before his TV program--ending up converting this man to Catholicism.

Duquin includes Israel Zolli among the collection. Zolli was the chief rabbi of Rome, and he converted shortly after the end of World War II. I very much enjoyed Zolli's book "Before the Dawn" which explained what happened to Zolli and the Jews during the Nazi occupation. I recommend it to everyone.