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Better Together
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Noonan's warm remembrance of the man she calls her spiritual father is a refreshing addition to the growing collection of biographies of and memoirs about the late Pope John Paul II. What makes this volume so inviting is Noonan's chatty manner of writing about John Paul and the very personal way he affected her life. She is willing to be transparent here, especially in the chapters where she imparts elements of her faith story, explaining how she moved toward "serious Catholicism" and "deepened belief" during John Paul's reign and how she came to see him as her spiritual father. Although Noonan writes glowingly of her subject, she does not duck criticism of his lengthy pontificate. For one, she suggests he could have taken stronger action against the banal way the Catholic liturgy has come to be celebrated in the West. She particularly laments John Paul's inadequate response to the church's "great shame" of clergy sexual abuse, and seizes the opportunity to lambaste the church's cardinals and bishops as well. Noonan recaps what she told the American bishops at a meeting in September 2003, but sadly wonders whether they truly understood the magnitude of the problem. Noonan's and John Paul's fans will appreciate her take on the late pope and the delightful way in which she weaves his legacy into her own walk of faith.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com
Over the last decade of Pope John Paul II's life, his chief defenders to the American public were a party of neoconservative Catholics. These men, and a few women, dubbed him "the Great," a title bestowed on transforming popes down through history. Certainly John Paul was held in high esteem by a wide range of Catholics and others for his influence in lifting the Iron Curtain, his determination to call attention to the poor and marginalized through his global travels and his dramatic gestures acknowledging the church's past failings. He was an expansive man, welcoming to saints, such as Mother Teresa, and to sinners, such as Kurt Waldheim and Yasser Arafat, as well as to those with whom he disagreed, including George W. Bush and Ariel Sharon.
Noonan's warm remembrance of the man she calls her spiritual father is a refreshing addition to the growing collection of biographies of and memoirs about the late Pope John Paul II. What makes this volume so inviting is Noonan's chatty manner of writing about John Paul and the very personal way he affected her life. She is willing to be transparent here, especially in the chapters where she imparts elements of her faith story, explaining how she moved toward "serious Catholicism" and "deepened belief" during John Paul's reign and how she came to see him as her spiritual father. Although Noonan writes glowingly of her subject, she does not duck criticism of his lengthy pontificate. For one, she suggests he could have taken stronger action against the banal way the Catholic liturgy has come to be celebrated in the West. She particularly laments John Paul's inadequate response to the church's "great shame" of clergy sexual abuse, and seizes the opportunity to lambaste the church's cardinals and bishops as well. Noonan recaps what she told the American bishops at a meeting in September 2003, but sadly wonders whether they truly understood the magnitude of the problem. Noonan's and John Paul's fans will appreciate her take on the late pope and the delightful way in which she weaves his legacy into her own walk of faith.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com
Over the last decade of Pope John Paul II's life, his chief defenders to the American public were a party of neoconservative Catholics. These men, and a few women, dubbed him "the Great," a title bestowed on transforming popes down through history. Certainly John Paul was held in high esteem by a wide range of Catholics and others for his influence in lifting the Iron Curtain, his determination to call attention to the poor and marginalized through his global travels and his dramatic gestures acknowledging the church's past failings. He was an expansive man, welcoming to saints, such as Mother Teresa, and to sinners, such as Kurt Waldheim and Yasser Arafat, as well as to those with whom he disagreed, including George W. Bush and Ariel Sharon.
The hesitation of some Catholics to call John Paul "the Great" grew out of increasing doubts about church governance and accountability as his reign wore on, as well as disagreement with the views of those who promoted that title. What the pope made of these fervent supporters we won't know until his closest associates begin to write their memoirs or publish his diaries.
In the meantime, there is this paean by Wall Street Journal columnist and former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan. Drawing on frequently told John Paul stories while linking his pontificate to its impact on herself, she writes, "John Paul walked into my life and served, unknowingly, as my spiritual father. He had led me like a light in the dark, like Jim Caviezel's small lit match in a big dark factory." The comparison of the late pope to the actor who plays Jesus in Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ" perfectly captures Noonan's idea of spirituality -- an emotional response to random events that inspire mystical musings. Noonan recounts a phone interview with Caviezel and reports a few audiences and a Mass at St. Patrick's with the pope. Both men, apparently linked in her mind by their larger-than-life personalities, kindled the same emotional yearning for a more exalted spiritual life.
As for mystical musings: There is the morning -- the very ordinary sunny morning -- when her glass coffee mug shatters in her hand and produces rounded pebbles rather than shards. Noonan takes this as a sign from God, who says: "There is explosive power in what appear to be mere pebbles. There is explosive power in the Rosary, for instance. And I want you to know this." Having received a rosary from the hands of the pope, she begins saying it. All of this -- the mug, the coffee that didn't scald her, the pebbles, the rosary, the pope, God -- "feels like a little miracle." Or maybe it was just shatter-proof safety glass. The chapters recounting her spiritual development and back-sliding are high on rhetoric and low on detail. Veiled allusions to challenging and painful events vanish into the wisps of spiritual counsel, drawn from her own articles and columns, which have been cut and pasted into this volume. Sometimes that advice sounds Catholic, sometimes evangelical Protestant; sometimes it is common sense, and sometimes it has a Noonanish spin. On the subway, she is saying her rosary when an altercation breaks out: "I continued to say my prayers but directed them in my mind toward the woman; and in time she calmed down, after the intervention of a diplomatic passenger, so fisticuffs were averted." No doubt many pray on New York City subways. What does this have to do with John Paul the Great?
Interspersed within the interior castle of Noonan's spirituality are stories from the life and times of John Paul, some of his wit and wisdom and a précis of some of his writing. Fans of Noonan may enjoy her renditions of this heroic life. Others may want to turn to the originals -- biographies and papal writings that convey the life and thinking of a remarkable man.
Reviewed by Margaret O'Brien Steinfels
Copyright 2005, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.
See all Editorial Reviews
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