Father Joe by Tony Hendra
I have just completed the unutterably excellent Father Joe by Tony Hendra [Hendra’s website]. The author’s biography, as one-time editor of Spy and National Lampoon magazines, as performer in This is Spinal Tap, and mixed up with the likes of Monty Python, Carlin, and all the rest make this spiritual memoir and tribute to a Benedictine monk remarkably compelling. Read it. You will like it. –JA
Read on for a hopeful excerpt from this review in First Things.
And what of Father Joe himself? Human beings of his wisdom and grace are rare in any circumstances, even within religious communities. But just how much of an anomaly was he? The Catholic Church and the Benedictine rule formed him, made him what he was. Living saints may be passing few, but I would venture to say that few people who are open to the experience fail to find them. Nearly all of those who are writing memoirs of returning to a long-lost faith have their equivalents of Father Joe.
In peace, JA