Allan F. Wright
Husband, Father, Author, Teacher and
Academic Dean of Evangelization for the Diocese of Paterson, NJ

Husband, Father, Author and
Academic Dean of Evangelization for the Diocese of Paterson, NJ

Some links to Articles and Book Reviews I've written over the years.

Most of the Book Reviews were written for the Catholic News Service, a branch of the USCCB
My latest book review, The End and the Beginning, is for Image Books, a division of Random House.

Radio Interview for EWTN's Catholic Answers Live Click HERE
Catholic Moments Lisa Hendey Interview Click HERE

The End and the Beginning:
Pope John Paul II--The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy

By George Weigel Image Books (New York, NY; 2011) 590pp $17.99
Reviewed for Image Books by Allan F. Wright

I received the book for free from Image Books, a Division of Random House, Inc.
Image Books, a Division of Random House, Inc.

Pope’s biographer strikes again with insightful behind scenes look at the inner workings of the man and of the Catholic Church

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

George Weigel, biographer of Blessed Pope John Paul II and author of numerous books about the Catholic Church, offers more than just a continuation of his book, “Witness to Hope,” in which the life of John Paul II is chronicled. In his most recent offering, Weigel revisits the life of Pope John Paul II during it most turbulent times.

The first third of his book follows John Paul’s life in post Second World War Communist era Poland which takes place immediately after John Paul's ordination to the priesthood. What the reader is struck with is the battles that take place and the astute and shrewd manner in which the Church operates behind the Iron Curtain. The careful politicking of the Catholic Church and the precision of language in speaking out in word and symbolic action is brought to light and enhances the position of the Church as more than just a worshipping community. He reveals a church with real footing in the philosophical battleground of ideologies of governments and men. This experience and acuity which it brought forth in John Paul would serve him well on the worlds stage. “If the Holy Spirit had seen fit to call the archbishop of Krakow to be Bishop of Rome, John Paul II once said, then that must mean that there was something in the experience of Krakow that was of value for the universal Church.”

Weigel accurately establishing John Paul’s presence in both these behind the scene and on the main political stage events as he describes them beginning in the 1950’s. What comes to light is the intense anxieties his papacy set off in Eastern Bloc governments and the activities it inspired in their secret police. Weigel draws on a supply of previously classified documents from the KGB, East Germany’s Stasi and Poland’s SB. Weigel reveals the extensive surveillance and spying and infiltration that, for years, centered on John Paul, reaching from his native Poland into the Vatican itself. Weigel draws from historical, political and theological contexts in his account of Communists secret-police work against John Paul. This makes for a exciting story reading at times more like a John Grisham novel than a story about a modern Pope.

The second part of his book focusses on John Paul II’s life from 2000 onward where the Catholic Church approached the Third Millennium with joy and hope yet was often on the defensive in regards to world and church events. The ambitious writings, the extensive travel seemed reactionary compared to the events in the previous 30 years leading up to the fall of Communism. Weigel then turns his attention to the health issues that Pope John Paul II had that were apparent to the world. Through the Pope’s suffering, “he bore witness to the inherent dignity of the human person.” One of the tragic physical signs of his parkinson’s was the Pope’s inability to laugh. In describing a humorous moment between the papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls who put on a big red ‘clown’s nose’ to surprise the Pope. His reaction was as much of a smile as he could muster, “the drama: the face refused to express what was in the heart-laughter.”

The third section of the book can be described as an assessment of John Paul II accomplishments and failures. Weigel at times can be seen as pointing the blame at the Vatican bureaucracy whenever he thinks John Paul II failed--whether it is on the American military action in Iraq or the Church's response to the sex scandals in 2002. Weigel is not afraid to criticize the pope for appointing bishops who served more as bureaucrats than as pastors. Weigel correctly states that, “The full measure of a pontificate and its achievements can come only with the passage of centuries.” Yet the evidence is clear on many levels, theologically, philosophically, politically and as a man of God that John Paul II’s influence for the good will continue to bear fruit and challenge those who may cease to recognize God as important in living the art of life.

Anyone who wants to grasp either the present shape of Catholic Christianity or the end game and the inner battles of the deadly ideological conflicts of the 20th century should read this book. For those faithful, pious Catholics whose religion is a ‘private affair,’ this book will challenge the idea of a personal faith. John Paul's call to put out into the waters of the ‘new’ evangelization where the Church must seek new an innovative ways to be Church in order to be the prophetic voice of God is spoken about and lived throughout John Paul II's life.

Allan F. Wright is academic dean of evangelization, author of three books and husband to a wonderful wife and father to three beautiful children. He resides with his family in Basking Ridge, NJ

Three books provide insider perspective n the Priesthood